A Google search for "download youtube" will return a multitude of results. Most sites prompt the user to paste in the URL of the YouTube video, e.g. "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdsFiBbFc" and will either download the video or return the URL at which the video can be downloaded.
The downloaded video will be in FLV format (You may have to rename the file with an "FLV" extension), which is playable using VLC and other media players. Downloaded videos are generally 320 by 240 pixels.
Here are screenshots of some of the sites which worked:
Javimoya.com has a download tool which also supports downloading from GoogleVideo, Dailymotion, and other sites. Other than occasional network error messages, the site worked reliably.
Qoogle Video and TechCrunch have simple interfaces and consistent performance.
As for converting FLV files to more widely playable formats, a Google search for "convert flv" will direct you to programs for download, not all of them free. Vixy.net offers a download-free option; users simply enter a YouTube link and download directly to MOV (QuickTime-compatible), AVI (Windows Media Player-compatible), MP4 (iPod-compatible), and MP3 (audio only).
As a note, the site occasionally gave me a busy server error, but retrying eventually worked with all the YouTube videos I tested. A 2-min video took me approximately 4 min to convert to AVI or MOV. While the MOV files seem to play on any computer with QuickTime installed, not all computers have the codecs necessary to play the AVI files. However, the computers in our Multimedia Studio supported playback in Powerpoint for both the AVI and MOV files -- it can be done!
That's all for today. In other news, tomorrow is a dual holiday day!! Both Pi Day and White Day fall on March 14.
3 comments:
For the paranoid, here's one final step to make the embedded video clips in your PowerPoint presentation bombproof: ("Bomb" as in "you bomb your presentation because the computer doesn't have the right video codec and your video doesn't play".)
Convert your MOV or AVI video one more time, to the MPEG-1 or just MPG format. This old-school format is fully-compatible on both Macs and PCs, and won't let you down. You can convert to MPG using Compressor (part of Final Cut Studio) on our MMS Macs, and Nero Vision (part of Nero) on our MMS Windows machines. Once you have the MPG file, import that into your PPT file instead! (And be sure to preview your slideshow to make sure you got both the audio and video!)
This is an easier way to do all this for those using Macs of their own or the ones in the Multimedia Studio (MMS):
1. Open Safari and navigate to the YouTube page with the video.
2. While the video is loading, press Apple-Option-A to bring up the Activity window which shows a list of everything that Safari is currently downloading. You should be able to easy spot the YouTube video in this list because the list has a Size column and the video will probably be the only thing in megabytes and the only thing still loading.
3. Once you find the video in the list, just hold down the Option key and double-click on it. It should start downloading just like any other Safari download and it will be an FLV file.
For conversion from FLV, you can follow the tips Jean mentioned. However, if you're working in our MMS or have QuickTime Pro on your own Mac, you can use the free QuickTime plugin Perian (already installed on our MMS Macs) to open the FLV file in QuickTime Player and then export it to whichever video format you prefer.
Thanks for the tips, Karan!
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