Re: Saving BBC streaming video clips?

de Terry Pinnell 01/31/2008 02:23

John <me@zen.co.uk> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell wrote:
>> Anyone have a recommendation for a straightforward method to capture a
>> BBC video clip (typically streaming RealPlayer media) to my HD please?
>>
>> I looked for a short example with which to experiment and found this
>> 24 second clip:
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/articles/d/devon_thebarton.shtml
>> I can view that OK by clicking WATCH THIS VIDEO. But how do I capture
>> it permanently? (Ideally in MPEG or WMV. But if in 'rm' format, I can
>> probably use something like SUPER to convert it).
>>
>> Apart from half a dozen commercial programs, my research produced one
>> possibility called Real7ime Converter (R7C). But I can't get it
>> working. Probably because I use RealPlayer Alternative, as I found
>> RealPlayer too intrusive.
>>
>> I also tried a method based on the assumption that, after playing in
>> full, the file must be in my Firefox cache folder. But immediately
>> after playing that short video example, I found not one but two new
>> files in there:
>> _CACHE_001_
>> _CACHE_002_
>>
>> Neither have extensions (which I find an annoyance - one small
>> advantage that IE Temporary Internet Files had!) so I tried adding
>> one, to give
>> _CACHE_001_.rm
>> _CACHE_002_.rm
>> But although d-clicking opens Media Player Classic, I just get an
>> unhelpful error message "RealMedia error".
>>
>> Any practical advice would be much appreciated please. There must be
>> some no-brainer way to do this!
>>
>Since you are using Firefox, you should download this add on:
>
>https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006
>
>And it will do what you want.

Thanks, but no it won't!

It saves a small file which is the *URL* of the file I want, not the
file itself. In the example I gave, I get a 1KB file:
devon_thebarton_4x3_bb.ram
On running that, the video is streamed to me again over the net.
Assuming it still exists (most BBC file have deadlines). And I can of
course achieve that by simply bookmarking the link.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK