Help saving QuickTime streaming video (1 Viewer)

[DanHaya]

I am wondering if anybody knows if there is a way to save QuickTime streaming video to your hard drive? There is a particular website that I would like to save some files from (no, it's not a porn website), but it's not working for some reason. I think they might be locking out that function from their end, but I'm not sure. If so, is there a QT plug in or add-on that would work around that?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Do you have QuickTime Pro? They may have locked out saving unless you have pro

 

[DanHaya]

No, I do not have Pro because I understand that Pro will not save these files either. From what I have heard, if the site is locking you out from saving it, having Pro won't make any difference.

 

[Mark gas]

Snagit! will work do a search on download.com for more programs.
http://download.com.com/3000-2192-10129867.html

 

[Nigel McN]

I guess I could post a tutorial on the techniques I use for my page Link Removed

 

[DanHaya]

Nigel, that would be great! I'll be looking for it! Thanks!

 

[Nigel McN]

ok here it is. please note that the forum software breaks many of these links, which is exactly the reason that I made my page Link Removed , on that note let's proceed
Oh one more note, don't get worried if this looks long, once you get the steps it is a very short quick process, I am just trying to state it all out clearly
Lets grab an example and run through it.
For this tutorial we will look at a trailer to xXx.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/columb...high/high.html
View the page source and find the link to the trailer, this is often about the 2nd or 3rd '.mov' in the source, the easiest way to do this is to search in the text for '.mov'. in this instance you should be able to find this URL:
Link Removed
copy that link.
download that file.
The Thing to remember that every instance is slightly different. 9 times out of 10 that first blah.mov is a simple referral file, and can be read in any text editing program.
It is usually just a pile of 'IF blah THEN DO blah" statements that redirect the user if they have different versions of quicktime, with a final link at the bottom if you pass all the tests.
(I don't have a easy solution if it isn't plain text yet).
Back to our example, here is contents of the file.
Wmoov Ormra õrmda ·rdrf url £Link Removed rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim õrmda ·rdrf url £Link Removed rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim ÷rmda ¹rdrf url ¥Link Removed rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim ùrmda »rdrf url §Link Removed rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim ùrmda »rdrf url §Link Removed rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim trmda 6rdrf url "xXx-tlr3_m480.mov chok øP rmdr
ð rmqu rmvc qtim
You might be able to see how it steps through the different versions of quicktime.
all we need from here is the name of the final file (or whatever size you want,in this case xXx-tlr3_m480.mov
You then take the first URL you got and change just the filename to the new one.
new link :
Link Removed
Now for this one they have removed a common level of referral. Most of the time there is another step (everyone is different) the file would have been xXx-tlr3_480.mov (without the 'm') and would have gotten you another 2k referral file. Doing this has taught me to just add in the 'm' and 9 times out 10 that is the final link, if it isn't grab that referral file and extract the file name. I have had to do that up to around 4 times in certain cases.
One of the major variants
Sometimes that first referral file isn't plan text. In those cases I have to watch my proxy to see what files are being pulled down and just digging up the link that way. The Hulk teaser was one of those and it was a bit nasty.
A minor Variant
The Terminator 3 Teaser html source had links to two files a master.mov and a slave.mov, neither were plain text and I had to use the proxy method on it.
The STARWARS Variant
I call this the STARWARS Variant because www.starwars.com is the only site I have come across that uses this technique (so far there is no reason other sites couldn't use it). They don't go to any great lengths to hide there files, they have a media key system where the quicktime will only play in a web session, you can download the file (and it is the real file) but when you play it offline if only plays an error message telling you to go to starwars.com. It is possible to get around this, that is a slightly different subject that I might share if you really want to know
I hope this gets you started.
If I haven't answered something clearly or at all, just ask and I will elaborate, I hate 'streaming' media and try to not let it get the better of me, wether is is Windows Media, Real Media or Quicktime, so far my only real defeat is www.twistedtunes.com (damn you Bob Rivers )
(heh the spellchecker had a hernia over this post)

 

[DanHaya]

Thanks Nigel! I'll give it a shot and let you know if it works.

 

[Nigel McN]

hmmmm I can't even get those files to play at all, without trying to save them. finding the links isn't hard in itself, however you've got to remember that the protocol is rtsp. do the links still play for you?

 

[NickSo]

Nigel: nice, i got it working It took a bit of trial and error, but i figured it out

 

[DanHaya]

Actually, Nigel, the links work but the video doesn't stream worth a crap! That's why I thought I could save them, but apparently they are blocking you from saving. That's why I was hoping there was a way to get around it. The RealMedia clips download just fine, but they are very small and hard to see even on a big monitor. The QT clips are bigger and clearer, when you can get them to work).

The best thing to do it to try and save one and run it from you hard drive. Give it a try and let me know what you come up with.

--Dan

 

[Nigel McN]

I haven't given up on this, the links themselves are not hard to find (like rtsp://vidserver.alexa.com//net/ia209/3/TV_WDC-A_200109111230.mov ) but I still can't get anything to play within quicktime at all

 

[DanHaya]

Yeah, I have experienced the same difficulties. That's why I was hoping there was a way to download them and play them from my hard drive. I'll keep trying...if you discover a way, let me know.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

just find the link to the .mov file you want. like described above.

Open word and copy/paste the link into a new word file. Save the file to your desktop as an HTML file.

Open HTML file in your browser....the active link should be the only thing there.

Right click and save file to disk.