Downloading Youtube Videos

[Markham]

You know how it is ... you're given the YouTube address for a must-watch video only and the dammed thing pauses every few seconds whilst it buffers-up the next bit. That happens a lot here and I've also encountered this problem in the UK where I have an 8Mbit BT connection. There are browser extensions - and third-party applications - that overcome this by downloading the video to your hard drive. But guess what - they are all broken thanks to radical changes to the format YouTube is in the process of rolling-out.

Well not quite all.

I've written a small program (in C#, in case you wanted to know) which is working splendiforously and it has a couple of major enhancements that I've not seen in other YouTube download offerings. Firstly, it attempts to give you a choice of all the various versions YouTube has on its servers - in terms of file type (WebM, Flash Video, MPEG-4 and 3GP) and resolutions (potentially up to 1280x720). And secondly you can convert the downloaded file into the correct format for a wide range of hand-held devices (mostly Apple and Android, it has to be said) but only if you choose to download a FLV (Flash Video) variant. (It is technically possible to convert WebM to MPEG-4 for portable devices but it's very slow and the quality is not the best, so, for now, it's disabled. In any case all Android-based tablets, as well as the later Apple ones, support WebM natively. Flash to MPEG-4 works well however.)

The program, imaginatively called "YouTube Downloader" is available (8 Mb) and here's the download link.. It runs under Windows (XP and later) and is absolutely free.

It's very simple to use, mouse-over the various controls for help, and when you've installed it, copy-paste this ID /kpZhZAr1cQU into the "YouTube URL" box (make sure you include the leading slash). Provided you are male and still warm, you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy my Christmas present to you all.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Markham

[MikeB]

Seems to work great, thanks.

[Markham]

I've just uploaded a new release to our server and as the changes are quite extensive, rather than call it Version 2.02 (indicating a minor release), the new version number is 2.50.

There is some limited post-processing available - you can rectify any incorrect video Aspect Ratio and also adjust the volume of the audio track. The post-processing options are on the "Download/Conversion/Player" window.

Also two "history" lists are maintained: the last 20 downloaded videos, in case you need to re-download them for any reason, and also any videos that you weren't able to download are also kept so that you can download them at a later time.

The download is here.

Enjoy!

[Markham]

Sometime yesterday (Valentine's Day), YouTube made some changes to its pages' internal structure which effectively broke "YouTube Downloader" - and all the other similar programs and browser plug-ins. Fortunately I noticed it immediately as I was trying to download some cartoons for my son to watch on his (his mother's) iPad and made the necessary changes.

You can download the latest version from this link and install it; no need to uninstall any previous version.

There are a number of new cool features including a simple editing facility (cuts and joins), more format conversions and the ability to create the correct files for use in DVD/VCD/SVCD authoring programs. There's also a dedicated browser - based on the Gecko (Firefox) engine - simply navigate to the video you want and click on the "Download" button.

Enjoy!

[sjp52]

Thanks Markham