Download & Convert Videos 1.How to Download Videos from YouTube & other Web sites; and 2.Convert them to WMV format so can be edited in Windows Movie Maker Prepared by Professor Pat for WS445: Women and Computers St. Cloud State University - February 2009

Table of Contents Intro – About File Formats About File Formats Downloading video from YouTube or other Web sites to Hard Drive or USB drive –Using the KeepVid web page Using the KeepVid web page –Using Video DownloadHelper for Firefox Using Video DownloadHelper for Firefox Converting the downloaded video to WMV format to use in Windows Movie Maker –Using VLC Media Player Finding Portable VLC on USB stick distributed in WS445.12Finding Portable VLC on USB Performing the video conversion with VLC Performing the video conversion with VLC –Using Fireshot Addon with Media Converter (desktop or laptop only – won’t work with Portable Firefox)Fireshot Addon with Media Converter 2 Found at Slide Number

Intro – About File Formats 3 Why all these instructions about converting video file formats? Most videos on the Web, especially at YouTube, are in the FLV format. You cannot watch FLV videos (after downloading) in Windows Media Player or in Quicktime Player. You can only watch them in VLC Media Player. To import videos into Windows Movie Maker (so you can edit them), they need to be in WMV format. This is why we have to Convert them. Can Watch in Which Player? Windows Media Player Quicktime Player VLC Player iPod FLV (e.g. AngelaDavis.flv)No YesNo WMV (e.g. AngelaDavis.wmv)Yes MP4 (e.g. AngelaDavis.mp4)NoYes MOV (e.g. AngelaDavis.mov)NoYes

Download via KeepVid: (1) Finding URL at YouTube 4

Copy URL from YouTube 1.Click inside the URL box to highlight 2.Then Right-Click on the highlighted URL 3.Choose Copy 5

At KeepVid.Com Open a new window or tab in your Web browser Enter in the Address Barwww.keepvid.com Paste in the URL of the video that you just copied from YouTube Click the Download Button 6

Downloading Video at KeepVid.com using Firefox 7

Downloading Video at KeepVid.com using Internet Explorer Rename File-Be sure to add.flv to end of file name 8

Rename & Save FLV file The file name MUST end with.flv (a period followed by letters FLV) WS445 students might want to save all their videos in the Documents\Video folder on their USB stick. Can later save their Windows Movie Maker project files and final movie in same folder – everything will be collected together. 9

Rename & Save an MP4 file 10 If you choose to the MP4 format for downloading at KeepVid, You can still convert it to WMV using VLC Media Player You can view it on your iPod

Using Video Download Helper – a Firefox Addon Instead of using the KeepVid website, one can install a small icon on the Firefox Web browser toolbar for one click downloading of videos. Using Firefox, go to and click the Install button (works on both regular and Portable Firefox). Once installed, when on a Web page with a video running (or paused), click the DownloadHelper icon, click on the video name. You can give it a different file name in the Save As dialog box. 11 Sometimes there might be a 3 rd HQ choice – meaning High Quality. If you choose HQ, will get a much larger file, longer to download, but better image quality.

Find VLC on USB stick Using the Pstart launch menu (USB stick as distributed to WS 445 students) 12 Actually can convert many different file formats – FLV or MP4 to WMV is what we are using in WS 445

Find VLC if Pstart Menu does not Open Navigating the folders on USB stick distributed to WS445 students 13

VLC Media Player – Watch Videos, Convert Files With the VLC Media Player, you can view more videos than you can with Windows Media Player – VLC can display almost all video formats. Just click Media>Open File to find the video you want to view. You can convert videos from one file format to another or you can save just the audio part of a video. You can also take a still photo of any frame in the video. Just click Pause, then click Video > Snapshot (by default saves in My Pictures folder). VLC is free software. Download a version to use on your laptop or desktop PC from You can download a portable version to use on a USB flash drive from 14

Converting Videos with VLC Before you begin converting a video, it is best to close all other applications running on your computer – to conserve resources. If you have a video running in VLC, stop it before you begin a conversion. Close your Web browser, Word, and anything else you have open. After you click Convert/Save, a new window will open where you select the file to be converted – see next slide. 15

VLC – Find the File to Convert 16

Telling VLC how to convert the file 17

VLC-Watch Progress of Conversion How to tell when conversion is finished Progress Indicator Note Streaming at top of VLC window – indicates conversion is in progress. Conversion has finished – No STREAMING in title bar of VLC window. 18

Using Video DownloadHelper to Convert Files 19 If you feel comfortable tweaking your computer, you can use Video DownloadHelper with the additional Media Converter installed on your hard drive to manually convert files to a variety of formats. You can also manipulate Video DownloadHelper to automatically convert each downloaded video to a format you specify. Go to for detailed instructions on how to install the Media Converter and how to use it. Will NOT work with Portable Firefox Can only be used on a laptop or desktop computer where you have rights to install software. Very convenient after all set up, but the set-up process is not user friendly. Use VLC Media Player unless you are experienced with video settings.

Using the Converted Videos After converting video to WMV format You can view it in Windows Media Player (which you should do to make sure the conversion worked). Import the video into Windows Movie Maker where you can chop it into small pieces and just use one or more short extracts (clips) in your own movie creation (where you might add text slides, photos, etc.). See separate slide show “Using Windows Movie Maker” for info about making clips (extracts) from other people’s videos & assembling your own “movie.” 20