Capturing video from a streaming video site

A friend of mine wrote:

John,

I had a [friend] ask about capturing the video that is streaming into his computer. I have used Camtasia and Captivate to capture things playing on the computer, but [I] don’t know how to capture a YouTube video, for example. The [friend] was interested in ways that don’t require the purchase of any addtional software.

This is easy to do if you are using Firefox - get the free extension called

DownloadHelper http://www.downloadhelper.net/

or UnPlug https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2254

and you can easily save video from many sites, including YouTube.

If anyone would like an overview, I can help.

John. 

Audio: LeMasney on How to use Powerpoint at Rider University Media Server

Audio: LeMasney on How to use Powerpoint at Rider University Media Server
I gave a presentation on How To Use Powerpoint today to a semi-packed room in the new Faculty Staff Training center in FA 113. Powerpoint was discussed in some detail, but of course, we talked about alternatives to Powerpoint, ways to avoid death by Powerpoint, Google Docs newest addition, Presently, and related topics. Take a look at Rider technology training site (log in as a guest if you wish) at http://www.rider.edu/training and click on the How to Use Powerpoint course to follow along with the audio if you want the whole effect. - John.

Audio: LeMasney FOSS Presentation to Brookdale Computer Users Group

Here is the audio from my presentation on Friday night on Free and Open Source Software to the Brookdale Computer Users Group. We had a fantastic time, and I can’t wait to go back. We had a lot of laughs, we all learned a lot, and I feel like I have a lot of new friends out by the shore. Thanks to BCUG for being so welcoming!

http://media.rider.edu/authors/lemasney/2007_lemasney_bcug_foss.mp3

Exporting An MP3 Using iTunes: Brief Tutorial

Did you ever want to change the file format of a song you imported from a CD and played in iTunes? This is a common questions that we get. There are multiple softwares out there that can do this (one such Open Source tool is Audacity), but what if you already have iTunes installed? It’s a simple click away, but first we have to set our preferences correctly in iTunes.

1. Go to the Preferences menu in iTunes.

2. Click the Advance tab at the top.

3. Choose Importing. Make sure Import Using is set to MP3 Encoder in the drop down.

4. Click OK.

5. Now import an audio track from a CD. Click and highlight a track you would like to export as an MP3.

6. In the Advanced menu, click Convert this Selection to MP3.

7. You will now have an MP3 copy of this song in your iTunes Library. You can drag and drop this file any where you like on your computer.

-Angel Brady

T&A: Technology and the Arts Podcast #8 Launched

T&A: Technology and the Arts
Famed rock ‘n’ roll producer and engineer Eddie Kramer is the guest on the eighth installment of the Technology and the Arts podcast. Other topics include the Trenton Computer Festival, music collaboration site Kompoz.com, updates on the battle to save Internet radio and the March 22 Bum Rush the Charts project, and several interesting Web sites relevant to technology and the arts. Hosts: Brian Kelley, John LeMasney. File size: 14.8 MB. Time: 32 min., 10 sec.

T&A: Technology and the Arts Podcast #8 Launched

T&A: Technology and the Arts
Famed rock ‘n’ roll producer and engineer Eddie Kramer is the guest on the eighth installment of the Technology and the Arts podcast. Other topics include the Trenton Computer Festival, music collaboration site Kompoz.com, updates on the battle to save Internet radio and the March 22 Bum Rush the Charts project, and several interesting Web sites relevant to technology and the arts. Hosts: Brian Kelley, John LeMasney. File size: 14.8 MB. Time: 32 min., 10 sec.

On recording audio with an iPod mic and distributing audio via Blackboard.

I got a great email from a friend and faculty member [represented anonymously here] at Rider who is getting into some audio creation for student use. He asked a great question, and I’m passing it on to you.

 

Rider Faculty wrote:

I just bought a mic for my iPod which will allow me to record my students, upload it into my computer and then email it to them. The files are about 1/2 a GB. Can I use Bb to help with this endeavor?

John responded:

As far as the iPod recordings - don’t try to email them! - the 500MB files [maybe they're actually half a MB?] would be unusable by anybody other than you at your desktop - it would take a day to download them, they’d bring our email server to a screeching halt, and in Blackboard we have an entire course size limit of 200MB, so you’d never be able to upload even one of these there. Also, you probably recorded a WAV or AIFF file, when what we want for audio distribution is MP3 or some other compressed audio format.

The good news is that it is almost surely a matter of quality settings. I have a podcast that I do at http://techarts.wordpress.com where the average length is 45 minutes and the average size is 25Mb or less. If you record at 96-128 Kbps with 11 KHz frequency and as mono, rather than stereo, your files will be much much smaller, though some quality will be lost.

We use a media server for storage and podcasting at http://media.rider.edu where I would put up, advertise, and maintain your audio files. You could use external links to point to them in Blackboard, but they would actually reside on Media, to save you space in your course.

Also, existing files that are half a GB can be reduced in quality to new settings [and therefore size] to make them reasonable for people to download. You can keep the original at the full size for posterity, but 500MB is a lot of space, and the difference in quality between a 500MB file and a 25MB file can be negligible if the conversion is done well.

I’d love to talk with you about this - can you give me a call? 609 896 5000 x7145.

John.

A short conversation about podcasting.

Yesterday I got an email asking a question about podcasting - it’s a good starting question, and I thought you all might like to hear the conversation. I imagine that this conversation will be getting a lot larger, but right now, this is where we’re at. The email, and my responses follow, and I’ve anonymized the faculty member just to cover myself make things interesting. This also tends to illustrate the problems inherent in having discussions about technology over email - the interactive questioning part can take days. It will take 6 more emails before we’re really going anywhere communication wise with this, but I would have more trouble sharing a phone converstaion with you. Not impossible, mind you, just a little more difficult.

>A Faculty Member wrote:
>Hi John
>Do you know of any free software for creating podcasts that would
> work on both Mac and Windows.
>Thanks

On Feb 15, 2007, at 8:21 PM, John LeMasney wrote:
Sure,

There are lots of pieces of free software for working with podcasts.
Are we talking about the production and recording of podcasts,
distribution of them, editing them, and are talking about audio
only or video/screencasts, etc.?

j.

>A Faculty Member wrote:
>Hi John
>Ideally — all of the below.
>
>I will be teaching a class next spring that we would like to have
>students making podcasts –  so production/recording/editing and
>distribution — ideally cross platform software.  While we would
>teach some production basics - this wouldn’t be a production class -
>so we aren’t looking for complex solutions for creating content like
>Photoshop or Protools.  Actually one of our goals for the course
>would be to specifically stay away from “professional” and expensive
>software solutions and instead use free or very cheap software that’s
>readily available to everyone.
>Thanks

Okay,

Regarding Audio:

Editing, recording, tracking, and mixing can be done using Audacity.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Audacity is an open source [free] audio editing and finishing application.

Regarding Video:

From any source, you can create podcast prepared video using transcoding tools in VideoLan Client.

http://videolan.org

VLC is an open source [free] video playing and transcoding application.

Regarding distribution:

Advertising, RSS feeds, distribution, and related content can be done using WordPress.com

http://wordpress.com

With a free account, WordPress.com allows you to create a blog that can easily contain podcasts.

If you’d like to see podcasting in WordPress in action, take a look at my podcast at http://techarts.wordpress.com or you can see the full blown Open Source wordpress engine locally installed at our media server at http://media.rider.edu

I’d be happy to give you an overview of how this all works.

John.

Codec Packs: Good or Bad?

This is a very insightful couple of posts from two discussions about codecs. My own experience has been that codec packs can, and often do, lead to trouble. If you need a codec, you’ll find out when you need it. This may be inconvenient the first time it happens, but not as inconvenient as losing major codecs because the scrappy mega pack wiped it out with a free alternative. The worst thing to do is to install 62 codecs, most of which you’ll never use, and many of which contain malware. I like the advice of both of these posters. Well, except for the idea of using WinAmp - you can effectively ignore that part. Also, note that these codecs are for Windows. If you have a Mac or Linux, you’ll likely need to look up equivalent but separate siolutions. Good luck on getting the latest WMV codec to play on Ubuntu, for example, at least legally.

WINAMP.COM | Forums - No pictures when playing Videos / Internet TV
I’m using WinXP, and I’m still yet to find a video which won’t play perfectly in Winamp.
Tested with MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, DivX, XviD, OGM, WMV, ASF.
Athlon XP 2400 , Radeon X700, M-Audio Revo, DX9.0c.

Basically, I think it’s all down to codecs & DirectShow filters.
It’s especially those dodgy codec packs which cause most of the problems.

All you need are:
ffdshow
DivX and Xvid (though ffdshow can handle these, so no need to install them)*
OggDS Filter for .OGM
An MPEG-2 DVD Decoder, eg. Cyberlink PowerDVD / Intervideo WinDVD / Gabest (though ffdshow can also be configured to decode mpeg-2)*
Haali Splitter for demuxing MP4, MKV, OGM containers (add ;MP4;MKV;OGM to in_dshow extension list)
AC3Filter for AC3 audio layer (ie. if video uses ac3 audio)
CoreAAC (if video uses AAC audio)
Windows Media 8/9 codecs for ASF/WMV/MPEG-1
QT Alternative, for MOV

Then if the relevant file extension isn’t currently listed, add it to the Extension List in the DirectShow Decoder config (Winamp > Prefs > Plugins > Input > in_dshow > config). Though note that Nullsoft in_qt.dll plugin is recommended for QuickTime MOV, instead of adding ;MOV to in_dshow config.

Note that ffdshow can be configured to handle most video and audio decoding, including divx, xvid, mpeg2, and many more, so there’s a high possibility that ffdshow is the only thing you’ll need to install (but you might still need to configure it to make it the default handler for some formats).

* re: ffdshow
Once installed, go to: Start > Programs > ffdshow > video decoder configuration
Under “Codecs”, make sure DivX 3/4/5 and XviD are both set to enabled.
If disabled, click where it says “disabled” and change the drop-down menu to “libavcodec”,
or for mpeg2 change it to “libmpeg2″
etc.

You might also need to enable some formats in the ffdshow Audio Decoder config.

If the video still won’t play, then use MediaInfo to determine the required audio & video filters.

eg. other video formats might include:
Matroska (mkv, mka)
Real Media RM (do NOT install the evil RealPlayer!)
etc etc.

And all codecs/filters should be installed individually, not all at the same time.

If your system / graphics card is old, then yes, you should also uncheck “allow overlay” in Winamp Prefs.

And Chris Woods’ expert advice in the post above is certainly top notch.
Though I have no sympathy for people who install WinXP on old OEM systems with hardware not designed for it.

Here’s another poster with similar feelings on the subject. This was a direct response to the question “What’s the best Codec Pack?”:

VideoHelp.com / DVDRHelp.com / VCDHelp.com Forum Archive Forum Archive Home -> Software Playing -> What is the best Codec Pack?

Gazorgan posted 2003 Dec 04 14:13

There isn’t one. Period. Most codec packs break more than they help.

You basically need the following:

1) MP3 Codec (Radium)
2) AC3 Filter
3) MPEG2 Codec
4) FFDShow
5) OGG-Vorbis package (lots of good things with ogg, for sound).

That’s it. If you are going to encode DivX or XviD then install those codecs individually. MPEG1/2 Encoding comes with whatever encoder you use.

All of the above are available for free over in the tools section. Get the fourcc changer also, it will help with XviD/DivX playback issues sometimes (it’s an app, you don’t install it, you modify an AVI with it).

EDIT: Forgot the WMV9 codec pack if and only if you really need it, it fubars certan DivX3 files, but FFDShow will deal with it. MOV usually requires quicktime, but it’s such a spyware biatch to deal with. RM is even worse for spyware.

So, there you have it - I couldn’t have said it better, so as usual, I won’t try. John.

Screencast: Intro to Audacity

http://orion.rider.edu/screencasts/intro_to_audacity.MP4
In this short screencast, we talk about the open source Audio editing tool called Audacity. Effects are touched upon, getting the MP3 encoder, and making an MP3 out of a wav file.