gHacks technology news » youtube videos

Youtube Videos Get Automatic Captions. 1080p Videos Roll-Out

Martin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:39:02 +0000

Seems that the Youtube developers are finally starting to implement new features at the popular video hosting portal. After the announcement of 1080p video support which began rolling out in the last 24 hours. There does not seem to be an option just yet to search for those 1080p videos on Youtube. Youtube videos that are already available in 1080p quality will offer a menu that becomes visible when pressing the HD button. This button will give the user the option to watch the video either in 720p or 1080p. See the example below for a video that can be viewed in 1080p on Youtube.

You can watch that video directly at Youtube by following this link. The 1080p videos seem to make use of the &fmt=37 parameter which can be added to the url to see if the Youtube video supports 1080p.

The second feature consists actually of two technologies: automatic captions and automatic timing.

Auto-Timing: Upload a transcript (a simple file with the text of what’s said in the video), and through speech recognition technology we’ll turn it into synchronized captions. Timing is the toughest part of creating captions, but now this should be much easier. The technology works best for videos with good sound quality and clear spoken English.

Automatic timing ensures that an external transcript is being used to avoid errors during speech recognition. This does however mean that a transcript of the video needs to be available. Youtube will automatically turn the transcript into synchronized captions through the use of speech recognition technologies.

Auto-Captions: We use the same speech recognition technology to create machine-generated captions (which can then be translated into 51 languages). You can see auto-caps in action right now on a range of educational channels, such as UC Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Yale, UCLA, Duke, UCTV, Columbia, PBS, National Geographic, Demand Media, UNSW and most Google channels, including YouTube’s. Click on the menu button at the bottom right of the video player, then click CC and the arrow to its left, then click the new “Transcribe Audio” button. In time, we hope to expand this feature for many more YouTube videos.

Automatic captions on the other hand uses speech recognition not only for timing purposes but also for creating the video transcript.

Tags: 1080p, automatic captions, Google, videos, youtube 1080p, youtube captions, youtube videos

Youtube Videos: Playback Problems And Fixes

Martin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:14:43 +0000

Youtube users experience a wide variety of problems and difficulties on the popular video hosting portal. Probably the most common for most users are playback problems while playing Youtube videos. This can be that a youtube video is not loading at all or – and this seems to be more common – that it stops the playback every few seconds which can really destroy the experience. If you search for problems related to Youtube videos you find a lot of solutions. These solutions seem to help some users but there is not a general solution available as of now that would fix the video playback issues for all. There are however a few important things that all users need to consider:

The web browser and the flash plugin should be up to date. Youtube uses Adobe’s Flash technology to stream the videos. There is unfortunately no official option to switch to a different technology like Apple’s Quicktime or Microsoft’s Windows Media Player. (Websites like Gametrailers.com offer this for example, read on to find out how to do this).
The computer itself has to be capable of playing the Youtube videos. Nothing can be done if the cpu or Internet connection is not fast enough to play the new 1080p videos. A switch to a lower resolution will do the trick in those situations. It might also be a good idea to open a performance monitor (or a task manager) to see if the cpu, memory or hard disk activity raises to critical levels during Youtube video playback. You can also check if it is related to your computer’s performance by downloading the video and playing it locally.

But lets say the computer and the Internet connection are fast enough and that the web browser, Flash plugin and audio and video drivers are also up to date. What if Youtube videos still stutter during playback? The best option here is to find out if it is web browser related. This can be done easily by downloading and testing Youtube video playback with other web browsers. Suggested browsers are Google’s Chome browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Opera.

The test can either lead to the conclusion that Youtube video playback is broken in all web browsers, in some or just in the one web browser that happens to be the default web browser that the user likes to use. The first conclusion seems to suggest either a hardware problem or Flash plugin problem while the last suggests a problem with the single web browser.

Here are a few solutions that have been posted by users around the web (remember to restart Firefox after making those changes).

Firefox Session Restore: The Firefox web browser will save sessions every ten seconds. This is a great way to save data automatically in case the web browser crashes. If Firefox does not crash regularly then there is not a need to save sessions every ten seconds as this can also be one of the reasons why Youtube videos stutter in Firefox. The fix is simple: Enter about:config in the Firefox address bar, filter for the term browser.sessionstore.interval, double-click that term and enter a new time for the session restore interval. The time has to be entered in milliseconds and a session store interval of 120000 or higher is recommended
Moving the disk cache to another hard drive or location: This can usually be done in any web browser. The idea is to move the disk cache, that is a temporary storage of data on the hard drive, to another faster drive. The disk cache is usually on the same drive as the operating system. If the computer has more than one drive it might be a good idea to move the cache to the second drive. Firefox users need to add the parameter in about:config by right-clicking, selecting Add, pasting the value browser.cache.disk.parent_directory and entering a location on the local computer system, e.g. d:\cache\ in the second form.
Disable hardware accelerator for Flash videos. This can be done by right-clicking a Youtube video, selecting Settings, switching to the Display tab (leftmost icon) and unchecking Enable Hardware Acceleration in the menu.
Try playing Youtube videos in their own web browser window without additional tabs open.
Increase the memory cache of the web browser. Open about:config, enter browser.cache.memory.capacity in the filter and change the default value to a higher memory cache capacity, e.g. 96000 (which would be 96 Megabytes).
Open the global Flash settings here and to set “always deny” in global security settings, and to set to unlimited in both ’storage’ tabs. A restart is required. (Thanks Charlie M)
Replace the Youtube Flash player with the default video processor of the computer system. This can be done using the Greasemonkey script No Flash Player. This can be the perfect solution for many users who only have problems with Adobe Flash and Youtube videos. This does however remove some of the controls like showing the code to embed Youtube videos in other websites.

Workarounds if the above solutions to play Youtube videos without pauses did not help:

The Play and Pause trick: Hit the pause button once the Youtube video starts playing. The web browser will continue caching the video. Start playback again once the video caching has reached a comfortable lead.
Download the Youtube videos: This is not a very comfortable solution and maybe not even practicable if many Youtube videos are watched throughout the day. It can however be the solution for individual Youtube videos that do not play normally on the site.
Switch to another web browser for Youtube. If you discovered that another web browser does not have the playback problems when playing videos on Youtube you might want to consider switching to that web browser for playing Youtube videos.
You could also try the Firefox add-on Media Player Connectivity which makes it possible to play Youtube videos in a separate media player that is installed on the computer system.

One of these suggestions and fixes hopefully helped fix Youtube video playback problems. If you know of another fix for this problem let us know in the comments. We would like to add it then to the article to make it a comprehensive resource for fixing Youtube playback problems. We would also like to hear from you if one of the fixes did solve your video playback problems.

Tags: flash video, youtube, youtube flash, youtube video, youtube video playback, youtube videos

Youtube To Add 1080p HD Videos

Martin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:02:19 +0000

Youtube and other video portals on the Internet have come a long way since the beginning of the online video boom. What started with low resolutions has now grown over the year to keep pace with the high definition development in the TV, digital camcorder and media market. Youtube announced yesterday in the official Youtube blog that they would start serving 1080p HD videos from the coming week on at their popular video portal.

The current maximum resolution for Youtube videos is 720p (1280 × 720) which will be raised to the new maximum of 1080p (1920×1080) from next week on. The highest quality level of the video still depends on the video source according to the post at the Youtube blog.

A test video was uploaded to Youtube to showcase the new maximum resolution. This video cannot be embedded and interested users need to visit Youtube to view the video there.

Videos that have already been uploaded in 1080p have previously been encoded for 720p. These videos will automatically be encoded again so that they can be shown in 1080p from next week on at the video portal. A search for 1080p on Youtube reveals many videos that are already available in that new format (or have been improperly tagged with the 1080p tag).

Tags: 1080p, 720p, google-video, videos, youtube, youtube videos

How To Loop Youtube Videos

Martin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:10:45 +0000

The video portal Youtube does not offer any means to loop or repeat videos automatically. There are however a few possible solutions for users who want to loop a video at Youtube.

The first option requires basic knowledge about Youtube’s url structure especially the unique video code that is part of every url. It is possible to change the url of the Youtube video so that it will loop and autoplay automatically. Here is how you can do that manually:

A normal Youtube url looks like the following

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgjMK2sWgsE

You can turn this into a replaying and autoplaying video url by appending the parameters loop=1 and autoplay=1 to the url and changing the url slightly so that it looks like this afterwards

http://www.youtube.com/v/sgjMK2sWgsE&loop=1&autoplay=1

This will open the youtube video in fullscreen in the web browser, play it automatically and loop it infinitely.

The manual solution to loop Youtube videos is fine if it is only used scarcely. Users who want to loop Youtube videos regularly might want to consider an automated option like the Youtube HD Ultimate userscript which comes with the functionality to automatically loop Youtube videos. Other userscripts are available that offer a similar functionality.

Tags: loop youtube videos, repeat youtube videos, youtube, youtube videos

Create Animated GIFs From YouTube Videos

Martin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:24:03 +0000

Animated gifs are largely a thing of the past. They do not play an important role anymore in today’s web design but are still popular in forums and other message boards. GifSoup is an online service that is offering to convert a Youtube video into an animated gif. All it takes is to paste a Youtube video url in the form at the website. The service will then automatically download the Youtube video.

A preview of the video with the option to select a starting and end time for the animated gif are presented to the user afterwards. The service currently offeres to create animated gifs that have a maximum size of 10 seconds. It is up to the user to select the starting and end time for the animated gif there.

A preview of the selected time frame is available after making the selection. This makes it easier to correct the start or end of the video if necessary. A click on the finish button will save the video on the Gif Soup website. The user then has the opportunity to download the animated gif in different sizes to the local computer system or use the code to embed it into websites directly. A watermark with the url of the service will always be displayed in the lower right corner of the video.

Users who prefer more configuration options and an animated gif without a watermark can use image editors like Gimp or Adobe Photoshop to do the same. They offer more options but are more complicated to use. GifSoup offers an easy way to create animated gifs from Youtube videos in no time.

Tags: animated gifs, gifsoup, youtube, youtube videos

Automatically Buffer Youtube Videos

Martin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:29:49 +0000

Many Youtube users do not like the fact that Youtube videos start playing as soon as the video is opened. This objection has several reasons. The most prominent ones are that users with slow connections can experience pauses during playback as the video download speed is slower than the playback speed of the video. Another reason becomes apparent if users open multiple videos at once on Youtube. All of these videos start playing as soon as the page has loaded which is obviously not a good experience.

The Greasemonkey script Youtube Auto Buffer And Auto HD and Remove Ads offers a quick and unobtrusive solution to that problem and two additional ones.

Youtube videos will automatically buffer completely without playback. Users who want to do that manually need to press the pause button on each video so that the video is not played but the contents are buffered. The script automates that process.

The Greasemonkey script adds two additional features. The first will automatically load the HD version of the opened Youtube videos. That’s a feature that most Youtube scripts and add-ons provides. The second will remove those annoying ads that are displayed at the bottom of Youtube videos.

Some users reported that they got the script working not only in the Firefox web browser but also in Opera. Interested users can download it from the Userscripts website. Make sure to check out our download Youtube videos guide if you are interested in download videos from the video portal.

Tags: download youtube videos, greasemonkey, userscripts, youtube, youtube buffer, youtube videos, youtube-tips

Youtube Video Search Is A Barebone Youtube Downloader

Martin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:06:03 +0000

If you can live without fancy then Youtube Video Search might be the right software program to download Youtube videos for you. The portable application comes without installer and can be executed from any storage device that is connected to the computer system including external hard drives, USB sticks and optical drives.

The Youtube downloader concentrates on streamlining the download of videos from the popular video hosting website. It comes with a search form on top that populates the main area of the application with search results in seconds. Each video is listed with its title, type, duration, rating and date that it was added to the Youtube video hosting portal.

A double-click will open the selected video in the default web browser of the computer system. The right-click on the other hand will open a context menu with three options. These options are to open, preview or download the selected Youtube videos. The open command will perform the same operation as the double-click. Preview will generate a small thumbnail image of the video and display it in the Youtube video downloader.

Save as finally will open the file browser that can be used to pick a download directory for the selected videos. It is possible to select one, multiple or all of the videos that have been returned as results. It is possible to either download the videos in original flv format or high quality mpeg format.

And that’s it. No fancy options menu to change program settings. No video preview in the application itself. Just a barebone fast Youtube video downloader that does what it is supposed to do. Oh, there is an option to enter a Youtube username and password but there is no explanation why this option is offered and it is not needed to download the videos. Youtube Video Search is available at the developer’s website. Check out the download Youtube videos article for more tools and services that allow users of all operating systems and web browsers to download videos from the video portal.

Tags: download youtube videos, portable software, windows software, youtube, youtube video search, youtube videos, youtube-downloader

Youtube Playlist Converter

Martin — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:36:33 +0000

Download Youtube Videos was the name of an article that we published a few days ago that proved to be very popular. The software program Youtube Playlist Converter would have been a great fit for the selection of programs, web browser plugins and web services that allow users to download videos from Youtube. The program on the other hand is a little bit different than most programs that we reviewed back then.

The standalone software can download and convert videos from Youtube playlists into mp3 format which makes it an excellent program to increase a music collection. Other programs that we mentioned could do that too but none were as easy to use as Youtube Playlist Converter.

The user needs to enter a username in the application’s interface. A click on the refresh button will download all playlists from the user and display them in the interface. It is then up to the user to pick one of the playlists for download. A download directory has to be specified before the Youtube videos can be downloaded and converted. A click on the convert button will initiate the process.

The software program will then download the Youtube playlist information to display them in a new window. It is then possible to deselect some of the videos in the interface to prevent them from being converted to mp3.

A click on the ok button will then download the Youtube videos and convert them into mp3 format. The original flv files will be deleted afterwards so that only the mp3 files remain on the computer’s hard drive. Youtube Playlist Converter is compatible with Microsoft operating systems like Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework (not sure which version).

Tags: download youtube videos, windows software, youtube, youtube playlist converter, youtube video download, youtube videos

Download Youtube Videos

Martin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:18:08 +0000

Many Internet users want to download Youtube videos. Downloading the videos can be beneficial in several ways including the option to play the video at any time without having to access the Youtube website on the Internet. It can also save bandwidth and be used to transfer the Youtube videos to devices like cell phones, media players or gaming systems that are usually not connected to the Internet or that do not offer the speed needed to enjoy the videos.

There are basically three ways of downloading Youtube videos: Using a web service, a web browser add-on or a standalone software program. All methods have their distinct advantages and disadvantages. Web services for example are usually independent of operating systems and can be used instantly without having to install software.They do usually lack the ability to download multiple Youtube videos at once.

Web browser plugins require installation. They have the advantage that they work directly on the site which is very comfortable for the user. They also usually do not provide the means to add multiple videos at once to a download queue.

Software programs to download Youtube videos usually come with the option to add multiple video links to the queue before starting the download. They do need to be installed on the other hand and lack a solid Youtube browser sometimes.

Online services to download Youtube videos:

Web services are websites that provide the means to download Youtube videos to a local computer system. Some offer advanced features like converting the video to another format. The list has been limited to ten free services that provide options to download Youtube videos.

1. Keepvid: A straightforward service. The user needs to paste the url of the Youtube video in the form provided on the website. Keepvid will then offer low quality and high quality downloads of the video. Works with other video portals like MySpace video or Dailymotion as well. Offers a bookmarklet which works more comfortably than copying pasting Youtube urls.

keepvid

2. Zamzar: A file conversion service that can not only download Youtube videos but also convert the videos into different formats. Great for users who need the video in a different format and do not want to convert them on their computer system.

Zamzar

3. KCoolOnline: Currently supports 231 video portals including Youtube. It has a basic interface. All that needs to be done is to paste a video url in the form to download the Youtube video. Users who like to download videos from many different video portals might like this as it supports a lot of them.

KCoolOnline

4. Video Downloader: Another basic web interface that allows users to download and convert videos from sites like Youtube, Dailymotion or MySpace. Nothing much to say about this service except that it offers downloads in the original flv format but also in mp4 out of the box.

Video Downloader

5. SaveVid: Offers Youtube videos in original flv or mp4 format. Displays a live list of videos that get downloaded by users on the website which can be a great source of videos as download links are displayed directly. Offers top 10 lists, archives and categories as well.

SaveVid

6. Vidgrab: Vidgrab offers a web form that can be used to paste Youtube videos into it. These videos can then be downloaded in their original format. One interesting aspect of Vidgrab is the list of popular videos that are displayed on the website. These can also be downloaded directly to the computer system.

Vidgrab

7. Vixy: Vixy is a video converter that supports Youtube videos. It does not offer the means to download Youtube videos in their original format. Videos can be converted into various formats including avi, 3gp, mov or mp4.

Vixy

8. KeepTube: Online service to download Youtube videos with preview and options to download the video in various formats including normal and high quality flv, 3gp and mp4. Offers additional ways of downloading the videos including a bookmarklet and a very ingenious way by adding keep- after the www. of the youtube url.

KeepTube

9. KissYoutube: Offers a similar service as Keeptube by allowing users to add the word kiss after the www. of the youtube url to download videos directly without having to visit the KissYoutube website manually. Comes with the usual form to download videos from Youtube as well.

KissYoutube

10. Video Getting: Another service that combines video downloading and conversion in one interface. Users can paste Youtube videos in the form and download them in eight different formats.

Video Getting

Web Browser Add-ons to download Youtube videos

The following list contains ten web browser add-ons and plugins for popular web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer that allow users to directly download videos from video portals like Youtube. These add-ons have the advantage that the videos can be downloaded directly without having to visit another website to do so.

1. Video Download Helper (Firefox): One of the most popular Firefox add-ons. It supports many different video portals including Youtube. The add-on will change its icon in the status bar whenever a website with media links is visited.

Video Download Helper

2. NetVideoHunter (Firefox):

NetVideoHunter: Will recognize Youtube videos and add them to its queue with the possibility to download the videos immediately or at a later time. Videos can also be played in the interface as well.

3. Viloader (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera): A plugin that installs itself in three different web browsers. It offers a download video right-click context menu option that can be used to download the videos from Youtube and other video portals.

Viloader

4. IE7Pro: IE7Pro supports Internet Explorer 8 as well despite its name. It comes with a userscript engine and a script pre-installed that can download Youtube videos. The browser plugin will display a download video link in the video description on Youtube.

IE7Pro

5. Flash Video Downloader (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera): Flash Video Downloader operates a web service to download videos and an add-on that can be installed in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera. The Opera is one of the few Youtube video download widgets that currently work with Opera 10.

6. Google Chrome Bookmarklet: Users can use a bookmarklet to download videos in the Google browser. All they need to do is to create a new bookmark in the web browser and add the following JavaScript code as the url:

javascript:window.location.href = 'http://youtube.com/get_video?video_id=' + swfArgs['video_id']+ "&fmt=18" + "&l=" + swfArgs['l'] + "&sk=" + swfArgs['sk'] + '&fmt_map' + swfArgs['fmt_map'] + '&t=' + swfArgs['t'];

A click on the bookmark on any Youtube video page will download that video in the Google Chrome web browser.

Software Programs to download Youtube videos

The following list contains software programs for all popular operating systems that allow a user to download videos from Youtube.

1. TubeQueue (Windows):

TubeQueue: A program for the Windows operating system that can queue, convert and download multiple Youtube videos. The program comes with its own search interface making it completely independent from the Youtube website.

2. Free FLV Converter (Windows):

Free FLV Converter: A software program that can search for, download and convert Youtube videos and videos from other web services. It’s biggest strength is the search that can easily handle thousands of results providing comfortable options to download multiple videos at once from Youtube.

3. Orbit Downloader (Windows) : Orbit is a very popular download manager that supports a variety of popular media sites out of the box including Youtube, MySpace or Pandora. It integrates with web browsers and comes with the Grab++ module that can be used to catch and download media files.

Orbit Downloader

4. Youtube-DL (Linux, Windows): A command line program to download videos from Youtube

Youtube-DL

5. Abby and CCLive (Linux): Abby is a frontend for CCLive that can be used to download videos from various popular video hosting websites including Youtube.

Abby and CClive

6. GetTube (Mac): An application for Apple Mac computers that can be used to download Youtube videos.

GetTube

There are literally dozens of other applications, web services and browser plugins that can be used to download videos from Youtube. Please leave a comment if you think we should add another free services, plugin or software to the list.

Tags: download youtube video, download youtube videos, videos, youtube video download, youtube videos

Youtube Videos Downloader TubeQueue

Martin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 08:46:15 +0000

You have many different programs and services at your disposal if you want to download videos from the popular video portal Youtube. There are web browser add-ons, bookmarklets and desktop applications that can all download Youtube videos. Some can only download one video at a time while others provide a more sophisticated solution to queue and download multiple videos from Youtube.

Tubequeue – as the name suggests – is of the latter sort. It is a standalone software program for the Windows operating system that can not only download multiple videos from Youtube but also convert them into different formats so that the videos can be transferred to other devices such as mobile phones, mp3 players or gaming consoles.

The program works the following way: The user begins by entering a search phrase in the search box at the top left corner of the program. This will display 100 Youtube videos related to that search query. It is possible to sort the results by relevancy, data added, popularity or view count just like on the Youtube website. The Youtube videos are displayed with a small image thumbnail, names, ratings and playing time. A click on the right arrow key will open the selected Youtube video in a preview window where it can be watched. The second possibility to find Youtube videos is to use the Youtube website search instead which will basically display the Youtube website in the program window.

A right-click on one or multiple videos in the list makes it possible to add the selected videos to the processing queue. This will move these videos to the conversion settings pane where the user can select an output format. Formats offered included avi, mp4, mov, mp3 or mpeg with the option to keep the original flv format.

A click on the Add To Processing Queue button will move the videos once again. This time to the processing queue where all information and settings that have been selected so far are shown again. A click on Download / Convert will start the Youtube video download and conversion process.

It is possible to add Youtube urls and video formats that already reside on the local computer system to the queue as well. TubeQueue is an interesting software program to download and convert multiple Youtube videos in short time. It has some performance problems during video playback and does not cope well with videos that are not available in the user’s country. It is a rock solid program otherwise though. TubeQueue requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.

Tags: download-videos, tubequeue, windows software, youtube, youtube video, youtube videos, youtube videos download

Automatic Video Capture Software WebVideoCap

Martin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:37:47 +0000

There is definitely no shortage when it comes to finding software programs and add-ons that allow a user to download videos that are shown on websites. The popularity of video portals like Youtube was probably the main reason why many software developers have created video capture software programs. Some of the most convenient ones are available as add-ons for the Firefox web browser.

Download Helper for example will automatically identify videos that are played on websites offering the user a download link of that video. Most of the solutions that have been created require at least some manual interaction with the program.

Not so with WebVideoCap. The portable video capture software has been created by Nirsoft, one of our all-time favorite software developers. The software will automatically save videos that are played on websites to a folder on the local computer system. All the user needs to do to start the capturing is to click on the Start Capture button in the application’s interface.

A few parameters and options are available; It is for example possible to select the network adapter, save folder, scan method (between raw sockets and WinPCap) or file types that should be saved automatically. WebVideoCap supports the following web video stream formats:

Flash video files (with .flv extension)
Microsoft Windows media files (with .wmv extension)
RTSP streams. (RTSP protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)
MMS streams. (MMS protocol is used by many news and live TV/radio Web sites)

All videos that match the supported video stream formats are saved automatically once the capturing process has been started. This can be very helpful for users who regularly download videos from video portals. One slight problem was encountered during tests. If the videos contain an age verification (like the 18+ video games over at Gametrailers) then they cannot be saved as the capturing process is interrupted by this). Videos that do not contain this interference are saved without problems.

Tags: download-videos, nirsoft, portable software, video capture, video capture software, windows software, youtube, youtube videos

Youtube Downloader And Manager

Martin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:09:50 +0000

There is definitely no shortage of web browser add-ons and software programs that allow users to download videos from the video portal Youtube. We covered possibilities in the past like Youtube Download or Youtube Batch Downloader. Youtube Manager on the other hand adds to that by not only providing the means to download Youtube videos but also to create playlists, convert videos and to generate screenshots of the videos.

The Youtube downloader comes with an interface that requires some explanation. VYoutube videos can be added to the software’s database by going to the Preview tab in the browser which will open the Youtube video portal in the application. Videos can be added by clicking on the Save In Database button on tab. Another possibility is to right-click on a video thumbnail and select the Download Video option but there is no way currently to add multiple Youtube videos directly.

Videos are added to the Your Video tab from where they can be added to playlists that work in the Youtube downloader. Alternative playlists can be created for the video player VLC.

Once the videos are in the Your Video pane they can be added in batch to a playlist, converted to another video format or to mp3 audio. That’s actually one of the biggest strengths of this Youtube downloader as it can virtually convert hundreds of videos at a time.

The program would be excellent if it would provide the option to add multiple videos directly to the program. The version of the Youtube Downloader which is currently 0.0.1 could mean that the software developer has plans to add that feature and additional ones to the software program. The program works under Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Tags: video portal, videos, you tube downloader, youtube, youtube manager, youtube software, youtube videos, youtube-download, youtube-downloader

Force High Or Low Quality On Youtube Automatically

Martin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:03:24 +0000

The various video qualities at the Youtube video portal are confusing part of its userbase. Youtube videos can be viewed in the original quality in a screen resolution of 320 x 240 but also in various other formats like 480 x 360 or 1280 x 720 which are further divided into various framerates and audio encoding qualities. Confusing to say the least as there is no information on the video pages that inform the user about the various quality levels of a video.

Youtube HQ is a Greasemonkey script that takes that burden away from the user. The script can be configured in two ways: The first mode which is also the default one will always display the video in the highest possible quality on the Youtube website. It will automatically increase the screen size to fit the video on the screen. This makes only sense if the computer is connected to a computer monitor that is capable of displaying the high resolutions.

The second mode of the Greasemonkey script will always load the low quality version of the Youtube video which is excellent for users who are accessing Youtube with a low bandwidth connection or from a system with a small computer monitor.

The benefit of using the Greasemonkey script is obvious. It will automatically resize Youtube videos according to the user’s configuration of the script. Check out out article Youtube Video Download to find out how to download videos from Youtube.

Tags: greasemonkey, youtube, Youtube High Quality, youtube low quality, youtube video, youtube video download, youtube videos, youtube-download

Youtube Video Download

Martin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:12:28 +0000

Youtube is slowly starting to provide access to high definition videos on the video portal. If you perform a search for it you find many websites that explain how to view the videos on Youtube in high definition. High definition Youtube video downloads on the other hand are not explained that often. One of the best ways to download the Youtube videos in high definition is with the help of the Firefox add-on Download Youtube Videos in HD and MP4 [link]. The add-on provides an easy way to download Youtube videos by adding download links directly on the Youtube video pages.

Youtube video download adds two links to one of the right panels that contain the url and embed links. The Download as MP4 and Download as 720p HD MP4 are displayed. They can be saved by right-clicking on one of the two links and selecting Save Link As from the context menu. One should note however that this is obviously only working if a HD video is available on Youtube. If there is no HD video the download will display the file as get_video or videoplayback which will not save the video at all. It is possible that one of the two Youtube video download links is working but there have been cases where none was working.

The Firefox add-on to download Youtube videos in high definition is currently experimental which means that you have to log into the Mozilla website to download and install the extension.

Tags: firefox, firefox youtube, firefox-add on, firefox-extension, how to download youtube videos, youtube video, youtube video download, youtube videos

Monty Python Youtube Channel

Martin — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:42:56 +0000

The British comedy group Monty Python has a massive fanbase thanks to their popular movies The Life Of Brian, Monty Python’s Flying Circus or Monty Python And The Holy Grail. It seems that Monty Python struck a deal with Youtube / Google to bring lots of clips from their shows to the video portal officially.

The channel currently hosts 23 video clips of which 21 are from Monty Python shows and movies. It is not an immense collection at the moment but it looks as like new videos will be uploaded regularly to Youtube.

Some famous scenes from their movies are already available like the fight with the black knight in the Holy Grail movie or the Biggus Dickus scene in the Life of Brian. So, if you are a Monty Python fan head over to their official Youtube channel to watch the videos there.

Tags: comedy videos, monty python, monty python videos, the life of brian, youtube, youtube videos

Windows Live To Youtube

Martin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:34:55 +0000

We have already covered the Windows Live Facebook plugin today which made it possible to upload photos from the Windows Live Photo Gallery application directly to Facebook. The Live Upload To Youtube plugin is a similar plugin by the same author with the difference that it provides the option to upload videos to Youtube directly from within Live applications.

To be more precise, the plugin is currently working with Windows Live Photo Gallery or Windows Live Movie Maker. It works by selecting one video in one of the supported applications and initiating the upload from the Publish > Live Upload To Youtube menu. A popup will appear asking for a Youtube username and password.

If the login is successfully a new window will be shown with options to enter a title, description, keywords, a category and permissions for that video. A progress bar will be displayed after sending the information that is showing the status of the uploaded video.

The Windows Live Movie Maker menu is called Publish On Web instead of Publish but it provides the same interface after that point.

Tags: windows live, Windows Live movie maker, windows live photo gallery, windows live youtube, youtube, youtube software, youtube videos

Youtube High Quality Playback

Martin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:50:29 +0000

If you visit Youtube you might have noticed the “watch in high quality” link beneath some videos on the video portal. The high quality link leads to a video with a better resolution and quality that is more enjoyable to watch than the low quality versions. High quality videos on the other hand demand a faster Internet connection which is probably the main reason why Youtube has not enable the high quality option by default.

There is however an easy way to enable Youtube high quality playback for all videos that have been uploaded and processed to deliver high and low quality versions. Always clicking on the “watch in high quality” link is the only option for users who do not have an account at the video portal.

That quickly becomes annoying if you watch dozens of videos a day. Users with an account can define the quality in the user’s profile. That’s the easiest and best way for users with a broadband connection who always want to watch Youtube videos in high quality.

The setting can be changed in the Playback Setup of My Account. The easiest way to reach the menu is by clicking on the Account link on top and selecting Playback Setup from the left menu once the Account interface shows up.

Checking the “I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it’s available” box will ensure that Youtube will always stream the high quality version of a video – if it exists – to the user as long as the user is logged in.

Tags: high quality, high quality videos, video portal, youtube, Youtube High Quality, youtube quality, youtube videos

Bypass Youtube Age Verification

Martin — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 09:08:22 +0000

Youtube uses a flag system that allows users to report videos as inappropriate which according to Youtube means any violation of the Youtube terms of service. A flagged video will be reviewed by an administrator who has numerous options at hand including setting the flag for age verification which requires users to login before they can view the video. Age verification is pretty basic and anyone who cheated on his birthday can watch the video after logging in.

The message that gets displayed when a user who is not logged in loads a video with age verification is the following: “This video or group may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube’s user community. To view this video or group, please verify you are 18 or older by signing in or signing up.”

Numerous ways to bypass that age verification check have been posted which included using caches and proxies. The Firefox extension You Old Enough provides users with another way. The experimental add-on will check if the video on Youtube is flagged for age verification and open it immediately in a popup window.

This means that it is possible to watch all videos on Youtube that require age verification without having to login to the system. That’s good news for privacy sensible users who do not want to hand over their usage data to data mining Google.

Tags: age verification, bypass age verification, bypass youtube age verification, firefox, firefox-add on, you old enough, youtube, youtube age verification, youtube videos

Youtube File Hack Tool For Internet Explorer

Martin — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:43:23 +0000

Firefox users are flooded with add-ons that provide them with the option to download videos from video portals like Youtube but Internet Explorer users are somewhat left in the rain. The Youtube File Hack Tool tries to change this by offering Microsoft Internet Explorer users a way to download videos from Youtube easily.

This plugin for Internet Explorer adds itself to the right-click context menu. All the user needs to do is to right-click a link that points to a Youtube video and select the Download This Youtube Video that was added by the Youtube File Hack Tool.

A download dialog appears and CTRL V enters the filename of the video automatically in the dialog box, another comfort function of the plugin.

The creates have added several tutorials to their websites that detail possible scenarios like wanting to download a video after search, while playing or from user recommendations.

Tags: download-videos, internet-explorer, youtube, youtube videos, youtube-hacks

Timetube displays a Youtube video timeline

Martin — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:46:30 +0000

Timetube is a Youtube mashup that creates a timeline of Youtube videos related to a keyword that the user is searching for. The time period can be altered from 1 day to 100 years which tells me that the developers have plans to offer this service for a very, very long time. While sorting the results by time is not something special, even the default search at Youtube can do that, the display of the results makes it special.

Results are sorted on a timeline and weighted by popularity. The most popular videos are displayed with big preview images, the lesser popular ones with smaller thumbnails and then there are the results without thumbnail. The title of the video and the day of it’s posting are always displayed as well so that it’s possible to understand what a video will be about even if no thumbnail is shown.

A click on a video loads that video on the same page with virtually no delay offering the usual Youtube controls.

Timetube offers an excellent possibility to visualize Youtube search results, excellent idea and interface.

Tags: search youtube, timetube, videos, youtube, youtube videos

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