1. Download & Convert Videos

• How to Download Videos from YouTube & other Web sites; and

Convert them to WMV format so can be edited in Windows Movie Maker

Prepared by Professor Pat for WS445: Women and ComputersSt. Cloud State University - February 2009 2. Table of Contents

Intro About File Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Downloading video from YouTube or otherWeb sites to Hard Drive or USB drive

• Using the KeepVid web page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

• Using Video DownloadHelper for Firefox. . . . . . .11

Converting the downloaded video to WMVformat to use in Windows Movie Maker

• Using VLC Media Player

• • Finding Portable VLC on USBstick distributed in WS445 . 12

• • Performing the video conversion with VLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

• UsingFireshot Addon with Media Converter. . . . . . . 19 (desktop or laptop only wont work with Portable Firefox)

Found at Slide Number 3. Intro About File Formats

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 Convertthem.

Can Watch in Which Player? Windows Media Player Quicktime Player VLCPlayer iPod FLV (e.g. AngelaDavis.flv) No No Yes No WMV (e.g. AngelaDavis.wmv) Yes Yes MP4 (e.g. AngelaDavis.mp4) No Yes Yes Yes MOV (e.g. AngelaDavis.mov) No Yes Yes Yes 4. Download via KeepVid: (1) Finding URL at YouTube 5. Copy URL from YouTube

Click inside the URL box to highlight

Then Right-Click on the highlighted URL

Choose Copy

6. At KeepVid.Com Open a new window or tab in your Web browser Enterwww.keepvid.comin the Address Bar Paste in the URL of the video that you just copied from YouTube Click the Download Button 7. Downloading Video at KeepVid.com using Firefox 8. Downloading Video at KeepVid.com using Internet Explorer Rename File-Be sure to add.flv to end of file name 9. Rename & Save FLV file The file name MUST end with.flv(a period followed by lettersFLV) WS445 students might want to save all their videos in the DocumentsVideo 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 . 10. Rename & Save an MP4 file

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 youriPod

11. Using Video Download Helper a FirefoxAddon

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 tohttp://www.downloadhelper.net/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.

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, butbetter image quality. 12. Find VLC on USB stick Using the Pstart launch menu (USB stick as distributed to WS 445 students) Actually can convert many different file formats FLV or MP4 to WMV is what we are using in WS 445 13. Find VLC if Pstart Menu does not Open Navigating the folders on USB stick distributed to WS445 students 14. 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 fromwww.videolan.org .You can download a portable version to use on a USB flash drive fromhttp://portableapps.com/ . 15. 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. 16. VLC Find the File to Convert 17. Telling VLC how to convert the file 18. VLC-Watch Progress of Conversion How to tell when conversion is finished Progress Indicator NoteStreamingat top of VLC window indicates conversion is in progress. Conversion has finished No STREAMING in title bar of VLC window. 19. Using Video DownloadHelper to Convert Files If you feel comfortable tweaking your computer, you can use Video DownloadHelperwith the additional Media Converter installed on your hard drive to manually convert files to a variety of formats. You can also manipulate Video DownloadHelperto automatically convert each downloaded video to a format you specify. Go tohttp://www.downloadhelper.net/conversion-manual.phpfor 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 .

20. 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 peoples videos & assembling your own movie.