Tutorial:Download/Convert Videos/Music FREE! w/Ubuntu

self ^ | 01/14/2008 | papasmurf

[papasmurf]

I keep getting asked how I download and convert youtube and other videos, so I offer you this tutorial. You will need Ubuntu 6.06 or higher (this was done on 7.10), as I haven't attempted this with anything lower. I refer to Mozilla, but any Mozilla derivative, such as FireFox, will work. All Terminal COMMANDS will be in red.

You will need to have ffmpeg installed. Open up your Synaptic Package Manager...

Type in your password to access the Manager...
Type in ffmpeg...
Click on the box, and mark it for installation...
Click Accept, to confirm installation...
Good. Now close the Package Manager, open Mozilla, and Click on Tools>AddOns...
Then, Click on Get Extensions...
Now, type into the Search Box "Downloadhelper", and hit Enter or Click on SearchH
Then, Click on "Video Downloadhelper" to Select...
Next, Click on the green "Install" button at the bottom and...
You'll be taken back to your Extention and AddOns manager...
After a few seconds, the Install button will be active, Click it to install...

All done? Good. Now, Close and Restart your Mozilla Browser for the install to take effect.

After re opening your Mozilla, navigate to youtube, and find a video you like. I chose "Red State Update: Alan Keyes & Fred Thompson's Hands", but you can choose anything you like. :)
Notice the Icon to the right of the Address bar? It will "Animate" whenever it finds somethingyou might like to download.
Click on the Arrow to view the files available for downloading.
Now, after the download completes, save the file. I like short names, so I renamed it...
I always like to check that the files are there before I start, so, open up your Terminal, and let's do that now, besides, you need to be in the directory of the files to convert them anyway. I had already made a Folder on my Desktop named Vid for this, so I will navigate to that one.
cd Desktop
cd vid
ls

I see my file, renamed to FRedsHands, is there so, now, let's go ahead and convert the vid from an ".flv" to a ".wmv" by typing in the most used ffmpeg convert command...ffmpeg -i FRedsHands.flv FRedsHands.wmv
That's all there is to it! Look in your folder and verify that it is there and has been converted.

[papasmurf]

If there any questions, please post them. If you are uncomfortable with using the Terminal, there is a GUI application called WINFF that is just a "frontend" for ffmpeg you can use.

FFMPEG can do an awful lot more than this. You can edit videos, change the quality, brighten, darken, etc. The list is huge. As well, it converts music, too. The complete Documentation is Here

For most of us, the basic conversions are good enough, well, at least for me. LOL

I've done 100's of tuts before, but THIS...is my very first one done in Linux or done with GIMP! I hope ya' like it!

These graphics will self destruct when my bandwidth hits 50%, which is 1500m. LOL

[papasmurf]

Could you ping the tech group please?

[papasmurf]

Pinging FRedheads so they can download FRed Videos!

[JerseyHighlander]

Hey thanks.
I’m slowly moving my daily non business usage into Xubuntu, appreciate this.

Can I ask you what debian .flv viewer you prefer?

[papasmurf]

Thanks.

I use mPlayer (Totem) or VLC. Some won’t play with mPlayer, so then I use VLC.

I only have one machine left on XP, mainly for my wife who needs activeX to log in to her Corp. VPN. I do have another XP installed on my Ubuntu in a VirtulBox VM for all of my proprietary applications that I use for business.

[ShadowAce]

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

This is a beautiful piece of work, papa - I’m running FC6 - will give this a try. Thanks for taking so much time and doing this so nicely.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

When I tried this

ffmpeg -i mymovie.flv mymovie.wmv

produced a file that Windows Media Player couldn't/woudn't play.

When I tried

ffmpeg -i mymovie.flv -vcodec wmv1 -acodec adpcm_ima_wav mymovie.wmv

Everything worked fine.

[papasmurf]

It happens sometimes, that the flv you want can’t be converted so simply, for a variety of reasons. In these cases, you will need to input the specifications, such as you did. I’ve done about 100 or so, and have only run into that twice. Both of those were made with Windows Media 7.

Why don’t you make a tutorial on how to find the correct commands and coedecs and how to use them?

Sweet post, thanks.

[papasmurf]

Bump for DaveLoneRanger.