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Capture streaming video for free using Videolan May 3, 2006

Posted by exertia in Internet, TV.
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PCMag recently had an article suggesting using Replay A/V (a shareware tool for $50) for capturing streaming audio / video streams. I was left scratching my head why they didn't suggest a wonderful free tool like Videolan. Here's the lowdown on using Videolan to capture video streams:

  1. Download and install Videolan for PC/Mac/Linux.
  2. Click on File > Open Network Stream.
  3. In the dialog box click on "HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/MMS" and type in the URL of the network stream you want to record.
    Videolan Open Network Stream Dialog
  4. Select the "Stream output" checkbox and click the Settings button.
  5. In the dialog box select the File option and browse to create a file for the stream to be written to. Leave all the settings as they are.
    Videolan Stream Output to File
  6. That's it! Click on OK twice and the stream will be written to the file. You can stop anytime you want. For best results use Videolan when playing the file.

Tomorrow: recording MP3's from online radio stations for free!

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Comments»

1. james - June 2, 2006

http://broadband.bluehyppo.com/servlet-bb/Video?opt=real&id=9099&format=full&popup=no&type=WINDOWS+MEDIA&serv_id=197

can u tell how to capture the link above using vlan ?

2. metamind - June 7, 2006

Hi,

I have a device (AverMedia DVB-T USB2.0) that can save digital broadcasts to my hard disk. I want to read that output file as a stream so I can forward it on to a machine in another room (lots of people coming round this weekend to watch the football).

Any ideas?

3. metamind - June 7, 2006

p.s. I want to stream it in as close to real time as possible.

4. exertia - June 8, 2006

James, I tried accessing your link - it gives an error in VideoLan and it starts in Windows Media Player but does not give any visual output. I am not sure what might be going wrong here. Try posting a query at the VideoLan Support forums at http://forum.videolan.org/ to see if you can get some help there.

5. exertia - June 8, 2006

Metamind,

What you want to achieve will need to be done in 2 steps:

1. Stream the video from the file on machine A:
Check step 4 from my post at http://exertia.wordpress.com/2006/04/23/7/ to achieve this.

2. Grab the output and display it on machine B:
Use steps 1-3 from my post at http://exertia.wordpress.com/2006/05/03/capture-streaming-video-for-free-using-videolan/ to achieve this.

3. Enjoy the football game :-)

Exertia

6. Burak - March 1, 2007

This is exactly what I had been looking for! This is the “pro”s tool who knows exactly what s/he wants but is looking for the correct tool.

Thi plug-in doesn’t just give you the videos for a couple of supported web sites, it actually gives you the possibility to use the underlying techniqeus to get them.

When you don’t get it another way, you still may get it with this tool.

7. phil - December 4, 2007

This didn’t work for me. I followed the steps and a file was produced but it didn’t have any file association and it wouldn’t play using any of the various players I have.

8. andy - May 30, 2008

Hi. I did the above using the Windows version of VLC. Something seems to be recording, but the video isn’t playing in VLC. I know it’s recording something, as the file I requested to save is getting bigger and bigger (can see this through “Refresh” of the directory). How can I view what it’s recording? What’s the best file format to save in? I saw a few mpeg formats, mp4, mov, etc. I just had the first one checked.

9. andy - May 30, 2008

On the expanding file it is saving, I did a Copy/Paste to play the copied file. The video plays, but there seems to be no audio.

10. funky - June 15, 2008

Andy, to see the video as it’s being recorded, check the “play locally” box.

11. Carl-Johan Sveningsson - June 23, 2008

Hey, nice little tutorial. I have a similar one but maybe more general about how to rip RealMedia and Microsoft Media streams here:

http://unclecj.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-download-webradio-and-webtv.html

Anyway, there’s one thing I still haven’t succeeded in and tried using your advice for - playing the captured realaudio (.rm) in Videolan (on Mac) in an attempt to convert it to wav saved to file. No success… and I don’t know how to get realmedia support into the ancient MPlayer OS X either. Any suggestions?

12. exertia - June 26, 2008

Thanks CJ, and your blog post is quite informative too! Unfortunately Real Audio / Video files are always quite tricky because of their proprietary nature. Haven’t had a chance to experiment with these or with a Mac, so wouldn’t be able to help. But you might try some specific bulletin boards / support forums to see if you get a response there…