Downloading Video Files from the Internet

[DrAlanStatham]

Hi,

I've been using Downloadhelper via Mozilla to download video files, which has been working well on Youtube etc. I've also downloaded from various other sources quite successfully.

However, although it worked before, every time I download a file from here:

http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1206822/Only_Fools_and_Horses..../season_5/episode_4/Tea_for_Three/%22

or other similar sites, I can't use the files once I've downloaded them - I go to the directory where I've saved it and Windows Explorer has a fault and shuts down.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?

Thanks

DAS

[hech54]

Buy the DVD and stop asking about illegal activities.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Only-Fools-Horses-Complete-Collection/dp/B000IZK52K

[mike20021969]

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong here?

Thanks

DAS

I just tested on that episode you linked to, and Internet Download Manager downloads a file with is playable.
So if I were you I'd maybe try a different downloader

[Hoser Rob]

Before this thread gets shut down (and to be quite honest I'd think someone who registered in 2008 would know better than to ask about warez ... are you really a doctor?), I'll try to make a couple of suggestions not regarding legal or moral issues.

First, tube sites are notorious for viruses. I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone over the age of 12 who is dumb enough to catch one from them.

Second, many of those warez videos are made on machines with weird non microsoft codec packs that have serious compatibility issues. Those 3rd party codecs should not be used on a windows 7 system according to microsoft tech support. These flaky codecs seem to be very common in Russia, which is where a lot of pirate video comes from (and many viruses too).

That's quite likely why they're making explorer crash. Note: I'm not actually blaming the video files here. Explorer should not crash like that. But then Windows isn't the most stable system out there ...

Third, the video quality of warez video is generally abysmal. File size and/or type isn't a reliable way of predicting quality. Usually the people ripping the discs are using crappy software with no encoding options. Or it may be good software but they don't have a clue how to use it properly.

The biggest joke is the user ratings for quality on those sites. Those people are retards.

Personally I don't care what you download but don't whine if you have problems with the files you get.

[mgh]

Hi,

I've been using Downloadhelper via Mozilla to download video files, which has been working well on Youtube etc. I've also downloaded from various other sources quite successfully.



Thanks

DAS

No problem in downloading with video download helper extension of firefox, nor in playing it back with VLC. It is an mp4 with avc video and aac audio, mislabeled with avi extension, which might be causing the crash. While saving, change it to mp4 extension.

[hello_hello]

Try turning off the previewing/thumbnails for video in Windows Explorer. I assume you're using Windows 7 so if you can disable it I can't tell you how to do it. Or alternatively, try an alternative to Windows Explorer so you can at least navigate into the folders. Xplorer2-lite is free and while not all features are enabled in the free version, it's still better than Windows Explorer. The first thing I do after installing Windows is to install Xplorer2 so I can close Windows Explorer and not use it again. Xplorer2 has it's own preview pane which is fairly easy to disable.
The video seems to be encoded using Xvid or DivX, although I'm only going by what's written on the page. I didn't actually download it. DownloadHelper will encode the video as you download it, won't it? Are you re-encoding or just downloading? Maybe it's DownloadHelper's fault, or maybe it's something to do with the way the video is muxed which upsets Windows. It could be a lot of things.

Before this thread gets shut down (and to be quite honest I'd think someone who registered in 2008 would know better than to ask about warez ... are you really a doctor?), I'll try to make a couple of suggestions not regarding legal or moral issues.

First, tube sites are notorious for viruses. I have absolutely no sympathy for anyone over the age of 12 who is dumb enough to catch one from them.

Not all of them are notorious for viruses. The porn ones maybe.... although I'm not sure if many of them are or how you'd catch a virus from them if they were. Maybe using Windows Media Player? Or by installing some sort of "special" player in order to play the video? Obviously you'd be silly to do that. I go to all sorts of places on the internet without getting infected, and I don't even run anitivirus software.

Second, many of those warez videos are made on machines with weird non microsoft codec packs that have serious compatibility issues. Those 3rd party codecs should not be used on a windows 7 system according to microsoft tech support. These flaky codecs seem to be very common in Russia, which is where a lot of pirate video comes from (and many viruses too).

You do realize that something isn't actually true simply because you keep repeating it? For one thing there's a fairly good chance the PC used to encode the video doesn't run any flavor of Windows. Just because you've got some idea in your head regarding Windows7 and third party codecs doesn't mean there aren't PCs running other OSs out there. Personally, I'd be surprised if Russians don't have access to the same third party codecs the rest of the world uses, but you do realize it's often the video being encoded in Russia which is flakey (preview-releases of DVDs etc), not necessarily the software used to encode it or due to a lack of encoding knowledge.

How would these apparently weird non-microsoft codec packs have compatibility issues with the Xvid or x264 encoders (unless they're being used to decode the video being encoded, but even then....). There's nothing wrong with using third party codec packs with Window7 any more then there is with XP. Microsoft just made it a little harder and did a Chicken Little impersonation, telling you it's "bad" to run them, but many people run third party codecs on Windows 7 and the sky hasn't fallen on their heads as a result. At least no more than it would have using XP.

That's quite likely why they're making explorer crash.

Third, the video quality of warez video is generally abysmal. File size and/or type isn't a reliable way of predicting quality. Usually the people ripping the discs are using crappy software with no encoding options. Or it may be good software but they don't have a clue how to use it properly.

The video quality from streaming sites can be low due to bandwidth considerations, but not all of it is low quality. I'd be keen to know how you've reached the "crappy software with no encoding options" conclusion. It sounds ridiculous to me.

The biggest joke is the user ratings for quality on those sites. Those people are retards.

In general being retarded is not being able to accept the quality will have certain limitations and adjust your expectations accordingly. Most people aren't that fussy, which is probably one reason they don't encode video themselves.
Nobody expects a 350MB AVI to look like a 1080p MKV. No, you can't judge quality from the file size, but for 100% DVD player compatibility using Xvid you have to run 2 pass encoding. So "average" file sizes and resolutions are used. What do you expect for free? Mind you the shift from AVIs to CRF x264 encoding is well underway, so quality/file size compromises will be far less common in the future.

Personally I don't care what you download but don't whine if you have problems with the files you get.

He's not whining about having problems with the files as such, he's asking about a problem with Windows Explorer crashing. And given your last post, there's probably plenty of irony there. Unless Windows Explorer uses flaky non-microsoft codecs for previewing video instead of the apparently non-flakey Microsoft ones?

[Baldrick]

BUy it