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YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

rg3.github.io

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Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Wireshark is sort of illegal in Germany.

Can you elaborate?

He's wrong. Using hacking tools for attacks is illegal. Using Wireshark for network analysis is fine.

It's more about the intent than about what software you use.

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#93
post #64
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

-f also supports some symbolic names, which is very handy because it allows you to easily get the best possible quality without having to check the formats every time: -f 'bestvideo[ext=mp4]+bestaudio[ext=m4a]' this is what I'm using in my case (on youtube). Posting this here, because it's not obvious from the docs that this works.

I'm pretty sure the '-f best' setting is the default for updated versions of ytdl, so no real need for that.

Unless you always want to download the best mp4, not webm (or vice versa).

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#95
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your family members would use a command line app ?

If they knew about it, sure. All it would take is a 3 step (after initial download) instructional with some screenshots: 1. Open Explorer where you downloaded youtube-dl 2. Shift+Right click -> Open command window here 3. Type 'youtube-dl ' and paste url[0], then enter As I said it really is a discoverability problem, one that the organiser of the world's information is neither incentivised nor really expected to add…

I happen to be on a fresh copy of Windows 7 right now, so I'm going to try it. I expect to encounter at least several steps where a nontechnical user would be totally lost or frustrated.

1. Download Python 2.7 and install. Encountered error where the installer stopped with no indication that it had completed or failed. Tried to install again and it messed up the original installer which was hiding in the background and it failed.

2. Downloaded the YouTube-dl.exe. Running it does nothing. Youtube-dl gives no instructions on how to install.

3. Reading the documentation of youtube-dl, installation instruction is just "place it in their home directory or any other location on their PATH."

4. Google about PATH variables and home directories... I wouldn't expect a nontechnical user to get past this step.

5. Add C:\Python27 to the Path variable.

6. Drop youtube-dl.exe into C:\Python27.

7. Start Powershell. Doubt a nontechnical user would know how to do this, but whatever.

8. Figure out how to format a command to youtube-dl. Reading through the documentation is kind of confusing at first, but I will just copy a command from this HN thread.

9. Paste "youtube-dl --extract-audio --audio-format mp3 dQw4w9WgXcQ" into powershell. As you mentioned yourself, something a nontechnical user would have trouble doing since control-v is disabled.

10. "ERROR: ffprobe or avprobe not found. Please install one." So Google how to install ffprobe.

11. First link links to another page, which has a long 14 step guide asking me to figure out how to install PHP before I even start, so I'm just giving up here, 30 minutes in.

Sadly I didn't even get to the "it's working but I don't know where it's saving the files to" issue.

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah? Is Wireshark illegal too? Because I could get the same data by taking a pcap. The bits are on my computer. I get that I can't just go redistributing it (legally), and that youtube probably doesn't _like_ it, but if it's illegal (and honestly, maybe it is in the US given how ridiculous copyright and licensing law is there) that's ridiculous.

Using Wireshark is sort of illegal in Germany.

Well, being an "inferior race" was also sort of illegal in Germany back in the day too. Hopefully we progress over time.

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#98
previous discussion : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8647943

I used this (on windows) to easily convert/resize videos i had saved earlier using a file:/// url, but this possibility has been removed since a few months because of the obvious security hole (in a linux context)

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#99
post #28

The tragedy of this software (and many like it) is that despite working exactly as advertised, easily and with a lot of features, because it's a quiet open source project without any SEO rigging it will never appear in page 1 of any searches by laymen trying to download videos ("save youtube to hard drive", "download youtube videos" et al). The amount of crapware I've had to remove from family member's PCs just becau…

Open source projects should use more restrictive license or someone will be able to take this and bundle it with crapware + SEO.

Re: YouTube-dl: Open-source YouTube downloader

#100
post #6

Some of the things that make this the 'ultimate': - Supports hundreds of services, not just youtube [0] - Allows you to extract audio in multiple formats - Download entire playlists (and general batch support) - Configure video/audio quality - Extract/build metadata - Cross platform [0] https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/supportedsites.html

I use youtube-dl all the time on youtube when I'm browsing the web from elinks. I never realized that it supported other sites. It can log into crunchyroll using the data in my netrc file to download the 1080p video and subtitles! This is amazing, goodbye flash!
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