Posts Categorized: Replay Media Catcher

YouTube cracking down on download sites

Looks like programs like Replay Media Catcher will soon be the only way to download videos from YouTube. TechCrunch’s video download tool has recently been blocked by YouTube, and it’s likely they will start to block other sites.

Here’s the story:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/13/youtube-kills-our-video-download-tool

What do YOU do about this? Use a PC-based download tool like Replay Media Catcher, which works free with YouTube. If you want the technical meat of why this will continue to work read on…

The way TechCrunch (and likely other sites) are being blocked is via the IP address of their servers. The server goes directly to the YouTube site, and pretends to be a web browser, and then figures out the download link. It’s easy for YouTube to write a script to block certain IP addresses.

The “client” approach (like Replay Media Catcher) cannot be foiled in this way, since the IP address for the download request comes from an individual user’s PC, and not a server. YouTube cannot tell the difference between your web browser, or a client running on your PC, since the IP address of the request is the same.

It will be interesting to see if YouTube continues to crack down on other sites.

Changes to Replay Media Catcher

As of January 28, 2009, new installations of Replay Media Catcher will no longer be able to record web sites that use Adobe Secure RTMP Measures.

We have resolved a dispute with Adobe Systems Incorporated, without admitting any wrongdoing or liability, by agreeing not to circumvent any Secure RTMP Measures developed by Adobe.

Our other high-quality web video recording product, Replay Video Capture, will continue to work with ANY site. And we will continue our quest to make the best possible streaming media recording tools for our customers to fully exercise their Fair Use rights to online media.

Article on Downloading Amazon VOD Videos

Technology often moves faster than the news! Here’s an example:

We were featured in an article done by Reuters on September 26, mentioning how Replay Media Catcher was able to download movies from Amazon’s new VOD (Video on Demand) service.

Apparently, Amazon was asked for comment, and shortly before the article hit the wires, they had updated their system, making Replay Media Catcher (for now anyway) unable to record. Other aspects in the article are still valid though, but Amazon was a particularly big part of the story.

Nevertheless, there are other ways to record from Amazon — we recommend WM Capture. As this is a real-time high-quality recorder that works by capturing videos directly off of your PC’s screen, there’s no way it can be blocked.
The other interesting thing is how the story got going in the first place, which we’re still trying to figure out. Stay tuned!

Recording the Olympics, Part II

Alex has looked into more of the technical details behind how NBC is streaming the Olympics, and has made an interesting discovery. Apparently the stream formats are different for live streams vs. pre-recorded streams. This means that you can make digital recordings of live events, and record from the screen for “rewind” or cached events. Below is his technical summary.

The Silverlight NBC Olympics server uses Windows Media Player for live streams and VP7 for prerecorded videos. VP7 is the format used by web sites like abc.com or fox.com and can provide very high quality (lossless) video compression including HD. The problem with this format is that it cannot be reliably streamed for longer periods of time like the live broadcasts. The math used to compress the video and the audio does not allow recovery when packets are lost which results in out of sync audio. Currently Windows Media Player is the only format that can do this. The live stream Olympics can be recorded with WM Recorder or Replay Media Catcher but the prerecorded clips can only be recorded with WM Capture.

New First-ever Streaming Flash Video and MP3 recorder

Forget the XM and Sirius merger, the really big news is Replay Media Catcher, a hot new utility that captures MySpace video and MP3s, as well as lots of other premium audio and video content from sites like ABC.com, NBC.com, and thousands more. The technological breakthrough is the ability to capture streaming Flash, which nobody has been able to do before. Go to www.replay-media-catcher.com to download a free trial copy and check it out!

Here’s the official press release if you’d like to learn more:

New Streaming Media Recorder Captures Previously Unrecordable Online Video and Audio

February 21, 2007, San Anselmo, CA – Applian Technologies today announced the release of Replay Media Catcher, the first ever Online Video and Audio recorder for streaming Flash and MP3 sites. Replay Media Catcher allows customers to capture perfect digital reproductions from previously unrecordable premium destinations like ABC.com, NBC.com, MySpace™ and thousands of others, as well as popular places like YouTube™ and Google Video.

Replay Media Catcher uses a simple one-click recording interface. Customers just click the Start Recording button, and then play the streaming Flash video or MP3 audio to capture. Once Replay Media Catcher detects the media stream, it will continue to save a playable video or audio file on the PC hard drive, and the customer can then go in search of other media to record. Replay Media Catcher is able to record multiple streams simultaneously, limited only by the speed of the customer’s internet connection. Also included is FLV Player, which lets customers watch their recorded videos.

“Replay Media Catcher is the first ever production software to be able to capture RTMP Streaming Flash streams used by many of the top-tier content sites,” said Bill Dettering, CEO of Applian Technologies. “These unprotected, unencrypted files have been previously impossible to record for your personal use, and now Replay Media Catcher makes it possible to archive and enjoy more great online video without having to be connected to the internet.”

Replay Media Catcher is ready for download and immediate purchase from replay-media-catcher.com for $39.95. A free demo is also available. Replay Media Catcher requires a PC running Windows.

About Applian Technologies
Applian Technologies was started by Bill Dettering in 1997. In 2001, Bill created Replay Radio to be able to record and enjoy his favorite radio programs during his long daily commute to Silicon Valley. Now, several years after the launch of Replay Radio, Applian is recognized as the global leader in online recording software. Other popular Applian products include the Audio Video Streaming Capture Suite, Replay AV 8, Replay Music, Replay Converter, and Replay Screencast. Learn more about Applian Technologies and all their products at http://www.Applian.com.