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cant play mp4 files saved from youtube

davenn

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hey gang

I dont know if its a computer problem ... ie. I need some other sort of driver, other software
or if youtube did a change to their file format ( some weird mp4 variation ??)

I have noted that from ~ 6 - 8 months ago ( I have been meaning to talk abt this for some time) that video files i have saved from youtube for storing and future watching will not play
I have downloaded dozewns of doco, news clips, camera training tutorials etc using the realplayer save video button that pops up at the top right of a video

In the past there has never been a problem until ~ that 8 months ago, something has changed
Does anyone else have this hassle? the .mp4 files play ok as watched from within youtube, its just that the saved file wont play.
Have used a number of different players, Realplayer, VLC media player ( will play most weird formats), WMP

I would hate to delete all these videos only to later discover there was a fix for this

OHHH should note its ONLY files from youtube that wont play

cheers
Dave
 

(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
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I presume you've upgraded VLC to the latest version?

edit: although it does sound like Google is trying to stop you saving the videos by making them useless...
 

(*steve*)

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Heh! Read this.

I found that and other answers by googling for "saved youtube videos no sound"
 

KrisBlueNZ

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Personally I would not touch RealPlayer with a barge pole. I also find that Windows Media Player is a waste of time. Personally I mainly use a program called SMPlayer, which internally uses the venerable mplayer and can be downloaded from sourceforge.net, and I keep VLC around for the occasional video that SMPlayer can't play. Some people use VLC for everything, and I would do that too if I didn't like SMPlayer a bit more than VLC.

For downloading YouTube videos, I use a Firefox add-on called DownloadHelper (currently version 4.9.21) to pick out the video clip, and another extension called DownThemAll to do the downloading. DownThemAll is a very nicely implemented download manager that typically gets 2~4 times the speed of Firefox's normal download facilities.

YouTube do periodically mess around with their design to thwart people who want to download videos and therefore avoid their advertising (there's a plugin for that, too), but those two plugins are currently being updated regularly, so they catch up pretty quickly.
 

davenn

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thanks guys

will read that link Steve

will look into that player Kris and also try my firefox

cheers
D
 

davenn

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waaahooooo

thanks Kris SMplayer works a treat on most of those files I had already downloaded !!

the other will only play the sound, no video ... not to worry ... rescued a good number
will still try firefox and that plugin you mentioned

interesting comments in that forum Steve ... it sorta deadended huh LOL

Dave
 
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Six_Shooter

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I've been using a program called.... wait for it... You Tube downloader for a few years now. I only ever have issues immediately after Youtube makes a change and then within a day or so, the program has an update to get around it.

You Tube downloader also has some file conversions built in.

I mostly download videos for the music, then convert to MP3 from within the program.

You should also try other media players to see if its a player specific issue, which I've experienced frequently with other downloaded files. Certain media players won't play with sound, but the same file in another media player has sound. Usually there's a lack of sound in Windoze Media Player, but VLC has no issue.

The fix is usually to use either Freemake or MakeMKV to convert the file to MKV and desired audio track (you can strip out other language tracks if you wish). Sometimes I even have to "convert" an MKV to MKV to get a proper audio track for playblack, but it's usually non MKV files that have the issue.
 

davenn

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OK some further info

Kris, that downloadhelper works good and can save the file as a .flv and they play correctly

was also talking to a mate on the ham radio this afternoon and he suggested another solution, this also works well
there's a www site called Keepvid. it has a place where you paste in the youtube url of the video you want to save. and it lets you choose from several common file types to save the file as.
This also works well and am currently copying ands pasting into youtube the file names of videos I had previously downloaded that dont play correctly and am redownloading them :)

been an interesting day of learning

Dave
 
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donkey

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oh I see you are copying videos you made but didn't have a backup copy for.... you're not copying other peoples material cos that would be wrong......
on another topic does anyone have a spare hard drive for all the movies I have downloaded... I mean starred in.... my name is "producer" but sometimes go under "director" and you will find me in a lot of stuff
those programs sound like fun will have to try them when I need a backup copy of something I starred in
 

KrisBlueNZ

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you're not copying other peoples material cos that would be wrong......
What? Are you saying there's something inherently wrong with downloading and saving YouTube videos made by other people?

I know YouTube don't like it, because they want you to see their advertisements each time you watch the video, but no copyright violation is occurring.
on another topic does anyone have a spare hard drive for all the movies I have downloaded... I mean starred in.... my name is "producer" but sometimes go under "director" and you will find me in a lot of stuff
those programs sound like fun will have to try them when I need a backup copy of something I starred in
Oh, you were kidding? Please ignore my rant if so :)
 
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