Help needed recording streaming video.

[Gwen7]

hi all!

i'm working with a nursing home on a totally unrelated technical project
and got asked if there were a way to record a stream at this URL
(http://www.ewtn.com/...?feed=domenglivepage)
and burn it to DVD.

i have very little experience doing this sort of thing. none really. is
there a how-to or good Youtube video somebody can point me to on how to
do this if it's too long to post? i tried looking at some video sites.
and doing some google-fu. but all the advice i've seen is either an ad
for a specific piece of comercial software or has a heavy emphasis on
'free' at the expense of reliability and convenience. it's ok if i need
to purchase software to do this easily. but i don't have the time to
start a science faire project right now. or spend a lot of time on it. i
suppose it would be easier just to say 'no' to the person who asked. but
this is for elderly shut-ins. so i can't just brush the question off.

are there any media geeks out there that can help me with this?

[mouser]

UrlSnooper found a url of
rtmp://ewtn.mpl.miisolutions.net:1935/ewtn-live-1/_definst_?videoId=1721600232001&lineUpId=&pubId=1675170007001&playerId=2112648932001&affiliateId=

but i couldn't get any further than that, and couldn't figure out how to get Net Transport to record it.

And then i tried some experimenting, combining some other url stuff shown by UrlSnooper, and came up with this, which appears to be a valid rtmp video stream of the live stream:
rtmp://ewtn.mpl.miisolutions.net/ewtn-live-1/_definst_/900.mp4

And NetTransport *WAS* able to download and record that, *HOWEVER* I could not get an audio from the recorded stream of that.. not sure why, maybe someone else can assist with that..

[Renegade]

The relevant code is:

Code: HTML [Select]

1. <!--
2. By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C
3. found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/.
4. -->
5.  
6. <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script>
7.  
8. <object id="myExperience1721600232001" class="BrightcoveExperience">
9.   <param name="bgcolor" value="#494949" />
10.   <param name="width" value="255" />
11.   <param name="height" value="210" />
12.   <param name="playerID" value="2112648932001" />
13.   <param name="playerKey" value="AQ~~,AAABhgfpx9k~,oDdvuOi2gc9Jb6SCcsBzNSXoXbJgHyBg" />
14.   <param name="isVid" value="true" />
15.   <param name="isUI" value="true" />
16.   <param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" />
17.  
18.   <param name="@videoPlayer" value="1721600232001" />
19. </object>
20.  
21. <!--
22. This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soon
23. as the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only after
24. the rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line.
25. -->
26. <script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script>
27.  
28. <!-- End of Brightcove Player -->
29. </div>

So the relevant parts are:

http://admin.brightc...htcoveExperiences.js

And the IDs there.

The JS is far too long to post here.

I don't have time to go through that now (and I'm not totally sober...), but perhaps this will trigger something that someone else knows.

"Brightcove" is key there.

These things are generally straight forward in tracking down the proper URL and sending the right cookies if they're that sophisticated.

[WP]

Not sure if there are any free programs that can do this.  Maybe try some browser plugins, Real Player, or Stream Transport.  I am pretty sure 2 different paid-for programs would work but if I mention them, somebody will accuse me of spamming.

The link you have is a live stream which is usually more difficult to capture as compared to just an on-demand fixed-length video. 

Now, is the whole idea of capturing the video and putting it on dvd even practical?  Let us say you have the video captured.  Not that hard.  Then, you would need to convert the file to reencode the video to mpeg2.  Another consideration is that a standard single-layer dvd holds less than an hour and a half video unless you change to vcd resolution.  This takes time.  Completing the process probably takes longer than a single show.

If your goal is a one-time-only or once-a-week fixed length show, then doing this for them is not that difficult.  On the other hand if they only want some background noise to fill hours in a day & want this everyday, then I would say the capture & burn is not a practical idea.

[Gwen7]

thanks all for the replies.

the show in question is the daily catholic mass televised by EWTN. it runs for one hour daily. EWTN via Brightcove seems to have bent over backwards to prevent you from recording their shows on a pc. odd considering they're a christian religious network.

i've tried VLC and every browser helper i could find for both chrome and firefox. all to no avail.

i also tried 8 different video capture tools (2 free 6 commercial). only one of them worked. but it only worked intermittently. hardly worth the $79 asking price for something that failed to start recording or errored out somewhere 2 times out of 3. i would have gladly bought it had it worked better.

almost makes one long for the days of VHS tape. and mourn that video DAT recording never really took off.  

so be it.

in the end i suggested the only practical way would be to videotape it. if they could find a 'still working' VHS recorder. it turned out one of their staff did. and she volunteered to do it for them.

problem solved. amen.

[WP]

That stream is actually not copy-protected.  That would have made it more difficult to capture on a pc.  Capturing a show via internet that you can get on tv is usually not a good idea.  Provided the show is on regular over-the-air television instead of cable, then they might want to consider an inexpensive recorder like the Mediasonic HW-150PVR or its clone iView 3500STBII if they want an alternative to using a VCR.       

[KynloStephen66515]

If it is becoming difficult to do, perhaps going the method of sticking it in full screen at the start of the show, and using something like Camtasia to literally just record the screen and audio output.

I used this method many many times (Usually to capture Videos to then convert them into GIFs, but I did occasionally convert to .flv or .mp4/.avi files) - Worked perfectly every time.