The VideoLAN Forums

Posted: **09 Jun 2007 09:50**

Greetings ladies and gentlemen,

Since I have a poor internet connection, my prefferred way of watching online FLV video fullscreen is to use VLC to stream it to disk, and then use another player to view the unfinished streams fullscreen (since VLC I have, 0.8.6b, starts playing FLV streams fine, but once it ends up having to wait for a segment, it freezes

)

To ease the process, I like to save a command line in a bat file, and edit the URLs in it, and then just run everything from a command line. For a single stream/file, the following command works for me:

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"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-play-and-stop http://www...... :demux=dump :demuxdump-file="C:\VID\myfile.flv" vlc:quit

If I run the batch file with this command, VLC starts streaming to a flv file, I wait some 10 seconds, then start watching the flv, all good. Note that for some reason, if you do not incldue "--no-play-and-stop" VLC will start up, but it will not start streaming. By including "vlc:quit" on the end, you force the player to end, so you can copy several of these commands in a bat file, and have unique URLs be copied to unique file names - as in a playslist.

Although great for single file, it is still a bit too much typing if it is for several streams

, so I'd like to have it easier, and I'm wandering if it is possible. I so tried this command line:

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"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-play-and-stop http://www1....  http://www2.....  http://www3..... --demux=dump --demuxdump-file="C:\VID\myfile.flv" --demuxdump-append vlc:quit

This command will queue all the URLs in the plalist, and will start streaming - however, each time a stream ends and a new one starts, obviously myfile.flv is overwritten. I hoped then, if I remove the demuxdump-file argument, I would cause auto naming - but, I get a file called "stream-demux.dump" with the exact same behaviour as before (maybe if the streams ended with *.flv those names would have been used, but the streams don't end like that) So first question is - is there a possibility for auto naming?

Ideally, I'd like these streams all appended to a single file, so I tried

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"C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --no-play-and-stop http://www1....  http://www2.....  http://www3..... --demux=dump --demuxdump-file="C:\VID\myfile.flv" --demuxdump-append vlc:quit

But, although the streams are indeed appended (on disk), only the first stream is played back... So, another question is, is there a way to do this, so all appended streams play? Must it necesarilly involve transcoding? If so, what would a command line be like?

I've seen these answers from before:
viewtopic.php?t=37653

VLC has no means (ATM) to create a new file name for the new incoming file. Appending the new file won't work as most containers will play only the first file saved. Try the features request section of the forum. An auto naming convention would be a logical solution.

viewtopic.php?t=36151

Transcoding, copying or dumping info is done one file at a time naming each file individually.

so I'm guessing that probably what I'm asking for is not implemented (yet), but I'd really appreciate an answer/confirmation..

Thanks

Posted: **09 Jun 2007 12:03**

It's been said many times in many ways. VLC does NOT do batch encoding well at all. Appending files should only be attempted through an editor where each file begins and ends on a keyframe. In mane editors this also assumes that the formats and container are always the same.

Posted: **23 Jul 2007 19:05**

Hi, thanks for the reply !!! I am a bit late to answer, but:

VLC does NOT do batch encoding well at all

Well, I guess I did not make myself clear - I did not necesarilly want batch encoding, simply a batch download... Somthing of a YouTube playlist, avoiding the browser.,.. Why I like VLC's download is that it makes a visible file as soon as download has started, so one can open that very file and view the contents downloaded up to that point..

Well, in any case, I solved my problem by making a small AJAX script in a HTML page - the idea is to enter plain youtube and the like permalinks, and the script will ask online what the proper flv url is, and compose the proper VLC command; execute several of these and you get a text, which can then be copypasted in a text file, and renamed as .bat. Then, as this bat is executed, VLC will download all listed flv's one by one... Here is the code (note you may have to give permissions to the script to execute):

GetCommand.htm

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<!-- saved from url=(0023)http://www.contoso.com/ -->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Get Command</TITLE>
<script src="GetCommand.js"></script>
</HEAD>
<BODY onLoad="startit()">

<form name="Form1">
<P>Enter URL: 
<INPUT id=vidPgUrl style="WIDTH: 476px; HEIGHT: 22px" size=60 onClick="this.value=''"></P>
<P><INPUT id=getCmdBtn type=button value="Add URL as command" onClick="fetchUrlCommand()"></P>
<P>VLC location: 
<INPUT id=vlcLoc style="WIDTH: 431px; HEIGHT: 22px" size=54 value="C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe"></P>
<P>Saved stream folder: 
<INPUT id=outLoc style="WIDTH: 431px; HEIGHT: 22px" size=54 value="O:\VID\"></P>
<P>
<HR>

<P></P>
<P> Command list:</P>
<P><TEXTAREA id=cmdTA style="WIDTH: 800px; HEIGHT: 239px" rows=9 cols=79></TEXTAREA></P>
<P><div id=conninfo></div>
<P></P>
</form>
</BODY>
</HTML>

GetCommand.js

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/* based on AJAX Chat Client - Kevin Mesiab
*/

// Global variables
//
var isFirefox;
var isIE;
var timeout;
var pingtimeout;
var pingsent	= 0;
var requestsent = 0;
var postsent	= 0;
var chatsent	= 0
var pingRate	= 1000 * 60;	 // one minute

// one second - too low for online, so 2
// with the proxy even that too fast, try 4
var refreshRate = 4000;			 

var rnd			= Math.random(); // random seed
var noanswercount = 0; 
var targetURL = 'passproxy.aspx';
var pgtitle = "";
var realURL = "";
var parseURL = "http://megaupload.net/keepvid.php";

//
// Get an XMLHttpRequest object
//
function getAjax() {
	if ( isFirefox ) {
		return new XMLHttpRequest();
	} else if ( isIE ) {		
		try {
			return new ActiveXObject( "Msxml2.XMLHTTP" );
		} catch( ex ) {
			return new ActiveXObject( "Microsoft.XMLHTTP" );
		}
	}
}


//
// Get a DOM element
//
function getElement( id ) {
	if( isIE ) {
		return document.all[ id ];
	}
	
	if( isFirefox ) {
		return document.getElementById( id );
	}
}


//
// Get browser type
//
function sniff() {

	var ff = "Netscape";
	var ie = "Microsoft Internet Explorer";
	
	isFirefox = ( navigator.appName == ff );
	isIE = (navigator.appName == ie ); 
}



//
// Get the command for a given URL
//
function fetchUrlCommand()
{
	
	//first call URL directly, to retrieve the title
	
	var videoURL = document.Form1.vidPgUrl.value; 

	
	req = getAjax();
	noanswercount = 0; 
	
	req.onreadystatechange = function(){
		obj = getElement( "conninfo" );
		if( req.readyState == 4 && req.status == 200 ) {
						
			var myresp = req.responseText;
			pgtitle = "";
			pgtitle = myresp.substring(myresp.indexOf("<TITLE>"), myresp.indexOf("</TITLE>"));
			if (pgtitle == "")
				pgtitle = myresp.substring(myresp.indexOf("<title>"), myresp.indexOf("</title>"));
			
			pgtitle = CleanTitle(pgtitle);
			obj.innerHTML = pgtitle;
			document.Form1.cmdTA.value += "REM " + pgtitle + " \r\n";
			document.Form1.cmdTA.value += "REM page url " + document.Form1.vidPgUrl.value + " \r\n";
			fetchRealUrl();
		}
		else 
		{
			//obj.innerHTML = "No answer" + targetURL;
			noanswercount++; 
			if (noanswercount > 3)
				obj.innerHTML = "No answer";
		}
	
	}
	
	req.open( 'GET', videoURL, true );
	req.send( null );	
	
}


function fetchRealUrl()
{
	
	//now call keepvid to get the real stream url 
	
	var videoURL = document.Form1.vidPgUrl.value; 
	var getURL = parseURL + videoURL; 
	
	req1 = getAjax();
	noanswercount = 0; 
	
	req1.onreadystatechange = function(){
		obj = getElement( "conninfo" );
		if( req1.readyState == 4 && req1.status == 200 ) {
			
			//realURL without quotation marks. 
			
			var myresp = req1.responseText;
			
			realURL = "";
		
			realURL = myresp.substring(0, myresp.indexOf('(.flv - Flash Video)'));
			realURL = realURL.substring(realURL.lastIndexOf('<a href='));
			realURL = realURL.substring(realURL.indexOf('"')+1);
			realURL = realURL.substring(0, realURL.indexOf('"'));
			
			obj.innerHTML = realURL;
			document.Form1.cmdTA.value += "REM stream url " + realURL + " \r\n";
			GenerateCommand();
		}
		else 
		{
			noanswercount++; 
			if (noanswercount > 3)
				obj.innerHTML = "No answer";
		}
	
	}
	
	
	var postString = "url=" + escape(videoURL); 
	postString += "&site=aa";
	
	req1.open( 'POST', parseURL, true );
	req1.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
	req1.send( postString );
}


function GenerateCommand()
{
	var comms = '"' + document.Form1.vlcLoc.value + '" --no-play-and-stop ';
	comms += '"' + realURL + '"'; 
	comms += ' :demux=dump :demuxdump-file="';
	comms += document.Form1.outLoc.value + pgtitle + '.flv" vlc:quit';
	document.Form1.cmdTA.value += comms + " \r\n\r\n";
	obj.innerHTML = "";
}


function startit()
{
	sniff();
	document.focus();
}



function Replace ( target, todo, withwhat) 
{ 
	//http://www.anaesthetist.com/mnm/javascript/part2j.htm
	var fixme = target;                // load string to alter (into fixme) 
	var atpos = fixme.indexOf(todo);   // find position of string to replace 
	while ( atpos > -1)                // while still to replace.. 
	  { fixme = fixme.substring(0,atpos)  
	            + withwhat 
	            + fixme.substring(todo.length + atpos); //replace 
	    atpos = fixme.indexOf(todo);     // find next position (if exists) 
	  };                                // .. end while 
	return fixme;                       // return altered string 
} 

function CleanTitle (inTitle)
{
	temp = inTitle; 
	temp = temp.substring(7);
	temp = Replace(temp, ":", "_");     // replace colon, 
	temp = Replace(temp, "/", "_");     // and slash      
	temp = Replace(temp, " ", "_");     // and spaces. 
	temp = Replace(temp, "'", ""); 
	temp = Replace(temp, "?", ""); 
	temp = Replace(temp, "|", "");
	return temp; 
}

Well, hope this helps someone...

Cheers

Posted: **24 Jul 2007 18:30**

The developement version of VLC has something called Lua Playlist Scripts (see Documentation:Play_HowTo/Building_Lua_Playlist_Scripts) which automates what you wanted to do. Current scripts shipped with VLC include support for sites like Youtube, dailymotion and metacafe. You just need to enter the video's webpage URL in VLC and it will translate it into the FLV's URL automatically. You can give it a try by using a nightly build.

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