Showing clips from YouTube, TeacherTube, BlipTV and other sites has become common practice in many of our middle school classrooms.  Because these videos are streamed, however, teachers are at the mercy of their Internet connection and the host server.  Murphy’s Law seems to apply more frequently than not, and many of us have had to adjust our plans because the clip we wanted suddenly wouldn’t load.

Fortunately, there are a number of tools available that let users download streaming clips and play them locally.  Although one must always consider a site’s Terms of Use, having a saved copy of the video as a backup plan seems reasonable and within the bounds of Fair Use.  That said, here is a brief overview of four tools that can provide peace of mind when planning instruction that includes streaming media.

TeacherTube Downloader

TeacherTube is download-friendly and “provides the ability to download videos to your computer for personal or classroom educational use only, provided you give a link back to TeacherTube in any presentation, website, or other form of media in which the downloaded video is included and give credit to the author of the video.”  The free TeacherTube Downloader will save video in flv, mpeg, and avi formats; for a nominal upgrade fee users can download from additional video sites (YouTube, DailyMotion, BlipTV, Break, Google Video) with more saving options (mp4, mov, wmv).

YouTube Catcher

Of the many tools available for saving YouTube clips, YouTube Catcher is a simple and popular option.  Using a straight-forward web interface (no installations necessary), users copy/paste the URL of the video and can save the complete clip as a flv file or choose to download only the audio track in mp3 format.  If you do not have an application to view the flv video, you can install the Free FLV Player which also includes a free audio recorder option.

YouTube MP4 Downloader

A lesser known fact about YouTube is that many (but not all) of its videos are available in the higher quality mp4 format.  These files can be downloaded with the addition of the Get YouTube bookmarklet from the Google Operating System Blog.  To use this tool, save the following link as a bookmarklet by dragging it to your Links bar (Firefox) or right-clicking and adding it to your favorites (Internet Explorer):

Get YouTube Video

With the link installed and a YouTube video selected, click the “Get YouTube Video” bookmarklet and a Download as MP4 link will appear beneath the embed code information.  Right-click and select “Save link as” to download the file:

Remember that not all videos are available in this format; if that is the case, you can use the YouTube Catcher or try my favorite tool, the Video DownloadHelper FireFox extension.

Video DownloadHelper

Of the many Firefox extensions available, Video DownloadHelper is among my absolute favorites.  Once installed (complete instructions available here), the DownloadHelper icon will change color and animate when you are visiting a page where video can be saved in flv format.

Clicking the icon will also bring up a list of several dozen video sites that you can browse for content.  Note that not all the sites may be appropriate for educational use.

Be Prepared

Regardless of which streaming sites and download tools you prefer, it’s always good to be prepared.  Having a local copy of that “must see” clip can save the day when network issues or server errors arise.   Give one or more of the aforementioned options a try, and if you have a favorite tool, let us know; the more options the better!

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Posted: 10|3|08 at 11:53 am. Filed under: Tech Tips.
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