YouTube-ery

I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of YouTube. The quality of the movies suck. I can't stand that compressed crap, especially if it's of some hard-to-find animated short that I've been dying to see since, like, forever. I know, at least I am finally getting to see it, but still. Just wish there was something better for a video sharing site.

Another peeve I have of YouTube is that you can't download the videos to your desktop because they use Flash in their programming. Again, this is the animator speaking in me but if I want to look at said animated short, you're telling me that I have to go online each time I want to view it? No. Not for me. I need to study it, pick it apart, learn from it, and I want to do this on my own spare time. I can't do that with YouTube. Plus, how will I know that the person who put up the film will still have it up days, months, even years from now? I've already seen some YouTube links disappear, and that can be very frustrating for the one who wants to see something that is already rare and hard-to-find in the first place.

Welp, the tide is turning for me. I found out how to download videos off of YouTube and save them to my desktop. It wasn't easy, though. In fact, being a Mac user, it was downright frustrating for me to find a way to view the videos. Here's what I found:

1. When you find a movie on YouTube that you like, copy the url address of that page.
2. Go to KeepVid and paste the url address in the window near the top. Choose "YouTube" in the choices on the right (as you can see, there are many sites where you can choose from) and press "Select."
3. Just below, under the "Download" section, right-click on the download link (that's command-click for you Mac people).
4. The file will be titled "get_video" but you need to add ".flv" for the extension.

Okay, at this point you have your file, right? Well, in order to view it, you need an flv player. It's different between PC and Mac users, so here are the options for each:

For PC users, go HERE for the latest version of FLV Player, and you should be all set.

Mac users, it gets kinda odd. You have to go to this Japanese site and go over to that light blue boxed area and click on the link that is written in dark blue. Once you unstuff it, you have your FLV player (with a nifty icon image)! The great thing about this player is that you can scrub back and forth with no problem.

Okay, so the quality is still kinda crappy, but at least I can now be at peace with YouTube. Maybe I'll put up my two animated shorts someday. Ummm... nah. I'd rather make a DVD for ya. I hear DVD's have better quality.