Comments on: How do I capture a small part of a long video stream?

Question: How do I capture a small part of a long video stream?

tamarack — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:16:42 -0800

I want to capture a small part of a long video stream from the web. And I want it in mp4.

It's my convocation webcast, and it's in asf. I have managed to capture just the five minutes (of 2+ hrs!) I want, but I did so with Real Player and so the file is in the ever-unfriendly rm file format. I haven't had any luck with file conversion programs, and I can't crack the nut which is VLC (I've tried the VideoLAN forums). I'm running WinXP, and I'm looking for a free way to do this.

I need a recommendation for a tried and true free file conversion that deals with rm->mp4; or step-by-step instructions for how to do this with VLC (I don't want the entire file). I did look in the back posts, but didn't find anything dealing with a partial capture. Many thanks, mefites.

By: Lemurrhea

Lemurrhea — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:36:17 -0800

Have you looked into using ffmpeg? It's command-line (there are probably guis available), but the easiest method of converting files I know.

By: movicont

movicont — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:02:28 -0800

Seconding ffmpeg, and there is indeed a gui available. There are apparently some instructions here, though I'm not sure if it'll definitely work.

By: fistynuts

fistynuts — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:20:54 -0800

imho Super is the best free video conversion app available and

>converts input RM RAM RMVB RA (RealMedia) files to any other format

it also runs ffmpeg ...

By: tamarack

tamarack — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:52:49 -0800

Neither WinFF nor Super will let me convert the rm video file. I suppose its possible that since it's a partially saved bit from an overall file perhaps something has made it less readable to these programs. (WinFF tells me it's an invalid file. Super gives me a generic it-could-be-anything message). Oh, and the rm file does play fine for me.

By: russilwvong

russilwvong — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:15:09 -0800

If you have the disk space, I would use mplayer -dumpstream to capture the entire file, and then use mencoder -ss [start] -endpos [length] to extract the part you want.

By: fistynuts

fistynuts — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:33:50 -0800

then it sounds to me like the stream is lacking headers/or currupt - this may be due to the way you are capturing it or some sites are corrupting the streamed files such that they will only play on their custom webplayer.