How can I put Youtube videos onto a DVD?
December 13, 2019 10:57 AM Subscribe
I am hoping you can help teach me how to put a series of dance instruction videos from YouTube onto a DVD. The YouTube link is this.
I have a laptop with a DVD burner. That is the extent of my knowledge on this stuff...but I really want to do it - it’s my mom and she helps me a lot and doesn’t ask for much. Thanks, everyone!!
You'll probably need some Chrome or Firefox extension to download the YouTube video from the site (YouTube doesn't allow for downloads, I don't think) and then convert the file into a DVD-readable format, if it'll be played on a player.
posted by xingcat at 12:32 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by xingcat at 12:32 PM on December 13, 2019
The last time I tried to scrape videos from YouTube (about six months ago, I think), I couldn't get it to work. I was using a FireFox add-on called Video DownloadHelper. I think YouTube has systems in place that try to prevent you from grabbing the video files. There might be other ways to do it -- I don't know. But I futzed with it for about half an hour, and finally gave up.
posted by JD Sockinger at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by JD Sockinger at 12:41 PM on December 13, 2019
There are numerous websites that will let you save youtube files. You just plug in the url and it'll save it to your computer. I've never had a problem and just did one the other day. I used this one, but googling "save youtube videos" will give you a bunch of similar sites.
If you want the DVD to play in a DVD player, you'll need to get software that lets you burn that format. Although some DVD players can read a data DVD and play videos. You just won't get fancy menus.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
If you want the DVD to play in a DVD player, you'll need to get software that lets you burn that format. Although some DVD players can read a data DVD and play videos. You just won't get fancy menus.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:26 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
> You'll probably need some Chrome or Firefox extension to download the YouTube video from the site
I've always been partial to youtube-dl.
posted by genpfault at 1:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
I've always been partial to youtube-dl.
posted by genpfault at 1:52 PM on December 13, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hi! Thanks for the info so far. Yes, she wants to be able to play it in a DVD player. Good point about the second step: making it DVD burnable and readable. Please do keep on sending ideas, especially with specific software names. Thanks!!
posted by leslievictoria at 5:58 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by leslievictoria at 5:58 PM on December 13, 2019
Firefox with the Ant video downloader extension usually works for getting the download. I have used Wondershare DVD software to convert the file formats & burn to disc.
posted by nubs at 6:06 PM on December 13, 2019
posted by nubs at 6:06 PM on December 13, 2019
First you have to get the videos down to your computer. I use youtube-dl for that.
Then you have to transcode them into a format that is DVD compatible. Just like TV's that can play videos from USB sticks or whatnot, DVD players only support one or two formats for the video and audio. If the videos you downloaded aren't in that format already... you have to get them into that format first. This is probably something like HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder.
Then you need to get them onto the DVD. This is complicated because you need menus and titles and all that extra stuff that makes a DVD a DVD. For this you need some sort of DVD authoring tool. Maybe look at Five free DVD authoring tools - TechRepublic
It's sorta hard, but not really... its just a bit complicated. Hopefully one of those DVD authoring tools will have a simple workflow and good instructions. Good luck.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:06 PM on December 13, 2019
Then you have to transcode them into a format that is DVD compatible. Just like TV's that can play videos from USB sticks or whatnot, DVD players only support one or two formats for the video and audio. If the videos you downloaded aren't in that format already... you have to get them into that format first. This is probably something like HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder.
Then you need to get them onto the DVD. This is complicated because you need menus and titles and all that extra stuff that makes a DVD a DVD. For this you need some sort of DVD authoring tool. Maybe look at Five free DVD authoring tools - TechRepublic
It's sorta hard, but not really... its just a bit complicated. Hopefully one of those DVD authoring tools will have a simple workflow and good instructions. Good luck.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:06 PM on December 13, 2019
zengargoyle already covered it all but since I had already typed all this I'll post it anyway:
Getting the videos from YouTube is the easiest part: use youtube-dl to download the whole playlist.
If you're not comfortable using the command line and prefer a graphical interface for youtube-dl, there's youtube-dl-gui. I've never used it but it should work well enough. BTW, what operating system is your laptop running (windows, mac, something else)?
Now for the hard part: once you have all the videos in MP4 format in a folder on your laptop, there's the issue of your mother's DVD player compability.
1. If it is a DVD player and nothing more, you will need to author then burn a DVD-Video compatible disc, using one or more specialised tools.
Converting your existing MP4 files into a DVD-Video disc will result in a loss of quality and may take a bit of time, keep you laptop plugged in while doing it.
2. If her DVD player is not a strict DVD-Video playback device, then maybe the MP4 files you downloaded are already in a compatible format, like jonathanhughes says.
That would make things a lot easier, as you would need only to burn the folder containing the MP4 files that youtube-dl fetched like you would a regular DVD backup of your data files, no authoring and conversion necessary.
3. It is also possible that the DVD player can play video files, just not in the specific formats YouTube uses, this would mean the conversion step would be mandatory but the DVD-Video authoring would not.
4. TBH I don't know if this is even an option but in the worst case the DVD player is so strict that it won't accept burned discs at all, which would make your plan impossible.
If you have easy access to her DVD player for testing and don't mind possibly wasting a disc, I'd suggest grabbing the MP4 files, burning them to a data DVD, then trying to play it in her DVD player. If it works you're done, if not take note of the model of her player and let us know.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:14 PM on December 13, 2019
Getting the videos from YouTube is the easiest part: use youtube-dl to download the whole playlist.
If you're not comfortable using the command line and prefer a graphical interface for youtube-dl, there's youtube-dl-gui. I've never used it but it should work well enough. BTW, what operating system is your laptop running (windows, mac, something else)?
Now for the hard part: once you have all the videos in MP4 format in a folder on your laptop, there's the issue of your mother's DVD player compability.
1. If it is a DVD player and nothing more, you will need to author then burn a DVD-Video compatible disc, using one or more specialised tools.
Converting your existing MP4 files into a DVD-Video disc will result in a loss of quality and may take a bit of time, keep you laptop plugged in while doing it.
2. If her DVD player is not a strict DVD-Video playback device, then maybe the MP4 files you downloaded are already in a compatible format, like jonathanhughes says.
That would make things a lot easier, as you would need only to burn the folder containing the MP4 files that youtube-dl fetched like you would a regular DVD backup of your data files, no authoring and conversion necessary.
3. It is also possible that the DVD player can play video files, just not in the specific formats YouTube uses, this would mean the conversion step would be mandatory but the DVD-Video authoring would not.
4. TBH I don't know if this is even an option but in the worst case the DVD player is so strict that it won't accept burned discs at all, which would make your plan impossible.
If you have easy access to her DVD player for testing and don't mind possibly wasting a disc, I'd suggest grabbing the MP4 files, burning them to a data DVD, then trying to play it in her DVD player. If it works you're done, if not take note of the model of her player and let us know.
posted by Bangaioh at 7:14 PM on December 13, 2019
Response by poster: Amazing. Will give these a try and let you know if /how it works. Really appreciated!!
posted by leslievictoria at 7:07 PM on December 14, 2019
posted by leslievictoria at 7:07 PM on December 14, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:22 AM on December 13, 2019 [2 favorites]