Help me download streaming video from this site (Note: tricky!!!)

November 14, 2015 10:28 AM

Hi there. I just subscribed to a site called pilatesanytime.com, which offers numerous pilates videos for subscribers to watch. However, I’d like to be able to download the videos to my hard drive to watch when I don’t have an internet connection. I’m using a Mac with Firefox, Chrome and Safari. I’m an “intermediate”-level tech person, but the usual Firefox "get video" Fox extensions do NOT work on this site, nor is the underlying video file visible using such methods as “View Page Source” or Firebug.

I’m very familiar with downloading video from most websites and with the use of such Firefox extensions as Ant Video Downloader, Flash Video Downloader, Video Download Helper, Video Downloader Professional, etc., as well as with stand-alone programs such as YouTube Downloader (YTD). Basically, anything that’s an mp3, mp4, flv or m4v file, I generally have no problem downloading.

The issue is, on pilatesanytime.com, none of these programs detect a video file, nor is a video file visible using such methods as “View Page Source” or Firebug. The only luck I’ve had has been using a Firefox addon called Flashgot to download – for a single 50 minute video – 1,100 (!) 4 MB .m3u8 files. However, I haven’t been able to figure out what to do with these files – i.e., how to merge or join them into one big file, and then convert that file to mp4 or m4v format. (Using Handbrake, I’ve been able to convert a single m3u8 file to a 10-second mp4 file, but that hasn’t been of much use).

So, if anyone could point me in the direction of an addon, extension or stand-alone program for Mac that would download these files and then render them as an mp4 or m4v file, I’d be very grateful.

Thanks!

posted by priskyprisky to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

The site seems to use Brightcove's flash player, and seems to require a bit more work to download. I found a blog explaining how to do so.
posted by Harpocrates at 11:04 AM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think youtube-dl supports some brightcove sites. It's a terminal program, but not too hard to use.
posted by vasi at 11:07 AM on November 14, 2015

Response by poster: Harpocrates seems to be on to something with the blog post he pointed me to, but I could not make that method work on pilatesanytime.com. If anyone can make it work, please let me know how!
posted by priskyprisky at 1:02 PM on November 14, 2015

Do you have an iPhone or iPad? I downloaded an update to Pilates Anytime yesterday or today that said it had a new feature for offline viewing without needing a connection. Haven't tried it yet, though.
posted by matildaben at 1:21 PM on November 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

I went to the homepage on my Android phone and long-clicked the video on the main page, and it allowed me to save it to my device as mp4 (which you can then email/upload/whatever).. So that's an option if you have an Android device.
posted by alligatorman at 2:50 PM on November 14, 2015