How to Download YouTube and other Video’s for Class Viewing

Filed under: Church Tools,Family Tools,General Technology Tools,Spiritual Thoughts,Video Devotionals

15 Mar

I often will find an awesome YouTube video that I want to share in a class I am teaching…. but how do I get it downloaded? Unless you are one of the lucky few, you don’t have an internet connection at church. I hope this post will give you some ideas of things that have worked for me.

NOTE: YouTube has said that they are working toward putting download options on all Video’s, but for now they are only on certain popular ones. So hopefully one day, this won’t be important.

Downloading YouTube Videos:

The easiest way to download a YouTube video is the following:

Go to this website: http://keepvid.com/
Enter the URL in the top part: ie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM3mlgLAlMs
Click the Download button to the right. Look to the bottom and click the download button under High Quality. Wahla!

You can play the video it downloads with Quicktime, which if it doesn’t play on your computer, you can download for free here.

Downloading other Online Streaming Video’s

Sometime you run across video’s from other sites you want to download. There is a nice Firefox Extension you can install that will look for the media on each page and allow you to download it. It is called SoThink Web Video Downloader for Firefox.

For those that might not be familiar with Firefox, it is a web browser like Internet Explorer or Safari and can be downloaded for free here.

After it is installed, you will see a little icon in the top right next to the google bar. Browse to the video you want to download and then click on the icon. It will have a URL in there of the video download. Right click on that and select Download.

The download will be in .flv flash format. You can watch that using Quicktime or VLC Media Player.

Conclusion

This is just two of dozens of ways to get videos offline. You should keep in mind that this is an area that is constantly changing. Google may change the way Video’s are online tomorrow and it might stop working. Sometimes it just will download the sound, and no video. It isn’t an exact science, and unless there is a Download option right next to the Video, there will probably always be the possiblity of problems. That being said, it does work mostly!

Feel free to share other ideas and tools you have used in the comments. Once you have it local, you can then put it on a DVD if you have software for that, or just bring a laptop to class to show the video. Good luck and happy teaching!!

New Spice | Study like a scholar, scholar

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3 Responses for "How to Download YouTube and other Video’s for Class Viewing"

Joy in the Journey « LDS Spiritual Thoughts July 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 am 1
[...] (How to Download Video – Direct Video URL = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHbSOv3Wqmk) [...]
Choose This Day – Eyring « LDS Spiritual Thoughts October 20th, 2009 at 6:03 am 2
[...] (How to Download Video – Direct Video URL = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cw8I8eukaI) There is a danger in the word someday when what it means is “not this day.” The thought “Someday I will” can be a thief of the opportunities of time and the blessings of eternity. Even the Savior, who was without sin, set an example of the need not to procrastinate. He said: “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. A morning prayer and an early search in the scriptures to know what we should do for the Lord can set the course of a day. We can know which task, of all those we might choose, matters most to God and therefore to us. For most of us the temptation to delay will come from one or both of two feelings. They are polar opposites: one is to be complacent about what we have already done, and the other is to feel overwhelmed by the need to do more. The temptation will be to believe that you will return to serve again, someday. It is hard to know when we have done enough for the Atonement to change our natures and so qualify us for eternal life. And we don’t know how many days we will have to give the service necessary for that mighty change to come. In the hardest trials, as long as you have the power to pray, you can ask a loving God: “Please let me serve, this day. It doesn’t matter to me how few things I may be able to do. Just let me know what I can do. I will obey this day. I know that I can, with Thy help.” For those who are discouraged by their circumstances and are therefore tempted to feel they cannot serve the Lord this day, I make you two promises. Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day. The other promise I make to you is that by choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel His love and grow to love Him more. You would not want to delay receiving that blessing. And feeling His love will draw you back to His service, wiping away both complacency and discouragement. I know that Heavenly Father lives and answers our prayers. I know that Jesus is the living Christ, the Savior of the world, and that we can choose to feel joy and peace in His service this day. There is a danger in the word someday when what it means is “not this day.” [...]
Love one Another « LDS Spiritual Thoughts February 15th, 2010 at 6:10 am 3
[...] (How to Download Video – Direct Video URL = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUuexH-3dBo) [...]