q computer questions: fast ones

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

1. Can I take a snapshot of a youtube video frame for a screenshot. I want to make avatars using images in youtube vids.

2. Can i save
an entire webpage including a paused video, as an image?

 

[Jadzia]

Try the print screen button , and look in your clipboard.

Depending on how your computer renders the video, it might be visible or it might be a black box.

I have other suggestions should this fail.

 

[Chindogu]

You could download the video using the "DownloadHelper" Add-On for Firefox and then the VLC Player to take a screencap. Should be simple enough.

Using the print screen button isn't something that has worked well for me when doing this.

 

[farmkid]

Instead of using another program, you can get the file straight from your hard drive. Go to the Youtube video you want, wait for it to finish loading, then before going to another page, navigate in Windows explorer to C:/Documents and settings/<your user name>/Local Settings/Temporary internet files. There will be lots of files there. Sort by "last accessed" date with most recent first. The .flv file of the video should be near the top, and it will be larger than the other files there. You could also sort by size to find all the recently watched video files, but that makes it harder to find the one you want. Then, copy the .flv file to another location on the hard drive and rename it something useful. There are a number of programs around that can play or convert the .flv file. Go here to find a program you can use to edit, grab frames, etc.

 

[Chindogu]

Go to the Youtube video you want, wait for it to finish loading, then before going to another page, navigate in Windows explorer to C:/Documents and settings/<your user name>/Local Settings/Temporary internet files. There will be lots of files there. Sort by "last accessed" date with most recent first. The .flv file of the video should be near the top, and it will be larger than the other files there.

Yeah, I find that this doesn't always work for me, depending on how the website handles video. Anyway...

I grabbed this from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DH-v2G-aZg in less than two minutes using my method.

 

[farmkid]

Go to the Youtube video you want, wait for it to finish loading, then before going to another page, navigate in Windows explorer to C:/Documents and settings/<your user name>/Local Settings/Temporary internet files. There will be lots of files there. Sort by "last accessed" date with most recent first. The .flv file of the video should be near the top, and it will be larger than the other files there.

Yeah, I find that this doesn't always work for me, depending on how the website handles video. Anyway...

I grabbed this from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DH-v2G-aZg in less than two minutes using my method.

Yeah, my method isn't as robust. But it works with YouTube and most other sites and doesn't require any other software. I prefer not using software I don't need when I can help it. It's more of a personal preference, really.

 

[Chindogu]

I prefer not using software I don't need when I can help it. It's more of a personal preference, really.

So true. I'd rather deal with software myself, instead of searching through folders all the time.

 

[Jadzia]

2. Can i save an entire webpage including a paused video, as an image?

I don't think so without special software. You can save a web archive in .mht
format, which microsoft word can open afaik. You then get word to save as postscript and convert postscript to an image. I don't know how well that would work.

But for ease, what I'd do is press F11/F12 to make internet explorer go full screen, then press print screen and scroll down the page a few times and paste the clipboard images together in paintshoppro as one image.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Thanks all! I'm gonna try them out

 

[JustAFriend]

Even easier way of saving the video:

Grab the URL and go to www.keepvid.com

You can punch in the URL and then download the video to your computer
as a Flash .flv video or an .mp4 mpeg video.

You can then bring them into any video editor (as in XP's free MovieMaker...)

 

[Jadzia]

^Some sites don't seem to have the video id in the url. For example, the sesame-street video archive. How would you capture those videos to hard disk?