Capturing and Storing Content for Use Offline

[Dockhead]

I guess most of you, like me, have surfed on the revolutionary wave of change in how we get access to movies and music and other content.

I now stream the great majority of what I watch and listen to, and have to make myself think about working on my offline collections. For classical music, you hardly need anything but YouTube, where you can find a significant percentage of everything ever recorded. But only if you have a decent Internet connection and enough data. We cruisers sometimes have to go for significant periods without such a connection.

So how to capture and store what we normally stream, for watching or listening offline, when we are far from civilization?

Shall we share tips and techniques?

Here is one tool which I have used with success:

Criterion Collection Download: Download Criterion Collection Video

[Paul Elliott]

I use "videograbby" for youtube captures: VideoGrabby: Youtube Downloader - This Free Youtube video downloader online allows you to download Youtube videos easily. Also supported: Vimeo, Soundcloud, Vine, Facebook and many others.

You can store Amazon streaming videos offline, but they time-out after one (?) month unless you replay while connected to the internet. This works on the Kindle, but I haven't tried on other platforms.

[fallingeggs]

Something I recently solved!

VyprVPN allows you to access geo restricted content from anywhere. I watched by US based accounts of Netflix, Hulu and HBOGo from Brazil, UK and Portugal.

PlayOn allows you to download videos from each of the above. One has to do this via screen recording, but PlayOn is the only software which works consistently. Hulu and HBOGo can block most others. Just set up a queue to run while you are sleeping on land and you will wake up with hours of content. Just finishing up Big Little Lies while having zero wifi.

PlayOn only runs in Windows, so I have a Virtual Box set up on the Mac to run Windows 10. It is very processor heavy and pushes my MacBook Pro. The program saves the files to a folder that is visible to both the Windows and Mac. Play back is always on the Mac.

Both you have to pay for. VyprVPN is like $10 a month. PlayOn is $40 a year. More or less.

Cheers!

[fallingeggs]

For music, I use Spotify premium. Allows you to download music to the phone. Google Music and others work similarly. Would pay for it if my wife didn't get us a year for free :-)

[jamhass]

If you capture streaming content for use later, how is that different that using bit torrent to download the same material? Just sayin'

[fallingeggs]

Originally Posted by jamhass

If you capture streaming content for use later, how is that different that using bit torrent to download the same material? Just sayin'

Hard to say the legality of it. PlayOn thinks it's version "time shifting" is legal, where as BitTorrent clearly isn't. I'm sure PlayOn will be taken to court one day and the question answered.

For what it is worth, you still have to pay for Hulu, Netflix and HBO for PlayOn to work. It logs into your accounts via its interface.

[IdoraKeeper]

Don't transport physical copies out of their license zone. Don't stream via VPN outside of the zone. Be aware that some seemingly innocuous materials can be illegal in some countries. Bottom line, if your not paying for the proper license it can be a problem. Sure there are work arounds...ask any teenager. It's not a problem until it becomes a problem.

[Alberg30Shill]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

Don't transport physical copies out of their license zone. Don't stream via VPN outside of the zone. Be aware that some seemingly innocuous materials can be illegal in some countries. Bottom line, if your not paying for the proper license it can be a problem. Sure there are work arounds...ask any teenager. It's not a problem until it becomes a problem.

If you are using a reputable VPN, no countries can see anything you are streaming.

For offline content, BitTorrent, a big USB hard drive connected to a capable router, and a small kodi box connected to the TV is the solution I use.

[Alberg30Shill]

Also downloading a copy of most streaming video is as easy as pasting the website address and clicking download on keepvid.com Works great for YouTube videos.