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RealPlayer to Support One-Click Video Ripping

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the easier-than-ever dept.

Aditi.Tuteja writes "RealPlayer is coming up with a free version in June which will allow one-click video ripping. This free downloadable video player will allow anyone to save and organize video files in all major formats including Flash, QuickTime, RealMedia and Window Media and will support video ripping from websites like YouTube or more. The new RealPlayer will not download or record video that is DRM-enabled."

29 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Cool! by sharkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cli...

    *buffering*
    *buffering*

    ...ck!!

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  2. Windows Only For Now by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The new version of RealPlayer will be released in June. Sorry Mac users, no Real enabled ripping for you until later in the year, Windows only at this stage with support for Internet Explorer and Firefox. Sorry Mac users? I guess lack of Linux support doesn't even warrant a mention (let alone an apology)? I'm sure glad there are no other browsers out there except for FF & IE.

    I see they're trying to avoid becoming the middleman in content lawsuits by avoiding "DRM infected" content, but that won't protect them from the copyright owners suing them the very first time the MPAA downloads a clip from a movie.
    1. Re:Windows Only For Now by XSforMe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't get it... why would anybody be interested in having this piece of crapware native in their platform? I for one, avoid it like the plague: no machine under my wing gets touched with Realplayer.

      --
      My other OS is the MCP!
    2. Re:Windows Only For Now by zlogic · · Score: 2, Informative

      Fedora used to include Helix Player as the default mp3 playimg app in Core 2 (I use Ubuntu so I don't know about later versions). And Helix is essentially an open-sourced version of RealPlayer (although some functions are missing). I'd say that Real supports Linux better than Adobe or nVidia.

    3. Re:Windows Only For Now by Bemopolis · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I absolutedly need this new version. That way I can convert those Real Player movies I have into a usable format and shitcan Real Player!

      --
      "I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
    4. Re:Windows Only For Now by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The funny thing is that it's only ever been the Windows versions of RealPlayer and RealOne that have been crapware. The GNU/Linux and Mac OS X versions have always been beautifully minimalist.

      I think the assumption has always been that people running Mac OS X and GNU/Linux are content creators/managers, and Windows users are consumers. You don't want to piss off the former two groups.

      --
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    5. Re:Windows Only For Now by jZnat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Because Real seems to be the only company that makes cross-platform media players one of their top priorities. Also, Helix is pretty good (their open source player). They are also one of the easiest ways to get proprietary codecs legally on Linux. And for some reason, their Linux version of Real Player isn't nearly as bad as I remember the Windows malware version from back in the day.

      --
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    6. Re:Windows Only For Now by Angostura · · Score: 2, Informative

      I really don't understand the continuing antipathy to the basic, free version. I'm running the basic version on OS X and it is great. It lets me watch and listen to the BBC stuff I want, it integrates nicely with other apps, it installs itself cleanly and it doesn't incorporate unnecessary bling or bloat. It works well, it's unobtrusive. What's not to like now?

    7. Re:Windows Only For Now by Ash+Vince · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why does everyone whine about realplayer so much?

      It has improved enormously of late. It runs on linux, it doesnt install any spyware and the actual player is open source.
      To playback RM clips you need the proprietary codecs but let compare this to the other most widely used streaming media frameworks.

      WMV / ASF

      Windows only. I know you can get players that play the non DRM stuff but most sites seem to embed the clips in a webpage and try and force us to Windows Media Player.

      Quicktime

      Windows / Mac Only. No fullscreen unless you pay for the player (used to be anyway, havent used it for some time).

      When compared to this lot Realplayer wins hands down. Now I know we could compare it to 8 million other formats / frameworks but these are the ones most widely used. This seems to be because most providers of content try and prevent you from keeping a local copy of their works, and things like MPG give you no way of doing this.

      --
      I dont read /. to RTFA, I read /. to offend people in ignorance.
  3. So it will rip "questionable" material by Overzeetop · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...for which you're not sure whether you have permission (but isn't protected), but it still won't rip the DVD I purchased. Nice. Thanks.

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:So it will rip "questionable" material by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...for which you're not sure whether you have permission (but isn't protected), but it still won't rip the DVD I purchased. Nice. Thanks.

      Oh, but it WILL rip material downloaded from pirate sites! OH the irony... B-)

  4. Re:One Click Goatse! by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 4, Funny

    As much as I loath the "goatse.cz" posters, it's apropos in this thread since that's probably a picture of where RealPlayer was pulled from. ;-)

  5. DownloadHelper plugin by cpuh0g · · Score: 4, Informative

    The "DownloadHelper" extension for Firefox already does this, without all the bloat and adware that RealPlayer delivers. It works great for downloading videos embedded in websites like YouTube, etc.

    1. Re:DownloadHelper plugin by illegalcortex · · Score: 3, Informative

      Try Net Transport. It usually works for me. Every once in a while you have to do a little detective work to get the right URL, though. It's even easier in FF with the FlashGot extension.

  6. Re:CowboyNeal has never touched a boob by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 2, Funny

    CowboyNeal has never touched a boob That's not true ... he's touched mine. He does have soft hands for a guy though.
  7. Big Yawn! by Greger47 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Flash plugin has always allowed you to rip streams.
    1. Open your %TEMP% folder.
    2. Start playing todays 15 seconds of fame clip on YouTube's frontpage.
    3. Notice the flaXXX.tmp file that just appeared in the temp folder.
    4. When the clip has finished playing, copy the file somewhere and rename it to HE_iS_BURNiN_HIMS3LF_LOLZ!!!.flv

    /greger

    1. Re:Big Yawn! by Xenolith · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is a firefox plugin that makes this operation even more easy.

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/239 0

      --

      Journal
    2. Re:Big Yawn! by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Even easier

    3. Re:Big Yawn! by Reverberant · · Score: 3, Informative

      Safari users: use the "Activity" window (in the window menu) to find the .flv file (it's usually the largest file in a given webpage), and option-double-click the file to download it. You can play the resulting file (you may need to add the .flv extension) in QuickTime player.

    4. Re:Big Yawn! by baboonlogic · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is a firefox plugin that makes this operation even more easy.

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/239 0 As a past user of this addon, I would like to warn you that it routes your requests via a third party website, which of course should and can be be avoided.

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/300 6 (which someone did mention above) is much better.
  8. RealPlayer? by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What the hell was that? Wasn't it a piece of ad/scam-ware that filled your desktop with crap and had misleading purchase options?

    Didn't it die eons ago? I wouldn't know.

    1. Re:RealPlayer? by MMC+Monster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah. I didn't realise they still existed. Now, when they say that the new realplayer "will not download or record video that is DRM-enabled", they surely mean that it will not play anything that is DRM-enabled. (Because they surely know that anything viewable on my computer can be copied as well.) It's a pretty bold move considering that noone even knows that realplayer exists anymore.

      Unfortunately, they no longer have the clout (if they ever did) to push content providers to produce content that is not DRM-infected.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
  9. What about OGG? by saibot834 · · Score: 5, Informative

    in all major formats including Flash, QuickTime, RealMedia and Window Media

    What about Ogg (+Vorbis/Theora)?
    Flash and Windows Media are just as bad as RealMedia. No improvement this far, in my opinion.

  10. Games that use Vorbis by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm sorry to dissapoint you, but Ogg is not a MAJOR format. Only nerds ever heard about it, let alone use it. True, Theora is still in the nerds-only stage, but do only nerds play these computer games?
    1. Re:Games that use Vorbis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That only proves that some game programmers know about it, gamers won't know or care about what format the audio files are.

  11. Argh by bradavon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wish RealPlayer would just die. It's such atrociously bad software in every way and always has been. Dreadful quality, constant buffering, proprietary format that barely works in any other software, bloatware to the extreme and to makes matters worse crud all over your system.

    Just do us all a favour and go bankrupt.

  12. Re:One Click Goatse! by Kjella · · Score: 2, Funny

    As much as I loath the "goatse.cz" posters

    That should be "goatse.cx". Disturbingly enough, I spotted the error without a second thought.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  13. Please Select your Poison by EEPROMS · · Score: 2, Funny

    Please select the proprietary DRM crippled format you wish to save the video in..

    Flash [ ]
    Quicktime [ ]
    WMV [ ]
    None of the above [x]

  14. Re:Only a matter of time... by Ash+Vince · · Score: 2, Informative

    Why bother reverse engineering an open source project you moron.

    See here: https://helixcommunity.org/

    --
    I dont read /. to RTFA, I read /. to offend people in ignorance.