Downloading flash videos with OE Pro 5.9

Paul
03/18/2011 11:53 am
Hi all. I'm evaluating OE Pro for possible use in our digital preservation project, since it seems to do a better job of capturing websites than other tools we've used. For one thing, more of the original look and feel is maintained, at least in the first few quick tests I've run. I do, however, have two questions:

1) Is there a user manual? The built-in help is ok, but I'd prefer something with a bit more depth to it.

2) One of the sites I'm testing this against has some embedded flash videos. They were giving some of our other crawlers fits, so I was heartened to see in your product blurb that you supported downloading streaming videos. Unfortunately, when I run OE against the site, all that is captured is Adobe's little "Get Flash Player" link. It seems OE doesn't think it has Flash, and therefore isn't downloading anything. Is there a way to get the download working properly?

Many thanks for your help.
Oleg Chernavin
03/18/2011 11:56 am
1. We are working on a manual, but it is not complete yet.

2. Can you please give me some links with the Flash video? I will see what to do to support them. We are working in the video downloads direction actively now. Unfortunately, all sites are different, so it means a lot of fine-tuning to support more of them.

Thank you!

Best regards,
Oleg Chernavin
MP Staff
Paul
03/18/2011 12:34 pm
Unfortunately, the sites we're trying to archive are on our intranet and therefore not accessible to anyone outside our organization. Which does make troubleshooting more difficult, I realize. Sorry. Alternately, we might be able to get the video files directly from websites' creators. If we do this, is there a way to update the links within the captured website to tie the videos in?

You mentioned that you are working in the video downloads direction now. Can you expand on what this means? What's already supported, what isn't, what's on the roadmap?

Thanks for the help.
Oleg Chernavin
03/18/2011 12:51 pm
Yes, I think, it will be possible to adjust the links. Also, you could send me the HTML source of such page by E-mail to support@metaproducts.com.

We have some improvements in the download code that allow to support more video sites with just small changes. Sometimes even with no actual code modification. Our goal is to support most of the video sites, so not only video files get downloaded, but you can browse pages with working video on them offline.

Oleg.
Paul
03/18/2011 04:16 pm
I appreciate the offer, but the sites I'm working with were used for internal collaboration, and I can't send them outside our firewall. Can you give me some pointers as to how I would need to modify the html to point to the video files, and where exactly in the captured site's folders the videos should be put? Thanks for your help.
Oleg Chernavin
03/18/2011 04:44 pm
You can use your browser Save As feature and send the saved page by E-mail to support@metaproducts.com. I will see how it organizes videos. Otherwise I can't even guess what can be altered.

Oleg.
Paul
12/06/2011 10:39 am
Yeah, it really was like talking to a broken record. That's why I gave up. If they don't want to be bothered to actually answer questions, then I don't see any reason I should spend money on them.
Oleg Chernavin
12/06/2011 11:27 am
Paul, the previous message (that I just deleted) was from a Spam bot. We face such attacks from time to time. Sorry for that!

Regarding the video. We had improvements in the recent versions in video downloads. However I do not know if it would work for you or not. You have an internal site and there is no access for me.

Can you please tell me whether you sent the source of the page with video link to me or not?