Ubuntu – VLC for flash video

flashstreamingvideo

Is it possible to play all flash videos using VLC? Because flash is consuming a lot of processing power. In addition, with VLC I will be able to record every stream for example Ustream etc.

I am using Ubuntu 11.04.

Best Answer

As stated in another answer, VLC will play the URL stream behind an embedded video.

I prefer the solutions that involve the use of Firefox addons that normally direct an URL to a download manager or to another browser but that can be set to select VLC instead. When there is a link that can be clicked and that goes directly to the video stream, like in Youtube, I prefer something like the Openwith addon (see below). But sometimes there is no such link.

To find that URL, the other answer provides a solution, which appears along others as answers to a similar question here.

(The selected answer there is by no means the best. The most voted one, which is similar to the one under here already mentioned, is good because it involves using just the Chrome browser. But it does not work with all streams, and neither does the Firebug addon for Firefox, as far as I can tell.)

Maybe the more convenient solution is using VLC along the Firefox FlashGot addon

here

  • add VLC to Flashgot list: FlashGot options, General tab, Add, give a name 'VLC' , - then go to the VLC executable and select it.

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  • FlashGot options, FlashGot tab, choose VLC

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  • playing the video in Firefox, a Flashgot button should appear (add that to the toolbar or the status bar). Right-click the button, Available formats, and left-click the video. VLC should start playing the video stream.

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VLC + the Video DownloadHelper

the addon for Firefox - that I mentioned in my answer there, just install the addon, play the stream, the DownloadHelper button should start rolling, click the drop-down menu, then put the mouse over the title of the video, and then choose 'Copy URL'. (The download option is there of course, but that's another issue.)

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Open VLC, Ctrl-N and then paste and open the URL.

Some troubleshooting:

Testing such links with VLC I notice that in some cases the player cannot play them or even crashes. But this can be fixed as follows:

The last part of such URLs is sometimes like /video.flv?start=0. Changing that to /video.flv? might make it work. (But in many cases the stream is played very well without this change. Also, in many cases the link may look completely different anyway.)

To start youtube videos (and alike: dailymotion, etc) in external players I think that the best solution is to use the Firefox Openwith addon and just add vlc instead of/beside browsers. And it works perfectly

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