So, my brother is a film maker and I am a computer scientist and we had an idea the other day to make a documentary film about the 2012 US Presidential Election and the role that big business plays in it. Who knows if we will actually complete this. Right now it is just an idea.<p>What is the best way to rip videos from "streaming only" sites like CNN.com? An example of some footage I'd like to get is:<p>http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/09/07/republican.debate/index.html?hpt=hp_t1<p>I examined the page with a HTTP Debugger and also viewed source code but could not seem to find the original source URL of the video. I was wondering if it is possible to find the URL of the video somehow and if it is, how?<p>Thank in advance for any insight you may provide! :-)<p>Also, it has just crossed my mind that this type of question might not be acceptable here, since you're not really "supposed" to download videos from streaming only sites. If this type of question is not acceptable please politely let me know.<p>EDIT: I intend to proceed only after obtaining the copyright owners permission.
Using Firefox Web Console it's possible to obtain all the fetched URLs. The one containing the video was: <a href="http://ht.cdn.turner.com/cnn/big//us/2011/09/07/bts-msnbc-perry-romney-socsec.msnbc_640x360_dl.flv" rel="nofollow">http://ht.cdn.turner.com/cnn/big//us/2011/09/07/bts-msnbc-pe...</a><p>I don't have a generic way of extracting this information from any site, but looking at those network sources that are used is always a good place to start. Using extensions such as Flashblock will let you control when you're going to start downloading, and there will be fewer URLs to look through.
I'm not a lawyer but...<p>Colbert and John Stewart do it all the time and I doubt they ask for permission for every single little clip. It would count as 'fair use'.<p><a href="http://www.orbitdownloader.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.orbitdownloader.com/</a><p>Use Orbit Downloader, it rips everything, I've been using it for a year or two now, it's amazing. Open up Grab++ within Orbit, reload the page and the video will show up in Grab++, select it, hit download and it's yours.
I think you ought to make it clear that you intend to proceed only after obtaining the copyright owners permission. Might stop people from flagging it.