How do I download this Flash video with tools that don't have spyware?

Question

I'm trying to download this video, but every online tool and offline tool either doesn't work (FlashGot, videodl.org) or is obviously malware. Is there a free tool that I can use that will work? The only alternative I can think of is CamStudio.

Answer 1

This a Flash video served with RTMP.

It does not download the movie as one long file but as a lot of chunks, which the Shockwave plugin will piece together to display the video. You need a RTMP client to read this video.

Luckily, there is one called RTMPDump.

You can run RTMPDump to download the video, but it will need to get the same parameters as the Shockwave plugin would have gotten from the original page. When I search the page you linked to for "rtmp" I find this tag:

<param name="flashvars" value="netstreambasepath=https%3A%2F%2Feducationcommissionofthestates.eduvision.tv%2FDefault.aspx%3Fq%3D3SfVi13wT7Rd%25252fUtGDcYhfw%25253d%25253d&amp;id=flashbanner&amp;className=flashbanner&amp;file=CO_Denver_EducationCommissionoftheStates_EducationCommissionoftheStates_396%2Frobert_pondiscio_e957d85f62774edb8719c294d7253810.f4v&amp;streamer=rtmp%3A%2F%2Fjdl.octoshape.net%2Fvod%2Fjdl%2F&amp;skin=includes%2FSwf%2Fmodieus.swf&amp;allowfullscreen=true&amp;allowscriptaccess=always&amp;enablejs=true&amp;volume=50&amp;stretching=uniform&amp;image=undefined&amp;autostart=true&amp;repeat=true&amp;abouttext=JDL%20Horizons&amp;aboutlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jdlhorizons.com&amp;controlbar.position=over">

It includes an RTMP URL, and some parameters you can feed into RTMPDump. Unfortunately this is not very straightforward and will need some trial and error or googling. You can see another example of this in this Stackoverflow answer.

Answer 2

I would do CamStudio - it's easy to set up and works pretty well. Upload to YouTube if you don't have the space for large video files...

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs)

Answer 3

Although you ask for a free solution, the only one that comes to mind is RTMPDump as others have mentioned. I, however find it quite difficult to use.

CamStudio may be good, but it records your screen, not really the actual video stream that is being received (which is what RTMPDump does).

I would suggest http://www.binarymark.com/Products/StreamingVideoDownloader/default.aspx It can record RTMP and even live streams, and is very easy to use. It is not free, but for a small price you get a lot of convenience. It will automatically pickup your video as soon as you begin watching it in your browser and will start saving. You just have to click "Save" to confirm. I tested it and it works with your particular video, so I suggest you give it a try.

Disclosure: I worked on this product as part of the dev team.