I’m looking to download a number of educational youtube videos for future reference. Looking for a reliable way to download videos. OS is Ubuntu. FF extensions and docker containers all good. I don’t really want to install an executable on bare metal unless it is a flatpak.

My goal is for the downloaded videos to be accessed locally via jellyfin. Jellyfin is already sorted.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

    • ReedReads@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      10·
      5 months ago

      I was just looking at this. Do you typically run it behind a VPN or do you expose your actual IP?

        • CaptObvious@literature.cafeEnglish
          4·
          5 months ago

          I’ve never used a VPN with it either. But it should work, especially with an exit node in a country where Google has no incentive to/is prohibited from interfering with third party viewers.

          • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
            9·
            5 months ago

            but unless i am missing some edge case, there isn’t really a reason, downloading video from youtube is perfectly legal, it wouldn’t work otherwise after all

            • CaptObvious@literature.cafeEnglish
              7·
              5 months ago

              Love the handle, BTW. :)

              I think downloading is against Google’s TOS. Whether that makes it illegal is a question for a lawyer.

              • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
                2·
                5 months ago

                Love the handle, BTW. :)

                thank you

                I think downloading is against Google’s TOS

                maybe, but you are not going to jail for that. at least not today.

      • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        I use it all the time without any VPN and haven’t had any issues. I watch almost all youtube videos in MPV, which uses yt-dlp to get the video. I download any video I may want to watch again later to my server.

      • IllNess@infosec.pubEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        I never used a VPN with it. I’ve been using it for years. I figured I’m getting it directly for YouTube. Google already knows my IP. I figured they wouldn’t care unless I abuse it anyway.

    • Ebby@lemmy.ssba.comEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      I used a program based on that and got a block I think. I get errors in the logs saying I need to use the official YouTube app.

      Anything to look out for or best practices for a noob? I think I got seen.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    7·
    5 months ago

    You should listen to all the yt-dlp comments, but I’ve always had trouble getting all the yt-dl variants to just download the best version and subtitles consistently.

    I use 4K Video Downloader, and it’s easier to use. It has a 30 video per day limit is all, which is more than I need.

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        31·
        5 months ago

        Maybe the command line version is consistent, but day to day I prefer not to do command line. I’ve tried like 5 different GUIs and they all have failed downloads, incorrect formats, and other issues just doing test downloads. I don’t know why, but it’s been a problem every time for me.

        • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
          49·
          5 months ago

          Well there’s your problem.

          Learn how to actually use a computer.

            • Ace! _SL/S@ani.socialEnglish
              5·
              5 months ago

              True, that guy seems like a jerk

              Also, if you only want the highest quality using the command line version is easy as running

              yt-dlp “link”

              for example:

              yt-dlp “https://m.youtube.com/watchv=dQw4w9WgXcQ”

              Although it needs ffmpeg too for certain websites that have seperate audio and video streams. Maybe that’s why your previous experiences have been wonky

            • Kairos@lemmy.todayEnglish
              16·
              5 months ago

              If you want to use a computer you’re going to need to learn how to use it.

              It’s not reasonable to expect maintainers of a very nice Python CLI tool to also maintain a GUI that works perfectly with it. Just look at the manpage if you need to find an option.

    • refalo@programming.devEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      the best version is always the default for me on yt-dlp, that and --embed-subs has always worked perfectly for me, weird you’ve had issues with it, this is the first I’ve heard of anyone having that problem.

  • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    5 months ago

    TubeArchivist with a browser extension to easily download any interesting video I want to preserve.

    I have pending to link TubeArchivist to jellyfin for a more convenient frontend for my videos.

  • Darkassassin07@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    I tend to drop the link into yt1s.com

    Sometimes just for audio, sometimes for the full vid.

    I’m rarely grabbing more than one video at a time though.

    [re-commenting as I meant this to be a top-level comment, not a reply]