xVideoServiceThief: One Video Download Manager to Rule Them All!

Published on September 24, 2008 in Apps by Rami Taibah


I am not really big on downloading flash videos from sites like youtube or metacafe. But whenever I need to, I just head straight to keepvid. Usually that does the trick, but sometimes it doesn’t, and I would just quickly give up and wouldn’t bother finding an alternative solution. Especially if you keep in mind that  keepvid would name the file “get_video”, and then I would have to rename it and add an “.flv”, then convert it to a more friendly format…yada yada yada. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of hacks for these little quirks out there, but that’s just how important video is to me; its just  not worth the hassle. Until I found xVideoServiceThief!

What is it?

xVideoServiceThief is an Open Source download manager designed for downloading videos from youtube and other video sites (over 50!). It is laden with really cool features and a good deal of video sites. It also supports pretty much ANY operating system, whether your cup of tea is Redmond, Cupertino, or Helsinki (Windows, Mac, or Linux).

Features

  • Download multiple videos from different websites simultaneously
  • Pause and resume downloads
  • Names the downloaded file like the original title of the video
  • Automatically convert the flash video (.flv) to friendlier formats: AVI, WMV, MPEG 1/2, MP4, 3GP, and MP3
  • Advanced functions such as audio sampling rate and video frame rate
  • Block specific websites

Supported Websites

xVideoServiceThief is currently in the Alpha stage and already supports the following websites: 123video, 5min, aBum, Aniboom, Bebo, Blip, Boingboing TV, Break, Broadcaster, Caught On Video, Ceknito, CinemaVIP, Clip4e, ClipFish, Dailymotion, Dumpalink, GameSpot, GameTrailers, Glumbert, Google Video, GodTube, LiveVideo, Lulu TV, Metacafe, MySpaceTv, MySpass, MyVideo, Sclipo, Spike, Stage6, Tu.tv, Tudou, Video.ca, VideoLeak, Yahoo Video, Yikers, YourFileHost, YouTube, YouTubeIslam, Zaable, ZanyVideos, ZappInternet, Zedge, ZippyVideos, and Zuuble.

How Can I Get It?

Since this is a Linux blog, and thats where our allegiance lie, here is how you would install it (other OSes would be as straight forward me thinks):

  1. Download the tar.gz file from here
  2. Extract to your home directory (or wherever you want it to be)
  3. Right click on your desktop and choose “create launcher”
  4. In the command section browse to the path of xvst binary (/home/rami/xVideoServiceThief_1_8_2_alpha_dynamic_linux_bin/xvst in my case)
  5. Thats it! Obviously you can copy that launcher to your taskbar, menu, home…etc

What I’d Like to See

About

Rami Taibah the founder of The Linuxologist and a self proclaimed geek and Linux aficionado. This fall, he will be pursuing an MIMS degree at UC Berkeley, California. You can follow him on Twitter @rtaibah.

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  • http://www.matusiak.eu/numerodix/blog/ numerodix

    Is it reliable? I’ve noticed some of these downloaders have a fun way of timing out the download if the connection is lost and it won’t tell you that the download isn’t complete.

  • http://hehe2.net Rami Taibah

    @Numerodix, I have been testing it out for a bit, and blip.tv, youtube, google video all worked fine. However it never worked with Metacafe, I keep getting those buggy “Send error report” messages.

    I will try to a full test on all these websites tonight, I will probably give a full report on a separate blog.

  • http://www.diyus.com/2008/09/26/xvideoservicethief-downloads-video-from-over-50-sites-featured-download/ xVideoServiceThief Downloads Video from Over 50 Sites [Featured Download] | DiyUs.com

    [...] Al­l­ pl­atfo­r­ms­: Do­wn­l­o­ad y­o­ur­ favo­r­ite­ o­n­l­in­e­ vide­o­ c­l­ips­ fr­o­m Y­o­uTube­, 5min­, Me­tac­afe­, an­d mo­r­e­ than­ 50 o­the­r­ o­n­l­in­e­ vide­o­ s­har­in­g­ s­ite­s­ with fr­e­e­ o­pe­n­ s­o­ur­c­e­ appl­ic­atio­n­ x­Vide­o­S­e­r­vic­e­Thie­f. E­n­te­r­ a UR­L­ o­f n­e­ar­l­y­ an­y­ o­n­l­in­e­ vide­o­ an­d x­Vide­o­S­e­r­vic­e­Thie­f wil­l­ auto­matic­al­l­y­ do­wn­l­o­ad the­ vide­o­ (un­l­e­s­s­ y­o­u s­pe­c­ify­ o­the­r­wis­e­). Vide­o­s­ c­an­ be­ do­wn­l­o­ade­d to­ e­ithe­r­ FL­V o­r­ AVI fo­r­mats­. Fo­r­ an­ al­pha buil­d, x­Vide­o­S­e­r­vic­e­Thie­f has­ a fe­w bug­s­; n­o­t al­l­ s­e­r­vic­e­s­ we­r­e­ te­s­te­d e­r­r­o­r­-fr­e­e­. The­ appl­ic­atio­n­ do­e­s­, ho­we­ve­r­, ac­c­e­pt an­o­n­y­mo­us­ bug­ r­e­po­r­ts­ auto­matic­al­l­y­. R­e­g­ar­dl­e­s­s­, the­ in­te­r­fac­e­ is­ pr­e­tty­ s­l­ic­k, with o­ptio­n­s­ to­ paus­e­, c­an­c­e­l­, an­d to­ de­l­e­te­ do­wn­l­o­ads­ fr­o­m the­ que­ue­. An­ in­dic­ato­r­ dis­pl­ay­s­ the­ do­wn­l­o­ad s­tatus­ an­d s­pe­e­ds­ o­f e­ac­h vide­o­. x­Vide­o­S­e­r­vic­e­Thie­f’s­ o­pe­n­ s­o­ur­c­e­ appr­o­ac­h s­ho­ul­d me­an­ that do­wn­l­o­adin­g­ vide­o­s­ fr­o­m y­o­ur­ favo­r­ite­ s­ite­s­ s­ho­ul­d n­e­ve­r­ be­ to­o­ har­d to­ ac­hie­ve­. x­Vide­o­S­e­r­vic­e­Thie­f is­ a fr­e­e­ o­pe­n­ s­o­ur­c­e­ do­wn­l­o­ad fo­r­ Win­do­ws­, Mac­, an­d L­in­ux­. xVi­de­o­S­e­rvi­ce­Thi­e­f [vi­a H­eh­e2.n­­et] [...]

  • http://www.charged.co.za/gadgets/xvideoservicethief-downloads-video-from-over-50-sites-featured-download xVideoServiceThief Downloads Video from Over 50 Sites [Featured Download] | CHARGED’s 24/7 News Aggregator

    [...] All platforms: Download your favorite online video clips from YouTube, 5min, Metacafe, and more than 50 other online video sharing sites with free open source application xVideoServiceThief. Enter a URL of nearly any online video and xVideoServiceThief will automatically download the video (unless you specify otherwise). Videos can be downloaded to either FLV or AVI formats. For an alpha build, xVideoServiceThief has a few bugs; not all services were tested error-free. The application does, however, accept anonymous bug reports automatically. Regardless, the interface is pretty slick, with options to pause, cancel, and to delete downloads from the queue. An indicator displays the download status and speeds of each video. xVideoServiceThief’s open source approach should mean that downloading videos from your favorite sites should never be too hard to achieve. xVideoServiceThief is a free open source download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. xVideoServiceThief [via Hehe2.net] [...]

  • http://www.girlatastartup.wordpress.com girlatastartup

    Rami!!! Thanks for this send. I’m always on youtube and definitely will get use out of this.

  • http://www.suffire.com/2008/09/26/xvideoservicethief-downloads-video-from-over-50-sites-featured-download/ xVideoServiceThief Downloads Video from Over 50 Sites [Featured Download]| All Technology Oriented News, Articles, Reviews, Geek Friendly Site| Suffire.com | Geek Stuffs, Technology Related

    [...] Al­l­ pl­atforms: Dow­n­­l­oad you­r favorite­ on­­l­in­­e­ vide­o c­l­ips from You­Tu­be­, 5min­­, Me­tac­afe­, an­­d more­ th­an­­ 50 oth­e­r on­­l­in­­e­ vide­o sh­arin­­g site­s w­ith­ fre­e­ ope­n­­ sou­rc­e­ appl­ic­ation­­ xVide­oSe­rvic­e­Th­ie­f. E­n­­te­r a U­RL­ of n­­e­arl­y an­­y on­­l­in­­e­ vide­o an­­d xVide­oSe­rvic­e­Th­ie­f w­il­l­ au­tomatic­al­l­y dow­n­­l­oad th­e­ vide­o (u­n­­l­e­ss you­ spe­c­ify oth­e­rw­ise­). Vide­os c­an­­ be­ dow­n­­l­oade­d to e­ith­e­r FL­V or AVI formats. For an­­ al­ph­a bu­il­d, xVide­oSe­rvic­e­Th­ie­f h­as a fe­w­ bu­gs; n­­ot al­l­ se­rvic­e­s w­e­re­ te­ste­d e­rror-fre­e­. Th­e­ appl­ic­ation­­ doe­s, h­ow­e­ve­r, ac­c­e­pt an­­on­­ymou­s bu­g re­ports au­tomatic­al­l­y. Re­gardl­e­ss, th­e­ in­­te­rfac­e­ is pre­tty sl­ic­k, w­ith­ option­­s to pau­se­, c­an­­c­e­l­, an­­d to de­l­e­te­ dow­n­­l­oads from th­e­ q­u­e­u­e­. An­­ in­­dic­ator displ­ays th­e­ dow­n­­l­oad statu­s an­­d spe­e­ds of e­ac­h­ vide­o. xVide­oSe­rvic­e­Th­ie­f’s ope­n­­ sou­rc­e­ approac­h­ sh­ou­l­d me­an­­ th­at dow­n­­l­oadin­­g vide­os from you­r favorite­ site­s sh­ou­l­d n­­e­ve­r be­ too h­ard to ac­h­ie­ve­. xVide­oSe­rvic­e­Th­ie­f is a fre­e­ ope­n­­ sou­rc­e­ dow­n­­l­oad for W­in­­dow­s, Mac­, an­­d L­in­­u­x. x­Vi­deo­­Servi­c­eThi­ef­ [vi­a H­e­h­e­2.n­e­t] [...]

  • John Crews

    great blog and article

  • http://www.topviewsoft.com/flv-to-dvd.html flv to dvd

    It's very convenient for downloading flv videos from youtube.

  • ilia_seo

    I like how it converts the videos automatically. I used a few downloaders before but none of them could reliably convert the videos. Thank you!