Table of Contents


Overview


WM Recorder is an easy and powerful way to record streaming video and audio from the internet, saving it forever on your PC.


All the popular streaming formats are supported, including:

  • Flash™ Video FLV format files - (HTTP and RTMP protocols)
  • Windows Media™ (HTTP, MMS and RTSP protocols)
  • Real Audio™ and Real Video™ (HTTP and RTSP protocols)
  • Mpeg
  • QuickTime™
  • Streaming MP3 (Shoutcast™)

Important: WM Recorder is intended for use as a personal archiving tool only. Please respect the rights of the copyright holders of any material you record. WM Recorder can NOT record content protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Requirements

For capturing Real Streams, you'll need Real Player 10 or higher.

Supported Windows versions are 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7.


Recording Mode Setup

During the installation WM Recorder sets up the default recording mode to ADA (Adapter). If ADA mode cannot be setup the recording mode is set to WMX.

ADA mode cannot be setup if:

  • The adapter monitor program WinPcap failed to install.
  • Your Internet security software blocks WM Recorder files from accessing to the Internet.
  • The network adapter utilized in your computer does not allow access to its data.

To select a different mode, click MODE from the main screen to open the Recording Modes dialog:

ADA, WMX and PRO are real time recording modes. When operating in one of these modes the recorder can automatically capture and record while playing video or audio from your browser or media player (real time). ADA and WMX provide the best capture capabilities and all the stream formats listed above can be recorded in real time, so if ADA mode won't work try WMX instead. PRO is also an option, but only works with Windows Media and Real Player streams. However if the stream URL is available (known) all formats listed above can be recorded regardless the recording mode selected (see URL recording below).

Important notes:

  • WMX mode requires that you open a browser window from within WM Recorder.
  • Streaming Flash recording (FLV files - RTMP protocol) is only available with ADA or WMX mode.

How To Record

Recording is easy. There are a few different ways to do it - you can record in Real Time, or record from captured URL's. Plus, you can choose AUTO Recording Mode (under the Options button, select Turn AUTO ON).

Here's how to record in Real Time:

With the default AUTO recording mode enabled (AUTO ON):


  1. Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.
  2. Recording starts automatically. The RECORD button turns to STOP. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip. There is no need to wait until playback has finished.
  3. To end one or more recordings click STOP and select the desired action from the pop-up menu. If you're recording fixed length clips, TV shows or movies, the recording ends automatically, and there's no need to click STOP.

With AUTO recording mode disabled (AUTO OFF):

  1. Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.
  2. The URL (Internet address) and the File Name of the clip are displayed on the main screen. Click RECORD to start recording. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip.
  3. To end one or more recordings click STOP and select the desired action from the pop-up menu.

If you want to visualize the entire capture and recording activity you can use the LIST view (click OPTIONS, Change to LIST view). Right click any item in the LIST to access the options:

Important: If you're having trouble recording, try this:

  1. Close all open Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer Windows.
  2. Open WM Recorder.
  3. Reopen your browser or Media Player.
  4. Click Record.
  5. Play the video to record.

Closing all browser windows and Windows Media Player before opening WM Recorder is necessary when recording using PRO Proxy Mode. In ADA or WMX mode, this isn't necessary.

How to Record using saved URL's

All captured URL's are saved so you can access them by clicking the View button, and opening the Saved Links window. Highlight one or more URL's and click the Record button at the bottom of the Saved Links window to record the entire selection.


Options While Recording in Real Time

Here are a few useful things that you can do while recording one or more files:

Preview one or more recording files. The files are played back from your computer while the recording goes on. Click Preview from the main screen orPLAY from List view.

Turn your computer into an On Demand - Radio/TV player. As an example, record a live Flash radio stream and click PREVIEW (or right click the file name in the LIST view). You can listen to the radio station and Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward.

Rename a recording file. The file names listed in URL's do not always show the actual name of the media. You can rename the recording before the recording is finished. to do this Click Options and select Rename Recording.


The Mode Button

With WM Recorder, you can capture streams in three ways: Adapter (ADA) Mode, Proxy (PRO) Mode, WMX Mode, and URL Mode. Adapter and Proxy Mode work by starting the recording automatically (with AUTO ON) or when you click the Record button (AUTO OFF).

WMX Mode operates by opening a browser from within WM Recorder, which you then use to play the media you'd like to capture. This is a backup option to be used only if ADA or PRO modes fail.

URL Mode lets you record from saved or manually entered URL's without the need to setup a network adapter monitor or a proxy server. This mode should be used if you are not interested in searching the Internet for new video/audio clips. Note that the URL Mode does not change any settings of your computer.

ADA (Adapter) Mode

Adapter Mode is the preferred recording mode. No changes are made to your computer settings. Successful setup of Adapter Mode depends on the configuration of your network card(s). At the present time we cannot guarantee functionality on every network card in existence.

Note: Adapter Mode cannot be used with encrypted (secured) network adapters.

Proxy Mode

PRO (Proxy) Mode will work with ANY Network Adapter card. The Proxy Mode should be used if ADA Mode is not available or is not working.

A particular use for the PRO mode is the PRO - Auto Recording mode. In this case the entire stream data passes through the recorder. This is recommended when recording streams that require the connection to be initiated from a web site or when web site authentication is needed. Also it is the only way to record Windows Media live playlists.

Note: Streaming Flash over RTMP protocol cannot be recorded using PRO Mode.

Adapter and Proxy modes monitor network traffic to record, but they do so in different ways.

To change the Recording Mode:

  1. Click the MODE button. The Recording Modes dialog appears:



  2. Choose a Mode (ADA, PRO, WMX or URL), then click OK.

When choosing ADA Mode, WM Recorder will automatically choose the best Adapter for you. It is always the default adapter that Windows uses.

Auto Recording

If Auto recording is selected, you no longer need to click Record to start a recording. Every Audio or Video you play is automatically recorded.

Internet Connection Test

If you're not sure which mode will work for you, click Internet Connection Test, and WM Recorder will choose the best recording mode for you.

How to Schedule Recordings

There are a lot of live streamed radio and TV stations on the Web, and with WM Recorder, you can schedule a recording to start and stop at a specific time, date or series of days on any station. Up to 100 scheduled recordings are allowed. Usually only Real Player and Windows Media streams are broadcast live.

Here's how to schedule a recording:

  1. If the stream URL was already saved, open View, then choose Menu, Saved Links, then the format from the menu.



  2. Right click the URL and select Schedule Recording from the popup menu. (Note that some stream types cannot be scheduled.) The Schedule Recording dialog appears:



  3. Set the start and stop date, start and stop time, and any recurring days to record. Click OK when finished.


Editing or Deleting Scheduled Items

You can view your schedule (to edit or delete a scheduled recording) as follows:

  1. From the main screen, click View.
  2. Select Menu, Scheduler. The Scheduled shows list appears:




  3. Right click the item in the schedule, and choose Change Schedule to edit the item. Click Remove Schedule to delete the item.

Hint: You can use the Windows Task Scheduler to automatically start WM Recorder just before the scheduled time.

How to View and Play Recordings

To see what you've recorded:

  1. Click the View button, then choose Menu, Saved Recordings. Choose the type of recording to view: Windows Media, Real, QuickTime/iPod or FLV. The Saved recordings window appears.



  2. Click the file to view, then click the Play button at the bottom of the screen. A Player window opens with your recorded file playing. Or, select more than one file then click Play to create a playlist and play the entire selection.

The Status Window

Any time a recording begins the Status Window is displayed showing the recording activity of all current recordings. If the Status Window is covered by the browser or other full screen windows click the Status button to make the Status Window visible:

This screen shows the progress of each active recording.

The DLD/Stream Time is either the time it took to download and save the file (DLD), or the number of minutes of video or audio that will be played (Stream Time). For RTMP Flash streams this is always the actual play time of the broadcast. For many high speed connections, you will be able to record a video a lot faster than the time it takes to watch it.

You can also select recordings and perform various operations on them by right-clicking or clicking Options to display the pop-up menu. Here are the options:

Stop Recording(s) stop recording the selected items. The message CANCELED will appear.

Set Recording Duration lets you limit the amount of time a recording continues. This is handy for recording live streams.


Preview Recorded File plays what it currently recording on your computer. The file must be at least 100 KB or the recording time greater than 20 seconds. You cannot seek through a file while the file is being recorded.

Record Again rerecords the file, and does not overwrite the existing file.

Convert Recording(s) opens WM Converter to convert these files to another format.

Rename Current Recording allows you to rename the output file before, during or after a recording session.

Play Remote Stream allows you to play the stream from the remote web site (except the RTMP FLV files). You can watch or listen and record simultaneously.

Remote Server Response shows the HTTP or RTSP messages sent by the server following the request to access the stream. This feature is not available for TCP (mms) streams.

Close All Recordings terminates all active recordings and closes the Recording Window.


The View Window

When you click the View button, you'll be able to access a variety of status and information screens from the View menu. This section describes those views in detail:

Captured Streams

As you play audio and video, WM Recorder captures the links you have visited. This makes it easy to return later and record something.

Saved Recordings

This screen shows you what you've recorded. From the Saved recordings menu, you can choose the type of recording to view. Select a show and right click it to play, record it again, resume a recording, split a recorded file, or reprocess a recorded file and make it seekable.

Saved Links

Like Captured Links, Saved Links shows you what you've played, but contains a longer history. Right click any URL to record it, schedule it, play it, or add a login and password to it (for recording subscription content).

Recordings Folder

Select this option to view all your recordings within the Windows File Explorer.

Cached Links

If you're using Internet Explorer, the audio and video links you've enjoyed recently may still be saved, or cached. This option lets you see those links, and optionally record them using the right-click menu.

If you can't get WM Recorder to record something you've viewed previously, it may be because it's already in the cache. See if you can find it here!

Scheduler

If you've set up scheduled recordings, they will appear here. Select a scheduled item and right-click it to edit or delete it, or activate/deactivate the scheduler.

File Downloader

Need to download a file from a specific URL? Just enter the URL and desired file name, and click OK.


Settings Reference

Click Settings from the main screen to open Settings. Here are the various options described in detail:

Settings - General

Save all visited video and audio URL's: Check this option if you want WM Recorder to keep a history of all URL's. that you have played.

Save All Visited YouTube Pages: Saves URL's of all the YouTube videos you have visited while WM Recorder is open.

Enable Scheduler at Startup: Makes sure the scheduler is activated when you open WM Recorder.

Reconnect forever: This option enables an unlimited number of attempts to reconnect to a web file if the first connection request did not succeed for any reason. It includes situations like network cables unplugged, server-not-found or other reasons that would normally make Internet programs terminate the connection process. This option is to be used primarily with scheduled recordings when the computer is not supervised. Do not use it whenever you have the option to manually re-establish the connection. This option is not available for Real Player files and when recording from Windows Media Player in PRO mode. If a connection cannot be established for any reason the recorder will try to reconnect at intervals of 2 minutes.

Add Date/Time to file names: This option adds the date and time in front of the scheduled recordings file names.

Set Recordings Folder: Change the folder where your recordings are saved.

Attach Data Graph RxTx: Want to see how your bandwidth is being used. Check this option to see a handy data graph.

Minimize in system tray: Creates a small icon in the system tray when minimizing WM Recorder.


Settings - Media Options

Captured File Types: Select the kinds of files you want to capture. In some cases you may not want redirecting file types like asx or ram files to be saved in the Saved Links list.

Check all WMP Protocols: Ensures all Windows Media stream types are captured, as well as all other protocols.

Send Player ID: Some streams require a Windows Media Player ID to be sent. It is recommended to have this option checked.

Seekable Files: Post-process Windows Media files so that the seek bar works. This lets you jump to any position in the recording.

Compress Time: If this option is set, any gaps in recording due to buffering pauses are eliminated. The recording will play back without any visible pauses.

Use WMSDK filter: When recording Windows Media, if this item is selected, you will be able to record more kinds of Windows Media streams, not including those with DRM (Digital Rights / Copy Protection) information. (This is often possible if WMSDK filter is not used.) Playback of streams containing DRM will still be subject to the restrictions in the DRM protected file.


Options

When you click Options on the main screen, the following menu appears:

Turn Auto ON/OFF turns Automatic recording mode ON or OFF.

Change to LIST view: Changes the User Interface to just the List dialog:

Open Web Browser: Opens your selected Web Browser. Useful for WMX mode, which requires a browser to be opened by WM Recorder.

Open WM Converter: Launches WM Converter for file conversions.

Rename Recording: Allows you to change the file name of the current recording.

Flash RTMP Download Options: : Change between high speed and low speed downloading. Unless you're having trouble downloading Flash video content, keep High Speed selected.

Other, Turn Scheduler ON/OFF turns the scheduler ON and OFF.

Other, Search Cache for Media: If you are unable to capture a video as it is playing, it may be cached on your PC. (This happens for YouTube and other similar sites.) Use this option to locate videos saved already in your cache.

Other, Keep WM Recorder On Top: If this menu item is checked, WM Recorder will always remain visible.

Other, Turn Beeps OFF: WM Recorder will beep when recordings start and stop, unless this option is turned off.

Other, Open URL: Opens the URL that appears in the URL field of the main screen.

Other, Check/Enter Registration: View or update your registration code information.

Other, Check Internet Connection: Is WM Recorder being blocked by a firewall? Use this option to find out.

Preview

The Preview button lets you watch what's being recorded. Click Preview from the main screen.

You can watch a specific recording, or enjoy a playlist of all active recordings.