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How can I play the .htm files downloaded from Youtube by Download Scheduler?

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I downloaded and installed the Download Scheduler yesterday, and downloaded some clips from Youtube during the night - my Internet free time. I was expecting them to be .flv files, but they are .htm files. When I double-click one, it opens Firefox, but the screen stays black with a dotted wheel spinning on it. I looked for a standalone htm player on the web, but I didn't find any. I tried changing the extension to .flv, but that didn't work - no surprise there - but I was getting desperate.

Any thoughts?

I downloaded and installed the Download Scheduler yesterday, and downloaded some clips from Youtube during the night - my Internet free time. I was expecting them to be .flv files, but they are .htm files. When I double-click one, it opens Firefox, but the screen stays black with a dotted wheel spinning on it. I looked for a standalone htm player on the web, but I didn't find any. I tried changing the extension to .flv, but that didn't work - no surprise there - but I was getting desperate. Any thoughts?

All Replies (6)

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If you press Ctrl+u to view the source of the page, does it look like HTML (non-random keyboard characters starting with <!DOCTYPE or <html)? If so, the add-on seems not to have extracted the exact content you want. (Video data should look like gibberish in the source viewer.)

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Good point! Yes, the file content is all HTML.

Do I need to somehow configure the Download Scheduler? The only options it gives are to set up the schedule time and time between downloads.

YouTube shows the clip that is playing, and down the right side of the screen, it shows links to clips on a similar subject, each one with a thumb-nail. If I right-click either the thumb-nail or the link and select "Schedule link as ..." the application brings up a directory selection dialogue, with Proposed file extension = ".htm" Save as type = FireFox HTML file

Am I doing something wrong, or doesn't the scheduler extension work?

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Sorry about the formatting above. There were line feeds that your forum software did not use.

Proposed file extension = ".htm"
Save as type = FireFox HTML file
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One of the volunteers here might be familiar with this add-on, but I think it makes sense to also pose the question to its author using the links on the right side of the page: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/download-scheduler/ ("Add-on home page" and "Support E-mail")

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Hmmm... The only way you can communicate with the author is by opening an account with him, and I'm really opposed to that. I want to buy a boat, and I know a boatyard that has what I want - but it requires a login to communicate with them, so I'll wait till I see that type of boat elsewhere.

I was on the point of writing a downloader, then I saw an advert for this one, so I tried it as it seemed like the solution to a problem - but on reflection, maybe I'll just get on with writing one - a standalone, not a FF extension.

If anybody else on the site has a solution, it would be welcome. It will probably take me a week or more to write one, so a solution would be quicker/easier than that.

BTW, I discovered, when I was experimenting in trying to play the files, that if I change the extension from .htm to .html, that they play - but by downloading them afresh from Youtube - not exactly what I wanted!

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There are a lot of downloaders dedicated to video, some of which might not even try to stuff your computer with adware. But your requirement for scheduling might not be a standard feature, so there's probably still room for innovation.