How easy (or hard) is it to copy streaming video?

...as easy as it is to download and install an application that captures streams (such as Stream Down at http://www.cocsoft.com/). It is just as easy for someone with a little knowledge, even without a dedicated application like that.

John

you can't legally copy streaming video that has been encoded with digital rights management... if websites posted software to do that, they'd be in violation of the dmca law.

about the best you could to is to use screen capture software in those cases.

True, Dan. However, if Glenn is concerned with protecting his own video (I guess I inferred that), he should be aware that it can be copied (illegally) if someone who truly chooses to do so does the research.

1. videos posted on a HTTP link: can be downloaded with most browsers and definitely with any download manager

2. true streaming videos on rstp:// and mms:// links can (usually) be downloaded with the right tools (= specialized media)

3. DRM protected video (usually Windows Media) might be downloadable, but will usually not play (depends on the DRM flags etc.)

i recently did a bunch of research on this, wrt windows media audio files.

microsoft has had several versions of their digital rights management software... one of the early drm versions was cracked, but i was not able to find any reference to cracks for the latest drm stuff.

so yeah, as rob posted, you can download it, but it requires a drm-equipped player to play... unless it's itunes drm audio, which i believe has been cracked.

what's needed with microsoft drm is a license server, and there aren't many of those around, maybe a dozen or so that'll deal with the public? $25/mo for 5,000 licenses was one of the cheapest rates, but i'm thinking that once you encode the url of the license server into the media file that's distributed, it's out of your hands... change license servers, and you've lost track of the file, which may or may not be an issue.

the flexability of drm-equipped files is incredible... i want to put free full-frame video downloads on the bittorret circuit, with free licensing useage for one computer, just to see the useage stats, and for branding purposes.

within the last couple of months, companies like sbc and verizon have started spending hundreds of millions of $$ on settop players that'll download video over the 'net... this is the future, it's happening with drm, and it could be content that we create and/or encode.

Do you have an example of streaming video?
website? whatever?

not sure who you directed your question at, but if you want streaming media examples, try http://windowsmedia.com/MediaGuide/Home