Hi All,
Is VLC the only way to download videos from YouTube, or is there better (faster) ways?
Any help would be appreciated as I have a few tutorial videos I would like to have on my HD.
take care
Don W
There’s quite a few youtube plugins for Firefox.
Install Firefox:
sudo apt-get install firefox
Fire up Firefox … then go to Tools>Addons>Extensions … in the search box enter easy youtube video downloader and hit enter.
Click the Install button next to “Easy Youtube Video Downloader 6.6”.
When installed … restart Firefox.
Now when you visit any Youtube page … there will be a “Download” button under the video where you can choose the download format
I suggest you download them as .flv or they might get quite large 
… but if it’s music, you can download them as .mp3 (ie. without the video) if you wish.
There’s a few for Chrome/Chromium too … but I’ve not tested them:
http://www.chromeextensions.org/?s=youtube&scat=all
This seems to work in Chromium (just tested it):
http://www.chromeextensions.org/utilities/ultimate-youtube-downloader/
for video it just works … for mp3 conversion it takes you to an external site, where you click the download link
Thanks Mark,
I will try this out today when work allows.
take care
Don W
There is a great little piece of software I use for getting videos from the web, Movgrab.
Check out the site here.
It is pretty straight forward to use. You can run a command to see the available options of download then specify which one you want. You can also stream the video into your favourite player.
I’m not at home at the moment but if you’re interested I can write up a quick guide to using it later on.
That’s quite a clever little command line app … and another useful tool in my fight against the screaming blood thirsty criminal hoards of the planet Asgaroth … Oh sorry, got a bit carried away there … nice find 
Thanks Mark,
I carried out your instructions and all is well.
take care
Don W