4 ms·

Eventually, YouTube will degrade to the point where it’s not worth using. If you know of any truly precious videos up there, I’d start downloading them now.

blueflow 4y ago
I'm using https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp to download my favorite videos, and after years of using it, its worth the effort. Many good memories would have been inaccessible otherwise.
- joshstrange 4y ago
  To expand on this, setup one of the various yt-dlp "servers" (It's just software, often in a docker container. I have an old one that uses youtube-dl, I need to update it) where you can post over to them and it will download the video and drop it in a folder somewhere. Then setup a Shortcut (iOS), bookmarklet, etc so that on any platform you are on, you are 1 click away from kicking off a download. Then sort/organize those videos as you see fit at a later date. Bonus points for putting your intake folder in a place your media server can see.
  - ericd 4y ago
    Sounds great. Any shortcut/bookmarklet code or pointers to servers to share? I'm sure readers could set that up themselves, but time/attention are always limited resources.
    - joshstrange 4y ago
      Something like this: https://github.com/frznman/yt-dlp-server https://github.com/frznman/yt-dlp-server In my case I stuck my instance (not that exact software but similar) behind Caddy and added basic auth. Then I just setup Shortcuts or bookmarklets that just did: curl -X POST --data-urlencode "url={{url}}" http://{{address}}:8080/yt/q Where {{url}} was the current page I was on and {{address}} was where my instance was available (with username:password added to it, example: "https://user:pass@ytdlp.mydomain.com/yt/q https://user:pass@ytdlp.mydomain.com/yt/q").
      - ericd 4y ago
        Thanks very much! Going to add that to our NAS.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  I've started just in the last couple weeks. Series with entries on thetvdb or imdb go on Jellyfin, mixed in with ordinary TV shows. Works great. Others I'm squirreling away for now (I don't like how Jellyfin handles web videos that don't have a TV metadata entry, even with the 3rd part addon for using Youtube's metadata, so I'm waiting for a better solution or until I get bored and write my own metadata for those others)
branon 4y ago
This is really important. I've got 700 GB (and growing) of archived YouTube videos. Started downloading them a few months ago because I had noticed older stuff disappearing. Who knows how many videos in my specific sub-interest (ASMR videos, for the curious) are already lost forever. I try not to think about that. I've got a representative sample archived and am working to keep up with the new stuff that gets posted. Anything added to the archive is picked up by Jellyfin for later perusal. From here I can create playlists, tweak metadata, etc... A video or two being taken down for creative reasons by the author is one thing. YouTube making executive decisions to delist videos or channels is entirely different. Google has had it too good for too long with YouTube being the de-facto video host of the Internet. Society at large is at fault for buying in so completely. I just want important examples of an interesting art form to stand the test of time. And if you want something done right...

blueflow 4y ago

I'm using https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp to download my favorite videos, and after years of using it, its worth the effort. Many good memories would have been inaccessible otherwise.

joshstrange 4y ago
To expand on this, setup one of the various yt-dlp "servers" (It's just software, often in a docker container. I have an old one that uses youtube-dl, I need to update it) where you can post over to them and it will download the video and drop it in a folder somewhere. Then setup a Shortcut (iOS), bookmarklet, etc so that on any platform you are on, you are 1 click away from kicking off a download. Then sort/organize those videos as you see fit at a later date. Bonus points for putting your intake folder in a place your media server can see.
- ericd 4y ago
  Sounds great. Any shortcut/bookmarklet code or pointers to servers to share? I'm sure readers could set that up themselves, but time/attention are always limited resources.
  - joshstrange 4y ago
    Something like this: https://github.com/frznman/yt-dlp-server https://github.com/frznman/yt-dlp-server In my case I stuck my instance (not that exact software but similar) behind Caddy and added basic auth. Then I just setup Shortcuts or bookmarklets that just did: curl -X POST --data-urlencode "url={{url}}" http://{{address}}:8080/yt/q Where {{url}} was the current page I was on and {{address}} was where my instance was available (with username:password added to it, example: "https://user:pass@ytdlp.mydomain.com/yt/q https://user:pass@ytdlp.mydomain.com/yt/q").
    - ericd 4y ago
      Thanks very much! Going to add that to our NAS.
yamtaddle 4y ago
I've started just in the last couple weeks. Series with entries on thetvdb or imdb go on Jellyfin, mixed in with ordinary TV shows. Works great. Others I'm squirreling away for now (I don't like how Jellyfin handles web videos that don't have a TV metadata entry, even with the 3rd part addon for using Youtube's metadata, so I'm waiting for a better solution or until I get bored and write my own metadata for those others)

branon 4y ago

This is really important. I've got 700 GB (and growing) of archived YouTube videos. Started downloading them a few months ago because I had noticed older stuff disappearing. Who knows how many videos in my specific sub-interest (ASMR videos, for the curious) are already lost forever. I try not to think about that. I've got a representative sample archived and am working to keep up with the new stuff that gets posted. Anything added to the archive is picked up by Jellyfin for later perusal. From here I can create playlists, tweak metadata, etc... A video or two being taken down for creative reasons by the author is one thing. YouTube making executive decisions to delist videos or channels is entirely different. Google has had it too good for too long with YouTube being the de-facto video host of the Internet. Society at large is at fault for buying in so completely. I just want important examples of an interesting art form to stand the test of time. And if you want something done right...