clive(1)

NAME

clive - video extraction tool

SYNOPSIS

clive [OPTION]... [URL]...

DESCRIPTION

clive is a video extraction tool for user-uploaded video hosts like Youtube, Google Video and others. It can be chained with 3rd party tools for subsequent video re-encoding and playing.

OPTIONS

--version: This causes clive to print a version number to the standard output.
--help This causes clive to print out a verbose message describing its: options, one per line.
-n, --no-extract: clive will not actually download any videos but prints out the video output file name and length.; config: enable_extract
-u, --check-update: The program will check http://download.gna.org/clive for the latest release and prompts if a new version is available.
-d, --clear-cache: Clears all cache data from ~/.clive/cache file.
-D, --clear-last: Clears last URL batch from ~/.clive/recall file.
-w, --write-conf: Generates a "template" configuration file (~/.clive/config) with some comments and a complete list of supported commands. Autodetects also some of the 3rd party programs such as ffmpeg.
-L, --low-quality: Explicitly extract low quality videos even if better quality are available.; config: enable_low_quality
-R, --no-recall: Explicitly turn off writing the URL batch to ~/.clive/recall file which could otherwise be recalled later with the -l option.; config: enable_recall
-q, --quiet: Be less verbose.; config: enable_verbose
-e, --emit-csv: Similar to --no-extract but prints out the video information in CSV format:

OK: "url","extraction-url","output-filename","file-length"; ERROR: "url","error-message"
-l, --recall: Recall last saved URL batch from ~/.clive/recall file.
-C, --no-cache: Explicitly turn off all caching features. clive will not read or write cache.; clive stores information about visited video pages over time which it then attempts to reuse as needed (e.g. continuing an interrupted transfer). The data is collected to ~/.clive/cache file which is a SQLite database. This feature is turned off if the sqlite3 module is not found.; Some hosts have their extraction URLs expire after awhile. For example Youtube URLs expire after about 1hr and 40min (at the time of writing this), whereas Dailymotion URLs expire after only 2min. clive attempts to keep track of the time and revisits the video pages as needed.; HTTP/410 or HTTP/403 errors may be indication of expired extraction URLs. To verify this, try disabling the cache (--no-cache).; The cache can be cleared by removing the ~/.clive/cache file.; config: enable_cache
-c, --cache: Allows browsing existing cache data and re-extracting previously downloaded videos.
-F, --rss: Causes clive to treat the URLs as RSS/Atom feed URLs. Designed to be used with video host feeds. Parses and displays found videos available for extraction. Examples:

% clive -F "http://youtube.com/rss/user/lisanova/videos.rss"; config: feed_url
-S, --scan: Causes clive to scan the fed URLs for identifiable video links. The found links are then checked and displayed to the user for selection. Examples:

% clive -S "http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/"; Note that this feature scans for Google and Youtube videos only.
Output Options
-s PATH, --savedir=PATH: Specifies the save directory for the downloaded video files.; config: output_savedir
-a ACTION, --exist=ACTION (overwrite|rename): Action if local_file < remote_file or if the host does not support continuing partially downloaded files. clive will always attempt to continue a partially downloaded file first and if that fails only then fallback to the preferred "action".; When "rename" is used, clive will generate a new output filename for the downloaded video rather than rename the existing file. The generated output file name will contain the original filename and a random string appended to it.; config: output_if_file_exists
-o FILENAME, --output=FILENAME: Specifies an output filename for the downloaded video file. Overrides the default file naming scheme. Should be used with only single video extractions.
-m ACTION, --filter=ACTION (regexp|custom|no): Either regexp for Python re.sub method, or "custom" to use a user-defined filter method from ~/.clive/custom.py, or "no" to disable filtering completely. The filter feature is used to strip garbage characters from the video page titles which are used to name the extracted video files.; clive defaults to "A-Za-z0-9" (regexp) which causes the program to ignore all but those characters from a video title. clive calls the re.sub method with the regexp in the following manner:
re.sub('[^%s]' % regexp, '', title); The re.sub method is documented at:
http://docs.python.org/lib/node46.html; Disabling is the fastest and easiest way to keep the original video title. It should be noted, however, that if filtering is disabled, and the video title contains characters that cannot be used in a filename, clive will crash.; You can also override the default use of the re.sub method by writing a custom Python method to ~/.clive/custom.py file. The example below illustrates a very simple custom callback method that returns the original video title (title parameter) in lower case back to the program. Note the name of the method, the number of parameters, as well as the return call:

def custom_output_filter(title):
return title.lower()

For clive to use the custom method, the program must be run with --filter=custom. Writing a custom method obviously requires that you are familiar with Python programming language but allows you ultimately to filter the titles in any way you choose.

config: output_title_filter
-f FORMAT, --format=FORMAT: Specifies the output filename format. The default is "%t.%e". The available specifiers: "%t" (title), "%e" (extension), "%i" (video ID) and "%h" (host).; config: output_filename_format
Connection Options
-y PROXY, --proxy=PROXY: Sets the HTTP proxy. If this option is not used, the default environment settings (http_proxy variable) will be used instead. Authentication information may be provided using normal URL constructs:

--proxy=http://user:host@foo:1234; config: http_proxy
-t LIMIT, --throttle=LIMIT: This causes clive to throttle down the bandwidth use for transfers. For example:

% clive --throttle=100 URL; Would limit the transfer rate to 100KB/s. The default is 0 (unlimited).; config: http_throttle
-g STRING, --agent=STRING: Sets HTTP user-agent string. Defaults to a random string generated for each runtime.; config: http_agent
--youtube-user=USERNAME: See below.; config: youtube_id
--youtube-pass=PASSWORD: When used together with the --youtube-user option, clive will log into Youtube.com. clive will also automatically confirm the user's age so that it is possible to extract also flagged video content from Youtube.; Note that clive will not log in unless the URL batch contains a Youtube video page URL.; Cache may sometimes interfere with this feature. Try disabling the cache if you are running into any oddities.; config: youtube_password
--dmotion-user=USERNAME: See below.; config: dmotion_id
--dmotion-pass=PASSWORD: Similar to the Youtube equivalent above but for Dailymotion.; config: dmotion_password
Playback Options
--player=PATH: Specifies path to a player program. The "%i" must be appended to the path. Any player options may be appended to the path string along with the specifier. For example:

% clive --player="/usr/local/bin/vlc --fullscreen %i"; config: path_player
-p FORMAT, --play=FORMAT: Specifies the video format that clive should play. Apart from using "src" which refers to the original downloaded video file, it can be anything that ffmpeg recognizes. Some examples: "mpg", "avi", "mp4".; Note that using anything else than "src" will require "--ffmpeg". The video is first re-encoded to the specified FORMAT and then played.; config: play_format
Re-encoding Options
--ffmpeg=PATH: Specifies the path to ffmpeg with any options you want to pass to it. For example:

% clive --ffmpeg="/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -y -i %i %o"; Both "%i" and "%o" specifiers are required. The "-y" option is recommended to avoid any subprocess STDIN issues with ffmpeg.; config: path_ffmpeg
-r FORMAT, --reencode=FORMAT: This causes clive to call ffmpeg to re-encode the downloaded video to another FORMAT. The FORMAT can be anything as long as ffmpeg recognizes it.; Note that if "--play" is being used and the value is other than "src", you don't need to use this option. For example:

% clive --play=mpg URL; config: reencode_format
Clipboard Options
--xclip=PATH: Specifies the path to xclip program. Note that the "-o" option needs to be appended to the path. For example:

% clive --xclip="/usr/bin/xclip -o" --paste; config: path_xclip
-x, --paste: This causes clive to read URLs from the clipboard using xclip.; config: enable_paste

EXAMPLES

% clive "http://youtube.com/watch?v=VlFGTtU65Xo" % clive "http://youtube.com/watch?v=3HD220e0bx4"
Using UNIX pipes:: % cat url.lst
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VlFGTtU65Xo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3HD220e0bx4
% cat url.lst | clive
Directly from the X clipboard:: % clive --xclip="/usr/bin/xclip -o" --paste
Play: % clive --player="/usr/bin/vlc %i" --play=src URL
The above first extracts the video and plays it with vlc. Note how the "%i" specifier is being used for "input file".
Re-encode: % clive --ffmpeg="/usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -i %i %o" \
--reencode=mpg URL
Video is first extracted and then re-encoded to mpeg. Note how the "%i" and "%o" (output file) specifiers are being used. The "-y" option is recommended to avoid possible subprocess stdin issues with ffmpeg.
Chain all three: % clive --player="/usr/bin/vlc %i" --play=mpg \
--ffmpeg="/usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -i %i %o" URL
Video would first be extracted, re-encoded to mpeg and then played (mpeg).
Configuration file
You can create a template ~/.clive/config file with the "--write-conf" program option and then manually edit the file. Below are a few lines that illustrate the benefits of using the file:
~/.clive/config:: play_format="mpg"
path_player="/usr/bin/vlc %i" path_ffmpeg="/usr/bin/ffmpeg -y %i %o" path_xclip="/usr/bin/xclip -o"
With the above configuration file, you could run:: % clive URL
Instead of:: % clive --player="/usr/bin/vlc %i" --play=mpg \
--ffmpeg="/usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -i %i %o" URL
Similarily, to paste from the X clipboard, you could run:: % clive --paste
Instead of:: % clive --xclip="/usr/bin/xclip -o" --paste

HOSTS

youtube.com: Format: mp4/flv
Resume: Yes (mp4 only)
clive defaults to extract the better quality video (480x270, mp4) but extracts the low quality video (flv) if mp4 is not found or if the --low-quality option is being used.
video.google.*: Format: mp4/flv
Resume: Yes (mp4 only)
clive defaults to extract the better quality video (mp4) but extracts the low quality (flv) if mp4 is not found or if the --low-quality option is being used.
dailymotion.com: Format: varies
Resume: Yes
clive defaults to the highest quality video available but extracts the 320x240 video (flv) if no better quality is found or if the --low-quality option is being used.
guba.com: Format: flv
Resume: Yes
metacafe.com: Format: flv
Resume: Yes
last.fm: Format: (youtube.com)
Resume: (youtube.com)
Jzalae: "Last.fm recently added a video feature which appears to be a simple wrapping of YouTube videos, and the YouTube id appears in the Last.fm URL. The attached patch finds it from URLs like http://www.last.fm/music/Sylver/+videos/+1-fVD2TfSGkaw"
sevenload.com: Format: flv
Resume: Yes
myvideo.*: Format: flv
Resume: Yes

UPDATES

Website: http://home.gna.org/clive/

Or: % svn co svn://svn.gna.org/svn/clive/trunk

BUG REPORTS

Bugs should be reported to the clive bug tracking system at:: https://gna.org/bugs/?func=additem&group=clive
In the bug report, please include:: * Information about your system (O/S, Python, anything else)
* How to reproduce the bug
* If the bug was a crash, the exact text that was printed out
* Further information such as the back trace if possible

COPYRIGHT

clive comes with NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. You may redistribute copies of clive under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information about these matters, see the files named COPYING.

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