WM Recorder User Guide

User Guide

Basic Topics

Overview
Requirements
About Recording Windows Media Streams
Spyware Warnings
Setting up your Firewall
How to Record
How to Change the Folder for Recorded Files
Playing Recordings
The Recordings Status Window
Improving Recording Performance
Copying Recordings to a Pocket PC

Advanced Topics

Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode and URL Mode
Recording Password Protected Content
 Using the Play Button for Playback, Rerecording, Resuming and Reprocessing
Recording Using the URL History
 How to Record Using a Known URL
Recording Other Streaming Media Types (MP3, mpeg, avi)
Recording Audio Tracks onto a CD
Splitting and Merging Files
Fixing Connection Problems
Making a Recorded File Seekable
File Sizes
Settings Reference

Overview

WM Recorder is the easiest, most powerful way to record Windows Media™ video and audio streams. With Just One Click, you can start capturing any Windows Media that your PC is playing.

You can save your recordings as files on your PC, or transfer them to a portable device like a Pocket PC for playback later.

If you want to jump in right away, skip ahead to the How to Record section.

Here are some of the benefits:

Important: WM Recorder is intended for use as a personal archiving tool only. Please respect the rights of the copyright holders of any material you record.


Requirements

WM Recorder requires Windows Media Player 6.4 (NetShow) and/or Windows Media Player 7 or higher. Windows Media 9 or 10 is recommended - if you don't have it, you can download it here.

Supported Windows versions are 98, ME, XP, and 2000. Internet Explorer is the preferred browser but other browsers can also be utilized provided they have the Windows Media Player plugin.


About Recording Windows Media Streams

WM Recorder works by watching internet activity relating to Window Media Player, and assembling the streamed data as an ASF file, which can then be played using Windows Media Player on your PC and many portable devices. Other streaming media formats such as MP3, MPEG, AVI or WAV can also be recorded.

WM Recorder can record almost any Windows Media Stream. WM Recorder can NOT record:

Currently, WM Recorder cannot convert to other file formats besides ASF, although this may be added to future releases. There are some publicly available programs which will make MP3 files or other formats from recorded ASF data. Litex Audio Conversion Wizard is a good product which can do this.

Setting up Your Firewall

When you use WM Recorder, it needs access to the Web to do various tasks. Often times, your firewall may not allow WM Recorder access. Here's how to configure two of the most popular firewall solutions, Windows Firewall and Zone Alarm.

Windows Firewall:

  1. Open Windows Firewall. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, then Network Connections. Next, choose Change Windows Firewall Settings. Windows Firewall appears.
  2. Click the Exceptions tab. The screen below appears:



  3. Click Add Program, and then select WM Recorder from the list. Your will see this screen:



  4. Click OK. WM Recorder will now be able to access the Web.

For Zone Alarm:

  1. Open Zone Alarm, and click the program Control Tab.
  2. Locate "Windows Media Stream Recorder". If WM Recorder is blocked, you'll see red Xs next to it as shown here:



  3. Click each X, and select Allow. When you're done, your screen should look like this:




Spyware Warnings

On some systems, once you install WM Recorder, you may see a warning that Spyware has been loaded onto your PC. You can safely ignore this warning. WM Recorder needs to monitor the network traffic to your PC to record -- this is similar to what some Spyware programs do, and Windows may not be able to tell them apart.

WM Recorder does not:

Please email us if you have questions about privacy and spyware.

How to Record

Automatic Recording Method

The easiest way to record is to have WM Recorder save EVERYTHING that plays through your browser -- this is known as the Automatic Recording Method. Here's how to do it:

  1. Open WM Recorder, and click the Record button. The Record button turns yellow and shows Stop:



  2. Open a new Browser Window.
  3. Using your browser or Windows Media Player, play the Windows Media video or audio you want to record.

The clip will be saved in your folder for Windows Media files. (Click Settings, Recordings Folder to see where this folder is located.) The file will be named automatically.

You can record multiple clips in a row without clicking Stop. Any Windows Media audio or video you play is captured. WM Recorder will save them in different files. Existing files will not be overwritten.

Important: If you're having trouble recording, try this:

  1. Close all open Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer Windows.
  2. Open WM Recorder.
  3. Reopen your browser or Windows Media Player.
  4. Click Record.
  5. Play the video to record.

Closing all browser windows and Windows Media Player before opening WM Recorder is necessary when recording using the default Proxy Mode. In Adapter Mode, this isn't necessary.

Manual Recording Method

If you don't want WM Recorder to record everything, and just specific clips, here's how to record:

  1. Open WM Recorder.
  2. Play the clip you want to record.

 

Ending a Recording Session

To stop recording:

  1. Click Stop.
  2. If a recording is still underway, the following screen appears:



  3. Click Stop Recordings to disable automatic recording.

 


How to Change the Folder for Recorded Files

By default, recorded files are saved in the same folder where the WM Recorder program resides. You can change this folder as follows:

  1. Click Settings, Recordings Folder. The Set Recordings Folder dialog appears:



  2. Navigate to the folder where you want your recordings saved.
  3. Click OK.


Playing Recordings

Once you've made a recording, you can play it within WM Recorder as follows:

  1. Click Play. The Recorded Files list appears:



  2. Double click the file to play.
  3. The chosen file plays inside Windows Media Player.

Renaming Files: You can rename a file in the above dialog by right clicking it, and choosing Rename File.


The Recordings Status Window

When recording, click inside the WM Recorder window, and the Recordings status window appears:


This screen shows the progress of each active recording. The DL Time is the time it took to download and save the file, and not the number of minutes of video or audio that will play. For many high speed connections, you will be able to record a video a lot faster than the time it takes to watch it.

For live broadcasts: The recording progress shows always 0%.

You can also select recordings and perform various operations on them by right-clicking or clicking Options to display the pop-up menu. Here are the options:

Preview Recording plays the selected file from your computer. The file must be at least 100 KB or the recording time greater than 20 seconds. You cannot seek through a file while the file is being recorded.

Stop Recording(s) stop recording the selected items. The message DOWNLOAD CANCELED will appear. This message is not displayed if the connection could not be established.

Record Again rerecords the file, and does not overwrite the existing file.

Open URL with WMP plays the stream in Windows Media Player.

Server Response shows the HTTP or RTSP messages sent by the server following the request to access the stream. This feature is not available for TCP (mms) streams.

Stream Info displays information about the stream.

Resume Recording lets you start recording from the time point where a previous recording was stopped. Live broadcasts can not be resumed.


Improving Recording Performance

With WM Recorder, you can use one-click recording in either Adapter Mode or Proxy Mode. By default, Proxy mode is set. However, Adapter Mode is preferred for most configurations, since it will work more reliability if your PC supports it. (See Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode and URL Mode for more details.)

To use Adapter Mode:

  1. Click the MODE button. The Select Recording Mode dialog appears:



  2. Select ADA Mode.
  3. Choose your primary Network Adapter from the list. If you're not sure, click Check al adapters.
  4. Click OK when finished.

Note: Adapter Mode may not work for some WiFi (802.11 Wireless) adapters. It definitely will not work for dial-up connections.


Copying Recordings to a Pocket PC

Your Pocket PC can play recordings made by WM Recorder. You can save recordings (WMA or WMV files) directly to a storage card using a storage card reader, or you can copy files to your Pocket PC when it's docked to your PC.

To copy files from the PC to the Pocket PC:

  1. On your PC, right click the Start button, then click Explore. This opens a window into the file system of your PC.
  2. Find the files you want to copy to your Pocket PC, select them, and choose Edit, Copy from the menu.
  3. Connect your Pocket PC to your PC.
  4. Open ActiveSync, and click the Explore button. This opens a window into the file system of your Pocket PC.
  5. Navigate to the folder where you want to put your files.
  6. Click Edit, Paste from the menu, and the WMA or WMV files are copied to your device.


Advanced Topics

The rest of this User Guide deals with more advanced recording topics. You will be able to record successfully without reading this section. However, you can learn some helpful techniques and gather more in-depth information about WM Recorder if you continue reading.


Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode and URL Mode

With WM Recorder 9.1, you can now capture streams in three ways: Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode and URL Mode. Adapter and Proxy Mode work by starting a recording session when you click the Record button. URL Mode lets you enter the URL for a stream to record, and is intended for advanced users.

Adapter and Proxy modes monitor network traffic to record, but they do so in different ways. Adapter Mode is a more transparent way to capture video, but may not work on all systems. We recommend you try Adapter Mode, and if the setup fails or you have problems recording, use Proxy Mode instead.

To change between Adapter, Proxy and URL Mode:

  1. Click the MODE button. The Recording Modes dialog appears:



  2. Choose a Mode (ADA, Proxy or URL), then click OK.
  3. You may need to restart WM Recorder after a mode change.

If choosing Adapter Mode, it's a good idea to click Check Network Adapters to test all your adapters. Many PCs have several adapters

Note: Adapter Mode will not work with WiFi (802.11) or dial-up connections.

Here's more details on the different Modes:

ADA (Adapter) Mode

Adapter Mode allows you to record Windows Media video and audio in real time while browsing the Net or playing streams from your computer.

To initiate recording click RECORD then use the browser to go to your preferred site. When the first Windows Media stream is encountered a Recording window is open and the recording begins. Windows Media Player is only needed to make the connection. After this you can close the Player and start playing / recording another stream. Multiple streams can be simultaneously recorded.

While browsing, all Internet addresses of visited streams are displayed in the URL window and saved. To open the URL display click . To record the stream listed in the window click RECORD.

The Recording window is normally displayed behind the browser windows. To make it visible click on WM Recorder window.

To stop all recordings click the RECORD / STOP button. To stop a single recording, right click the stream in the Recording window then choose Stop Recording from the pop-up menu. You can stop the recordings at one time and resume them later.

Adapter Mode is the preferred recording mode. No changes are made to your computer settings. Successful setup of Adapter Mode depends on the configuration of your network card(s). At the present time we cannot guarantee functionality on every network card in existence. In addition, Adapter Mode cannot be used with Dial up connections, WiFi/802.11 or VPN adapters.

Proxy Mode

PRO (Proxy) Mode allows you to record video and audio in real time while browsing the Net or playing streams from your computer using Windows Media Player.

To initiate recording click RECORD first then use the browser or Windows Media Player to go to your preferred site. When the first stream is encountered a Recording window is open and the recording begins. After Media Player has finished playing keep the RECORD button active and go to the next stream. Unlike Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode requires the Player to be active during the entire duration of the stream. Stopping the Player cancels the recording. The streams are recorded one at the time.

To stop the current recording click the STOP button. You can come back later and resume a recording that was stopped before finishing.

You can enable or disable monitoring the browser by clicking the MODE button, and selecting the Enable Internet Explorer option. This option must be enabled when recording MP3, MPEG, AVI files accessed through the browser. However, in most cases it is not necessary when recording Windows Media format streams (ASF, WMV, WMA).

The Proxy Mode should be used if Adapter Mode is not available or is not working. It is also recommended when recording streams that require the connection to be initiated from a web site or when authentication is needed. Only Internet Explorer browser is supported.

URL Mode

URL Mode allows recording from a known URL (Internet address). When using Adapter or Proxy modes, all Windows Media visited URLs are saved. The URLs can be accessed by clicking .

To record one stream double click on the listed URL. This will bring up the Recording window. To record multiple streams, select several URLs and right click, then choose Record URL(s) from the pop-up menu.

If recording doesn't start in either Adapter or Proxy modes you can open the Saved URL's list and double click the saved URL to re-initiate recording. You can also add URL's to the Recording window while recording in real time.

To find the URL of a video or audio clip played with Windows Media Player right click on the Player window then select Properties.

URL Recording mode can be used with any type of connection. No changes are made to your computer settings.

The Enable Internet Explorer option

WM Recorder 10.0 can capture Windows Media Stream requests that initiate from Internet Explorer. When this is set up, WM Recorder directs all browser requests through the WM Recorder proxy server. In some rare cases, this may have side effects. You can uncheck this option if you don't want to trap streaming requests from within Internet Explorer. This option is only active in Proxy Mode -- it is unnecessary in the other modes.

Recording Password Protected Content

Some sites (especially subscription sites) require a password to access videos. Here's how to record them:

  1. Open WM Recorder and click Record.
  2. Open the site, and play the video.
  3. Watch the Recording Status Window. If the stream is not able to be recorded, click the Stop button.
  4. Click . The Saved URL's window appears:



  5. Go to the bottom of the list, and select the last video.
  6. Right click to open the menu, and choose Change URL Password.
  7. Enter the login and password for this video's site.
  8. Right click again, and choose Record URL(s).
  9. The Recording Status window should now start recording the video.

Note: Videos protected using DRM (Digital Rights management) cannot be recorded. Fortunately, very few sites do this.

 

Using the Play Button for Playback, Rerecording, Resuming and Reprocessing

The Play button on the main screen has a wealth of cool things you can do with your recorded files, including:

Start by clicking the Play button. The Recorded Files List appears:

All functions are accessed by selecting one or more files, then clicking the Options menu or right clicking.

Here's what you can do from here:

Play File(s): This plays the selected file or files. When you select multiple files a playlist is created and all selected files are played.

Record Again: The rerecords a file.

Resume Recording: This option resumes recordings that were paused or terminated early. This starts recording from the time point where a previous recording was stopped.

Reprocess, Split, Merge: (See Splitting and Merging Files and Making a Recorded File Seekable.)

Rename or Delete Files: Use the Rename / Delete options instead of using the Explorer. This insures renaming / deleting both the stream and the ini files.

Open URL(s) with WMP: The selected file(s) will be played, and recorded if the RECORDING button is pressed. Recording a file again does not overwrite the existing file.

Change URL Password: This lets you add a login/password to record from a password protected site. (See Recording Password protected Content).

Copy or Paste URL: copies or pastes the URL to/from the clipboard.

 

Recording Using the URL History

WM Recorder is able to collect all the Windows Media URLs you've visited while WM Recorder is active. With this information, it's easy to browse and view or hear a portion of a video or audio broadcast, then record the rest of it for listening later. In addition, you can record several feeds at once.

Here's how to use the URL History to record:

  1. Watch a portion of several videos.
  2. In WM Recorder, click .
  3. The Saved URL's window appears:



  4. Hold down the Ctrl key, and click all the URL's you want to record.
  5. Right click, and choose Record Group.

All the selected URL's are recorded simultaneously.


How to Record Using a Known URL

If you know the full URL of the media you want to record, you can record it by expanding WM Recorder to uncover URL recording.

To determine the URL of an audio or video stream, you can use three different techniques:

Once you know the URL of your video or audio stream, you can record as follows:

  1. Open WM Recorder, and click the button. This opens WM Recorder to show the URL entry field:


  2. Enter the address of the media to record in the URL text entry field.
  3. Click Record.

The file is downloaded and recorded automatically. You can click Stop to end recording prematurely if necessary.

To Preview Recordings while recording URLs:

While recording URLs, you can watch or listen to what you are recording by clicking the Preview button. The Preview dialog appears like this:

You can preview what is being recorded and saved to file (the original stream - unseekable), or the seekable stream up to the current recording time, or a percentage of it.


Recording Other Streaming Media Types (MP3, mpeg, avi)

Some ASF files and all other non-asf media files (MP3, mpeg, avi, wav, etc) can only be recorded when WMR and the browser are used together. This feature can be made available by selecting Enable Internet Explorer in the Settings. In this way you can record any type of media supported by Windows Media Player.

Note that if you use another player for MP3 or mpeg files you need to change this player to Windows Media Player. This can be done as follows:

  1. Open Windows Media Player, and select Tools, Options, File Types.
  2. Select the file type you want to record.

In order to capture all Windows Media files in real time while browsing the Net you should have this feature enabled. Many of the media files available through the browser are cached by Window Media Player and they can no longer be recorded. If this happens you can record delete your Temporary Internet Files and try again, or record these files using the saved URL in URL Mode.


Recording Audio Tracks onto a CD

Audio tracks of recorded streams can be burned on CDs as follows:

  1. Open WM Recorder, and click Play.
  2. Select the wma, wmv or asf files.
  3. Right click on the selection and choose Play File(s). Windows Media Player will start playing the selected files.
  4. Click Windows Media Player's Stop button.
  5. If Windows Media Player is not in Full Mode switch to full mode.
  6. Select Copy to CD or Device. The selected playlist will be displayed.
  7. Optionally you can right click on each song, select Advanced Tag Editor and add / change the track Info (song name, artist name, etc).
  8. Insert a blank CD in your CD burner and click Copy.


This process will allow recorded audio to be player on any CD player. Note that many older CD Players will only play CD-R discs, and not CD-RW discs.


Splitting and Merging Files

WM Recorder can split a recording into two files, or merge two files into one.

To split a recording into two files:

  1. Open WM Recorder, and click Play. The Recorded Files dialog appears:


  2. Highlight a file, then choose Options, Split File from the menu. The Split file dialog appears:


  3. Choose the start and end time for where to split the file, and click OK.

To merge two files into one:

  1. Open WM Recorder, and click PLAY.
  2. Select the two files to merge.
  3. Right Click, then choose Merge Files from the menu.
  4. A file with the extension .mrg.asf will be created.

Note: You can merge files regardless the actual time they were recorded. The merging files need to be compatible with each other meaning they all need to belong to the same original file.


Fixing Connection Problems

On poor connections Windows Media Player may experience the following behavior:

1. The connection speed is lower than the bit rate (bit rate / speed) of the clip. In this case Windows Media layer can either switch to a lower bit rate (if the clip properties allows it) or freezes the image and plays only sound. When switching to a lower bit rate the picture and / or sound are lower quality. In both situations the Player will display the message "Buffering...".

2. Packets of data are lost. In this case Windows Media Player may either freeze both the picture and sound or show no picture at all. The time display however keeps moving forward.

When recording in URL Mode these problems may be fixed. WM Recorder does not switch to a lower bit rate so even though the received data rate may be lower the picture and sound will be OK when the file is played back. To compensate for lost packets, WM Recorder implements a time compressing feature which eliminates the gaps. However, the lost information is not recovered.

You can also use the Reprocess File option (after right clicking a recorded file in the Play dialog) to fix some problems. A file with the extension .rep.asf will be created.

If a connection is dropped, you can use the Resume Recording function (accessible from the PLAY button) to restart recording from where you left off. Note: Only seekable streams can be resumed. Continuous (live) streams cannot be resumed.

Making a Recorded File Seekable

Sometimes the recorded files don't have a seek bar so you cannot Fast Forward or Rewind. This is usually the case for live streams (Internet TV). If you select the Seekable option (in Settings) before recording, the file will always be saved seekable. Otherwise, you can use the Reprocess function (under the PLAY button) to reprocess the file with the Seekable option enabled. A file with the extension .sek.asf will be created when you reprocess.


File Sizes

Windows Media stream format can save you considerable disk space when compared to other media file formats. Here are some numbers:

300 Kbps recording (Cable / DSL)

Music Video ( 44 KHz stereo sound) - 2.5 MB / minute
Movies ( 32 KHz stereo sound) - 1.5 MB / minute
Music Audio ( 44 KHz stereo ) - 0.3 MB / minute

56 Kbps recording (Modem)

Music Video, Movies, Music Audio - 0.05 to 0.15 MB / minute

 

Settings Reference

This section describes what the various program settings do. To open the Settings dialog, click . The Settings dialog appears as follows:


Change WMR Ports

Clicking this option opens the Change Ports dialog (only if in Proxy Mode):

This is for advanced use! Only change these settings if you're having trouble recording. Your Windows Media Player may be configured to use different ports than the defaults. You can see which ports are being used by opening Windows Media Player and clicking Tools, Options, Network.

Recordings Folder

Choosing this option lets you select the location where your recorded files are placed.

Just navigate to the folder where you want files to be saved, and click OK.


Change Media Player

Choosing this option opens the Change Media Player dialog:

This option lets you choose the Windows Media Player to use when recording. Normally, Media Player should be selected.

In Windows 98 and higher versions there are two Media Player programs both called Windows Media Player. Windows Registry designates them as Media Player and NetShow. Media Player (WMPLAYER.EXE) provides media stream playing and a multitude of other media functions (CD, MP3, visualizations, playlists, etc). The NetShow (MPLAYER2.EXE) is utilized for playing stream files only.

Either one of the Players can be utilized to playback the recorded ASF files. However, there are some differences:

You cannot record TCP (MMS) files using the NetShow in Browse Mode. NetShow does not support TCP proxy connections. You can record TCP files either in URL Mode or using Windows Media Player 7- Open URL in Browse Mode.

Some versions of Media Player do not playback ASF continuous stream file (Web TV or Radio). NetShow does.

Disk Space

Choosing this option shows you how much free disk space you have available to store recordings.


Connection Speed

Choosing this option opens the Connection Speed dialog:

When a connection speed is specified, WM Recorder selects the bit rate closest to the specified speed. When Auto is selected, WM Recorder selects the highest bit rate posted by the media. On high speed connections (Cable, DSL) the connection speed should always be set to Auto.

Specifying your connection speed is particularly important when recording using low speed (Dial-Up) connections. Say for example that your connection speed is 56 K and you're downloading a video clip that has two bit rates (speeds) listed in its header (34 Kbps and 227 Kbps). If you specified your connection speed at 56 K than the 34 K version of the video will be downloaded. This version will have a lower video and audio quality than the 227 K version but it downloads faster. If you select 300 K for your connection speed the better quality 227 K version will be downloaded but at a much lower rate. So, on low speed connections you may have to compromise between quality and speed.

Note that multiple bit rates are not always available on the same stream. If your connection speed is lower than the stream bit rate you should probably search for another URL where a lower speed version of the stream is available.

One cool feature of WM Recorder is its ability to record high quality media on slow connections. High quality video and audio media normally require high speed connections (Cable, DSL). You can download high speed media even if you have a slow connection (Dial-Up) by setting the connection speed to "Auto". However, you should expect much higher download time.


LAN Proxy Settings

If you connect to the Internet via a proxy server, you need to let WM Recorder know this. Here's how the Proxy Settings dialog appears:


Most setups don't use a proxy server, so you can usually leave this blank.

You can find out the proper IP address and HTTP port by opening Internet Explorer, and clicking Tools, Internet Options, Connection, LAN Settings.

IMPORTANT: Note that when WM Recorder is running in Proxy Mode, it sets a temporary proxy server. Be sure to exit WM Recorder and Internet Explorer before looking up these settings in Internet Explorer.

 

Save all Visited URLs

Check this option if you want WM Recorder to keep a history of all URLs that Windows Media Player has played while browsing the Net with WM Recorder in Browse Mode. This is handy for recording using URL Mode. You can view the history by clicking Files, Saved URLs.



Start in System Tray

Select this option if you want WM Recorder to minimize as a tiny icon to the system tray, instead of a larger presence in the task bar. Here's how WM Recorder appears in the tray:

Selecting this option also makes WM Recorder start when Windows starts.


Rank Recordings

This enables you to share anonymous usage statistics with us, which helps us make WM Recorder better and better. You can uncheck this to not share usage. To learn more, click the Privacy Policy button.


Send Unique Player ID

Some Streaming Web sites ask for a unique ID for your player before you record. No personal information is exchanged, and as such, we recommend you leave this option checked.

Seekable

Checking this option makes all of your recordings seekable. This means that you can move the slider bar in Windows Media Player to instantly go to a particular part of the recording during playback. Streams that you record aren't normally seekable.

Compress Time

If this option is set, any gaps in recording due to buffering pauses are eliminated. The recording will play back without any visible pauses.

Maximum Disk Space Used Per Session

This sets the maximum amount of space to use for recordings. The default is 1000 MB.

 

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