How I save/capture/rip, edit and upload content.

[faceless]

Downloading:

BBC audio - Radio Downloader as it allows scheduling and auto download.
BBC video - Get_iPlayer
Youtube normal - flashgot plugin for FF and IE.
4oD, Youtube protected - GetFlv
Brightcove, ITV and Channel 5 - Stream Transport

Editing:
Xvid, MP4, FLV - AviDemux
MP3 - MP3 Cutter, MakeItOne, Goldwave

Live Broadcast Capturing:
Audio: Windows Media Encoder
Video: Pinnacle DVB USB stick

Ripping DVD:
DVD Decrypter
AutoGK

Converting:
audio and video - Media Coder

Uploading:

youtube - no need for a description really
youmicro - like youtube, but for streaming audio
scribd.com - like youtube, but for pdf/text
ifile.it - for downloads up to 1gb
mediafire.com - downloads up to 300mb, but more recognised.

All of these programs/sites are free except for GetFlv and are selected because they do the job as cleanly as possible. Please don't ask for any more info as I've already given enough for anyone who has the determination to find out the rest for themselves.

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[faceless]

Here's a bit of an update. In the past I wasn't able to get a decent digital tv signal so had to rely on the scart connection from the cable box. It worked well enough for years, but I was always aware that it wasn't good enough.

About 3 months back my area finally got a good digital signal and since then I've been doing PDTV (purely digital TV) captures - using a £5 Pinnacle TV USB plugin.

If attempting this, the first thing to set in the software is the recording format - set it to Transport Stream. It's much clearer than mpg. Then record the show - making sure to start the capture a good 30 seconds beforehand so that it starts up in time and you get everything.

Once you've got the show recorded in .TS format, load it into VideoRedo Plus. This software will let you edit out all the unwanted parts, while retaining all audio sync (it took me a good few attempts to find software which did this)

Then, when you've got the edited mpg (the file extension is irrelevant at this point), load it into Handbrake converter. For the sake of quality/time I use the mp4 format as it allows high quality rips at up to 30% smaller filesize than xvid, and in a shorter time. I will set the video properties to 640x360 for most captures because that also cuts down the converting time, while giving a good final result. It also has automatic cropping and I've yet to find anything it didn't handle well.