Hi,

I like this one: -

Orbit Downloader: the ultra file & social media (YouTube etc..) download manager

The only recommendation is to delete the file for the automatic updates (SoftUpdater.Dll), as this can be a pain & is unreliable (Selects "odd" version numbers for some products) & can "Hog" the CPU by 35% orr more.

To delete the file, navigate to C:\Program Files\Orbitdownloader then delete the file "SoftUpdater.Dll" without the quotes "" or you can just rename it to SoftUpdater.Dll.old

Se thread : -

Orbit Downloader - Forums / CPu running at 25% just for this (Orbitdm.exe) process

for you tube i have this one ,its nice and has a download button installed under a youtube video,

http://www.bestvideodownloader.com/

however my main one of choice is realplayer as you already mentioned. it quite often updates and im wondering if that is why you are experiencing crashes with it.
Do you update it when asked or have you got updates turned off

Sometimes also, you have to not run other programs and just do the download , as your useable RAM will run low. Just sayin ... if it helps .

Hello mich and welcome to the forums

I used to use RealPlayer - it drove mad. Failed downloads, crashing, freezing etc. etc.

What browser do you use Mich?

Tom

Hi Mich,

It's a shame that you don't like Firefox, it's much more add-on friendly. You need complex tools to create IE add-ons (or BHOs), so understandably, there are less add-ons available. But anyway, I'm sure you're not after my views of Firefox and IE.

In that case, I would also suggest Best Video Downloader:

http://www.bestvideodownloader.com/support

Or, another nice little trick. Go to the YouTube page of the video that you want to download. When the page loads, copy and paste the following script into the URL bar and press enter.

Code:

javascript:(function() {
    function get_filetype(fmt_id) {
        switch(fmt_id) {
            case '5':
            case '6':
            case '34':
            case '35':
                return 'FLV';
            case '18':
            case '22':
            case '37':
            case '38':
            case '82':
            case '83':
            case '84':
            case '85':
                return 'MP4';
            case '43':
            case '44':
            case '45':
            case '46':
            case '100':
            case '101':
            case '102':
                return 'WEBM';
            default:
                return 'unknown';
        }
    }
    function get_video_url(fmt_stream_map, chosen_fmt_id, avail_fmt_ids) {
        fmt_stream_map=unescape(fmt_stream_map);
        if(avail_fmt_ids.indexOf(chosen_fmt_id)===0)
            return fmt_stream_map.substring(4,fmt_stream_map.indexOf('&quality='));
        if(avail_fmt_ids.indexOf(chosen_fmt_id)===avail_fmt_ids.length-1)
            return fmt_stream_map.substring(fmt_stream_map.lastIndexOf('http'),fmt_stream_map.lastIndexOf('&quality='));
        var pattern=new RegExp('&itag='+avail_fmt_ids[avail_fmt_ids.indexOf(chosen_fmt_id)-1]+',url=(.+?)&quality=');
        return fmt_stream_map.match(pattern)[1];
    }
    (function main() {
        var args=yt.playerConfig['args'];
        var fmt_quality_list='';
        var chosen_fmt_id=0;
        var fmt_info=args['fmt_list'].split(',');
        var fmt_resolution='';
        var avail_fmt_ids=new Array(fmt_info.length);
        for(var i in fmt_info) {
            avail_fmt_ids[i]=fmt_info[i].split('/')[0];
            fmt_resolution=fmt_info[i].split('/')[1];
            fmt_quality_list+=(avail_fmt_ids[i]+' = '+fmt_resolution+' ('+get_filetype(avail_fmt_ids[i])+')\n');
        }
        loop: while(true) {
            chosen_fmt_id=prompt('Please enter a format id.\n'+fmt_quality_list, avail_fmt_ids[0]);
            if(chosen_fmt_id===null) {
                return;
            }
            for(var i in avail_fmt_ids) {
                if(chosen_fmt_id===avail_fmt_ids[i]) {
                    break loop;
                }
            }
        }
        window.open(get_video_url(args['url_encoded_fmt_stream_map'], chosen_fmt_id, avail_fmt_ids)+'&title='+document.getElementsByName('title')[0].content);
    }());
}());

You'll then be prompted which one (resolution) you want to download. Enter the corresponding number and then download the file when prompted.

You can also bookmark this script for easy use.

This only works for YouTube though

Tom