Overview
Recording Mode Setup
How to Record
The Mode Button
How To Schedule Recordings
How to View and Play Recordings
The Status Window
The View Window
Settings Reference
Options
Preview

Overview

WM Recorder is an easy and powerful way to record streaming video and audio from the internet, saving it forever on your PC.

All the popular streaming formats are supported, including:

• Windows Media™
• Real Audio™ and Real Video™
• Flash™ Video (FLV)
• Mpeg
• QuickTime™
• Streaming MP3 (Shoutcast™)

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. WM Recorder can NOT record content protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Requirements

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

For capturing Real Streams, you'll need Real Player 10 or higher.

Supported Windows versions are 98, ME, XP, and 2000.

For capturing Real Streams, you'll need Real Player.

Supported Windows versions are 98, ME, XP, and 2000.

Recording Mode Setup

During the installation WM Recorder sets up the default recording mode to ADA (Adapter). If ADA mode cannot be setup the recording mode is set to PRO (Proxy). ADA mode cannot be setup if:

• The adapter monitor WinPcap failed to install.
• Your Internet security software blocks WM Recorder files to access to the Internet.
• The network adapter utilized in your computer does not allow access to its data.

In this case we recommend to try to setup the ADA mode manually after the installation is finished. To do this click MODE then click ADA Mode in the Recording Modes dialog.  

ADA and PRO are real time recording modes. When operating in one of these modes the recorder can automatically capture and record while playing video or audio from your browser or media player (real time). ADA provides the best capture capabilities and all the stream formats listed above can be recorded in real time. PRO can capture and record in real time only Windows Media and Real Player streams. However if the stream URL is available (known) all formats listed above can be recorded regardless the recording mode selected (see URL recording below).

See The Mode Button for details on ADA and PRO modes.

How To Record

Recording is easy. There are a few different ways to do it - you can record in Real Time, or record from captured URLs. Plus, you can choose AUTO Recording Mode (under the Options button).

Here's how to record in Real Time:

With AUTO recording mode enabled (AUTO ON):

1. Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.
2. Recording starts automatically. The RECORD button turns to STOP. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip. There is no need to wait until the play is finished.
3. To end one or more recordings click STOP and select the desired action from the pop-up menu.

With AUTO recording mode disabled (AUTO OFF):

1. Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.
2. The URL (Internet address) and the File Name of the clip are displayed on the main screen. Click Record to start recording. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip.
3. To end one or more recordings click Stop and select the desired action from the pop-up menu.

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 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 ADA Mode, this isn't necessary.

How to Record using URL Recording

All captured URLs are saved and you can access them by clicking the View button, and opening the Saved Links window. Highlight one or more URLs and click the Record button at the bottom of the Saved Links window to record the entire selection. You can also add manually URLs to the Saved Links data base.

Options While Recording in Real Time

Here are a few useful things that you can do while recording one or more files:

Preview one or more recording files. The files are played back from your computer while the recording goes on. Click Options and select Preview mode.  

Turn your computer into an On Demand - Radio/TV player. As an example, record a number of MP3 radio stations. Click OPTIONS, Preview All Recordings. This opens the Media Player with a playlist of all current recordings. You can now switch between all recorded stations, replay favorite songs, skip forward, etc. 

Rename a recording file. The file names listed in URLs do not always show the actual name of the media. You can rename the recording before the recording is finished. to do this Click Options and select Rename Recording.  

The Mode Button

With WM Recorder, you can capture streams in three ways: Adapter Mode, Proxy Mode and URL Mode. Adapter and Proxy Mode work by starting the recording automatically (AUTO ON) or when you click the Record button (AUTO OFF).

The URL Mode lets you record from saved or entered URLs without the need to setup a network adapter monitor or a proxy server. This mode should be used if you are not interested in searching the Internet for new video/audio clips. Note that the URL Mode does not change any settings of your computer.

Adapter and Proxy modes monitor network traffic to record, but they do so in different ways.

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.

When choosing ADA Mode, WM Recorder will automatically choose the best Adapter for you. It is always the default adapter that Windows uses. Here's more details on the different Modes:

ADA (Adapter) Mode

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.

Note: Adapter Mode cannot be used with encrypted (secured) network adapters.

Proxy Mode

PRO (Proxy) Mode will work with ANY Network Adapter card. The Proxy Mode should be used if ADA Mode is not available or is not working.

A particular use for the PRO mode is the PRO - Auto Recording mode. In this case the entire stream data passes through the recorder. This is recommended when recording streams that require the connection to be initiated from a web site or when web site authentication is needed. Also it is the only way to record Windows Media live playlists.

URL Mode

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

Auto Recording

If Auto recording is selected, you no longer need to click Record to start a recording. Every Audio or Video you play is automatically recorded.

How to Schedule Recordings

There are a lot of live streamed radio and TV stations on the Web, and with WM Recorder, you can schedule a recording to start and stop at a specific time, date or series of days on any station. Up to 50 scheduled recordings are allowed.

Here's how to schedule a recording:

If the stream URL was already saved, open View, then choose Saved Links from the View menu. Right click the URL and select Schedule Recording from the popup menu.

Alternatively, if the captured URL is shown in the URL window on the main screen follow the procedure below.

Before adding any shows to be scheduled:

Make sure the Scheduler is ON. Click Options, Turn Scheduler On to ensure the scheduler is activated.

1. Play the station for which you want to schedule a recording. Once the station plays, the URL field in the main screen contains the URL of the station, like this:
   
   
   
   
2. Click the Options button. The Options menu appears.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose Schedule Recording.
   
   
   
   
4. Click OK to open the scheduler. (That's the easiest way to schedule.)
   
   
   
   
5. Set the start and stop date, start and stop time, and any recurring days to record. Click OK when finished.

Editing or Deleting Scheduled Items

You can view your schedule (to edit or delete a scheduled recording) as follows:

1. From the main screen, click View.
2. From the View menu, select Scheduler. The Scheduled shows list appears:
   
   
   
   
3. Right click the item in the schedule, and choose Add/Change Schedule to edit the item. Click Remove Schedule to delete the item.

Using Windows Scheduler to schedule recordings

You can use the Windows Scheduler to automatically start WM Recorder just before the scheduled time.

Here is the procedure to setup the Windows scheduler

1. Open Control Panel->Date, Time, Language. Select Scheduled Tasks.

2. Double click "Add Scheduled Task"->Next

3. Click Browse->Select WMRecorder.exe->Select Task->Next->Setup Task Start Time->Next

4. Click Next in the next window (don't use a password)->Next

5. Check the button "Open advanced properties when I click Finish"->Finish

6. Check the button "Run only if logged on"->Apply->OK

How to View and Play Recordings

To see what you've recorded:

1. Click the View button, then choose Saved Recordings from the View menu. Choose the type of recording to view: Windows Media, Real or QuickTime/iPod. The Saved recordings window appears.
   
   
   
   
   1. The View window displays the last recording type you selected. To choose a different file type, click View, Saved Recordings from the menu, and select a different file type.
   2. Click the file to view, then click the Play button at the bottom of the screen. A Player window opens with your recorded file playing. Or, select more than one File Name then click Play to create a playlist and play the entire selection.

   The Status Window

   Any time a recording begins the Status Window is displayed showing the recording activity of all current recordings.   If the Status Window is covered by the browser or other full screen windows click the Status button to make the Status Window visible:
   
   

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.

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:

Stop Recording(s) stop recording the selected items. The message CANCELED will appear.

Set Recording Duration lets you limit the amount of time a recording continues. This is handy for recording live streams.

Preview Recorded File 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.

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

Rename Current Recording allows you to rename the output file.

Play Remote Stream lets you play what you're recording. You can watch or listen and record simultaneously!

Remote 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.

Close All Recordings terminates all active recordings and closes the Recording Window.

The View Window

When you click the View button, you'll be able to access a variety of status and information screens from the View menu. This section describes those views in detail:

Captured Links

As you play audio and video, WM Recorder captures the links you have visited. This makes it easy to return later and record something.

Saved Recordings

This screen shows you what you've recorded. From the Saved recordings menu, you can choose the type of recording to view. Select a show and right click it to play, record it again, resume a recording, split a recorded file, or reprocess a recorded file and make it seekable.

Saved Links

Like Captured Links, Saved Links shows you what you've played, but contains a longer history. Right click any shown URL to record it, schedule it, play it, or add a login and password to it (for recording subscription content).

Recordings Folder

Select this option to view all your recordings within the Windows File Explorer.

Cached Links

If you're using Internet Explorer, the audio and video links you've enjoyed recently may still be saved, or cached. This option lets you see those links, and optionally record them using the right-click menu.

If you can't get WM Recorder to record something you've viewed previously, it may be because it's already in the cache. See if you can find it here!

Scheduler

If you've set up scheduled recordings, they will appear here. Select a scheduled item and right-click it to edit or delete it, or activate/deactivate the scheduler.

Internet TV, Internet Radio, Video/Audio, Favorite Web Sites

These selections open a Web page of favorite links for TV, radio, Video/Audio Clips or interesting Web sites.

File Download

Need to download a file from a specific URL? This bonus feature makes it easy. Just enter the URL and desired file name, and click OK.

Settings Reference

Click Settings from the main screen to open Settings. Here are the various options described in detail:

General

Save all visited links: Check this option if you want WM Recorder to keep a history of all URLs that you have played.

Attach Data Graph RxTx: Want to see how your bandwidth is being used. Check this option to see a handy data graph.

Enable Scheduler at Startup: Makes sure the scheduler is activated when you open WM Recorder.

Maximum disk space used per session: If you're tight on free disk space, use this option to limit the amount of data that can be recorded.

Disk Space: See how much free space you have available on all disk drives.

Recordings Folder: Change the folder where your recordings are saved.

Recording Modes

See The Mode Button for details on this screen.

Media Options

Captured File Types: Select the kinds of files you want to capture. Usually you may not want the asx or ram files to be saved in the Saved Links data bases.

Check all WMP Protocols: When recording from a saved URL the recorder will check all WMP protocols in the order HTTP, RTSP, MMS (TCP). If this option is unchecked the recorder will make the first connection to the protocol specified. For example, MMS. If the MMS stream does not respond then the HTTP and RTSP versions are checked.

Send Player ID: Some streams require a Player ID to be sent. It is recommended to have this option checked.

Check all WMP Protocols: Ensures all Windows Media stream types are captured.

Seekable Files: Post-process Windows Media files so that the seek bar works. This lets you jump to any position in the recording.

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.

Real Player Options - Set Recording Speed: Allow you to determine how fast Real streams are recorded.

RM Mirror: Uses a more reliable but slower mode for recording Real streams. Real Player is opened, and recording occurs as Real Player plays.

LAN Proxy

If you connect to the Internet via a proxy server, you need to let WM Recorder know this. 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.

WMR Ports

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.

Note: This option only affects Proxy mode.

Options

When you click Options on the main screen, the following menu appears:

Auto OFF turns Auto recording mode ON or OFF.

Scheduler OFF turns the scheduler ON and OFF.

Schedule Recording: See How To Schedule Recordings.

Rename Recording: Allows you to change the file name of the current recording.

Keep WM Recorder On Top: If this menu item is checked, WM Recorder will always remain visible.

Turn Beeps OFF: WM Recorder will beep when recordings start and stop, unless this option is turned off.

View Log File: Open the recording log (for scheduled recordings).

Import WMR 10 files: This option imports the following data from WM Recorder 10:

• WM VCR files and settings to the WM Recorder 11 scheduler.
• Saved URLs to the WM Recorder 11 Saved Windows Media URLs and Real Player URLs.

Registration: View or update your registration code information.

Open URL: Opens the URL in the URL field, or a test URL if this is blank.

Search Cache for Media: Often video and audio clips are stored on your PC in the browser cache. If you're having trouble recording a clip, use this option to see if it's already cached on your PC.

Check Internet Connection: Is WM Recorder being blocked by a firewall? Use this option to find out.

Preview

The Preview button lets you watch what's being recorded. Click Preview from the main screen to see the options.

You can watch a specific recording, or enjoy a playlist of all active recordings.