...and preferably have the sound just slow down also?

Do you need the video, or just the audio?

(Looks like you're on the way to getting at least half a yes)

Both would be preferable but just the audio would also help.
I'm trying to transcribe this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOFt2YQaHlE

Even though the basic score for this piece is available, Swanson adds so much that,even with the simpler version, it would take me forever to try and transcribe this unless I can slow it down.

Well, my starting point is as follows:
1. I know there are programs available that will convert YouTube files into standard formats, if necessary. The catch: I haven't used any of them.

2. I know that Audacity, a free cross-platform program, can read standard audio formats and can slow things down.

3. I don't have a clue about the video.

4. Maybe there's a much more efficient way to go about this whole thing.

I've sometimes wondered also if we can do it, especially for the video.
Mainly to see about somebody's fingering.

I use a program called Power DVD - it will play DVDs or media files, and will slow them down to 50%, video and audio (audio pitch stays the same). No doubt there are others, but this one works for me. Of course, you have to have a program to capture the YouTube video, first. I use Replay Media Capture for that, and then use the Replay Media Converter to convert them to .mpg files that Power DVD can read.
Works real slick. Takes a couple of steps but it's no big deal.

Well, slowing down video by itself is pretty common and easy. You have to convert to a standard format first, and then watch in a video player that has speed controls - and most do.

The hard part is slowing down the audio without also changing the pitch. If we didn't care about the pitch being completely off, then the whole thing would be greatly simplified.

EP: are Power DVD and Replay Media Converter windows-only?

I think this will work-

Download the YouTube video as an .flv file. Personally I use internet download manager to do it, but there may be other ways.

Get VLC Media player and play the .flv file with it

Use VLC's speed control.

This seems to work pretty well, although if you play it too slow I think the audio gets a little "skippy". It maintains the pitch though, which is nice.

-Mr.

If you use Firefox, get an add-on called Download Helper:

http://www.downloadhelper.net/

Use Download helper to download the mpeg-4 (mp4) version of the YT vid in question.

Then get Apple QuickTime 7 (You have this already if you are a Mac user):

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

That will allow you to play it back at 1/2 speed without changing pitch. I use it all the time for learning lead and rhythm guitar parts to popular songs; works quite well. I'm sure there's better software if you need it even slower, but this works for me.

Sorry, I don't know the answer to that as I am windows-only.

If VLC will do it, then please disregard my convoluted ramblings.

Were you able to get your video slowed down?

You can shortcut the process if you are only interested in slowing down the audio. Simply run the video while recording the "Stereo Mix" input with audacity (or other audio app).

If "stereo mix" isn't an option, it means you aren't set up to "record what you hear" on your system. In that case, Google "record what you hear."

HTH

I succeeded in slowing this down in a way that appeared useful for the purpose intended.

1. I downloaded the best-quality version available of the video (in this case mp4), because slowing down always makes the quality worse so might as well not compound the problems. (For downloading, you use whatever works. I used a command-line utility for Linux called youtube-dl. It doesn't matter much; successfully getting the file is what counts.)

2. I played it in VLC and pressed the "play slower" button till it got down to quarter speed. (It will go even slower, but I didn't try that.)

(VLC is free, and will run on all commonly-used systems - available from the VLC website.)

The sound was not nice, quite choppy, but it was OK for transcribing in my opinion. My computer is a few years old and had a cheap & slow processor even for that time, so anybody with a good computer could expect results as good or better than what I got.

This is prolly going to sound pretty dumb..... how does one "download" a YouTube video? I am able to watch them online, but I have no idea how to download them so that I can, for instance, save them on my iPhone for viewing when off line.

I never thought I would reach the age when I said "It's amazing what young people can do with technology these days".... but sadly, it appears I am already there...

M

Perhaps the simplest way is to use the Firefox Web browser, and install an add-on called Download Helper.

DownloadHelper adds a button to the browser that will animate whenever you're on a page with downloadable video (such as a YouTube page). Click the button and it's yours!

For most YouTube video, you'll have the option of downloading a .flv file or a .mp4 file. For playing on an iPod or iPhone, you'll want to get the .mp4 version.

Grrr....

Have been trying to follow the instruction on the website, but using a Mac and it does not seem to be going according to plan!

Are any Mac users familiar with the process for using Download Helper??

Marcus

I just downloaded it via Firefox's add-ons window (Tools > Add-ons). It should appear in the Extensions pane, with the option to either Enable or Uninstall.

Marcus - what have you tried so far, that hasn't worked? Or, in other words, what specifically went wrong?

Thanks for the offer of help David. However, I have resolved the issue. What I have discovered is that if I use Safari and I press Command, Option, A - I get the activity box and I found that I am able to download the .flv files that way by double clicking on the appropriate link in the activity box. I am still in the process of trying to work out the best way of converting the .flv file into something that will play in quicktime so that I can use a short video in a powerpoint presentation.

Marcus

Sometimes I 'download' youtube video to realplayer (there's even a little pop-up that will appear at the top right you can click on to do this, if you have real player that is i guess) This is helpful if the net is down or even slow to have ones you may be working on available offline...don't think offhand they have a slowdown feature though.

If you want to play FLV video in Quicktime on a mac, try Perian.

if you just want audio only you can use websites like this to extract audio from youtube

http://www.video2mp3.net/

And after you convert it to mp3 you can use programs like transcribe! or amazing slow downer to slow the music down.

Note that many YT videos are posted in more than one format. If you can download in a better format to begin with, it will be easier all around.

A thousand and one thankyou's to you all!
I have managed to get YT videos into a power point presentation.
The Muppet's singing Bohemian Rhapsody has never looked better!

I have a blog posting about this: How to slow down and loop sections in YouTube videos The software is cheap enough that the cost shouldnt be an issue I am a musician myself.

You can save the videos here , then use a program like Audacity...