Subject: Re: [Usher Talk] Won't Convert

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2012 09:20:01 -0800

On Dec 8, 2012, at 6:12 AM, user-002 wrote:

First, an apology from me: I was tired last night, and when I also couldn't download Flash and convert it, I assumed that was generally true of Usher. I should've known better, as I have a huge collection of downloaded YouTube videos. So I apologize for mis-speaking on the subject.

Read on for the details on what happened to me, and what's probably happening to you...

> In any case, yeah I expect Youtube videos to be playable. And I can use other programs to download playable versions so.....

And they are, but you're probably running into the same thing that caused my incorrect email last night. Basically, what's happening is that you've got an issue with Safari's Google and YouTube cookies. Usher uses these cookies for various internet activities, and sometimes, they seem to get messed up, causing Usher troubles.

The fix is relatively simple -- you just have to delete all YouTube and Google cookies in Safari while Usher isn't running. I wrote up the steps for our knowledge base this morning:

<http://manytricks.com/support/index.php?act=article&code=view&id=54>

This is exactly what was wrong with my machine last night; as soon as I reset those cookies, Usher downloaded all my queued videos, and auto-converted them to Apple TV format. Please give this fix a try; I'm betting it works for you. (Once you've done this, it's fine if those cookies get set again in Safari. Whatever happens doesn't happen very often, and probably won't happen again to you.)

> I said it in a previous comment: those videos have other formats... jDownloader is able to sniff out WebM, .flv, .mp4 (different resolutions for all of them). Just a matter of downloading the .mp4 instead of the .flv

As it turns out, Usher is smarter than most downloaders. What Usher does is look for the highest quality version. If that's an MP4, that's what we grab. If it's a FLV, that's what we grab. So we do sniff, but we don't blindly grab the MP4 if there's a higher quality FLV available.

For all of this to work, of course, Perian must be installed.

regards,
-rob.

---

From: user-002 <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2012 06:14:08 -0800 (PST)

I said it in a previous comment: those videos have other formats... 
jDownloader is able to sniff out WebM, .flv, .mp4 (different resolutions 
for all of them). Just a matter of downloading the .mp4 instead of the .flv

On Saturday, December 8, 2012 9:12:33 AM UTC-5, user-002 wrote:
>
> Why would you allow downloading of Youtube videos if they don't convert? 
> If I'm able to download a Youtube video, isn't it a fair assumption that I 
> be able to play that video in Usher? When you offer automatic video 
> conversion from downloaded web formats.... the most prevalent thing out 
> there is .flv, so yeah I assumed that was what the conversion was for. 
>
> In any case, yeah I expect Youtube videos to be playable. And I can use 
> other programs to download playable versions so.....
>
> On Friday, December 7, 2012 11:44:44 PM UTC-5, Many Tricks wrote:
>>
>> On Dec 7, 2012, at 7:35 PM, user-002 <[email-masked]> wrote: 
>>
>> > Here are the full steps: search for a video in youtube. Have the 
>> convert option checked, Apple TV format. Once you download, the play button 
>> doesn't appear on the 
>>
>> I think there's a misunderstanding here: Usher can't convert Flash 
>> videos. Usher works with QuickTime, so it can only do conversions that 
>> QuickTime can do -- and QuickTime can't convert Flash, even with Perian 
>> installed. 
>>
>> -rob.
>
>

---

From: user-002 <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2012 06:12:33 -0800 (PST)

Why would you allow downloading of Youtube videos if they don't convert? If 
I'm able to download a Youtube video, isn't it a fair assumption that I be 
able to play that video in Usher? When you offer automatic video conversion 
from downloaded web formats.... the most prevalent thing out there is .flv, 
so yeah I assumed that was what the conversion was for. 

On Friday, December 7, 2012 11:44:44 PM UTC-5, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Dec 7, 2012, at 7:35 PM, user-002 <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > Here are the full steps: search for a video in youtube. Have the convert 
> option checked, Apple TV format. Once you download, the play button doesn't 
> appear on the 
>
> I think there's a misunderstanding here: Usher can't convert Flash videos. 
> Usher works with QuickTime, so it can only do conversions that QuickTime 
> can do -- and QuickTime can't convert Flash, even with Perian installed. 
>
> -rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 20:44:44 -0800

On Dec 7, 2012, at 7:35 PM, user-002 <[email-masked]> wrote:

> Here are the full steps: search for a video in youtube. Have the convert option checked, Apple TV format. Once you download, the play button doesn't appear on the 

I think there's a misunderstanding here: Usher can't convert Flash videos. Usher works with QuickTime, so it can only do conversions that QuickTime can do -- and QuickTime can't convert Flash, even with Perian installed.

-rob.

---

From: user-002 <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 19:35:59 -0800 (PST)

Youtube? it's .flv... what else would it be? Curious.

Here are the full steps: search for a video in youtube. Have the convert 
option checked, Apple TV format. Once you download, the play button doesn't 
appear on the video, because it hasn't been converted from the .flv file 
format. so you can only open it in a player that supports .flv (that may or 
may not be Quicktime if you have Perian but you get my drift).

On Friday, December 7, 2012 10:31:15 PM UTC-5, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Dec 7, 2012, at 7:30 PM, user-002 <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > Let's assume it's for Apple TV. 
> > 
> > But in any case, something should convert but it isn't converting at 
> all, no less playing in Usher at all. 
>
> I still need to know what the original format of the file is, and whether 
> you can play that file in QuickTime? 
>
> thanks; 
> -rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 19:31:15 -0800

On Dec 7, 2012, at 7:30 PM, user-002 <[email-masked]> wrote:

> But in any case, something should convert but it isn't converting at all, no less playing in Usher at all.

I still need to know what the original format of the file is, and whether you can play that file in QuickTime?

thanks;
-rob.

---

From: user-002 <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2012 19:30:04 -0800 (PST)

But in any case, something should convert but it isn't converting at all, 
no less playing in Usher at all.

On Sunday, August 12, 2012 5:01:51 PM UTC-4, Many Tricks wrote:
>
> On Aug 11, 2012, at 3:55 PM, Berto58 <[email-masked] <javascript:>> 
> wrote: 
>
> > I have a mac and Usher will not convert files into itunes anymore. Can 
> someone help? 
>
> I'll need more information to help: what file format is the original, and 
> what format are you trying to convert it into? 
>
> regards, 
> -rob.

---

From: Rob Griffiths <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:01:51 -0700

On Aug 11, 2012, at 3:55 PM, Berto58 <[email-masked]> wrote:

> I have a mac and Usher will not convert files into itunes anymore. Can someone help?

I'll need more information to help: what file format is the original, and what format are you trying to convert it into?

regards,
-rob.

---

From: Berto58 <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:55:23 -0700 (PDT)