Don't be put off. The comments I wrote above make it sound more difficult than it is.

It's certanly worth doing a bit of experimentation with whatever software you've already got on your computer.

You may want to get a TV signal into your computer. Some computers already have a connection. If not then you can get a Hauupage device which plugs into a USB port, and an aerial plugs into that.

Hauupage make a whole range of plug-in devices. Some have things like built-in Freeview decoders, and some known as "personal video recorders", have everthing in them to act just like a video recorder, and will store programs in the device (like Sky+).

You can then watch any TV channel, output from a satellite decoder, or video recording, using Windows Media Centre or Hauupage software. Those programs allow you to save the program as you're watching it, into a file on your computer.

I said there was a dfficulty editing files saved from Media Centre. You ought to be able to do edit them with Windows Movie Maker which comes as part of Vista (though that didnt work for me, possibly because of other stuff I've got installed).

You might want to use an editor, like Windows Movie Maker, to split the program into segments, or remove adverts, or to convert the file to a different format that YouTube will accept. YouTube accepts most formats, but not files that are saved straight out of Media Centre.

Katie says she uses a program called Gordian Knot. I think that's a program designed for extracting files from DVDs (and it may do other things too).

I use a separate video editor Adobe Premier (because you can get it in a box with Adobe PhotoShop which I like for editing photos).

You could have a lot of fun taking all your SCD recordings, and making a compilation of all the dances of your favourite couples (cutting out couples or judges comments you don't want).

If you use the Firefox browser then you can get a free "addon" called "download helper". When you visit YouTube, or many other sites which show video, you can click an icon on the Firefox toolbar, and it will save the program/video into an editable file on your computer.

There are (a lot) of questions on the Firefox website asking if you can visit BBC iPlayer, click the Download botton, and save any BBC program. Firefox say there is a technical reason why this can't be done:
http://www.downloadhelper.net/suppor...layer_support_
Didn't find that explanation wholly convincing.

If you start gettng all your favourite programs stored as computer files, rather than on tapes or DVDs, you might want to put them on an "external hard drive". This is another device which plugs into a USB. Saving programs on an external drive frees up space in your computer, and gives you security in case your hard drive ever crashes. A single "1-terabyte" drive can hold about 400 hours worth of programs, which is more than many people entire video collections.

Gordian Knot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_Knot_(software)

It's not very user-friendly but once you get to grips with it, it's fairly straight forward to use.

If you have something on DVD, you can just copy the VOB file to your PC, change the file ending to .MPG and then import it to Movie Maker to edit.

I would like to add my thanks to everyone who takes the time and trouble to up load the programmes to youtube etc.
Please can anyone help me. As a complete techno nerd I need help if at all possible as I cannot now view anything on youtube. It comes up that I require the latest Adobe Flash Player or my Java Script is turned off.
I have down loaded the new flash player but have no idea how to 'turn on' Java Script. I have tried to view youtube clips now I've downloaded the new FP but it still comes up with the same error message.
Any suggestions would be greatfully recieved as I would desperately like to get this sorted in time for the start of SCD.

If you've got Vista, click on Help and Support, and in the search box type "javascript".

That comes up with 3 helpful suggestions, one of which is "Enable Javascript", and just follow the 4 steps, which say:

"Open Internet Explorer.

Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.

Click the Advanced tab.

If Java is installed, there will be a Java section in the Settings list. To enable Java, select the option under Java. To disable Java, clear the option under Java. When you are finished, click OK."

For Windows XP, the instructions are probably quote similar.

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Incidentally, the stuff in a previous post, about saving videos on YouTube onto your hard drive, enables anyone to "save" any of Maltipom/Katie's videos as .mpeg files, with one-click, so if the videos should ever go missing from YouTube again, you've still got them.

And, of course, you can save all the DWTS clips that you want to keep too, ditto.

thanks for the info martyboy. I'll spend some time just going through everything at the weekend when I get some time.

You know I may just have a go now you've given me a few pointers.


I might look out for this as I do a fair bit of photography and want to get the latest photoshop.


I've often wondered about this, so may go and have a browse.

Thanks so much for all the advice Martyboy, in fact I'm going to save this post for future reference. And yes, a hard drive is already on my shopping list.