User manual

Using DownloadHelper

After you installed the DownloadHelper extension, you should see a new icon in
your toolbar.

However, it may happen that this icon does not install automatically or simply disappear. This is
sometimes the case after an update of Firefox or of the extension itself.

If you don't see the icon in the toolbar, you should install it, it's easy: Go to menu
View/Toolbar/Customize and drag the DownloadHelper icon to your toolbar

Using DownloadHelper is simple. Just use your browser to visit video sites, when DownloadHelper can
do something for you, this icon is animated:

It is possible to switch to a colored still icon through preferences:

When the icon is animated, you can see a small triangle at the right of the icon. Click on this arrow to
open the download menu. You can now select directly a file to download.

Alternatively, download offers are also available from the context menu:
And the Tools menu:

If you press the CTRL key while selecting a file to download, the actual URL of the file is copied to the
clipboard. You can paste the address to an external download manager if you want to.

When DownloadHelper notice links to image or movies files, moving the mouse over the items may
highlight the corresponding links in the Web page:
Clicking on a particular item starts the download.

By default, the downloads are queued and done one by one. That keeps the bandwith
usage to a minimum and allows you to browse other page to select new downloads. The screenshots
below shows the number of files in the download queue. The number disappears when there is no more
download in progress.

It is also possible to download several video files from YouTube at once, without even opening the video
pages. Just select a region in a YouTube page containing links and right-click to display the context
menu. A new entry offers to download all video files.

You can also right click on a single link without selecting a region.

Having meaningful default video file names

Fllow this link for details about the Smart Naming feature.

Converting downloaded videos

Check our Video conversion guide page.

Where to get videos from ?

If you are looking for places where to find videos to download, you may click on the DownloadHelper
icon. It opens a dialog window showing a list of selected video sites.

The sites listed here have been selected for their quality (limited ads, hosted content) and are updated
daily.

You can click on the column headers of the list to change sorting.

Double-clicking on any entry takes you to the corresponding site page at www.downloadhelper.net,
another click on the button Visit VideoSite opens the actual site.

Configuring DownloadHelper

You can configure the extension by right-clicking on the icon, or from the Tools menu, and select
Preferences:

You can also invoke the preferences from Firefox menu Tools/Addons, selecting Video DownloadHelper,
the Preferences button.
Please check this page for more relevant information.

Monitoring the download queue

You can access the download queue by right-clicking on the DownloadHelper icon and selecting
Download Queue. If you set the download mode one-by-one (the default), you can see from this dialog
the list of downloads that have not been started yet. This gives you an opportunity to cancel them before
they start.

Using the history

To have access to the history, you first need to enable the feature from the preferences and visit some
video pages. Then, right-click on the DownloadHelper icon and select History.

From the history window, you can quickly see the videos you watched. Double click the history entry to
start viewing the video. You can also go directly to the original page containing the video.

Use the CTRL key to select multiple entries. You can then remove or download them as a whole.

Note: This is a beta feature currently limited to FLV videos and recognized as such by
DownloadHelper.

Need more information ?

Have a look at our FAQ and Support Knowledge Base.
Frequently Asked Questions

 What is DownloadHelper ?
 What platform do I need to run DownloadHelper ?
 What version of Firefox do I need to run DownloadHelper ?
 What is the last version of DownloadHelper extension ?
 How do I install DownloadHelper ?
 How do I uninstall DownloadHelper ?
 How do I use DownloadHelper ?
 Can I see DownloadHelper in action ?
 Where can i get older versions of DownloadHelper ?
 How do I access the list of supported sites ?
 How do I convert the videos I downloaded ?
 How can I change the directory where downloaded files are stored ?
 What sites can I download videos from ?
 Why can't I install DownloadHelper ?
 Why do I get sometimes several download proposals for the same video file ?
 Why do I get sometimes duplicate files ?
 How can I play the .flv files I downloaded ?
 How can I get the address of a media file without downloading ?
 Downloaded video files are missing the audio or video part, or the image is upside down
 DownloadHelper used to work well but suddenly, all the downloads are silently cancelled
 Why doesn't DownloadHelper work with this particular video page ?
 Why can't I download more than 50 files from a single page ?
 What do the icons at the left of each download entry mean ?
 Why do some entries in the menu are present whatever tab is selected then disappear after some
time ?
 I installed DownloadHelper but I don't see the icon in the toolbar nor in the toolbar palette. How
do i fix it ?
 What about my privacy ?
 I see on the www.downloadhelper.net site the number of downloads I did. Does it mean
DownloadHelper keeps track of my downloads ?
 Can I get integration with DownThemAll or another download manager ?
 When I click on the icon to open the download menu, it launches the Supported sites window.
What's wrong ?
 Why do I often get empty files in my download directory ?
 Why when the icon starts moving the toolbar is resized by 2 pixels ?
 After I request a download, why does the Firefox 'Downloads' window show 'Starting...' but does
not actually start ?
 Where can i get more information ?
 How to block access to adult sites from your www.downloadhelper.net or www.vidohe.com ?
 How many questions are there in this FAQ ?

What is DownloadHelper ?

Download helper is a Firefox extension to help in downloading media files from the Web. In particular, it
is able to store on your disk movie files for which the web site does not provide a "Save File" feature. In
addition, DownloadHelper can download, in 3 user clicks, all the image and video files linked from a
Web page.
What platform do I need to run DownloadHelper ?

You can use the DownloadHelper extension from any Linux, Windows and MacOS-X platform

What version of Firefox do I need to run DownloadHelper ?

DownloadHelper works on Firefox 2.0.x, 3.0.x and 3.5.x.

What is the last version of DownloadHelper extension ?

Current stable version is 4.7

How do I install DownloadHelper ?

Visit this page and click on the install link. A dialog box will appear requesting to click the Install button.
Once, the button is clicked, close all Firefox windows and restart the browser. To get the
DownloadHelper icon, you need to drag it from the menu View/Toolbars/Customize to your toolbar.

How do I uninstall DownloadHelper ?

Go to the menu Tools/Add-ons. In the dialog box, choose DownloadHelper and click Uninstall. Restart
Firefox to complete the uninstallation.

How do I use DownloadHelper ?

Simply surf the Web as you did before. When DownloadHelper can do something for you, the top right
icon get animated. Click on it, a menu will show up with files or group of files you can download.

Can I see DownloadHelper in action ?

Just have a look at our user-contributed video tutorials.

Where can i get older versions of DownloadHelper ?

From there.

Note that running an older version will make you miss new fixes and features.

How do I access the list of supported sites ?

Click on the DownloadHelper icon. It requires version 2.0 or later.

How do I convert the videos I downloaded ?

See our conversion user guide.

How can I change the directory where downloaded files are stored ?

Right-click on the DownloadHelper icon and choose Preferences. Since version 1.96, the location is
automatically saved when you download a file.

What sites can I download videos from ?

Follow this link for a non-exhaustive list of sites that have been reported to work with DownloadHelper.
Since version 2.0, you can the list of supported sites by clicking on the DownloadHelper toolbar icon.

Why can't I install DownloadHelper ?

If you get an error numbered -2xx, like -203 or -228, you may want to check this page for possible causes
and workarounds.

If you see a message saying that DownloadHelper is not compatible with Firefox 3.0, you must make sure
you are installing DownloadHelper version 3.0.4 (or later) from the official download page.

Why do I get sometimes several download proposals for the same video file ?

DownloadHelper is made of several distinct modules running different algorithms to detect media to be
downloaded. It may happen that several modules detect the same media.

Why do I get sometimes duplicate files ?

When the actual file download starts, some of the algorithms may detect the request and interprets it as a
new download possibility. As a result, the corresponding entry is created in the download menu and it is
easy to click on it, starting the reload of a file you already have.

This can be avoided by choosing carefully the entry from the download menu based on the displayed
name.

Note: this issue has been fixed in 1.95.

How can I play the .flv files I downloaded ?

Check-out the recommended tools page.

How can I get the address of a media file without downloading ?

Press the CTRL key while clicking on the download menu entry, this will copy the URL of the file to the
clipboard. You can then paste it anywhere.

Downloaded video files are missing the audio or video part, or the image is upside down

If you get a video or audio channel, then DownloadHelper did its job correctly: the file is on your disk.
You might need to change/upgrade your video player from the recommended tools page.

DownloadHelper used to work well but suddenly, all the downloads are silently
cancelled

It might be that the directory where files used to be saved into has been moved or deleted. Go to the
preferences and check the storage directory.

Another reason for this to happen is an incompatibility with another addon (extension or theme). You can
check this by creating a new profile (like a brand new installation of Firefox but with the capability to
switch back to your previous setup) and reinstall DownloadHelper from this profile. You will get
instructions about setting up a new profile from here

Why doesn't DownloadHelper work with this particular video page ?

DownloadHelper has a good success rate for downloading videos. According to many user discussion
threads found on the Web, it has the best efficiency amongst other equivalent extensions. However, it
may not work at all for some sites if the video server you are consulting implements an uncommon
technical method for displaying the video.

However, some sites working well with DownloadHelper has been erroneously reported to fail, as on
some servers, you need to start displaying the video for the extension to propose a download entry.
Contrary to YouTube and Google videos where the movie starts playing as soon as you load the page,
others only display the first image of the movie, requiring the user to click on the play button. Please,
click on this button and check the extension's download menu before concluding that DownloadHelper
fails.

Please, do not ask support about adding a particular site to the list of supported sites, as we do not develop
specific support for a site. We have several generic methods and we add to the list sites that proved to
work with DownloadHelper, not the other way around.

If you found a site that does not work with DownloadHelper, you may want to check here if we know of
an alternate download tool that could work.

Why can't I download more than 50 files from a single page ?

This is a limitation we introduced to fix an issue where a large number of links could cause Firefox to
hang for some time.

You can easily change this limit from the add-on preferences, section Capture, tab Galleries. Set
parameter Max number of hits to whatever value, or '0' for unlimited links.

What do the icons at the left of each download entry mean ?

The various icons in the download menu represent the method used to discover this entry.

The icon with the one-way arrow indicates that the discovery has been performed by examining outgoing
packets issued by the Firefox browser.

The icon with the back arrow means that the match has been found from a response from a server.

Other icons correspond to other algorithms.

Why do some entries in the menu are present whatever tab is selected then disappear
after some time ?

Some algorithms used to discover links act within the guts of Firefox and matches cannot be associated to
a particular tab. For this reason, the corresponding entries are added to the menu of any tab. They are
cleared after a period of time that can be set within the preference menu.

I installed DownloadHelper but I don't see the icon in the toolbar nor in the toolbar
palette. How do i fix it ?

First, look again if you didn't miss the icon in the toolbar or in the palette (menu
View/Toolbars/Customize).

Make sure the extension is really installed and the browser has been fully restarted. Go to menu
Tools/Add-ons, you should see the DownloadHelper entry in the window, without any special mention.
What about my privacy ?

There is absolutely no personal information getting out of your computer due to DownloadHelper. We
don't know what files you download nor what searches you carry out.

I see on the www.downloadhelper.net site the number of downloads I did. Does it mean
DownloadHelper keeps track of my downloads ?

No, the extension only increments a counter at the end of each download. This counter is passed as a
cookie to the www.downloadhelper.net site, so this value can be displayed.

This cookie can be disabled from the preferences, by checking parameter Disable download count cookie.

Can I get integration with DownThemAll or another download manager ?

Accessing another extension we don't have control on is a problem for us: if the developer of the other
extension decides to change its API, DownloadHelper will fail and it will be our bug. So we decided not
to do so.

FlashGot extension is supported because it was implemented early, before we decided not to go that
direction.

However, you can still use the CTRL-click feature to import manually a video URL into your prefered
download manager: instead of simply clicking the download menu entry, press the CTRL key while doing
so. The url to be downloaded will be copied to the clipboard. Use CTRL+V to paste the url to anywhere.

When I click on the icon to open the download menu, it launches the Supported sites
window. What's wrong ?

When the icon is animated - meaning there is something to download - if you look closely at the right of
the icon you will see a small triangle. Click on this triangle to open the menu. This is the way Firefox
toolbar buttons are built and it seems to confuse some people.

Why do I often get empty files in my download directory ?

When you request a download from DownloadHelper, an empty file is created, then the download request
is queued. You see the empty file until the download is actually processed.

Why when the icon starts moving the toolbar is resized by 2 pixels ?

This is a known problem we'll try to solve in a next version. If this causes a problem to you, unckeck
parameter Use small icons from the toolbar palette.

After I request a download, why does the Firefox 'Downloads' window show 'Starting...'
but does not actually start ?

You are observing the Firefox cache in action. Most of the times, when you request a download, the
movie is currently being loaded by the player in the page. Firefox does not start the download because it
is waiting for the data to be loaded, hence avoiding downloading the same file twice. If you abort the
loading in the current page, or quit this page, the download will resume immediately. You can also wait
for the movie to be completely loaded, in which case the download is performed in less than one second,
as the data are taken from the cache.
Where can i get more information ?

The Support Knowledge Base is a good place solve issues and understand details.

How to block access to adult sites from your www.downloadhelper.net or

www.vidohe.com ?

From version 3.5, DownloadHelper supports a safe mode. Visit this page to activate it.

How many questions are there in this FAQ ?

This answer to this question is required to issue a request to support. In case you read better than you
count, the answer is 35

 
Video Conversion with DownloadHelper

Video Conversion with DownloadHelper

What is it about Easy or powerful ? How does it work ?
Installing the feature
Windows Linux, Mac
Using the feature
Converting manually Converting automatically
Registration
Registration benefits Logo on converted video Converting to MP3 How to register
Other stuff
Monitoring conversions Known issues Solving problems Import/Export conversion formats
Prevent conversion

What is it about

DownloadHelper's primary job is to retrieve to your disk the videos that are playing in Web
pages, in their original format.

Unfortunately, the native format (generally FLV) is often not very convenient when it comes
to playing back the videos, on either your home computer or a hand held device, burning
them to a DVD or reworking the movie.

With the new DownloadHelper's Video Conversion feature, you can very easily select one or
more videos that lie on your disk and choose a pre-defined output format. The program will
process the movies in background.

Even better: you can setup the extension to automatically convert the videos as soon as they
are saved by DownloadHelper. You can even specify conversion rules (which site, which
original media format) to be processed with a given set of parameters.

Video conversion is available on DownloadHelper 3.1 or later.

Easy or powerful ?

Both :)

While you can select an output format by choosing it from a drop-down list, you can also fine
tune the program to deal with dozens of parameters, like the size of the video, the bitrates to
be generated, the number of frames per seconds, the audio and video codecs to be used and
many more, including multi-pass conversions for an optimal result.

How does it work ?

DownloadHelper doesn't do the conversion by itself: this type of job is not really suitable for
a Mozilla extension. Instead, it relies on the well-known FFmpeg program to do the
conversion task, and provides the necessary glue to make it simple and convenient for
DownloadHelper users.

FFmpeg is the most powerful video conversion utility. In fact, this is the back-end program
used by most video converters on the market.

On Linux and Mac, DownloadHelper accesses directly the FFmpeg version you installed on
your system. On Windows, this is simpler as you install directly an application,
ConvertHelper, to make easier the DownloadHelper/FFmpeg relationship.

Installing the feature

Installing on Windows

Using video conversion with DownloadHelper requires that you turn on the feature from the
extension's preferences dialog.

The simplest way to open the preferences is to right click on the DownloadHelper icon and
select the first entry 'Preferences'. If the icon is not installed in the toolbar, the preferences
can also be opened from the Tools / DownloadHelper / Preferences menu, or Tools / Add-ons
menu, DownloadHelper selection, Preferences button. From the preferences window, the tab
Conversion must be selected.

The Conversion enabled input must be checked.

The message in red indicates that ConvertHelper, the external program in charge of the
conversion job, has not been found on the system. Clicking on the Install/Update converter
button takes the user to a page where a ConvertHelper installation program can be
downloaded from.

Installing ConvertHelper is an easy job:

Once ConvertHelper is installed, click on the Re-check Converter button or reopen the
preferences.
Video conversion is ready to be used.

Installing on Linux and Mac

For Linux and Mac, we do not have a specific FFMPEG distribution to connect to
DownloadHelper. Instead, the conversion relies on the distribution that has been installed
separately on the computer. Of course, this can lead to conversion failures as the version of
FFMPEG may not have been compiled with the features required by the chosen conversion
parameters. This might be the case, for instance, when converting to MP3 format, as the
native FFMPEG may not have this feature for legal reasons.

On Linux Ubuntu, you may install FFMPEG with:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Or better, recompile FFMPEG with more features.

You can specify the exact location of the FFMPEG executable in the preferences.

Note that you can also use Mencoder as an alternative to FFMPEG. However, all the defined
conversion parameters will simply be ignored.

Using the feature

Converting manually

Manual conversion allows the user to choose a set of video files from the standard File open
dialog, and to indicate what output format is desired. The program takes care of doing the
conversion job.

Right-click on the DownloadHelper icon and choose Convert videos. A file chooser dialog
opens.
Several files can be selected by holding the CTRL or SHIFT key while clicking on the file
name.

You can also request a video conversion at the same time you request the download of the
video. For doing this, hold the SHIFT key while clicking on the entry in the download menu.

Then, the user is prompted for the desired output format.

In the basic usage of the conversion feature, the user chooses a pre-defined format in the
drop-down list and click OK. Conversion will start immediately.

For advanced users, it is possible to tune many parameters of the conversion. Clicking Details
opens a new dialog.

The most common conversion parameters are displayed. To be used, the corresponding
checkbox must be checked, otherwise, the default applies.

Conversion parameters are dispatched within 2 tabs. The Advanced tab holds a special Extra
parameters input to be used as FFMPEG arguments when the corresponding parameter is not
listed in the user interface.
If the 2 Passes checkbox is active, the user can specify independantly the parameters for each
pass. By default, the second pass uses the same parameters as the first one. When using 2
passes conversion, the input file is first processed to gather statistics on the audio and video
streams, then the file is converted in the second pass with optimal tuning, leading to a better
quality and/or a reduced size. This is of course at the price of a longer execution.

Converting automatically

It is possible to specify that conversion should occur automatically. By default, when the
conversion feature is enabled, the downloaded FLV files are automatically converted to AVI.
This is done using the default conversion rule. This rule can be edited to indicate a different
format or parameters. Selecting the rule from the preferences dialog / conversion tab, and
clicking button Edit rule opens the rule editor.
If the user needs to convert differently depending on the site he/she is accessing to, or the
format of the original media files, it is possible to create several rules, that will be checked in
order.

Button Revert to default removes all defined rules and re-create the default one.

Registration
Registration benefits

Registration of the video converter is useful if you are running Windows. It gives the
following benefits:

 Converted videos do not longer have the ConvertHelper logo at the top left corner
 You can convert a video to a MP3 file in case you are only interested in the audio
 You have access to our support service

Logo on converted video

The logo appears at the top left corner of the converted videos when you use the conversion
on Windows with an unregistered converter version.

This logo has a fixed size. This means that if you convert a regular-sized web video (e.g
320x240), it will occupy a small portion of the video. If you use the converter on a small size
video (e.g 160x120), it displays on a substantial part of the image.

You can get rid of the logo by registering your converter version.

Converting to MP3

On Windows, converting downloaded videos to MP3 format is only available on registered

versions.
On other systems, Linux or MacOSX, converting to MP3 relies on the capabilities of the
ffmpeg version that is installed on your system. You may need to recompile ffmpeg in order to
get access to MP3 codec. Sorry, we don't provide support on this.

How to register

You can register your converter version from our registration page. As soon as the operation
is complete you receive by mail your personal registration code. Copy this code to the input
field of the dialog that opens when you select Register conversion in the DownloadHelper
menus (note this menu option only appears if you are running DownloadHelper on Windows
with an unregistered version of the converter and you have enabled conversion in the
preferences).

When you reinstall your computer, your Firefox version or create a new user profile, your
registration code will be checked automatically (or you may need to re-enter the code
manually) for validity from our servers. After a number of reinstallations, the registration
code will be blocked and you will automatically receive a mail to your original address. This
mail contains a link that you need to visit in order to unblock your license.

Other stuff
Monitoring conversions

Conversions are performed on a one by one basis in order to avoid too much processing on
the computer. Conversion jobs are queued in a list. It is possible to see the state of the queue
by right-clicking on the DownloadHelper icon and selecting Converter queue.
Known issues

 On Windows, the background converter opens a console. This happens on Firefox

2 and has been solved in the official release of Firefox 3. See the related bug for
details.
 On Firefox 3, prior to Firefox 3.0rc2, the browser freezes during the time of the
conversion. Please, do not use an Firefox 3.0 beta version. For details, see Firefox
bug #433005.
 Firefox crashes when converting videos while the Converter Queue dialog is open.
[Fixed in 3.1.1]This issue has been reported a couple of times on both Windows and
Linux. It might be a side effect of the fix of Firefox bug #433055. We are
investigating on this. For now, you might want to avoid opening the Converter Queue
dialog while conversions are in progress.

Solving problems

If you play with conversion parameters, chances are that at some point we will have an issue:
either no converted file will be generated, or the generated file won't play on your computer.

For the second case, there 99% chances your system is lacking a non-standard audio or video
codec. You may want to install additional codecs, for instance the K-Lite Codec Pack.

If no converted file is being generated, it can be:

  a conflict between FFMPEG parameters. There are many cases where 2 parameters
just cannot be used together.
 your version of FFMPEG does not support one or more parameters. This can happen
particularly on Linux and Mac systems, as the conversion feature relies on the user-
installed FFMPEG distribution.

On Windows only, it is possible to see the conversion log that will certainly give good
indications about the issue.

Open the conversion tab of the preferences dialog and check Log conversions.

Perform a conversion, then come back and click Show log

Import/Export conversion formats

As fine-tuning conversion might be a tricky job, you may find convenient to be able to save
and retrieve conversion configuration data. For doing so, right click on the Video Output
Format window (not on a widget but on the window background). This opens a context menu
with the option Copy video format. If you choose this option, the current configuration data
are stored as a text string into the clipboard. You can paste it to a text file for later retrieval.
Similarly, if the clipboard contains a text string that can be understood by DownloadHelper,
you will see a second menu entry, Paste video format, that will update the current format
from the clipboard data.

Prevent conversion

 If you don't want to use conversion at all, the best way is to disable the feature from
the extension preferences.
 If you want to convert only on demand without automatic conversion, you should
enable the conversion from the extension preferences but remove any conversion rule.
You will still be able to use manual conversion from Convert videos menu or SHIFT-
click on the download menu entries.
 If you want automatic conversion in general but not for a particular video, SHIFT-
click on the entry in the download menu, then choose Cancel in the Output format
dialog. You will then download the file in its original format.

Source code

You can download ConvertHelper source code from this link.

To be compliant with FFmpeg rules, we also provide the sources we used to build the
converter package. However, if you plan to recompile FFmpeg you should better download
the latest code by following the procedure described there.