MOVIES EXTRACTOR SCOUT
Reviewed April 2008

What’s It Do?

What's It Do? Movies Extractor Scout saves flash movies, videos, and games extracted from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera Browsers.


Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1: Yes. Movie Extractor Scout claims to enable you to save flash videos, including those from YouTube and Google Video, as well as to save individual screenshots from these videos and to make desktop wallpaper from the videos. I used it successfully to perform all the above features.

Reviewer 2: Yes. Movie Extractor Scout scans the Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera caches for flash files (videos, movies, and games), enabling one to extract download links for them, play them, or export them to a hard drive.

Reviewer 3: Yes and no. It does do what it is advertises; but don't infer from reading the advertisements that it will do all you want it to do.

Reviewer 4: Yes, it works well. MES is able to access the temp directory of the browser to watch flash movies off the Web and capture them to one's computer. Its focus is sites like YouTube, Google Videos, etc. but I was surprised to find many more "flash" files on my computer that I had no idea were there. It has the ability to scan a computer's file system and pull up and save any flash file.. Other than the flash movies from sites where I had actually watched a movie clip, it found lots of flash-based ads and other things that appeared to be "static" little clips like banner ads. It seems more and more Web designers are using flash on their pages. MES works on Internet Explorer, Fire Fox and Opera browsers.

Reviewer 5: Yes, Movies Extractor Scout neatly fills a special niche and does so quite effectively. As I am lucky enough to have stable, high-speed access to the Internet, I can leave most video streams "out there" on the Internet, and simply bookmark the ones that I would like to go back to and see again. So, I had not really felt a burning need for a program that I could use to download those flash movies; however, after exploring this program, I can see that it could be quite fun. Not only can one extract movies from the Internet, and then replay them, but images, screenshots and text from those movies can be extracted and saved as separate image files as well. While I have no particular need at the present to make presentations, I could have used this function "once upon a time" when I was giving workshops and training sessions.


Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1: Yes. I installed two different versions; both installed quickly and easily. Also, installation opens a Help file that provides illustrated instructions for using the program.

Reviewer 2: Yes. It was a relatively small 4.57MB download occupying a mere 8.7MB on my hard drive that installed using the standard installation wizard.

Reviewer 3: Yes, I had no problems installing it.

Reviewer 4: Yes, it installed quickly with no problems.

Reviewer 5: Yes, the installation was a standard Windows procedure, in which I was able to choose the location of the program files and shortcuts. I had the demo version, and wanted to put the serial number in right away, but only had the choice to Purchase or Continue; the Serial Number box was grayed out. It was only when I had a full copy of the program that I was able to enter the license key and convert if to the fully-registered version.


Good points

Reviewer 1: Movie Extractor Scout (MES) makes it easy to save flash videos, including those from YouTube and Google Video, so they can be viewed whenever desired even without connecting to the Internet (and, of course, even if the video subsequently disappears from public access). MES can also be used to extract single screenshots from a flash video and to set up a video to serve as desktop wallpaper. Though the screenshot isn't of the same quality as a normal photograph, there may be times when high resolution is less important than simply being able to capture a key screenshot, and for this MES works very well.

Reviewer 2: Movie Extractor Scout will not delete cookies, clean browser history, or offer to "tune-up" one's PC. In fact, it does only one thing but it does it perfectly and consistently time after time: It will extract and download every flash video, movie or game, save it to a built in favorites list, and save it to one's hard drive as well. There are many free YouTube downloader programs available; however, Movie Extractor Scout is like those programs on steroids. In addition to the above, it will also extract and save text from any flash file; offers a preview function; play the movies saved in full screen mode; save the images as JPG, PNG, TIFF, PDF making screenshots which can then be used as wallpapers; and set the flash videos as screensavers if desired. The saved files can be sent via email from within the application. All videos can be saved as FLV files that make up about 90% of all videos on the Internet including YouTube and Google Video. Images can be converted from SWF to EXE so that the downloaded images can be used on a projector or as a Windows application. It also has the advantage of making a movie file about 70% smaller. I have been using this program for over two months, successfully downloading flash animations, YouTube and similar videos, etc. I had a little less success with some Shockwave games with most downloading easily and others not, but this is not unexpected as many shockwave games are not packaged in a single file, making downloading them more difficult. There is a very simple (some might call "plain looking") GUI, but its simplicity adds to its ease of use and intuitiveness.

The program uses no noticeable resources, does not need to run in the background, does not install any running services, but simply installs a browser button that allows use on demand, and is VISTA compatible. Movie Extractor Scout has one of the most consumer-friendly EULAs (End User License Agreements I have seen. Not only is one allowed to make one copy for a computer and another for a portable but the license may be transferred to another person. Even more astounding and something I have never seen in any EULA, it recognizes that that the consumer may have "other legal rights" beyond what is stated in the EULA. While this may go without saying, most software companies try to intimidate us into believing that if their software causes our computer to explode and burns down our home, there is nothing we can do. Byte Scout, the developers of Movie Extractor Scout, should be commended for their honesty. There are excellent help files, an email support ticket system for technical support, and one year of free support and upgrades after which there is a 30% discount on the already unusually competitive price of $17.95. While I generally do not take kindly to being sold a one-year license, considering the low purchase price and the discounted price of only a little over $12.00 for a renewal, I think this is very reasonable. In short, for saving flash files, Movie Extractor Scout is the best program on the market and I highly recommend it.

Reviewer 3: The use of any new software comes with a learning curve in learning how to fully use the program and all its features. The program comes with a help file that explains how to perform the different functions of the program. The help file is simple to follow with screen shots of the program which makes understanding how to do the task easy for even a first timer. In addition, there are online tutorials with screen shots for most of the major functions. Not all users will understand ever step explained in help files or tutorials, so customer support is always a plus. Customer support is via email and I tested this with a detailed question, which I already knew the answer to. My online question was immediately responded to by an automatic email indicating that my request for help had been received and would be answered shortly. My question was answered specifically (and correctly) within 24 hours, thus indicating that their customer support via email was active and functional. Movies Extractor Scout extracts a flash movie from an Internet Web page and saves it to one's hard drive. It saves the files in 2 different formats (SWF & FLV). I extracted numerous movies and could play all the movies without opening IE by using Movies Extractor Scout or another flash player to play them. Note: If a user does not have a stand-alone flash player with preset file associations (many users do not), Windows will have to be taught the file association of the saved flash movies/games to Movie Extractor Scout's exe file. To test the completeness of the files extracted, I emailed myself the movie files. In all tests, the emailed files played the movies/games just fine. I tested by copying the files to a CD and in each case the copied files played the movies as originally extracted. Thus, Movie Extractor Scout does indeed extract and save a flash movie to digital file format allowing the user to store, transfer, and run the file when the user wants to. Advertising of Movie Extractor Scout emphasizes the extraction of videos from You Tube and Google Video, which it does do as well as flash movies from other Web sites. It extracts flash games from Internet Web pages as well. I extracted several games and tested these games off line to see if they play equally as well as on the Internet Web page. All extracted games performed comparable to their Web version that they were extracted from. It extracts and saves images from a flash move/game. I was indeed interested in this feature and tested it extensively. Movie Extractor Scout extracts images by two different methods/commands and each functions differently. The Extract Images, Text command selects preselected images in the movie (usually the image displayed before the movie is started) and some movies don't have images embedded in the movie. This function work best in extracting images in the flash movie upon which animation was added onto the image. The other function in the Save Frame to Image command will extract an image from any frame within the movie. This is very easy to do. Play the movie and pause the movie at the frame to save and then select the Save Frame to Image function. The image is saved in jpg format. Note: While the saved image is of the same quality as that presented in the flash movie, the quality of images in a flash movie is considerably less than images from other formats, thus all images saved from frame capture of a flash movie will be of medium to poor quality. Movies Extractor Scout will put a flash type movie as wallpaper for one's desktop by selecting the movie from Favorites in the program and selecting the desired movie. This appears to work quite well on some smaller flash movies, but would not work for larger movies and some movies would only run once even with the loop play option selected. My testing showed that movies over 4 MB would not show at all and movies over 1 MB would not loop (would show only once then stop). This may have been the movies I selected for my testing or a limitation in Windows handling desktop wallpaper files. The tests resulted in selection of a flash clock, which sits on my desktop and keeps accurate time based upon the internal clock of my PC. Movies Extractor Scout screensaver function, from my testing, functions very similar to the wallpaper function in that some flash movies work and some don't.

Reviewer 4: Sites such as Google and YouTube are really coming into their own. They are being used for training films, advertising and other things other than the "stupid pet tricks" from someone's home video. I have watched two-hour presentations of seminars that I would have liked to capture for later viewing. Most sites don't allow for a "download" and viewing requires one to be online. Now, with MES, a movie can be viewed and MES will later scan the cache, capture, and save the movie to one's hard drive. MES will also capture text and .jpg images from the videos by simply making a screenshot of the flash movie and saving it as a JPG, TIFF, PDF or PNG file. Unfortunately, since this is a compressed file format, the images were not really useful. The resolution of the extracted image was of poor quality, not suitable for much. MES can also construct desktop wallpaper from a flash movie.

Reviewer 5: The main criteria to use when evaluating a program such as this one is: does it work? And, yes, it does. Of course, the quality of the flash movies will vary, depending on the quality of the flash presentations that are extracted. I have to confess that I am not a great expert on the video material available on the Web. I tend to use the computer a lot for work, and for different projects that I have going. Most of them are word-based, and I am only slowly learning more about what used to be called "audio-visual". Thus, I have not frequently explored the offerings of YouTube and other video streams on the Internet. In fact, before going to YouTube to find flash movies, I went to the Web site of a small company that I once worked with and captured some of their material. Since they produce educational software used in classrooms, the quality of their flash videos is excellent. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of much of the material that I have extracted from YouTube, for example. On the other hand, my Mother has no access to the Internet. For a long time, I have wanted to be able to show her something which is on YouTube, but not have been able to do so. Now, though, I can Extract it, and use the "Save as Projector" function in Movies Extractor Scout, which will convert that movie to an .exe file. (A link is provided in the program to SAFlashPlayer.exe to make this possible.) Now, I copy that ForMothere.exe file on a key, and take it and my laptop over to see her. Something else that I had not considered until now was using a flash movie as a wallpaper, or as a screensaver. This image is the one I saw when I selected "Set as Screensaver

This will not work with all the material extracted and "Rollback to Previous Wallpaper" under Options can be selected if the results are not as desired. Unlike many programs that can only use Internet Explorer, Movies Extractor Scout works with both Firefox and Opera as well. I even tried running Opera and Firefox at the same time, each one on a different site. Movies Extractor Scout was able to deal with both browsers, although for Explorer, an icon for Movies Extractor Scout will appear on the toolbar, which makes the access to it simpler than it is for the other two.


Weak points

Reviewer 1: Though I am very pleased that Movie Extractor Scout enables me to save videos from YouTube and Google Video so easily, there are a number of ways in which MES could and should be improved. Several of them concern the Help information, which is not as useful as it should be. One problem is that clicking on Help on the program's main interface presents a list of "How to" links; unfortunately, some of the links go to the wrong information. For example, the first link, "how to save a flash movie," connects to information about how to view a flash movie rather than how to save it. The Help file needs improvement in other ways as well. The last "How to" item is "convert flash movie (SWF) to EXE." The link's name offers no hint about why one might want to do this. Clicking on the link informs the user only to go to the File menu and select "Save as Projector." The entry provides no explanation what this will do, nor why one might want to do it. Following these minimal instructions open a box that asks the user to "enter or confirm path to standalone Flash Player (SAFlashPlayer.exe)" and also gives a link that says "Click here to get download link for standalone flash player." Since I couldn't find SAFlashPlayer.exe on my computer, I selected the "Click here" link. It took me to a Google search results page whose first listing was to Adobe's instructions for installing Flex, whatever that is. As far as I could tell, it had nothing to do with finding SAFlashPlayer.exe. The second listing in the Google search results page was to a site called flashjester.com. Reading through some of the information in the FAQ there, I learned what Movie Extractor Scout's Help file should have explained about "SWF to EXE" and "Projector files." Also, buried inside the FAQ was a link for downloading Flash 8 - SAFlashPlayer.exe. I would have been happier had the link been from the Adobe site, rather than from a site I knew nothing about. Another problem with the MES Help file is that, though MES works with Firefox and Opera as well as with Internet Explorer, the Help file's explanation of how to use MES applies only to Internet Explorer. The instructions tell the user to press the MES button on the toolbar, but this button is found only in IE, not in Firefox or Opera, and the instructions say nothing about how to proceed if your browser does not have a button. I also encountered problems unrelated to the Help file. For example, I tried to set a flash video as desktop wallpaper, and initially I chose the wrong video. I followed the instructions for rollback, but the wallpaper continued to play, and when it came to the end of the video it started over again. I could find no way to stop it except to reboot my computer. Another problem was that every time I open MES and go to the main interface, I can find no way to prevent MES from automatically playing whatever flash movie it finds in my Extracted or Favorites folder. There is an "auto-play" option that I have left unchecked, but nonetheless every time I open MES and say "no, don't look for videos," it opens my Extracted or Favorites folder and starts to play one of the videos it finds there. I find this rather annoying. Yet another problem is the absence of any way to check for updates on the MES interface. I wrote to tech support to ask about this and was told that the only way to find out about updates is to set up an RSS feed. Since I suspect that a number of users do not use RSS for anything else, this policy seems rather user-unfriendly. I should also point out that users are eligible for free updates for only one year. After that, one must pay to extend eligibility to receive even minor updates. In my experience, it's common to pay for major software updates (e.g., from version 3 to version 4) but not for minor ones (e.g., from version 3.00 to version 3.01).

Reviewer 2: I discovered no flaws or weaknesses in the program itself during my extensive testing. There are, however, some items that need improvement. While the "favorites list" is a valuable feature, as it grows larger and larger it becomes difficult if not almost impossible to find a specific file. While there is a preview for each file, a search function and filter of some sort is definitely needed. Support also needs some improvements. First, there is no turnaround time stated for how quickly a support question will be answered. Second, the Knowledge Base is virtually non-existent with only four items. Third, my "test" emails to support were handled in a less-than-excellent manner with one apparently "lost," and the second one not answered for three days. While support will probably be rarely needed (if ever) on such a simple program, it is too good of a program not to have equally excellent support. Finally, and this is a matter of aesthetics and personal tastes, but I would really like top see a different icon. On my computer, at least, the icon is a blue square with what appears to be a black bug inside, not very attractive.

Reviewer 3: Each time Movies Extractor Scout is opened a box asks whether to scan for movies. There is an option in Movies Extractor Scout to not show scan dialog box before scan which does prevent the box displaying; however that option has to be reset each and every time Movies Extractor Scout is used. Since scanning is an option in the program both as a menu command and as a hot key, I find this box to be a hindrance in opening the program and not a help. In either case, the program should keep the setting of not displaying this dialog box and not require resetting upon each use. Movies Extractor Scout Web site has a link to its Funny Lash Movies, which is a page of links to flash movies and games. Byte Scout should update this page as some of the movies are not flash and several of the links are dead, giving a 404 code. On another note, the thing that I hated the most about Movies Extractor Scout was its installation of a My Flash Movies folder to My Documents. Why do makers of software assume they know how and where a user wishes to store their saved files? I keep my files organized and a flash movie would go in a separate folder in My Videos or My Movies files as I keep the number of main folders in My Documents to a manageable list. I hate software that adds folders to My Documents without my permission because it is my PC and my files that will be saved. All my testing in creating an exe file of a flash movie/game that will play by itself did not work as indicated by the tutorials. In each test, all the exe created was a file that launched the players but would not play the file. Maybe this function works with players different that the ones I have. After creation of about a dozen of these different files, I gave up trying to get this function to work.

Reviewer 4: MES worked well in most situations. I was able to save a ton of different flash movies from different sites. What I could not get it to do was "save as wallpaper" or as an .exe file that would open with my default flash player. I tried a couple of different players but they would not load the file when it was clicked on directly. I had to use the "open with" right click menu. I tried to search the "Knowledge Base" on the Web site but that was of little help with only four entries and none addressing the issue I was having.

Reviewer 5: I would really like to have had a tutorial at the beginning of the program. It is set up so that the very first time, the program asks where to begin Extracting Movies:

I simply followed the highlighted "Yes. Get Movie(s)" and got a long list of snippets that must have been in the cache files of the browsers. I also found the introductory tutorial of an older version of a program which I use all the time in my work. It seems that it is not a "real" flash movie, as its presentation in Movie Extractor is simply a long list of slides, which are apparently strung together to make that particular tutorial. This led to my flailing around for quite a while. I stopped and restarted the program quite a number of times, before finding out by trial and mostly by error, how to start using it. Eventually, I was able to get to the Help file. Again, though, it took some more time before I found the tutorial that I needed at the end of the help file. It would be very much more useful at the beginning, and, I suggest, before the screen that we see the first time we run the program. Could I even propose that it be a flash movie, right there in the Movie Extractor itself, that would show me what the program can do and how to make it do those things for me. Or, if that would make it too large, a direct link to such a movie, instructing me how to extract it, save it to disk, and be able to replay it when needed.


Other comments.

Reviewer 1: I encountered one puzzling problem that may or may not be the fault of Movie Extractor Scout. After using MES to save YouTube videos, I found that the graphics that usually indicate a YouTube video no longer appeared. They were replaced by a large blank space (see the before and after shots below):

Before (YouTube graphic visible):

After (YouTube graphic invisible):

Movie Extractor Scout's tech support assured me that MES was not at fault, and eventually I thought I had identified an anti-malware program as the culprit. Turning off the anti-malware program cured the problem-for a while. Then the problem recurred. The anti-malware tech support sent me a new version of the program, and that seemed to cure the problem-for a while. It then recurred again, and even uninstalling the anti-malware program and rebooting did not bring back the YouTube graphics. This made me question whether the anti-malware program was indeed to blame. I then cleaned the registry and rebooted again. This time, the graphics returned. As of now, I have not re-installed the anti-malware program. I am waiting to see whether any other circumstances can trigger the YouTube graphics' disappearance.

Reviewer 2: I am always pleased to see a company offer academic discounts, and this Canadian Company not only offers an academic discount to students, faculty and staff, but offers a very generous 50% discount, bringing the already inexpensive program to a cost of approximately $8.00,a price even the poorest grad student can afford.

Reviewer 3: Movies Extractor Scout is neat little program for handling flash type media. Considering the numerous ways in which a flash file can be created, it is not surprising that a user will find many flash files that don't respond to the commands in the program and thus don't work; for example, numerous movies that won't set up as wallpaper or loop as they should or movies that won't work as a screensaver. Also, a user must understand that there are a lot of different formats for movies and games to be displayed on different Web sites, and while this program will extract many flash type files (and will detect non-flash type files) there will be many that this program can't extract or save. This is a very specialized program with a specialized function and if a user has a need to extract and keep flash type files on a regular basis, then Movies Extractor Scout would be worth purchasing. If all a user desires is to share a flash movie or game on a Web page with a friend, it would be much easier just to email the link to the Web page that the flash movie/game appears on and let the friend view it first hand.

Reviewer 4: Overall, I found this application to be of some limited use. It was nice to be able to capture various flash movies for later viewing or use on Web sites that I build and maintain. It did not produce all the things that it said it would in my case. Given the limitations of the basic format, Flash, which is a compression technology, I would not have expected very good quality from extracted stills in any case. This consideration was borne out in my testing. It is not a fault of MES, just a limitation of the format.

Reviewer 5: As mentioned, I am not exactly an expert on all things video and visual on the Internet, or even on my own computer. Had I not been required to continue to work with the program, I might have simply quit on it when I was going through my introductory stumbling about. Fortunately, I did get beyond my initial floundering around, and am very happy that I did so. This is a fun program to use, and can be practical, I am sure, for those who could use the visual tools the program offers for "serious" work as well.


Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1: Yes, unless it turns out that Movie Extractor Scout is responsible for the disappearance of the YouTube graphics. As of now, another program seems a more likely suspect.

Reviewer 2: Yes, especially for its ability to convert flash files to projectable and space-saving EXE files.

Reviewer 3: Yes, I will continue to use it because of its unique function; but I expect I'll use it very seldom.

Reviewer 4: Yes, it was useful. In my case, I really did not need to save a flash movie as desktop wallpaper and all the movies I did save could be opened in some form by using the right click "open with" command. For embedding purposes, users would require a flash player on their computer in any case. These are readily available for download and are included in most mainstream browsers.

Reviewer 5: Yes, definitely.

OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW
Windows XP Pro, XP Home

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