I recently got hold of the Vista Annoyances book from O'Reilly. Flipped it open at a random page and found lots of good tips on how to Save a video that was running in a browser.

None of the free tips worked on the video I wanted to save so I finally decided that I'd wasted enough time on the free solutions and went for the guaranteed method of upgrading my free QuickTime to QuickTime Pro because then I'd be able to (according to the book) Right-click in the centre of the QuickTime screen and select Save Movie.

(I'd checked of course that this option was there)

So I signed up for QuickTime Pro. Paid the excessive 30 *Euros* for Finland (US users pay 30 dollars or 20 Euros but I don't have a US address for my credit card) and after a problem registering it (a valid code isn't enough you also have to enter the exact name - so Mike Walsh wasn't good enough, it had to be Michael Walsh) was finally able to Save the Video.

Or so it seemed.

After waiting for a while all I had was a file of 4KB. Could that be really the size ?? Clicking that opened the video in QuickTime OK but only when I was connected to the Internet. Pull the cable out and it was showing Bad Address.

So I ran the entire video to the end while saving a second copy. Still only 4KB; still only worked when connected.

Those German programmers are ********, they've obviously gone through hoops to make sure you can't save their videos (which are from the ZDF "Videothek" and are not the Live Stream videos) using either free or commercial tools.

I suppose I should have known when the free tools didn't work but, No, I had to add money to the time I'd wasted.

I don't blame the O'Reilly book by the way. Obviously the tips would work if it weren't for some sneaky programming by those German guys which mean that the video (from their storage system) is still played as if it were being streamed.

Still the idea of saving a few of the week's Krimis until a week when I have more time to watch them vanished into smoke. If only they were consistent and you knew which ones you could watch several weeks later and which not. (The same applies to their Live Streams - some of those programs appear later in the "Videothek" so you can watch them later in the week; but some don't - and there's no way you know which as there is no logic such as Program X Live Streams never are in the Videothek; Program Y Live Streams always are in the Videothek.)