This is probably the most difficult part of using SVCR for a new user because the link or URL to many streams is not always easy to find. However there are a number of techniques you can use. Before attempting to find the URL always check that the actual stream works by clicking the link or icon on the web page that references the stream. If the stream will not play then SVCR will not capture it.

In most cases more than one of the techniques described here will work - in those case use the technique you find personnaly preferable. After awhile you will probably settle on one or two methods that give you good success. If one method does not work, move on and try another.

Pasting The Web Page Link
Sometimes it is as easy as right clicking the web page link or icon for the stream and selecting Copy Shortcut and pasting it into SVCR.

Redirector or Metafiles
A redirector or metafile is generally a temporary internet file (found in C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files\ . . . ) of the type .ram, .smi or .smil for realmedia streams and .asx for windows media streams. You can find these files by starting the stream and then using Windows Find Files to search for files of the type *.ram (or *.smi, *.asx). You may want to restrict the scope of the search to files with todays date. If you find such a file, open it in a text editor and you will likely see a simple text file that will contain links or URLs like pnm://abc.def/ghi.ra, rtsp://klm.nop/qrs.rm, mms://tuv/xyz.asf, http://zyx.vut/srq.asf or the like. In all likelihood these are the link(s) to the stream(s). Paste it in SVCR and see if it works. You could also paste it into realplayer or windows media player to double check that the stream plays. You may also be able to get these redirector files more directly by right clicking the web page link or icon and selecting Save Target As. This would download the metafile which you could then open using a text editor to find the URL.

In same cases you may find a .smi link like rtsp://abc.def/ghy.smi in the .ram file. This URL may or may not work when you paste it into SVCR. If it does not work, see SMIL Files below.

Embedded (Javascript) Players
Many web pages will use realmedia or windows streaming media but when you click on the web page link or icon for the stream an embedded player will open and play the stream. These embedded players are generally written in javascript. You may see some similarities between this embedded player and realplayer or windows media player, or it may look very different. A lot of these web pages will use metafiles or redirector files. So the strategy would be to start the stream playing and then search for the .ram or .asx file and look for the link as described above.

Some javascript players will store the stream link in a .htm or .html file. You can generalize the search for redirector files by using Windows Find Files to search for all files, *.*, that were modified on todays date (otherwise the list could be very long), that contain the text mms or .asf or rtsp or .rm, depending on the type of stream. This will find any file that was modified during the current day that contains text that is indicative of a stream URL. Open these files in a text editor to search for your link. Beware of any files in the C:\WINDOWS\System directory. Don't open these as the link will not be there. The files you want will be in a temporary internet file directory.

I have observed for some embedded window media players, the URL will change everytime you start the player playing. The URL will look normal but there will be a long string of letters and/or numbers that is part of the URL, for example,:

mms:// blahblah:7?auth=Vild.dJc6aGb3cUdmc7ddGzVco-7yCG6-bWG-IDpEmsE1
mms://blahblah/asp?Station=987&Provider=47894567

The red-colored strings change everytime you run the stream. It must be included as part of the URL though. Each of these "time stamped" URLs remains valid for only a period of time. So, next time you want to run SVCR you may have to repeat the process of actually playing the stream and searching for the new URL. This is where a macro/scheduler software tool is useful for automating such tasks.

Sometimes you will end up with a URL that ends in .smi. This may or may not work in SVCR. If it does not, see SMIL Files.

And you may be unsuccessful at finding any redirector file or any URL. In these cases see Packet Sniffing.

SVCR Links Capability
You can use the built in capability of SVCR to find all streaming links on a web page. First select the Links tab, right click within the tabbed window and select options. You should see this window:

Here the Use filter box is checked and the Get all except radio button is selected. When SVCR "scans" the web page it will will ignore all links on the page that end in .htm. I could have done the "inverse" and selected Get only and specified links that would be streamimg links, i.e. those that might end in .ram, .asf, .asx etc. Select OK. Now paste the URL of the web page into SVCR. SVCR will now download an html file that is the web page and scan it for links using the filter properties you defined above. You should see these links appear in the Links tab window. If you see one that looks like a streaming link, double click it and SVCR will attempt to download it.

If you click the the Source tab you will see the html source code of the web page you have just downloaded. Also, the HTML tab will display the webpage (as you would see it in a browser) in its window.

Unfortunately, the Links capability of SVCR is not always successful in discovering all the streaming links on a web page. But it is worthwhile checking if you are having trouble finding a link.

SVCR Intercept Capability
The SVCR Intercept capability applies only to Beta 3.1. This feature can intercept links as you begin to play them with realplayer or windows media player. You must have the program intercept.exe in the same directory as vcr.exe. (You should see the yellow icon :

) Intercept.exe is normally distributed with SVCR Beta 3.1. To enable the intercept feature click the Capture tab in the right pane of SVCR. Right click within this tab and select Options. You should see :

Make sure you check the Enable MIME Intercept box and click OK. With the SVCR open, click the link or icon on the web page where the stream is found. This will launch the player and start the stream playing. If the intercept feature was successful at finding the link it will be displayed in the Capture tab window. Double clicking it will launch the SVCR download.

SMIL Files
SMIL is Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language pronounced "smile". The SMIL "language" looks a lot like HTML. Sometimes the reference to a stream will be rtsp://blahblah/xyz.smi, which is a reference to a SMIL file. In certain cases SVCR will download the SMIL file, in other cases it will not. Don't know why. Sometimes reference to the SMIL file will be found in a redirector or metafile file. The URL of the stream, or enough information to reconstruct the URL, may be found inside the SMIL file (generally a small text file). So the goal is to find the contents of the SMIL file. If SVCR downloads it, open it up with a text editor to view the contents. If not you will probably have to use a packet sniffer to view the contents. In any event, lets assume you can view the contents.

The SMIL file can look something like this :

<smil>
 <head>
  <layout>
   . . . 
  <layout>
 </head>

 <body>
  
  <video src = "rtsp://blahblah.abc/def.rm" begin = "00:20" dur = "3:00" /> 

 </body>
</smil>

In this example the URL of the stream is rtsp://blahblah.abc/def.rm and is found inside the video source tag. Other tags to look for in the SMIL file for URLs are <audio src = "URL" />, <ref src = "URL" /> and <animation src = "URL" />

If the tag looks something like <audio src = "soundx.rm" /> then the full URL needs to be reconstructed. If, in this case, the URL for the SMIL file was rtsp://server.name/sonic.smi, then substitute soundx.rm for sonic.smi, i.e. construct the URL : rtsp://server.name/soundx.rm. In most cases this will be the correct URL. There is an exception, however, when you see the tag that sets each URL relative to a base target or content (see the <meta name .... /> tag).

<smil>
 <head>
  <meta name = "base"  content = "rtsp://myserver.company/" />
  <layout>
   . . . 
  <layout>
 </head>
 <body>
  
  <audio src = "mediafile.rm" /> 

 </body>
</smil>

The URL in this instance is constructed by taking the base-content value and appending the audio source value, i.e. rtsp://myserver.company/mediafile.rm.

Packet Sniffing
When all of the previous methods fail you can always resort to packet sniffing. A packet sniffer is a program that can capture and store Internet Protocol (IP) packets as they arrive at you PC or are sent from your PC. There are a number of these available, for example CommView available from TamoSoft.com.

URL Snooper is a packet sniffer designed to sniff or capture streaming media URLs. It is probably the most useful and more importantly, it is free. .You can get it here.

Finding URLs