Overview
Recording Mode Setup
How to Record
How To Schedule Recordings
How to View and Play Recordings
The Recording Window
The View Window
Settings Reference
Options

Overview

Shadow Stream Recorder is an easy and powerful way to record streaming video and audio from the internet, saving it forever on your PC.

All the popular streaming formats are supported, including:

• Flash™ Video FLV format files - (HTTP protocol)
• Windows Media™ (HTTP, MMS and RTSP protocols)
• Real Audio™ and Real Video™ (HTTP and RTSP protocols)
• Mpeg
• Streaming MP3 (Shoutcast™)

Important: Shadow Stream Recorder is intended for use as a personal archiving tool only. Please respect the rights of the copyright holders of any material you record. Shadow Stream Recorder CANNOT record content protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Requirements

Shadow Stream Recorder requires Winpcap 4.0 or higher. If you don't have it, you can download it here.Supported Windows versions are 2000, XP, and Vista.

Recording Mode Setup

During the installation Shadow Stream Recorder sets up, all adapters are default monitor adapters. You also can setup one of the adpaters as the monitor adapter. To do this click MODE and then select one adpater the Recording Modes dialog.  

The recorder can automatically capture and record while playing video or audio from your browser or media player (real time). 

How To Record

Recording is easy. There are a few different ways to do it - you can record in Real Time, or record from captured URL's. In addition, you can choose AUTO Recording Mode (under the Options button).

Here's how to record in Real Time:

Click button 'Option', select 'Turn AUTO ON' or 'Turn AUTO OFF' menu item.  With the default AUTO recording mode enabled:

1. Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.
2. Recording starts automatically. The RECORD button turns to STOP. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip. There is no need to wait until the play is finished.
3. To end one or more recordings click STOP and select the desired action from the pop-up menu. If you're recording fixed length clips, TV shows or movies, the recording ends automatically, and there's no need to click STOP.

With AUTO recording mode disabled:

Using your browser or your media player, play the video or audio you want to record.

1. Click 'View' button, the URL (Internet address) and the File Name of the clip are displayed on the captured links screen. Click Record to start recording. Once the recording begins you can start playing and recording another video / audio clip.
2. To end one or more recordings click Stop and select the desired action from the pop-up menu.

Important: If you're having trouble recording, try this:

1. Close all open Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer Windows.
2. Open Shadow Stream Recorder.
3. Reopen your browser or Media Player.
4. Click Record.
5. Play the video to record.

It's necessary to close all browser windows and Windows Media Player before opening the Shadow Stream Recorder.

How to Record using URL Recording

All captured URLs are saved and you can access them by clicking the View button, and opening the Saved Links window. Highlight one or more URLs and click the Record button at the bottom of the Saved Links window to record the entire selection. You can also add manually URLs to the Saved Links data base.

How to Schedule Recordings

There are a lot of live streamed radio and TV stations on the Web, and with Shadow Stream Recorder, you can schedule a recording to start  at a specific time and stop after a specific duration, date or series of days on any station. Up to 100 scheduled recordings are allowed.

Here's how to schedule a recording:

If the stream URL was already saved, open View, then open Saved Links window. Right click the URL and select Schedule Recording from the popup menu. 

Alternatively, Click Options,  Select 'Schedule Recording' menu item to setup a scheduled task. 

Editing or Deleting Scheduled Items

You can view your schedule (to edit or delete a scheduled recording) as follows:

1. From the main screen, click View.
2. Click Scheduler. The Scheduled shows list appears:
   
   
   
   
3. Right click the item in the schedule, and choose Add/Change Schedule to edit the item. Click Remove Schedule to delete the item.

Hint: You can use the Windows Task Scheduler to automatically start Shadow Stream Recorder just before the scheduled time.

How to View and Play Recordings

To see what you've recorded:

1. Click the View button, then choose Saved Recordings. Choose the type of recording to view: Windows Media, Real, MPEG or Others. The Saved recordings window appears.
   
   
   
   
   1. The View window displays the last recording type you selected. To choose a different file type, click Saved Recordings, and select a different file type.
   2. Click the file to view, then click the Play button at the bottom of the screen. A Player window opens with your recorded file playing.

The Recording Window

As soon as a recording begins, the Recording Window is displayed showing the recording activity of all current recordings.   If the Recording Window is covered by the browser or other full screen windows click the View button to make the Status Window visible:

This screen shows the progress of each active recording.

The DL Time is the time it takes to download and save the file, and not the number of minutes of video or audio that will play. For many high speed connections, you will be able to record a video a lot faster than the time it takes to watch it.

You can also select recordings and perform various operations on them by right-clicking or clicking Options to display the pop-up menu. Here are the options:

Stop Recording(s) stop recording the selected items. The message CANCELED will appear.

Set Recording Duration lets you limit the amount of time a recording continues. This is handy for recording live streams.

Preview Recorded File plays the selected file from your computer. The file must be at least 100 KB or the recording time greater than 20 seconds. You cannot seek through a file while the file is being recorded.

Record Again rerecords the file, and does not overwrite the existing file.

The Captured Links Window

When you click the View button, you'll be able to access a variety of status and information screens. This section describes those views in detail:

Captured Links

As you play audio and video, Shadow Stream Recorder captures the links you have visited. This makes it easy to return later and record something else.

Saved Recordings

This screen shows you what you've recorded. From the Saved recordings window, you can choose the type of recording to view. Select a show and right click it to play or record it again.

Saved Links

Like Captured Links, Saved Links shows you what you've played, but it contains a longer history. Right click any URL to record it, schedule it or play it.

Recordings Folder

Select this option to view all your recordings within the Windows File Explorer.

Scheduler

If you've set up scheduled recordings, they will appear here. Select a scheduled item and right-click it to edit or delete it, or activate/deactivate the scheduler.

File Download

Need to download a file from a specific URL? Just enter the URL and desired file name, and click OK.

Settings Reference

Click i from the main screen to open Preferences. Here are the various options described in detail:

Bandwidth Normal: Select normal bandwidth in the list box according to your network connection.

Bandwidth Maximum: Select Maximum bandwidth in the list box according to your network connection.

Network connection time-out:  This option changes the time waits before the network connection is established.
Server time-out: This option changes the time waits of server response after the network connection is established. .  

Maximum Number of Sub-tasks: To Increase the number will accelerate the downloading bitrate when multiple sub-tasks are available and the network has sufficient bandwidth. Similarly, to increase the number of downloads will increase the risk of failure.

Options

When you click Options on the main screen, the following menu appears:

Turn Auto OFF turns Auto recording mode ON or OFF.

Schedule Recording: See How To Schedule Recordings.

Keep Shadow Stream Recorder On Top: If this menu item is checked, Shadow Stream Recorder will always remain visible.

Turn Beeps OFF: Shadow Stream Recorder will beep when recordings start and stop, unless this option is turned off.

View Log File: Open the recording log (for scheduled recordings).

Check/Enter Registration: View or update your registration code information.