Video Viewing and Analysis

Download and analyze video files from direct URLs with frame extraction and metadata retrieval.

Quick Start

The simplest way to download a video:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://example.com/video.mp4"

This downloads the video to /mnt/user-data/outputs/ (or current directory if not available).

Options

Custom Output Directory

Use -o or --output to specify a different output directory:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -o /path/to/directory

Custom Filename

Use -n or --name to specify a custom filename (without extension):

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -n my_video

Extract Frames

Use -f or --frames to extract key frames from the video:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -f

This extracts frames at regular intervals and saves them as images for visual analysis.

Get Video Info

Use -i or --info to get video metadata without downloading:

python scripts/download_video.py "URL" -i

This displays duration, resolution, codec, frame rate, and file size.

Complete Examples

• Download video with default settings:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://previews.customer.envatousercontent.com/h264-video-previews/dfb637cb-f04e-46dc-99dc-256fa6090958/61509131.mp4"

• Download and extract frames for analysis:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://example.com/video.mp4" -f

• Get video information only:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://example.com/video.mp4" -i

• Download to custom directory with custom name:

python scripts/download_video.py "https://example.com/video.mp4" -o /custom/path -n my_video

How It Works

The skill uses standard Python libraries to:

• Download video files using requests with streaming support

• Extract video metadata using ffprobe (part of ffmpeg)

• Extract key frames using ffmpeg

• Support resume for partially downloaded files

Viewing Downloaded Videos

After downloading, Claude can analyze the video content by:

• Extracting frames at key intervals

• Analyzing the extracted images to describe video content

• Providing metadata about duration, resolution, and format

Requirements

The script requires:

• Python 3.7+

• requests library (installed automatically)

• ffmpeg and ffprobe for frame extraction and metadata (optional)

Install ffmpeg on Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Install ffmpeg on macOS:

brew install ffmpeg

Important Notes

• Only supports direct video file URLs (not streaming platforms like YouTube)

• Supported formats: mp4, webm, mkv, avi, mov, m4v, wmv, flv

• Large files are downloaded with progress indication

• Frame extraction requires ffmpeg to be installed

• Downloads are saved to /mnt/user-data/outputs/ by default, or current directory