Maybe youtube changed something, Which they often do . maybe to keep the numbers of people downloading reduced.

I see that program at MajorGeeks today .. so I assume they just made an update. Perhaps they have fixed the problem you have been having... try the new version maybe ? Freemake Video Converter 3.2.1.6

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.majorgeeks.com/

Your response is appreciated. I previously downloaded on February 10, 2013 version 3.2.1, dated December 19, 2012. And the 3.2.1 is the one shown on their website.
The 3.2.1 was just uninstalled and the download at the link you posted will be installed a few moments. Will post results as soon as they are known.

Just discovered that the download of 2/10/13 was 3.2.1.5. So the 3.2.1.6 may be a genuine update. But not posted as such on the official Freemake website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Freemake

This post was edited by bus_driver on Tue, Feb 19, 13 at 13:13

My brief test indicates that it is working again. Wonderful! Will continue with more downloads and report back later.
Other suggestions welcomed as there may be better programs. Freemake has not previously worked with Vimeo and that is yet to be tested with this version.

Only my opinion but I don't believe that it gets any better than Format Factory!

Here is a link that might be useful: FORMAT FACTORY

The FreeMake program has worked well since my previous post.

This post was edited by bus_driver on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 7:22

The comment about Format Factory is interesting. This is the first I knew of it. A search for posted user reviews leads me to conclude that I prefer not to download it to my computer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews

For any lurker who may be put off by bus_driver's comment you should click the link provided. The long single star post was only a rant about foistware, namely the obnoxious Ask toolbar in this instance. That is not a reflection on the capabilities of the program and I do understand the frustrations with Ask.

Checking the star ratings on that link.......
5 stars 18 votes
4 stars 12 votes
3 stars 4 votes
2 stars 2 votes
1 star 3 votes, 2 of which lambasted the Ask toolbar

Anyone who tries it does have the option to remove it if it is not as expected and it is free.

No, I have never tried the program myself and this is no reflection on bus_driver's opinion either

Some of the comments/reviews found at other sites indicate that the latest version of Format Factory does NOT offer an opt-out on the Ask toolbar. That decided the matter for me.
FreeMake has some things I do not want when downloading, but being careful avoids those. Opt-out is possible.
After MySearch and Incredibar got on my computer unintentionally, I am very wary. I did get rid of those, but it was not (for me) easy nor simple.

This post was edited by bus_driver on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 7:38

Longer term use may change my opinion, but thus far the latest version of FreeMake is working better than ever before. It is an understatement to say that I am completely pleased.
The people who do such software probably like to eat regularly, as I do. So I will be making another donation to them.
Thanks again to mikie for the alert to the new version.

Most wifi/internet ready DVD players (and TVs) have You Tube apps and will play stuff from the website directly. With a unit like that, burning disks would be unnecessary, The YouTube content streams just like Netflix (which these units often also have built in apps for).

My DSL is one of the slower ones.And my watching is very prone to interruptions, even of a few days duration. My DVD player will start right where I left off if I shut it down properly. My computer and TV are in different parts of the house. Perhaps I am missing out on something by not using these other abilities-- which my present equipment does not have. I am willing to be convinced.

One thing that would be nice for the FreeMake that it apparently does not have is the captions offered on some YouTube selections. Some foreign language films have selectable captions using the "CC" icon at the bottom. Since Freemake uses the URL and clicking on the "CC"" does not change the URL, the captions do not appear on the resulting DVD.
Any additional suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: Egyptian film

To test, I just tried this greasemonkey script in Firefox with the Greasemonkey add-on.

It gave me the ability to easily download the subtitles file by adding a button:

{{gwi:1449683}}

Once you get the ".srt" file, you should be able to add it to Freemake. Actually, to test, I just did and it's encoding a DVD right now.

Edit: DVD done. I'm not going to burn it but it looks fine in VLC...

{{gwi:1449686}}

Of course those subs are hard-coded into the movie so there's no way to turn them off.

Freemake Video Converter 3.2.1.7 seen at majorgeeks.com just now.

Thanks for the update on the 3.2.1.7. Decisions,decisions. It may be better, it may offer additional useful features. And it might have problems. But the version I have now is working quite well and for the moment, it is the one I will use.
There was nothing to lose by trying the 3.2.1.6 as the previous version was not working at all.

"Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1711

It looks as if the suggestion of chuggerguy for Greasemonkey is working. Will know full results later today. Words are not adequate to express my gratitude for this help.

This post was edited by bus_driver on Fri, Feb 22, 13 at 9:55

"I am willing to be convinced."

You'll get no arm twisting from me, bus driver. While reading about your problem, what struck me immediately was that your problem would be avoided by using the simpler approach. I can turn on my TV and watch YouTube immediately without any pre setup - if you're happy going about it the long way around, fine.

You mention that your TV and your PC are in different parts of the house. I'm not sure why that's relevent, unless you're saying that you don't have wifi. That's cheap and easy enough to change.

chuggerguy, the captions did not appear in the DVD. When I go to YouTube with Firefox, the captions appear automatically since I added GM. Evidently FreeMake does not access YouTube directly with Firefox. But adding a button and the .srt to anything are beyond my knowledge. Doing those will require that I learn more. Thanks for your help.

"Doing those will require that I learn more."

Truthfully, I had never tried downloading captions from Youtube until you mentioned it so... I learned a little too, which is a good thing, I think.

Also, I probably didn't follow your method precisely in that I did not use Freemake Video Downloader to get the video from Youtube. I used one of the several Youtube video downloader add-ons to get the video sitting on my desktop in front of me to work with. I then used the Greasemonkey script to download the ".srt"(subtitles) file to my desktop beside the video. Then I used Freemake Video Convertor to open the video, add the subtitles file, and finally to convert to DVD. Using that method I have subtitles hard-coded into the resulting DVD files. Using that method worked for me. Honestly, I've never used the Freemake downloader but I assume it should work the same.

BTW, if you installed the Grease Monkey add-on and then(after installing GM) installed(by clicking the green "Install" button in the upper right corner) the captions download script, the little Grease Monkey icon should go from grayed out to active(?) when you go to the video page you linked above. If it does, you should automatically have the subtitle download buttons since that's what the script is for.

Good luck.

Edit: Just for fun, here are the captions in "timed-text" format, not that they would do you any good without converting them to "srt" but still, it's interesting. http://video.google.com/timedtext?lang=en&v=c2aF6-RXs0Y. Notice the "v=video_id" part on the end. I assume you could use that as a template to get timed-text for any Youtube video having captions. Just guessing though. I got that from the source of the Greasemonkey script.

Sometimes reading comments and reviews reveals new ideas. It appears that FreeMake serves as it's own browser for the actual download. I use Firefox to get to YouTube to select the video, copy the URL and paste it to FreeMake. Decided to type .srt to the end of the URL before copying it. Everything worked, FreeMake did not reject the URL-- but the DVD still has no captions. So we know one thing that does not work.

I hope you're not burning the DVD just to find out the captions are not in it. :)

I'd use VLC or whatever to test it before burning.

If trying to get the captions downloader working is frustrating and you just want to quickly get it done... here is the ".srt" file: The Agony Of Love (1961) .srt

As you probably already know, it's easy to add the subs once you get them:

{{gwi:1449688}}

Hopefully will be able to try it tomorrow. That option (circled in yellow) has never appeared on my screen.

This post was edited by bus_driver on Sat, Feb 23, 13 at 10:11

It occurred to me that the best solution for my situation would be something to add to the YouTube URL that would display the captions. I disabled the GreaseMonkey and found some links that did play the video with captions showing. Found a couple with #! added to the URL. The captions did not appear on the resulting FreeMake DVD.
One site suggests that &yt:cc=on will work. It will be tried next.

"The captions did not appear on the resulting FreeMake DVD. "

So long as you're not wasting money burning DVD's, it doesn't hurt to try.

However, I suspect that no matter how you paste the URL into Freemake Video Downloader, it will just grep through it to determine the "video_id" and use that in the way it was written to use it, so the downloaded video will be exactly the same. Just guessing though, it doesn't hurt to try.

Personally, downloading the video(.mp4), using the GM script to obtain the subtitle file(.srt), adding the subtitles to the video in "Freemake Video Convertor", and converting works flawlessly. So... I'm confused why it's not working for you, but that's typical for me. :)

The (&yt:cc=on) was not successful. I buy Professional Taiyo Yuden DVDs in bulk, so the bank is not getting broken.
Will try to use your method if I can understand it. Thanks.

My inquiry to FreeMake support brought a nice reply that at present, no way exists for FreeMake to open the captions. But they are trying to develop that capability and hope to add it to a future update.