UPDATE #4: Use Freetube for regular browsing. This is making the rounds again in The Final Days of Cohost so I figured I'd put this up top. The below method is still very useful if you want to save a high quality copy of something locally with the added bonus that you don't have to go through some scummy external website to do it.
DO NOT download the latest version of MPC-HC
DO NOT download the latest version of yt-dlp then put the executable in the MPC-HC installation folder
DO NOT download the latest ffmpeg essentials and put ffmpeg, ffplay, and ffprobe in the MPC-HC installation folder
After doing the above steps, DO NOT run MPC-HC, go to Open File/URL, then paste in the URL of the video you want to watch
And absolutely DO NOT use Save a Copy if you want to save the video to your PC at original quality instead of using some weird sketchy site or add-on to do it
UPDATE: Okay. This blew up in a way I was not expecting in, uh, 10 hours or so, mostly while I was asleep, and it's a little overwhelming. A lot of people who are more knowledgeable than me have lots to say in the comments about other methods and how to save videos as different formats that I wasn't aware of. Take a look there for other download and format options!
UPDATE 2: Think I'm just gonna silence this post so I don't destroy my notifs for the near future. I'm more an Art Guy™ then a Tech Guy™, and I outlined the process that works for me. I really did not expect this to get so much traction, and there's a lot of discussion in the comments with people helping each other, which is great! Keep doing that! I really do hope everyone finds something that works for them!
UPDATE 3: This is continuing to destroy my notifications anyways because silencing a post doesn't remove the little notification bubble, just prevents it from showing as a notification itself. So if you've read this far, check out my profile, consider sharing or liking one of my art posts that appeals to you if you found this useful.
For anyone interested, I wrote up an step by step guide on how to get yt-dlp up and running here on cohost and copied that over to my website here
A couple of things to note.
First is that I've never touched MPC-HC, and have no clue what that does, so that is absent from my instructions.
Secondly, I had my girlfriend who is not techy follow these steps and it seemed to work, so I believe that anyone should be able to follow them.
Thirdly, I remember needing to update YT-DLP the other day, and I haven't tried these instructions since. If they no longer work, let me know and I'll try to update the instructions
) so I'm not super bummed about it).
