Reviews for Video DownloadHelper
Video DownloadHelper by vdh
Review by Firefox user 17588622
Rated 2 out of 5
by Firefox user 17588622, 4 years agoIt's mostly good when it works, which has been most of the time. JDownloader and Open Video Downloader seem to cover its gaps fine.
I have a minor issue and a major issue, though, causing this two star review.
First, the minor issue is that the "support site"/"forums" is a Google Groups conversation, except that's been blocked (by Google?) with a "Banned content warning". "Video DownloadHelper Q&A has been identified as containing spam, malware, or other malicious content." So you guys are getting this ugly feedback/"bug report" here.
Second, the major issue, for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure this plugin has been causing me major, major memory management issues in Firefox, especially with Twitch open. Basically, I leave a Twitch stream open for several hours (let's say 4+), close the tab, and the entire browser locks up for up to a minute (non-responsive program). I experience similar issues opening some media tabs during long and heavy browsing sessions without closing the browser.
This has also caused GPU driver crashes (AMD and nVidia) + crashing Discord, Hydrus, Path of Exile, Windows Explorer. Your extension is doing this! I don't know if it's a combination with something else, but I think this is the cause. This has been going on for years, across three graphics cards (AMD 290X, nVidia 970, nVidia 3070). The newer GPUs have been more resilient but that's only treating a symptom.
I have checked my computer with multiple memory management apps looking for anything that stands out: Task Manager (Processes and Performance), Resource Monitor, ProcessExplorer, RAMMap, Poolmon. I found some minor oddities that I've done my best to address, but the problem wasn't fixed. No issue in Chrome (does not have Video DownloadHelper). I tested Firefox on a clean profile with no issue. I started a new Firefox profile, but manually restored many parts of my old profile (dirty restore) with all my old extensions and the problem came back. I turned off half my extensions including this one, and the problem went away (for a few blissful months). I've since turned on a few of those extensions separately with no issue. Last night I turned on this extension too, and the problem is finally back.
As of typing this, I have one Twitch tab open right now. This browser session has been going for 12-24 hours, let's say. I check Video DownloadHelper's button in the Twitch tab. VDH is showing me 40 things I can download. 40! Most are streams, but I've only visited maybe 5 channels this entire browsing session. VDH shows multiple quality options for streams with transcoding, as it should. Some of these options are from tabs I closed hours ago. Some streamer avatars are mismatched. This can't be right.
I'm going to turn off your extension now. If I'm wrong I'll delete this report. I'm so tired of this.
I have a minor issue and a major issue, though, causing this two star review.
First, the minor issue is that the "support site"/"forums" is a Google Groups conversation, except that's been blocked (by Google?) with a "Banned content warning". "Video DownloadHelper Q&A has been identified as containing spam, malware, or other malicious content." So you guys are getting this ugly feedback/"bug report" here.
Second, the major issue, for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure this plugin has been causing me major, major memory management issues in Firefox, especially with Twitch open. Basically, I leave a Twitch stream open for several hours (let's say 4+), close the tab, and the entire browser locks up for up to a minute (non-responsive program). I experience similar issues opening some media tabs during long and heavy browsing sessions without closing the browser.
This has also caused GPU driver crashes (AMD and nVidia) + crashing Discord, Hydrus, Path of Exile, Windows Explorer. Your extension is doing this! I don't know if it's a combination with something else, but I think this is the cause. This has been going on for years, across three graphics cards (AMD 290X, nVidia 970, nVidia 3070). The newer GPUs have been more resilient but that's only treating a symptom.
I have checked my computer with multiple memory management apps looking for anything that stands out: Task Manager (Processes and Performance), Resource Monitor, ProcessExplorer, RAMMap, Poolmon. I found some minor oddities that I've done my best to address, but the problem wasn't fixed. No issue in Chrome (does not have Video DownloadHelper). I tested Firefox on a clean profile with no issue. I started a new Firefox profile, but manually restored many parts of my old profile (dirty restore) with all my old extensions and the problem came back. I turned off half my extensions including this one, and the problem went away (for a few blissful months). I've since turned on a few of those extensions separately with no issue. Last night I turned on this extension too, and the problem is finally back.
As of typing this, I have one Twitch tab open right now. This browser session has been going for 12-24 hours, let's say. I check Video DownloadHelper's button in the Twitch tab. VDH is showing me 40 things I can download. 40! Most are streams, but I've only visited maybe 5 channels this entire browsing session. VDH shows multiple quality options for streams with transcoding, as it should. Some of these options are from tabs I closed hours ago. Some streamer avatars are mismatched. This can't be right.
I'm going to turn off your extension now. If I'm wrong I'll delete this report. I'm so tired of this.
41,367 reviews
- Rated 5 out of 5by vcnf, 36 minutes ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Tanichan, 5 hours agoОчень удобное приложение, во многом лучше аналогичных которые я пыталась использовать раньше. Удобный и понятный интерфейс.
- Rated 5 out of 5by jonu, 14 hours ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 18388920, 15 hours ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Rich, 17 hours agoWhen the extension was Version 9.x, it was wonderful! It worked as advertised, first time - every time. When the developer(s) upgraded the extension to Version 10.x, it became hit or miss as to when the extension would work. I now spend more time rerunning the extension to upload a movie or TV program and each time I get different results. I would dearly love to get Version 9.x back ... any improvements made by Version 10.x have been lost due to its functional inconsistency. When I sent emails, I was told that the problem is at my end and the extension works. (Were that so!) Please tell me how I can restore the extension to Version 9.x and I will upgrade my review. BTW, I am using Windows 10 and running the extension on FireFox.
- I made a mozilla profile just to write this review. Puts a humongous watermark (easily 1/6th of the whole screen) on videos downloaded from youtube only and calls it "ensuring funding" and of course doesn't inform you of this anywhere before you actually use it.
To remove it, they want you to pay 20 bucks for what they advertise as a "lifetime license" that is of course valid until they decide this project isn't worth their time anymore, then your money is just oops gone. even the "privacy first" types are now making their programs worse to try and make you fork over your credit card. - Rated 5 out of 5by LimitedChez, a day ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 15770704, 2 days agoZazwyczaj udaje się pobrać co potrzeba. Po opłaceniu licencji (tani jednorazowy wydatek) działa nawet jeszcze lepiej
- Rated 5 out of 5by Marcos Pansani, 2 days agoExcellent extension, I've been following it for years and it works very well. It works even better for those who use it on Linux.
- Rated 5 out of 5by botren, 2 days ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 17987731, 3 days agoThis is a reliable, valuable tool; brilliant in its simplicity! Thank you Video Download Helper, may you keep on keeping on!
- Rated 5 out of 5by Fascher, 3 days ago