New trick to view YouTube's hidden clips

Aug 23, 2007 08:33 GMT  ·  By

When uploading a clip on YouTube, you have the option of making it available to all the viewers or keep it in private and provide access only to the allowed members. As always, most of the Internet users are looking for a simple way to bypass the limitation and access the private clips hidden from the public eye.

Well, Haochi from Googlified discovered a simple technique to download the clip straight on your computer and view it with your own player. All you need to do is visit this page and enter the private YouTube clip id into the box under the article. Then, a download should be started to save the video on your computer. As you can see, the video format is .flv so you'll need a special application to be able to view it. For example, you can try the VLC Media Player available here. The most difficult thing would surely be finding a private video because they are all hidden from public's access.

The interesting fact is that the YouTube guidelines sustain that a private video published on the Google product is available only to the selected users. "When you make a video private, you have the option of sharing it with a select number of people from any of the lists you've created (you have two default lists, "Friends" and "Family"). If you don't select a list, your private video can only be viewed by your account. If you share it with members on a list, it will only be viewable by those select members on that list."

At this time, YouTube is encountering problems and some of the features might not work properly. "We are currently performing site maintenance. Be cool - we'll be back 100% in a bit," a message posted on the main page of YouTube reads.