by theone » May 2nd, 2011, 11:43 am
These days it's really hard to prevent someone from downloading a video as there are many programs that can extract a file from a streaming video player.
I protect videos on my site by using Lighttpd + FlowPlayer. I use htaccess to prevent hotlinking by only allowing access to the files within my domain. I also block direct access of the files (ie. if you try and access a video directly in your address bar you will get redirected). There is also an expiring token system for the videos URL (the actual URL of the videos is hidden and replaced by an expiring link).
However, even with all this in place it's still possible for a member to download the video from the streaming player through third party software. But, at least I know that non-members will not be able to access any of the protected files.