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I am trying to see if it is possible to make a thumbnail pic from an online video (videos run in flash) programmatically. Just to elaborate on what I am exactly looking to do: I have a link to to a video that plays in a browser using adobe flash. I would like to take a screenshot of the video (at any frame would do for now) using any programming language (prefer python). Also I have noticed that when one uploads a video on youtube, it automatically generates a thumbnail. Any pointers as to if this is a viable option and how to go about it?

Thanks

Ajay Nair
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  • You could either download the video and create the thumbnail from that, or printscreen the browser. These are very different approaches, and which one to use is up to you – loopbackbee Jan 28 '13 at 04:11
  • Thanks, but I am looking for a programmatic approach. Downloading is currently not an option but a print screen is okay as long as the entire process from running the video and taking a screen shot is done programatically. – Ajay Nair Jan 28 '13 at 04:36
  • You can do any of these options programatically. If you want to go down the second route, for browser automation, there's [this question](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1292817/how-to-automate-browsing-using-python). For screenshots, [this one](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2846947/get-screenshot-on-windows-with-python). I'm assuming you're on windows. – loopbackbee Jan 28 '13 at 13:49

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