How can I download stream videos with rtmp protocol? From Harvard Extension, more specifically

Use RtmpSrv

rtmpdump -r rtmp://flash.dce.harvard.edu/bounce -C B:0 -C Z: \
-C S:/2012/02/22872/L01/22872-20120124-L01-1-h264-av1248-16x9-852x480.mp4 \
-C S:BounceAPI3.0 -C N:0.000000 -C S:mp4 \
-y mp4:2012/02/22872/L01/22872-20120124-L01-1-h264-av1248-16x9-852x480.mp4 \
-o a.flv
RTMPDump v2.4-84-gdd57cd0
(c) 2010 Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team; license: GPL
Connecting ...
INFO: Connected...
Starting download at: 0.000 kB
[...]
3322.127 kB / 22.03 sec (0.3%)

Edit: please do not ask me about this answer anymore. I was booted from the RTMP community many years ago and dont wish to revisit that. This answer only exist for historical reason and cannot be deleted.

Use the VLC player to download a rtmp stream:

1. Step: Chose Media > Convert/Save (or use shortcut Ctrl + R)
2. Step: Chose tab Network

3. Step: Enter rmtp stream URI

   

4. Step: Chose Convert and enter target path/file
5. Step: Go!

In regards to the legality that would depend on the restrictions set by the owner. But I would assume if it was just for personal use there wouldn't be much of an issue.

In regards to downloading them you should be able to use VLC. I haven't ever tried it myself but it lists support for the RTMP protocol and it's regular convert/save option should be able to save the steam to a file without any issue.

I have had success with some RTMP streams using the youtube-dl program.

It's a command-line application which will download to your current directory if you pass it no arguments. With RTMP streams, I usually just pass it the page URL, rather than try to locate the RTMP URI.

youtube-dl "http://domain/page-with-stream"