Download video URL (youtube-dl supported), and automatically open with VLC as soon as possible. Assign to global hotkey for easy use: (1. Copy URL. 2. Hit hotkey shortcut. 3. Wait a few seconds. 4. Enjoy in VLC)

vlcopen.sh

#!/bin/bash

if [ $# -eq 1 ] ; then
    path=$1
else
    clipboard=$(xclip -selection clipboard -o)
    if [ $(<<<$clipboard grep -P "^http") ] ; then
        path=$clipboard
    else
        if [ -t 1 ] ; then
            echo "Bad clipboard path: $clipboard" >&2
        else
            notify-send "Bad clipboard path: $clipboard"
        fi
        exit 1
    fi
fi

#$1 processid, $2 tempdir $3 logfile
function cleanup {
    echo "-------------------------------------------"
    echo "Cleaning up"
    kill -9 $1 &> /dev/null
    if [ -n "$2" ] ; then rm $2/* ; fi
    if [ -n "$2" ] ; then rmdir $2 ; fi
    if [ -n "$3" ] ; then rm $3 ; fi
}


echo "Opening $path"
tmpvlcopen=/tmp/vlcopen/
[ ! -d $tmpvlcopen ] && mkdir $tmpvlcopen
tmpdir=$(mktemp -d --tmpdir=$tmpvlcopen)

# If the tmpdir path doesn't include "/tmp/vlcopen" something went bad!
if [ "${tmpdir/$tmpvlcopen}" = "$tmpdir" ] ; then
    echo "Aborting: failed to create proper temporary directories" >&2
    exit 1
fi

cd $tmpdir
echo "Temporary directory: $tmpdir"
echo "Getting video: $path"
downloadlog=$(tempfile)
(youtube-dl --restrict-filenames --no-part "$path" &> $downloadlog)&
processId=$!
echo "ProcessID: $processId"
echo "Waiting for file creation"

count=0
while [ $(ls -1 | wc -l) -eq 0 ] ; do
    # check if process is done.
    if ! kill -0 $processId &>/dev/null ; then
        if [ -t 1 ] ; then
            echo "-------------------------------------------">&2
            echo "Error: youtube-dl finished without output." >&2
            echo "Error: Bad URL?" >&2
            echo "---------------- Download Log -------------">&2
            cat $downloadlog >&2
        else
            notify-send "Bad URL: $path $(cat $downloadlog)"
        fi
        cleanup $processId "$tmpdir" "$downloadlog"
        exit 0
    fi
    sleep 0.5
    ((count++))
    if [ $count -eq 20 ] ; then
        if [ -t 1 ] ; then
            echo "Timed out" >&2
        else
            notify-send "Timed out"
        fi
        exit 0
    fi
done

sleep 0.1
echo "Opening file: $(ls -1 | head -n 1)"
vlc "$(ls -1 | head -n 1)" &>/dev/null
cleanup $processId "$tmpdir" "$downloadlog"

I cleaned this script up a bit and fixed some of the errors I was getting in the process.

I added some configuration options and additional notifications. It now also uses inotifywait to wait for the download to start instead of polling the file.

Here it is: https://gist.github.com/jasonwhite/7e6c24ecd29508c1276d