diff --git a/youtube-dl b/youtube-dl
index 5a68a2ee9..782372688 100755
--- a/youtube-dl
+++ b/youtube-dl
@@ -1724,7 +1724,7 @@ class VimeoIE(InfoExtractor):
 	"""Information extractor for vimeo.com."""
 
 	# _VALID_URL matches Vimeo URLs
-	_VALID_URL = r'(?:http://)?vimeo\.com/([0-9]+)'
+	_VALID_URL = r'(?:http://)?(?:(?:www|player).)?vimeo\.com/(?:video/)?([0-9]+)'
 
 	def __init__(self, downloader=None):
 		InfoExtractor.__init__(self, downloader)
@@ -1765,8 +1765,12 @@ class VimeoIE(InfoExtractor):
 			self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: Unable to retrieve video webpage: %s' % str(err))
 			return
 
-		# Extract uploader and title from webpage
+		# Now we begin extracting as much information as we can from what we
+		# retrieved. First we extract the information common to all extractors,
+		# and latter we extract those that are Vimeo specific.
 		self.report_extraction(video_id)
+
+		# Extract title
 		mobj = re.search(r'<caption>(.*?)</caption>', webpage)
 		if mobj is None:
 			self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: unable to extract video title')
@@ -1774,6 +1778,7 @@ class VimeoIE(InfoExtractor):
 		video_title = mobj.group(1).decode('utf-8')
 		simple_title = re.sub(ur'(?u)([^%s]+)' % simple_title_chars, ur'_', video_title)
 
+		# Extract uploader
 		mobj = re.search(r'<uploader_url>http://vimeo.com/(.*?)</uploader_url>', webpage)
 		if mobj is None:
 			self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: unable to extract video uploader')
@@ -1796,14 +1801,14 @@ class VimeoIE(InfoExtractor):
 		# if not video_description: video_description = 'No description available.'
 		video_description = 'Foo.'
 
-		# Extract request signature
+		# Vimeo specific: extract request signature
 		mobj = re.search(r'<request_signature>(.*?)</request_signature>', webpage)
 		if mobj is None:
 			self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: unable to extract request signature')
 			return
 		sig = mobj.group(1).decode('utf-8')
 
-		# Extract request signature expiration
+		# Vimeo specific: Extract request signature expiration
 		mobj = re.search(r'<request_signature_expires>(.*?)</request_signature_expires>', webpage)
 		if mobj is None:
 			self._downloader.trouble(u'ERROR: unable to extract request signature expiration')