ClonerAlliance Box Pro, Capture 1080p@60fps HDMI Videos/Games and Play Back Instantly with The Remote Control, Schedule Recording, HDMI/VGA/AV/YPbPr Input. No PC Required.
- Instantly Playback recorded videos on USB storage devices with the remote.
- Captures 1080p Full HD videos or gameplay from Xbox one, PS4, DVR, VCR, etc onto USB flash drive or external hard disk or PC.
- Supports HDMI, VGA, AV(composite) and YPbPr(component) input signals. Convert analog video to digital video(MP4).
- Schedule Recording.
- Capture and live games/videos to YouTube/Twitch/Facebook(Windows only).
- Press one button to take a screenshot and save your favorite video moment as a JPG file.
- 4K input(3840*2160) is supported, output and recorded videos are in 1080p.
- Bundled software ClonerAlliance Helper(Windows only) can help you record video files of unlimited size. MP4-Cloner(Windows only) can help to edit and burn videos to discs and more.
Record full HD 1080p videos. Playback instantly.
Do you have VHS tapes or video discs that need to be converted to MP4 digital files? Or you have too many video files saved on your DVR and need to free its storage space. With ClonerAlliance Box Pro, with just one press, all your favorite videos can be stored on your USB storage devices.
Capture/Live Gaming to YouTube/Twitch/Facebook(Windows only).
With 3rd party software such as OBS, XSplit, etc, it allows you to capture and live HD gaming videos from any gaming devices. Meanwhile, all the recorded videos can be shared to YouTube/Twitch/Facebook instantly. The internal 3.5mm mic jack allows you to add own live commentary.
Capture and record videos to USB storage devices from various video devices.
- Capture and record full HD 1080P videos or gameplay from Xbox One, PS4, PC, DVR, VCR, etc onto a USB flash drive or external hard disk/mobile hard drive.
- Just press the “PLAYBACK” button on the remote, you can enjoy the recorded videos instantly after recording.
- OSD menu provides a variety of functions: Record Resolution, Bitrate, Brightness, Contrast, Schedule Recording, etc.
- The recorded MP4 files are compatible with PC, Mobile phones and any other platforms.
Audio and USB storage device Tip:
- The product records PCM or Stereo format. Please adjust the audio output of the source device to PCM or Stereo.
- It’s recommended that the reading and writing speeds of the USB storage device are both 50Mbps or above.
Convert Analog Videos to Digital Videos.
- Some of your most cherished moments like birthday parties or weddings in life may be on VCR or other analog signal devices.
- Take your time to backup them now! ClonerAlliance Box Pro enables you to record videos from any device with a VGA, AV(RCA, composite), or YPbPr(component) output and keep them forever.
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Schedule recording at your convenience.You must want to enjoy the latest sporting events and stay up to date with your favorite videos. Set up your video source, select the target channel, schedule recording task. ClonerAlliance Box Pro will do the rest for you. Note: Two AAA batteries for the remote control are not included in the packing box. | Press one button to take a screenshot as a JPG file.Amazing or hilarious moments while watching videos won’t wait your camera to capture. Just one press can make it. Stores them into a folder so as to browse them anytime. | Connecting with PC. Bundled Software provides you with more value-added features.ClonerAlliance Helper(Windows only): Unlimited recording capacities; Create more schedule tasks; Playback recorded MP4 files on multi-device via LAN; One press to get GIF animation(30 seconds at most). Cool! And more. MP4-Cloner(Windows only): Edit/trim/combine/burn recorded the MP4 files; | 4K Input is supported.4K UHD resolution 3840*2160 input is supported, real time output and recorded videos are 1080p. The resolution of recorded video can be 1920×1080 (60p). |
| Weight: | 192 g |
| Dimensions: | 10.92 x 10.92 x 1.52 cm; 192.78 Grams |
| Brand: | ClonerAlliance |
| Model: | CA-998P |
| Colour: | ClonerAlliance Box Pro |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | ClonerAlliance |
| Colour: | ClonerAlliance Box Pro |
Love this thing . Wish I had bought it before I bought the evolve model. But both boxes are good. This one allow me to view play back recorded files.
If you want an hdmi recording device that can take your treasured hiDef favourites currently trapped inside a virgin/sky/etc box and liberate them to the free and transferable digital pastures of an external hard drive then this works!
It is not a consumer level open box plug and play device .. don’t think the mass market would permit such a creation but with some patience this really is easy to use.
After a month’s use these are my thoughts;
My initial attempt on using the device with an external hard drive rather than pc resulted in sound playback only. Customer response was very quick and it transpires that footage recorded in full hd (1080 rather than 720) doesn’t play back an a few older tv’s . This is weird but they said my 7 year old panasonic was probably the reason despite it being full hd. Playing back on new tvs and new projector ..everything fine. Recording to a laptop directly and then playing back from the laptop was fine with the old tv. .. can’t explain this one.
They advise formatting any external hard drive used in fat32 to avoid playback issues. The drawback here is that files larger than 2gb are split up . On watching back there is a short pause between sections. The supplied software to stitch them together works well but the resultant large file can’t be transferred back to a fat32 drive. So I reformatted in ntfs and so far have had no problems so far.
The graphical interface is like something from the mid 80’s. When finding programs from the external hard drive with the remote it’s cumbersome but still usable.
The supplied software ..one to record to the pc, one to trim, stitch,convert and burn files really do work well.
For those still into 3d you can record side by side footage and play it back via the box from a laptop or pc to your 3d tv or projector and ..it works.
overall recommended. Customer service very keen to help
Captures; so far; every HDMI source I have thrown at it without exception, producing 1080p MP4 files from the built in hardware encoder.
Best of all, it does not need to be attached to a PC when recording, so it can sit quietly by the TV if required, saving the MP4 files to an attached storage device (not supplied).
I have used it with a NTFS formatted USB Stick, and an NTFS formatted Western Digital portable hard drive. and have so far captured up to 10 hours of content in one file (which is effectively no limit, bar the size of the attached storage).
I highly recommend this device.
As other reviwers have mentioned, you need to hook this box up to a PC or laptop with a USB cable to capture at 1080p@25Hz using the HDML-Cloner Pro Helper software. This works very well and although some audio lag (up to 1 second) is noticeable during capture, it is never present in the output mp4 file when played.
1080p@25Hz 8Mbps H.264 video with AAC stereo audio produces an ouput file size of about 3.5GB per hour. The results are indistinguishable from the source to my eyes and ears but perhaps I’m not as perceptive as some people.
I use the MP4-Cloner software to trim the video and the 3rd-party MKVToolNix GUI to add an MKV container, chapter stops and subtitles (from SRT files). The output mkv file is barely larger in size than the mp4 source file.
You can capture subtitles if you choose to display them in the source but they become effectively “burnt” into the output with no way to hide them.
This piece of kit is very handy for archiving programs stored on my Panasonic Freeview DVR that are otherwise not available. I’m not going to drop any stars for the niggles I have about the lack of support for UK TV broadcast frequency or subtitles.
I hope the support doc of supporting hard drive can be more specific, especially in “right click” and picture highlighted place to “right click” will be helpful, the device is generally easy to use except dealing with USB hard drive
It works exactly the way it is supposed to I had to play with the settings a little bit but its working good . If I had to say something negative about it it would be that the remote for the box also wants to control the odd function on my tv and android box (shuts the tv off with the arrow up button and jumps back to the android box screen) not a big deal just a little annoying
The Cloner Alliance HDML-Cloner Box Pro is excellent for recording Sky / Virgin Media or any other Hard Drive High Definition content to a flash drive using a HDMI Cable. The content of the flash drive can then be downloaded to a PC where the recording can be edited and stored to a Blu-ray / DVD or an external Hard Drive.
The remote control has small buttons so make sure the device is recording (The top of the box will start flashing) when you press the record button.
Ich hatte schon mehrere HDMI Grabber, dieCloner Box Pro ist mit Abstand der / die beste.
Warum?
Ich habe die Box gekauft um die extra zu bezahlenden HD Kanle ( CI Modul ), vom Kabel Reciver ( Unitymedia ) aufzeichnen zu knnen.
Diese sind bei mir entweder auf 45 min. Aufnahme beschrnkt oder der schnelle Vorlauf ist deaktiviert.
Funktioniert nun einwandfrei, ich kann aufnehmen bis das Speichermedium voll ist.
Und schneller Vorlauf klappt auch.
Um eine hdcp Verschlsselung zu umgehen ist noch ein HDMI Switch zugeschaltet.
Normal nehme ich auf einen Sandisc 64 Gb. USB Stick auf welcher in ntfs formatiert ist.
Eine 500 GB USB Platte in Fat32 formatiert wurde auch unproblematisch genutzt.
Keinerlei Probleme, kein ruckeln oder Aussetzer beim Abspielen und der Ton ist 100% synchron zum Video.
Aufzeichnungen von zB. Netfix oder hnlichen Anbietern funktionieren ebenfalls reibungslos.
Kurz, ich habe bis jetzt noch nichts gefunden was dieser Grabber nicht aufzeichnen kann, im Gegensatz zu anderen.
Die Daten lassen sich natrlich auf einen Pc bertragen und dort bearbeiten.
Bildqualitt empfinde ich als sehr gut ,ich sehe keine Verluste zum Originalbild.
Wenn ich an die Grabber denke welche ich vorher hatte wrde ich glatt 10 Sterne geben.
Aber Achtung, falls Interesse, nicht in China bestellen, ist bei mir nicht durch den Zoll gegangen.
Mit liebem Gru an Euch alle.
Mick
Cloner Pro is a fantastic digital recorder. It will literally capture anything you throw at it with very little effort. The captured video or audio is saved to a USB stick or hard drive in mp4 format which is compatible with a wide variety of devices. One can even add voice input to recordings via a microphone connection. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Cloner-Alliance’s customer support. My first box worked okay but had some hardware issues. Customer support was better than fantastic as they took control in diagnosing the issues I was having with the recorder. As soon as they determined it was a hardware problem rather than a user issue, I was sent a completely new recorder. The new device worked flawlessly. Cloner-Alliance needs to improve the user manual and the device’s menu. It’s not clearly delineated how to progress through menu items, especially if updating the device’s internal firmware. One can usually determine how to proceed but the menu is definitely not intuitive. Overall though, this is one of my best hardware purchases in a number of years. Buy one. You’ll love it!
First I installed the pro helper software which you can get on the cloneralliance website.
Next, I hooked up my Cable box to this recorder via HDMI, and then I connected the recorder to my computer. Initially I had a black screen, but I held down the source button for 5 seconds and then I got a picture.
From there, I used my Cable remote to start the PVR show, and then I pressed record on the software. I was able to record in 1080p@30hz. There was no audio lag of sync issues at all.
I am very happy I can preserve the shows I can’t buy using this recorder. Very happy with it!
I don’t like that you have to go to the site and get the software. There were no instructions telling me to do that. I’d rather just have a licensed copy in the box, would have made it easier. That’s the only con.
Bought this device about 2 years ago and within a year I began having trouble recording. I contacted tech support and they walked me through a firmware update which seemed to fix the issue. About 10 months later the same problem happened. I again contacted tech support as this time the firmware updates did not correct the issue. They were very responsive and walked me through a few other trouble shooting steps. When these did not correct the issue, they decided it was a defective unit. Even though my unit was 2 years old they offered to replace the unit! I did not expect such and offer or service after the time I had owned the unit. The new one is working perfectly! I can not emphasize enough that this company followed up with every step, from the first time I reached out to the last.
I use this to record old videos to usb and project them onto a huge screen in hd quality. I have awarded 4 stars because of lack of information in the box. I could not get it to work so I had to contact customer services who advised me to press the source button for 10 secs. It is now working very well and I have recorded content from bluray, freesat and firestick. The unit itself is well made and all cables are supplied but why no batteries for remote ?
This box is amazing I can get really great copies of whatever I have on my PC display. Also I’m using this to get a quick copy of old videos to digital. I have an old matrox mx02 mini which I love for getting old videos into an Edius system but something is happening and I picked this up to use as a possible stop gap to get at least something off the old tapes to digital. Good enough for my review of old videos. I’m not sure how well this competes with the much older matrox system which dos do a great job when it worked but this is in a different class for new material. For new material it seems like it captures lossless even in the mode below the highest. 27 minutes per 2 gigs for full HD capture which is fairly large. Like blue ray storage space of HD but it definitely gives blue ray quality. I love the flexibility of inputs I can do composite, analog component VGA or hdmi. Amazing that a box which costs so little can do so much. Tech support is stellar other say but I’ve had no need for it. Love the remote option which allows me to use it without w computer and bring the USB files over the the computer. Is there any room for inprovement? It would be nice it it could take the adapter plug which concert SVHS to two channels of component like the matrox box does but that is probably a hardware requirement change so it probably won’t happen. It seems that it shows more of a pixelated almost 720 grain look when recording or using it as a go between from my full HD computer. This only in darker grey areas a bit of pixelizarion but that is completely missing from the recording so back on the computer the file plays like a complete clone copy of the image. It could even be due to my computer the way my computer is driving the hdmi monitors. I may have drawbacks from the computer and perhaps a reduced chipset for playback happens with the Cloner box losing some quality but the quality is in the recording on the USB stick which is where it counts. It’s really good enough for practically any use. Amazing I may do my digital archive of a large amount of old analog tapes with this but I have to do more tests. I’m color correcting those during recording input a bit and that may prove to be challenging because my other equipment is adding up not the Cloner box. I have composite and SVHS out but not component from an old mx70 mixer: the Cloner box could handle component out from the mixer if my mixer was working. It’s difficult to say for sure how well this stacks up against the older mx02 for an older standard definition archive for future edits but it may stand up quite well.
Typical first time power on had the “oops Something Went Wrong Message” so had to consult document that came with it which pointed to website. Result was just to hold the source button in for 10 secs to reset the box. Would have been easier and more useful (and quicker) just to put that in the included instructions to save having to go to the website.
Works fine from Amazon Fire TV and Panasonic Blu-ray recorder. Bypasses HDCP.
Only issue is as commented by other users, in that the recorded output is only 30fps and not the same as the source i.e. 24fps or 25fps. This means that it adds extra frames to achieve the 30fps. This leads to slight jerkiness in recording from 25fps.
Saying that when recording 24fps from Blu-ray seems to be no issue. Obviously must depend on where and how the extra frames are added.
Otherwise after initial reset have had NO issues with this device – recording on to old 240GB OCZ SSD without any issues.
Excellent device would recommend to anyone that needs to remove video from old Freeview recorders.
Manufacturer – PLEASE add ability to have output at either 25fps or to be same frame rate as source.
This is the best I have tried. Works great, easy setup and great support.
This is a great product for making video recordings from almost any source and putting them on a flash drive for easy portability. It is easy to use, instructions are clear, and it comes with all the cables you need to get the job done. It’s not perfect; for example long recordings will introduce a slight lag in the audio, and for my purposes the files it creates are just too big so I have to reduce the image quality afterward to get them down to a more manageable size. However, I have tried other similar products, and none quite measure up to the reliability and versatility of this Cloner Box Pro. As good as the product is, I am most impressed with the customer service. I kept this little box running pretty much continuously for almost 2 years, making hundreds of recordings before it finally gave up the ghost. In the end, I think it was actually the power cord that gave out rather than the unit itself. I wrote to the company and after 1 or 2 attempts to troubleshoot they offered to send me a brand new replacement box with new cables, power cord, and everything. It took a while to ship from overseas, but they communicated every step of the way so I knew where the replacement was in the process. Amazing service!
I got this one after my Avermedia dvr wore out and the company offers no way to repair it. The Cloner Box so far is flawless when you figure out how to set the scheduled recording. Seems to record to most thumbdrives as opposed to my old dvr which was always quirky. My advice is buy a high quality hdmi splitter, and if you have two hdmi inputs you can use the hdmi not running out of the cloner box to view unrecorded cable tv. The company advises not to leave the box on when not recording or viewing recorded media, if you turn the box off the feed is cut off from the tv. It passes through only if it is on. The only other drawback is you can’t schedule multiple recordings. It will take single pictures of what is playing. Only had it for 2 months but it seems well made.
My ClonerAlliance Pro Box arrived on time, and I had it up and running without any problems. I am now able to record from all my hdmi sources and my vhs recorder.
Je suis pleinement satisfait et ce produit rempli parfaitement son rle! Il permet d’enregistrer vos parties de jeux vido en MP4 ainsi que de nombreuses autres sources HDMI. Avec ce modle il est possible de programmer/planifier ses enregistrements. Toutefois une amlioration serait d’avoir un “bypass” pour le signal HDMI lorsque l’appareil n’.est pas en fonction, afin que le signal se rende quand mme au tlviseur!
After having difficulty with another similar product I bought this on the basis of good reviews. I’m delighted to say that I found it to be EXCELLENT. I’ve been backing up my old vhs tapes with ease. I didn’t bother connecting it to the computer as connecting my usb stock worked a treat.
Product works well, it doesn’t like all external drives but usb sticks and sd cards so far work very well.
Not the highest resolution but for recording independent of pc is great. Plus you can still connect to pc for higher quality.
I am writing this review not only about the cloner box but also about the great customer service. After almost a year I started having difficulty with it. I contacted Customer Service and they helped me troubleshoot and when it turned out that the cloner box was no longer working correctly they replaced it with a brand new one for a quarter of the original price which was more than fair.
The box itself is easy to use and works well. I use it to copy programs I wish to keep from my cable DVR (using the. YPbPr Input). At first I only copied onto the USB device but later I started using the PC program which is very good. It not only allows you to copy in larger than 27 minute blocks, the included software allows you to clip, create DVDs, etc. If you use the USB device only it will divide what you copy into 27 minute blocks so be aware of that.
All in all I recommend this device if you are looking to record HD quality video. It’s like a VCR or a DVR but the video is recorded onto the USB device or onto your PC.
I like and use this device, replaced a DVD recorder with it.
It works perfectly with my Directv receiver.
I do suggest improving the instructions with the following:
1. have a USB recording device formatted to NTFS ready to use.
2. Use 720 instead of 1080 if you need/want a smaller file size.
– Unit flashes blue recording on 1080 and green when recording on 720
– 2 hours on 720 is about 8GB
3. immediately go to website to register and update firmware. (get your registration code there first)
4. play with it. use it, and test all functions of this device to get to know it.
Improvement Suggestion:
1. recording timer so it automatically stops recording.
2. pause button, so you can edit out commercials or combine programs, etc.
The above items would have made this unit almost perfect.
** Everything in my review has been covered in other reviews, this is a combined and condensed version of the essentials **
Plusieurs achats et essais infructueux comme un graveur de salon HDD , un numriseur USB bon march ou encore une carte d’acquisition vido. Ici on ne joue pas dans le mme registre ! Un branchement simple, directement de la sortie du magntoscope vers le numriseur , quelques rglages dans le menu, on raccorde en HDMI vers un tlviseur ou un moniteur on branche une cl USB ou un disque dur externe, une pression sur la touche record et la magie opre !
Non seulement l’image est superbe et cerise sur le gteau les vieilles bandes en 576i sont enregistres en 720p ou 1080p !!! . seul petit bmol, du fait d’un formatage des units de sauvegarde en Fat32, le numriseur fait des fichiers de 2Go maximum. Si vous numriser des bandes de spectacles il faudra passer par un programme externe comme Bandicut pour assembler les diffrents fichiers. Vous pouvez aussi utiliser un soft de montage non-linaire. Les fichiers gnrs sont de type .mp4 . Pour tre complet le dbit de la vido est de 10 Mb/s environ pour une source analogique.
N’tant pas concern par l’entre HDMI je ne l’ai pas encore teste.
Appareil recommander !
Outtag 36W Destktop Charger AC Power Supply Adapter 5V-15V 2.4A for Bluetooth BT Speakers Routers CCTV Cameras LCD TV Box USB HUB IP Camera Led Lamps
Other than the power supply issue, this is a fantastic produc
However when it IS set-up , the results are superb.
I have tried : Freeview box , Freesat box , Tablets and more.
All worked flawlessly , also EXCELLANT Customer service.
Great little gadget works really well and easy to use.
Copies well from most HDMI sources including my UK Virgin Media V6 box.
Copying to PC is flexible as it allows a higher bitrate (18Mbps) than standalone and more frame rate choices.
Copying to a modern PC with SSD drops no frames at 30 fps, not even at maximum bitrate.
Standalone recording/playback will be useful for some, but I didn’t test it.
Not so good
The PC option to record at 25 fps doesn’t work properly – playback can be choppy. The clonerbox unit appears to record initially at 30 fps then cut out 5 frames. per second. So for recording 25fps video as in PAL land, 5 duplicated frames per second are added to make it 30 fps, then if set to 25fps, software appears to remove what can be a different 5 frames. The final 25 fps video then ends up with a few missing and a few duplicated frames, and sometimes choppy video. But there is a DIY workaround …
The workaround for people who are concerned about the PAL land issue is to record at 30 fps then use the free program Handbrake on your PC to remove the correct 5 frames with its detelecine filter – that works perfectly for me and the original 25 fps video is correctly restored. Clonerbox Pro needs to have a true 25 fps record function, or at least a working detelecine option in software. One star deducted.
And as another reviewer noted, clonerbox pro doesn’t work on the HDMI output of certain HD DVD recorders – mine is a Panasonic – though if you can burn to Blu Ray as in my case, you *can* copy the disc. Just something to bear in mind in case if affects anyone. Overall and as the problems may only affect a minority of customers, it’s a 4 star from me.
I use this device to record TV programmes on my Amazon Firestick directly to my USB Stick
The quality of recording is exceptional.
The only drawback I have found is that you can only schedule for 1 recording at a time, but otherwise it is a good device.
I bought this product knowing very little about it but thought by the description that this is the tool for me.
As I said it was a learning curve to me but every little issue I encountered was sorted out by the Cloner Appliance team especially Julia. It is a great and exciting product and if you are in the throes of purchasing this item just do it you will have no regrets and with a brilliant support team you have nothing to fear. Does what it says on the tin and more!
Am excellent piece of electronics. Very handy and very effective!
This device records with a great picture, though can be a little challenging to set up. The playback features are limited and are one of the devices weaknesses. For instance, fast forward barely gives double speed even though it will display 32X, reverse doesn’t work at all. I had to send back my 1st box as it was defective. Don’t shy away from it for that reason, none of all devices can be perfect, even Apple products. I will say treat it with care, It seems a very fragile and sensitive device electronically. I think its important to note that tech support is amazing! A rare thing these days. If you have any problems, their tech support bends over backwards to help. I am satisfied with my its recording features, and, take my advice… be sure and update the latest firmware, it will enhance the devices capabilities and you will be very satisfied.
I had issues with the unit properly performing when formatting my Sandisk 256 GB 3.0 USB drive to NTFS. Yes….you get one large file but it’s not worth the issues and features you lose on the unit. I had to format the drive with FAT32.
The unit then corrected all the issues I experienced which if it hadn’t it would have been returned.
Issues which were:
1. FFWD and RWD feature of my recordings did not work. RWD gave “not supported” message and FFWD just gave choppy forward movement at no accelerated pace.
2. Encountered audio/video lip sync issues. (Still occurring but not as severe)
3. Resume playback feature didn’t work.
FAT32 format fixed all the above. My main motive of using this unit is to record streaming content off my Roku to FFWD through all the commercials. The FAT32 format produced and split about 2 GB files in Medium bitrate recording which was just about a 30 minute file recorded at 1080p. The cool thing is the unit jumps right to the next file thats recorded if it’s say splitting up a program you were in the middle of recording. Pretty much uninterrupted playback. I was concerned you had to go back to the unit menu and select the next file and then continue to play the program you were watching that was split but it does this on its own.
I don’t see too much difference if at all between the medium and high bit rate recording setting so I’m leaving in medium to avoid the file splits to be somewhat less.
I’ve tested the unit a week so far and had to work through their chat tech support to sort through some of these items I experienced but so far so good. They were helpful.
My biggest gripe so far is that the unit does not have recording output of DD 5.1 or DTS Surround. For the cost of this unit it should have it. Tech support says they didn’t ave any plans as of now to support these audio formats in a firmware update. Perhaps the hardware in this unit can’t support. That’s the only shortfall I see for this unit and hope they can update it at some point to include. Otherwise at this point even though you may be receiving a 5.1 audio format into the unit to record, it only pushes out stereo sound. I would have given 5 stars if not for this detail.
Another gripe is I wish you can label the recording in the menu so you know what you have recorded per specific file. You have to pretty much let the video preview to get an idea of what you recorded which is hard when you really start filling up the library on the USB drive. I’m not using this device to audit the clips on a PC. I’m pretty much just using for direct playback.
Heat the unit produces is another concern as some other reviewers stated but they will stand behind the product and cover for 2 years. Anything goes wrong they will replace no questions asked. I’m a pretty big A/V enthusiast that knows his stuff and pretty impressed with this thing so far with what it can do. Also having a splitter to bypass the HDCP is a must have if your connecting strictly with HDMI cables.
I was looking for a hdmi recorder that can record from both my Sky box/PS4 and thought I would try this. I am glad I bought this as I can record in full HD from both. You have to remember to put the source sound to stereo when recording as it does not record audio from dolby surround etc. I have attached a 1TB external hard drive to it and it has been recording fine. The only problem I have had is the remote being unresponsive at times, especially when trying to turn it on. Also when using the software to trim videos on the computer it sometimes makes the audio go out of sync so it would be handy if it had a way to pause recording then continue so you can cut adverts out of programs. I would fully recommend this.
I was a little concerned when the product first arrived, the seal was broken and it looked like someone could have been into the box. But everything was there, and the product looks good, and worked great. Received a proactive email from the seller that included some tips (that were great) and a pdf of the manual. I have recorded a couple of hours of video so far, Two days in and could not be happier. I have tried several different video sources, including HDMI and composite, to see how it would work, and did get the dreaded ‘Och’ message once connecting to one of the HDMI sources. But the tip in the sellers email to hold the “source” button on the device for about 10 seconds caused a system reset that cleared it up. I am using a 128gig PNY USB3 pen drive for storage and have had no problems with it. I have not yet connected it to a PC via the onboard usb port, but that was not a critical requirement for me. I could not be happier with the product.
A great way to capture output and record and save rugby matches in high quality. Couldn’t be happier.
It won’t be picked up my SONY BRAVIA tv unless I pull every other HDMI out, and then, plug in ClonerAlliance – a small price to pay though for a great bit of kit.
4.5 stars
My only complaint is that it can’t schedule more than one recording at a time. I end up recording a huge 8 hour block every day (a single 54 GB mp4 file). Quality of the recording is excellent. Easy enough to hook up and figure out how to use. I use a 1 TB WD Black 2.5 inch drive in a Vantec CX 2.5 inch enclosure connected with a USB 3.0 cable. This replaces the VCR DVD combo I was previously using. Nice to have something modern.
Should mention that the clock and recording timer is in military time
If you use an SSD with this it works even better. I record a single stream 16 hours a long M-F. The quality is excellent at 1080p. I now record at medium bitrate @ 720p because it’s 60 FPS even if the broadcast isn’t. 60 FPS just looks better and 720p is a significantly smaller file size. My daily recoding for 16 hours at medium 720p60 is ~66 GB. The low quality is godawful at either resolution though. Don’t go lower than medium.
Easy to set up. Simple to operate and the results are just what I had hoped. (Saved recordings to USB drive)
Cant recommend enough +++++
Great products. Worked well straight out of the box. Follow up mailings and website provide lots of help. Haven’t tried direct record to PC as didn’t buy for that feature.
I bought this unit to use as a stand alone unit to capture church video at 1080p 30fps. I needed something that technology handicapped people could operate when I’m not able to attend church and this unit is a God sent. Using this unit all a had to teach others was (1) to press the power button, (2) press the button before the sermon starts, (3) press the button when the sermon ends, and (4) press the power button again after service is done. Before I was using OBS studio to capture video with a powerpoint video overlay and I had to set up an audio delay to get the video and audio from our mixer to sync. Now using this unit, I feed the 1080p @ 30fps video (from a camera), the dvi output (from the computer displaying the powerpoint) to a hdmi switch with scalable picture in picture (you can change the size and position of the video box on top of the video background), and the audio from the stereo monitor output of our mixer to the input of cloner box. It works without a hitch and the audio remains in perfect sync. No need to teach point and click software to people who don’t understand why you just don’t print out an email and give it to them the next time you see them.
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-5-25-INCH-Converter-Activity-USB-DSC9/dp/B00DQJME7Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1527097659&sr=1-1&keywords=sabrent+hard+drive+converter#customerReviews
This allows me to connect the USB to the cloner box and then quickly to the PC to process the files. If I leave it running longer than expected, it keeps recording without running out of room. I am currently using a 500gig SATA drive with no issues. I have an 8gig USB drive I use when I am editing the shows on the large drive.
The software that comes with the cloner box is better than I expected. I am able to cut off the front and end of a show easily. The software will let you save segments of the show, allowing you to cut out commercials. There is a button to mark the start of the video and another to mark the end of the video. If would be nice if these were active when removing commercials. You need to manually type in the start and stop times for each segment you want to save.
This brings me to the 55gig file. The only way to move forward and backward in the video is to click the time bar or click and drag the small ball on the time bar. In a 12.5 hour video, this is next to impossible. You have to let the video play and edit it very slowly. It would be great if they could add a 10 second back button and a 30 second skip forward button. With a 30 minute to 1 hour recording this isn’t as much of an issue. Also, the longer the recording, the longer the seek time. If you want to cut out from 01:00:00 to 01:30:00 the program takes a while to find 01:00:00 to start the cut. I am using a very fast computer with 16gigs of RAM, so it isn’t the computer.
I have used Avidemux in the past to edit files from my previous box. These files won’t open in Avidemux. I have grown to understand thefree included software, so that isn’t a big problem. The files are easily processed by handbrake. They are processed to about 1/5 the size.
I was reluctant to buy this box for $150. I wanted a quality box that would do everything I needed it to. This box fills all my needs. I haven’t tried any scheduling or other features of the box. I don’t need them right now. This may be more box than I needed, but I am very pleased with the results.
One last comment, I am using a video splitter with my satellite DVR to get a crisp clean picture.
I hope this rambling review has helped you make a decision to buy or pass up this box.
Great piece of kit which has transformed by video capture setup. Worked out of the box flawlessly stand alone and with downloaded software on a Win 10 Pro laptop.
Bought this last fall & have been very satisfied with it. Initially had some difficulty in figuring out how to correctly set it up with my configuration, but after contacting customer service, they replied to me promptly & helped to guide me through it over the course of several days as I experimented with various suggestions. They were very supportive & actually were very quick to offer to replace my unit in the event that it was defective (it wasn’t). I’m sure it is difficult these days since everyone has different equipment & intended uses for the device, but their customer service seems to realize this & is genuinely helpful to make it work correctly. The device itself is very versatile, I mainly use it to transfer recorded programs from my dvr to dvd’s so I can view later & not take up space on the dvr. I use a 64Gb Sandisk Cruzer for that & it works great with the HDML- Cloner too.
I’ve been using it to clean recordings from a DVR. It is simple once you figure it out and I haven’t found any HDCP issues. The two things I don’t like is that you can’t transfer several videos to the same stick (the file naming appears to be coded to the device rather than a random name based upon date/time) and that using the FAT32 option requires you to convert them to a single file after the fact. (That conversion IS seamless but adds a step to the process). I tried using a NTFS formatted stick but did find glitches in the resulting video (they warn you about that). I am not sure if it is caused by the encoding or a flaw in the box itself. (I was using a USB 3.0 stick with a > 100 Mb write speed rating). It is annoying but would not stop me from buying a dozen as Christmas presents!!!
Does what I want. Problem is the TV that cuts off the HDMI signal when I shut off the TV, so I have to let the TV on. Only 4 stars because I need to use a Afunta HDMI splitter otherwise HDML-Cloner Box Pro is not able to find the HDMI signal (it seems that the TV needs to communicate directly with the HDMI source without going by HDML-Cloner Box Pro. If I connect HDML-Cloner Box Pro in the middle, the TV does not see/negociate any signal except the On-Screen Display of HDML-Cloner Box Pro)
The title says it all. Basically, this works like a VCR but records 1080P onto a USB stick that you plug into the side. We love this little thing. I’ve been recording TV shows and movies off our satellite and they look great. Understand, you are not “ripping” a digital copy. You are recording over the air content. No different then recording from a VCR or DVR. There are a few things you need to know. First, if you record something that is 2.5 or 3 hours, you need to power it off and let it cool down. Our’s get’s hot and will stop recording if we record longer than that. Next, the movies/shows come off as MP4’s, which is not a problem, but you may need to convert them if you prefer another format. The scheduler (timer) has worked ok for us. Just check the clock on the cloner to make sure it is correct before you set the scheduler. Lastly, you should use a fast USB stick that is formatted as FAT32. For those of you with a Mac, simply format as FAT and it will default to FAT32.
NOTE: Each time before you start recording, make sure and press the 1080P button on the remote. It does not automatically default to it.
otally outstanding video capture device/box. this has to be one of the very best game/video capture devices you can buy at present.
great box it’s not perfect but almost. just a few firmware updates and it could be amazing. firstly the good points. it’s one of the best devices around if you want to transfer old VHS tapes to your PC or to a HDD plugged in to the Cloner Box. it even improves the quality of old VHS tapes making them look better. you can also adjust both the picture and sound to suit your needs. it has many adjustments to keep anyone happy. picture quality recorded from any sources looks very good in keeping with the original. i tested it on some Blu Ray’s and found that it’s recordings are very true to the original source material not exactly like it but almost just slightly softer but not much. you have to look very close to the TV screen to notice a difference. i found there’s no noticeable difference to the picture and sound quality no matter which record
mode you choose. i just stick with medium. it seems it will record to any USB2 or USB3 flash drives/HDD’s etc. without any issues. one of this video capture device’s strong points is that it will record anything that you throw at it from any source it bypasses HDCP easily.
but unfortunately the biggest down side to this box is when you make recordings they’re stored in files with just a code number. but you can’t seem to select an individual file and re-name it by entering a new name of your choice. this would make finding specific recordings that your looking for so much easier. i’m sure that hopefully a future firmware update could easily fix this problem. also the editing software you get free to download for this box from the manufactures website is pretty terrible. it’s better to just use the video capture software from this website it’s very basic but does the job for capturing content to your PC’s hard drive. but if you wish to edit it just use a different program either free from the web or buy one. i don’t much like the remote as it’s a bit cheap and plasticy not the best. the battery compartment of the remote is a bit big for the battery’s and they can move around to much and sometimes they loose contact with the battery terminals and you have to open the compartment to re-adjust the battery’s. also it would have been better if the remote was blutooth because you have to aim the remote very directly at the Cloner Box to make it work.
great box in every way i just hope that the company addresses these issues soon. recommended.
Almost perfect, in my opinion, for recording live video streamed from operas, symphony orchestras and full performance ballet. I’ve recorded many 4-5 hr performances with no apparent stuttering or pauses from live broadcasts originating in Germany, for example. I use a 2 TB Toshiba external HD pre-formatted NTFS. Some of my files are >10 GB. The only drawback for me is how the playback files are displayed after the recording has been completed. One has to place the cursor on each file number to open it to determine what performance was recorded. A thumb video frame, or the ability to edit the numerical file number with a name of the performance would greatly improve the playback file display/organization. Also, I found deleting a file can be treacherous. I unintentionally deleted some files I intended to keep until I learned the proper method, not described in the Cloner Box instructions nor in any of the YouTube instructional videos I viewed.
Customer support has been truly exceptional in my experience during the past few months since I purchased my Cloner Box Pro.
I hope future software upgrades will allow editing of recorded file names instead of a string of numbers, and a simpler. more reliable method to delete specific files.
This box is amazing, I have only used it to capture on (1 hard drive) streaming content to take camping in our RV. It works great. I can start a program set the start stop timer and let it run. I record from my laptop, StremLine LT3 box and IPad. All work great. At first My IPad didn’t show the content but after contacting support they sent me a video link that explained I needed to hold the source button down for the seconds then Wa-La a picture. I record content to a Segate 2TB hard disk and the flies are saved as 1 movie in mp4 format between 6 and 8 GB for a 1.5 to 2hr movie. As l I am sending the output (monitor) to my portable projector (Xproject WiFi) what a great combination. Then I can project the recording to the side of the RV. Movie night in the Woods.. Camping isn’t what it used to be.. I highly recommend this box. My next objective is to test is as I stream video from my Phantom 4 Drone. If I were a gamer it would be interesting to see those results as well. Have fun post your results and findings too. Happy Clonering! Tom
Also plugged in a (Razor) Gaming Headset 3.5mm jacks, Audio through headset and voiceover came out no issues.
Nice product. Works very well. But above all fantastic customer service. Very responsive and excellent communication. Thanks guys. Keep up the good work
I have been looking for a product like this since I got Xfinity X1 DVR. I want to keep some of my recordings forever but I can’t keep on the DVR since they take too much space. I researched for a long time and finally found this. I did not think it would be this easy and in fact it was much easier than i thought. You can actually use this to record any shows directly to a USB drive without DVR or PC. No additional cable needed. The instruction is easy and the website has a lot of instructional videos to help you. After I transferred my shows to the flash drive, I decided that I want to copy the videos that can only be played on an old laptop due to media copy right thing… The laptop only has VGA port, so I didn’t have any clues what to do. I contacted the technical supports. They answered my question within 24 hours and provided me some options. I asked more questions to clarify a few things. Sure enough they answered within 24 hours and even provided detail pictures, videos and links to the cables that I may need. in fact, I like it so much and even recommended my friend to purchase it too. Thank you Cloner Alliance and Juila the tech support!
The cloner box has 2 input sockets and one output at the rear (all HDMI), and a RED LED, 3 push buttons on the front and a green/blue LED panel on the top.
The setup instructions advise you to register the unit entering its serial number on the website. and within a couple of minutes you receive an email back with links to free software for video editing, I found a software upgrade on their website. and copied the files to a usb stick upgraded the unit (very easy good instructions) ***HOW EVER HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT NEW UNITS SOLD WILL BE ALREADY UPGRADED FROM NOW ON**
THE UNIT IN OPERATION, I connected a 1080p HDMI input to the unit and watched the Output Live on a small HD TV, the blue/green LED flashed whilst recording, I noticed the unit got quite warm and lip synch errors appeared on the TV, The lip synch errors were being caused by “DROPPED FRAMES” This problem was solved along with the unit getting warm by setting the units BIT RATE to LOW in the units MENU. The result was an absolutely perfect recording of one hour no lip synch or dropped frames and the units temperature stayed cool/tepid the whole time.
Thinking about the unit dropping frames/getting warm this has been mentioned in other reviews, and makes sense as recording a 1080p input with a high setting of say double the input quality, of course the unit will struggle and drop frames.
The 1 HOUR recorded file was automatically saved to the USB 3.0 (128GIG) STICK in a 1080p res at 5mbits bit rate in the MP4 264ENC quality remember this was the lowest quality this box will produce and I have to say the result was PERFECT
PS Also mentioned in other reviews was a low volume level, this issue must have been rectified as I experienced very good dynamic audio Range
Pete Engineering tech
Hmmmmmm. Just received my “new” box and the box arrived all scuffed and creased and the cloner box itself had a lot of scuffs and scratches on it too. Not impressed so far. It doesn’t feel very “new” to me.
With that out of the way… The device itself functions very well and is doing more for me than I could have hoped for. I’ve really struggled converting VHS recordings to a high quality digital files. Try doing it without the HDML Cloner Box Pro and you will see what I mean.
So I’m here to say that if like me, you are looking for the best solution for converting your old tapes into really good .Mp4 files, then look no further. The HDML Cloner Box Pro is it.
Seriously. Stop looking. Buy it now. You wont regret it. Just be aware, that:
1: It might not be “new”.
2: You might not get a 16gb flash drive with it.
I wanted to wait until I’d thoroughly tested out the box before posting anything. The cloner pro is a solid recorder. Video quality is equal to the original source.
The box will record to a single file (no matter the duration) if the destination drive is formatted in NTFS..,I however found that the longer the duration,,the more the audio and video lost sync and I hate when that happens ..For that reason I gave it a four star…I decided to format my destination drive as FAT32 …The cloned box pro will break up the files in 2gb increments and the files audio and video stay in sync….so I don’t mind the breaking of the files because the playback viewer software I use will smoothly link the playback together….
The company cloner alliance contacted me as soon as I made the purchase. They offered any assistance if needed.. ..so.I do believe that they would stand behind their product and satisfy their customers.
This cloner pro is a solid performer.
You get out of it what you put into it.
An excellent product ,does all it promises to do. Records from all possible sources All in great quality ,Easy to use and handle. Press rec and you’re set to go ,or use the timer function. Then just press play and watch your recordings. Really worth buying , Highly recommended. Also their support is so very helpful and amazingly quick in replying. A special thanks goes to Julia for all her help and Kindess ! Greetings From Swede
once again great customer service and if was updated to enable frame rate changes then I would have no hesitation buying it in future.
Update…..
I have had amazing customer service form Cloner Alliance…. they have been very helpful and have now been able to use the device with a laptop to record at a frame rate of 50HZ. Currently though this is only 720. I’ve been told this may change in the future to enable 1080 at 50 (rather than just 60). If this does happen (and the ability to do from remote to memory stick rather than hav8ng to connect to laptop) then I will definitely update to a 5 star review…. watch this space.
2nd Update………
The PC software has been updated again and now allows 1080P/25 to be selected as the record format…….
box arrived on time. it produces great 1080p ideos. only cons is that if left on for a while it gets ho
I purchased this thing not knowing anything about video capturing. They weren’t absolutely sure it would work with my product but offered a money back no questions asked guarantee. How could I lose, so I bought it. Hook up was easy and figuring it out was also easy. I’m not much for reading directions or watching the video. I like to plug it in and start pushing buttons and I got it to work in about 20 mins. The issue I had was I recorded a 3hr show and it was too much show for the memory. It comes with a 16gb memory stick. I did a live chat with Julia and she told me I needed to re-format the stick to Fat32. …I’ve never done that. No worries, she walked me thru the process and I did it. Everything is fine now but I’m going to upgrade my stick in the future to more memory. If you’re shopping around and don’t know much about the whole video capture stuff like me, I highly recommend this for being such a user friendly thing to hook up and use. Picture quality is great and it’s so small that you don’t hardly even notice it.
One of the best HDMI recorders on the market at this price. HDML Cloner box lets you record vidoes in HD quality (1080p or 720p) from any HDMI source. I have both the HDML Cloner box and the HDML Cloner Pro. You do not need a splitter for the HDML Cloner Pro. For the HDML Cloner box you may or may not need it. It produces mp4 video files on any flash drive. If you format the flash drive in NTFS format, it records for as long as you have space on the flash drive in one single file. 1 hour of HD Video (1080p) takes about 4.4 GB.
Just connect the HDMI input on the unit to the HDMI Output of the video source (DVD Player, Cable box, Satellite box, etc.) and you are ready to go.
Customer Service is Outstanding. They will respond quickly and try to resolve the matter to your satisfaction.
They also have software that runs on your PC to trim/convert/merge mp4 files or to control recording if you have a PC hooked up to the box.
Once you use the unit, you will just find it as easy to operate as any DVD recorder that you have, but with HD quality videos. They will come up with more enhancements in the future to add more options to the unit.
Got it quickly. It works. End of the story. Happy ending.
I purchased HDML-Cloner Box Pro to replace Hauppauge HP-PVR 1212, which finally stopped working after several years of heavy use. I found that the Cloner Box Pro can record a higher bit-rate video (18 Mbs as opposed to 13.5 Mbs). I also like that I can record TS video, which is better at keeping audio and video in sync when editing in Corel Video Studio X9. (This was also the same as the Hauppauge PVR.) I also like that the Hauppauge recording software also recognizes the Cloner Box Pro and I am able to use it to record TS and MP4 video. The advantage the Hauppauge software is that it lets you set recording time down to the second and has both a count up and count down timer. However, the HDML-Cloner Pro Helper software includes a scheduling option and includes a pause button while recording. This is handy for pulling segments out of a video without having to use a full blown editing program. I have been very pleased with my purchase.
Very pleased with the experience. A couple notes:
– When first fired up the Cloner Box showed an error message on the TV. I scanned the QR code provided in the help page and was told to do a 10 second reset. Everything worked perfectly after that
– Included with the Cloner Pro was an HDMI Cable, as well as a second cable that converted composite video and VGA to HDMI. Also provided was a 16BG Toshiba flash drive and remote control for the Cloner Pro (the two AAA batteries for the remote were not included). Basically everything you need but the source video and TV
– Didn’t notice it saying so in the instructions, but the light on top of the Cloner Pro flashes when recording (The color indicated resolution)
Overall a solid device that does exactly what it says it does
The Company has excellent support. My new box developed power supply problems and they replaced the entire package with no hassles. This Company is serious about winning your loyalty!
Some tips: If you connect a USB drive to the box instead of using the flash drive for capturing to disk, be sure to use a drive that is self-powered by its own power supply so you don’t put stress on the box’s power supply. Also, the box needs good air convection to keep cool, so don’t confine it to a space without open air movement. Finally, when you follow the great included instructions on operating the box, you won’t have any problems with getting the box to recognize your USB drives (2TB or smaller size) and recording files to them.
Have used a number of these in simple systems and have been happy with almost every aspect of it. The biggest draw? The price as compared to the functionality. There are expensive, professional quality products out there that are going to record AV at broadcast quality and they’re going to do an excellent job every single time, no questions asked. In this day and age, you simply cannot ask for that kind of perfection from a device of this price (and that’s not meant to be negative–the reason we have used this device on a number of occasions is exactly that: it does what it needs to do at a price point FAR lower than professional devices, it’s easy to use, and the quality is acceptable.) Having used the original HDML-Cloner Box prior to the release of the Cloner Box Pro, I can say the Pro is a HUGE improvement over it’s predecessor (remote, UI, sleek design, video playback, etc.) so expect this company to keep growing, learning, and making vast improvements to their products and then maybe one day, you will be able to ask for top of the line quality for bottom line prices. As of right now, you’re getting an excellent device for a more than reasonable price.
It took a few weeks to sort out the problems but I’m happy now. Cloner Box Pro customer service was very helpful but I had to figure out all of my problems on my own. They had me do complicated updates to the box and lots of other tests that had nothing to do with the (now) obvious problem.
Capturing almost anything now, using this for Skype meetings with pro camcorders.
Update May 5th 2017.
First, my use of Cloner Box Pro is to take Movies I own and create a backup copy that I place on my Home NAS unit. I can then view the videos with Kodi (XBMC) on several TVs and computers in my home. I have now recorded almost 40 videos and unit has worked great. Contacted customer support via chat, a couple more times and they were very helpful.
I did experience the initial screen/error “Och, something wrong!’Don’t worry:)” message.
Followed their instructions:
1. Please confirm LED is solid BLUE or solid GREEN (NO FLASHING).
2. Press and hold the SOURCE button( It is located at one side of HDML-Cloner Box Pro, which is next to the button “REC/STOP” and “ON/OFF”.) about 10 seconds. Then HDML-Cloner Box Pro will restart (The LED will turn off and then turn on).
3. After restarting, the LED will illuminate solid blue or solid green and you can see images on TV.
My suggestions for settings:
1. My first recording seemed way too dark, changed the Picture Mode from Standard to User and increased the brightness level to 50. Left the Color Temperature at Medium
2. Picture was a bit truncated on both sides, so changed Aspect Ratio from 16:9 to “Just Scan”
3. MP4 files for 2 hr movie were over 8GB, I changed Recording Bitrate to Low and set resolution to 720P. I think the bitrate setting did the most to reduce file size.
5. I purchased a second 16GB thumb drive, formatted it NTFS, and use it to record on while I process other thumb drive to my NAS.
I also used MP4-Cloner software to trim MP4 file when I accidentally let recording run too long. You must first set the start time (0:00:00 for me) and then select the play function. Then you can move the slider close to the end point you want, wait for exact spot and press pause. Then set the end time. If you try to move the slider without first mouse clicking the play function, the software with abend (crash for newer generation).
I tried the MP4-Cloner to “Burn” a DVD (this was my initial test to reduce the size of the recording). This created a proper set of DVD files (VIDEO_TS folder and .vob & .ifo & .bup files). It created two .vob files of 1 GB each and a 3rd that was 268MB. (See attached images) This was a full length movie so I expected at least 4 .vob files. Per chat they said they are aware of this problem. The Movie was playable, I was just concerned about video quality. Perhaps they are utilizing a DVD Shrink type process??
Overall I am very satisfied with the unit, it has saved time and reduced the steps in the process.
Cons:
The second HDMI port will NOT take an HDMI cable, it is specifically for the MMI cable that can be used to feed in a VGA/AV/YPbPr device.
Must have unit powered on to watch TV, I may introduce an HDMI splitter before the HDML-Cloner box to avoid this
Instructions could be a bit more detailed in outlining what effect the different settings would have on video quality and file size.
Firmware update process seems a bit complex, but my unit was up-to-date, so I have not had to perform update yet.
Had a bit of an issue getting this unit to do anything other than show me a black screen or flash video on and off ever couple of seconds. After reading the FAQ on the mfg’s website, I held the source button down for 10 seconds (multiple times) until it eventually recognized the video. Once that hurdle was cleared, it recorded just like it said it would. The volume output is a lot lower than our cable boxes so you need to bring the volume back up in post production (if you’re just pulling a clip of a parade like I was). I believe I had an issue with the included HDMI cable and ended up swapping that for another known good cable. Overall I like the unit and it does what it says it will do.
I swapped places with the none Pro model and it worked perfectly.
The none Pro model drawback was having to copy the information
onto a dvd to play back on the television.
The play back mode on the HDML Cloner Box Pro negates this problem.
I have no use for the timer feature of the device so I can’t say whether it
works or not, but I should imagine that it works fine as everything I wanted
to do with the box works without any problems of any description.
At first, it took some reading to set everything up-especially with the Computer. I ran into problems, but when I clicked on the Chat, to my surprise, they gave the advice that conquered all problems; and they are there 24 hrs. a day! If they give instructions, allow a little time for the Cloner to set up, as it sometimes takes time for the Device to break thru. It couldn’t see my TV for awhile, but after I followed instructions, it saw it about 35 seconds later. It has worked perfect ever since. Playback is not so user friendly and can be confusing. For me-no problem! I just take out the flash drive from the Cloner device and insert it into my Computer-then play it with Cyberlink PowerDVD 15. The MP4 created by the Cloner is superb. Perfect reproduction of the Video recorded! ROKU records everything on this Device. So does my DVD Player & Computer streams. I tried an External HD, but the Cloner will not record on an NTFS Drive. So I use a flash Drive. The flash Drive that comes with the Cloner is excellent.
A bit tricky to get the downloaded update installed, took a few attempts. But other than that this thing is amazing. Image quality is indistinguishable from the original – note that there are options to alter aspects of the image, so if you find the image to look wrong, check the settings and make adjustments.
Like all tools, you have to learn how to use them correctly – this is actually very easy to use.
In my experience you should wait to insert the USB until you are ready to record; i.e. after device is powered up – seems like if the USB is inserted and then device powered up it does not recognize the USB stick for recording. This is actually a plus as you can record a bunch of stuff, “stop” recording – wait for USB ( watch the blinking on the USB ) remove the USB stick and insert another one.
When installing the firmware update you will insert the USB stick ( with the files at root level – not in a folder ) before turning on the power.
Just follow the readme.txt instructions that come with the download.
Took me sometime to figure it out, but once accustomed to it , I must admit it’s a fantastic little device, I enjoyed it very much.
NOTE: The unit comes with instructions, but the seller (ClonerAlliance) also sends you an e-mail with important instructions, in case your TV flickers or displays a black screen. Basically, hold the SOURCE button for 10 seconds and HDMI will renegotiate the whole video path. This was needed in my setup, and worked perfectly (I almost returned the unit).
Three caveats (so far):
1) When it’s powered off, it DOESN’T pass through HDMI, so you have to leave it on all the time, or disconnect it when you’re done recording. See #3 below.
2) It needs to “hear” audio, which means if you use an A/V receiver, it has to be inserted *before* the receiver, at the cable box end (e.g. cable box Cloner receiver TV), and not on the TV side of the receiver.
3) It down-converts all audio to stereo. This means, even if you leave it in-line and on all the time, your receiver (or TV) won’t receive Dolby Digital or DTS bitstream audio; only the down-converted two-channel audio from the Cloner Box.
Executive Summary: For the purpose we have (archive cable TV programs), it works perfectly. The “gotchas” simply mean you can’t leave it plugged in or in-line when not in use.
I bought this to take a video I saved on my time Warner Cable box and be able to give as a christmas gift to my nephew (state championship football game he was in). The product worked fantastic but I did have one issue – and is where the excellent customer/technical support came in.
The box is supposed to have a sticker with a code to use the software and for whatever reason I couldn’t find the code. The support flyer in the box says they will get back to you within 24 hours and solve your issue. I actually got a call and email on Christmas Eve at 8pm with the code and was able to make the video in time to give to my nephew for Christmas. I was pretty impressed!
There are a few suggestions for improvements:
1. Implement EXFAT support for USB flash drives
The box only supports FAT32 file system so limited to < 32GB size which can fill up quick. Yes - the box can also connect to computer via USB for unlimited storage but many m8ght not have pc close to cable box. 2. When power off - allow HDMI signal to pass thru: I have the Cloner box in series between cable box and TV (HDMI). I have to leave power to the Cloner box always on or the HDMI output does not pass thru Cloner box and therefore no signal on TV. But overall would not hesitate to buy this excellent product !
One note of caution: the volume control is confusing: you control the recording volume with the speaker controls not the microphone controls.
I just wish I could record a 2 hr movie to fit under 4 GB.
Once the updates have installed, it literally works straight out of the box.
I have this connected to a satellite box via a Neet splitter which allows independent connection.
The only small niggle I have is that I don’t always get an immediate connection from the cloner box to my laptop but pressing the ‘source’ button resolves this.
I can see this being used quite heavily over the Christmas period for viewing/recording and storing films and programs for my little ones as well as my wife and me.
I contacted Cloner Alliance’s customer service. They quickly provided me several different firmwares to try. I tried all of them, but it was the same result. Their customer service offered me a full refund plus shipping. Once I shipped the product back, I got a very quick refund. I appreciate that type of service.
Their customer service is great. It makes me wish the product did work with my cable box so I could support this company and use their products.
With future firmware updates, the company may be able to fix this issue if you use Verizon/Frontier FIOS. But for now, be aware of this issue.
The main reason I purchased the Cloner Box Pro was to record some online videos for my daughter in our next road trips. I had a mix feeling at first because the built-in firmware didn’t work with my SanDisk 256G USB3 stick in the first 2 days, but there was no other easy solution within affordable budget. Yet very soon, I received excellent support from Julia in their customer support department. This changed the whole picture completely.
Out of the box, the “old” firmware was able to record the videos (out from my laptop if that is important) into my NTFS formatted 256G USB. However, after the recording, the NTFS partition would not be accessible again in Windows 10. By plugging it back into the Cloner Box Pro, or even my home QNAP NAS, I could see the files. But not under Windows 10. I tried to format the USB with another Windows 10 laptop and did few recordings again. But I got the same results. I was very frustrated after close to 48 hours of trial-and-error. If it was another item, I would have already make a return request. Lucky I didn’t. Instead, I contacted their tech support by email, and Julia got back to me within 12 hours.
Then in the next 2 days, we exchange few other emails. And most important, Julia has been very patient trying to understand my issues. She sent me few other beta firmware, which didn’t work until the 3rd one. This made me to believe that, even the item was not prefect (at least not working with my 256G USB) but the company was really behind their products. While I am writing this review, I have done over 30 hours of recordings in the last 4-5 days. Julia did even send me a follow up email 2 days ago to make sure my issues were truly solved. I am so surprised and glad for this level of tech support and customer service from a Chinese company. In the US, people usually stay away from items that were made in China. I can honestly tell you I am one of them. But this experience with ClonerAlliance really changes my mind. There is still hope. I have been shopping at Amazon since 2002, and I have been Prime member for around 5-6 years. This is one of the very few times I make a happy review.
While I am 100% happy with the support & service, I believe the product still have room to improve. Below are few points I would recommend the company to spend some time on.
– Having schedule recording feature is good. However, everytime the power was removed, the date / time would go back to 2016 May. It looks like the item doesn’t have a CMOS BIOS to maintain the time. Instead, it relies on the OS.
– The schedule recording feature is good to record programs that with a preset program schedule (and a reliable clock). But it would be even more useful to have a feature to auto stop the recording after certain hours / minutes. For example, after I started the recording, it would be much easier for me if I could set it to stop after 45 mins. For now, I will need to either setup a timer on my phone to remind myself, or I have to go back to my bedroom to check the TV once a while. It happened few times that I left the room and forgot about the recording. And the files were so big due to the extra hours of idle screen. I believe this could be easily implemented.
Even without the “auto-stop” feature, I am still very happy with this device. So I am giving it a 5-stars. Special thanks for Julia. Now I could have a relatively easy trip with my terrible twos.
Few other tips for others.
– It does work with my FireTV, and should work with all other HDMI output video sources. This device is just a simple “video recorder.”
– The output format is MP4. In case you need to do some simple edition, you don’t need to buy any professional software. In Windows, I use Movie Maker. It came with Windows 7 but now Windows 10. In Windows 10, you could Google “Live Essentials 2012 Windows 10.” Movie Marker is part of the package.
– All my recording was on 720p. The unit was kind of hot after 3-4 hours straight recording. You may want to let it cool down for a while.
This is a seriously awesome little box. Combine this with an HDMI switch and you have an excellent way to capture videos from just about any device. I was amazed at the versatility. You can capture from just about ANY source. I bought this for recording PS4 gameplay which it will struggle with if you do not use an HDMI switch. If you choose to go directly from the your PS4 to the Cloner Box Pro to your TV then you will need to go into your system settings and disable HDCP. When I did this I was able to easily capture gameplay. Upon reviewing the footage (also incredibly easy to do after capturing) I had beautiful video and sound. I’d like to add that this box has not failed to capture any HDMI source I’ve thrown at it. I am very pleased with its performance and ease of use and I highly recommend it. I have only had it for a few days so if anything changes I will most definitely update this review.
The only thing I recommend is formatting a flash drive to NTFS (if you don’t your captured files will be broken into 2gb chunks) and installing the latest firmware. After you install the firmware it will disappear from the flash drive (be sure to follow all instructions from the manufacturer to update it is possible to damage the box if you turn it off before it finishes updating!)
well packed; quick delivery; excellent support and unit performs as expected.
To set the scene I use Apple equipment throughout and run a media server for films, TV programmes and music from iTunes through the Apple TV. I’ve long despaired of the DMCA, which effectively prevented honest individuals from archiving material they’d bought and paid for onto their own systems. Some programmes, such as Carols from Kings, for example, never make it to DVD and so are essentially irreplaceable if your Sky box dies.
The HDML-Cloner Box Pro is a small (4″ x 4″ x 0.5″) box that accepts HDMI in, other feeds in through an ingenious combination lead supplied, and claims to be able to record in 1080p onto a memory stick or attached HD.
The very first time I connected it, and ran the HDMI out to the TV so I could check the recording quality nothing happened, but that’s easily overcome, requiring you to hold the format button in for 5 seconds, to reset the HDMI. The full, Hi-def picture appeared as promised, but sadly, almost no sound.
I contacted Cloner Alliance and the excellent customer service team there pointed me to a firmware update, which I applied, and this proved to make a significant difference.
What I then tried was routing the HDMI feed through a splitter before connecting the Cloner Box Pro to it, but that made no difference in sound levels. It did, however, make it easier to connect the Cloner Box when needed.
The system records Mp4 files in 2GB blocks: that’s roughly 30 minutes of recording at one go, and they do provide an update you can download and apply which makes the file recording continuous. In fact, I’ve found that the 2GB block is my preferred recording setting, since you often have to edit bits of the final copy and having the file in 2GB chunks makes it a very simple affair. I set the box to record (very simple: just press ‘record’ on the remote) then press ‘stop’ when the recording has finished, then switch off the Cloner Box before you remove the memory stick. Some have warned that removing the memory stick before switching the box off can corrupt the files, but I haven’t tried that, so all the files I recorded were perfect.
I then download the files into Final Cut Pro X, which makes editing the bits you don’t want a doddle, and it also allows you to increase the playback volume to a hearable level. I then Export the edited file to Handbrake, where it’s compiled into an Mp4 file that will play straight from the Apple TV.
While this isn’t quite the easy plug ‘n play system for which I hoped it’s the only system I know of that can record from HDMI-out on almost any device and doesn’t appear fazed by HDCP, Intel’s copy protection system designed to stop anyone copying Hi Def output through HDMI. It’s true the sound needs improving, but I suspect this company is only now starting to make inroads in the UK and it has to be said their Customer Service is probably the best I’ve ever experienced.
On balance, then, an effective device for recording from the HDMI output on devices which provide them, and a work in progress, since their outstanding customer service folk are prepared to try firmware upgrades to help individual customers.
VGA – Current Quad-Core Win7, Old Win98se, Older DOS box. Looks exactly as it does on the monitor.
HDMI – Cable Box, BluRay Player, Roku 3. All work perfectly with no HDCP issues.
Composite – VCR, LD Player, PlayStation, Dreamcast, etc. Everything looks as good as composite looks.
Component – Cable Box, ATSC Tuner. Both record with crisp, bright colors, almost as good as HDMI.
The remote is full-featured and allows switching between inputs, making it a nice hub-device for viewing old video devices on your new HDMI TV. It records in either 1080p@30fps or 720p@60fps, and I’ve found 60fps is necessary for all composite and SD sources (VCR, LD, SD Cable) to avoid stair-step and herring-bone patterns due to dropped fields (30fps @ 2 fields per frame), even if it wasn’t actually interlaced. No real loss, 1080p is overkill for SD anyway. ^_^
The recordings are standard MP4s (h264 video with AAC audio) and are between ~10 to ~15 MiB per second when recording to the USB. This results in ~4.5 to ~6+ GiB per hour of recording, which yields about 20 to 25 hours of recording on the 128 GiB MicroSD (formatted as NTSC @ ~117GiB) I paired it with for less than $40 (search ‘Kingston USB microSDHC’ for the best adapter out there). I’ve also used both a USB-powered 500GiB hard drive and an externally-powered 2TiB hard drive, neither of which it had a problem with.
The system menu is intuitive and easy to use. It offers some nice perks like color, aspect, menu transparency, and equalizer settings. The playback menu is also nice, with full-motion thumbnails that provide file size, resolution, and stream information. It’ll play MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC and M4A audio, MP4, AVI, VOB, MKV, MOV, and MPG video, as well as show BMP, PNG, and JPG images. There’s also some helper software you can download which allows a few more resolution and bitrate options (up to ~18MiB per second), as well as AAC, AC3, or MP3 for audio. When used as a USB capture device in this manner, it certainly out-performs every other USB video device I’ve ever used. Hands down.
A few caveats and suggestions:
* If you have no sound, be sure to increase the input volume using the left-right arrows on the remote.
* If you get no video signal, be sure to select the appropriate source using the remote (it does not auto-select).
* If you have HDCP issues, hold the ‘source’ button on the front of the box for five seconds to reset the HDMI.
* If using scheduled recording, the box must be left on. It will not turn itself on to record.
* If you have stair-step or herring-bone patterns on diagonal or curved images, use 720p @ 60fps.
* If the light on top of the box if blue, it’s set to record in 1080p. If it’s green, it’s set to record in 720p.
* If the light on top of the box is blinking, it’s recording. Wait for the light to stop blinking before doing anything.
* Be sure to always turn the box off before removing the USB drive, otherwise the drive may become corrupt.
* Be sure to avoid on-screen displays when recording, as it will record it’s own menu overlays (why?).
* Be sure you are running the latest firmware, otherwise recorded videos may be clipped into ~2GiB chunks.
* Be sure to back-up any recordings before updating the firmware, otherwise you may lose them.
* The files produced are huge! You will probably want to re-encode them before archiving or distributing.
If I’m listing my disappointments:
* You can only schedule one recording using the system menu. You’d think it’d be unlimited.
* It records all of it’s own on-screen display. It even records the ‘Recording…’ that appears when you hit record.
* No S-Video input. I hate using composite video when recording from S-VHS and LaserDisc. *sigh*
* Max recording time is only available in the helper software, and not via the system menu.
* When using scheduled recording, the device should turn itself on and off.
That’s actually a rather short list of disappointments considering the HDML-Cloner Pro’s modest price. All in all, there’s really nothing to complain about with this inexpensive little device. It does exactly what you’d expect of it. Just like the modern digital equivalent of the VCRs of yore, it will record any device that outputs video in one of it’s many accepted sources. So far, there are no exceptions that I’ve found. I’m currently using it in an attempt to archive all of the bizarre stuff I have on VHS and LaserDisc before the media (and their requisite playing devices) crumble to dust. If you’re looking to do the same, or wanting to snag some video from Cable TV, ATSC tuner, video game console, or any other archaic device, then this nice little box is currently the best thing out there.
This Cloner Box Pro worked great as advertised, as long as you follow the instruction and some help from their tech support.
As indicated by other reviewers, the first thing you should do is to upgrade the firmware. This unit will work as a standalone, or together with a computer. As a standalone unit, you can record directly to an USB thumb drive. I was having issue with an NTFS formatted thumb drive, but it worked fine with a FAT32 thumb drive. If you decided to connect the cloner box to a computer, you will need to download and install the HDML Cloner Pro Helper. Pls note – this program will only work when the cloner box is connected, it is not a standalone application. I was having issue with low audio output because my TV was equipped with an external sound bar, after calling to tech support, they provided me with a beta version of firmware that I used to upgrade the box. It’s all good now !!!
I was kinda frustrated during the installation phase, but, their tech support engineer, Julia, was really helpful and patience in working with me in resolving all of the issues. I really appreciated the help from Julia and their developers. I am totally satisfied with the purchase and I would definitely recommend this product, and if for some reason you run into problem, contact their tech support, they will respond within 24 hours and they will work with you until the issue is resolved like mine.
I have to point out and commend the incredible determination by Julia and the Cloner-Alliance Support Team to research and resolve this issue. It’s absolutely unreal the amount of time and effort they put into fixing the problem – something severely lacking in most companies these days. Per Julia’s recommendation, I tried 4 different USB Flash drives and the recordings on all 4 drives worked perfectly in Adobe Premiere and my other video editing software. I also tried the Samsung and SanDisk SSD drives as well and could not record to the 32GB and 512GB drives while I still continued to experience issues with the 250GB drive. I’ll just use large Flash Drives with the HDML-Cloner Box Pro.
Overall, I once again highly recommend this recorder as it does a great job and comes with outstanding support.
UPDATE 12/28/2018 – I had to reduce the rating for this recorder from 5 to 3 stars as I had issues trying to edit the recorded video files in various software editors such as Premiere, Vegas, Nero Video, Corel Video Studio, CyberLink PowerDirector, and Pinnacle Studio. When I was able to load the file in the editor timeline — I could not load the file in some of the editors (received a file format error), none of them would display any of the recorded video files properly — the voices were not in synch; by a lot. I can’t recommend this recorder anymore due to this issue. I contacted ClonerAlliance tech support and was advised due to the idiosyncrasies of mp4 file formats, I should download a free software they provide called “MP4-Cloner” which would allow me to convert the file to a usable format. It’s too time-consuming to convert each file and then use the editing software to make my edits and render the final file, so I gave up and purchased the AVerMedia EZRecorder ER130 (available on Amazon) which provides excellent recordings which can be edited in any editor without the need to first convert the file.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is definitely the HDMI recorder to get, period. It is extremely user friendly, comes with a well-detailed instruction manual in color and in excellent English, and the customer support is phenomenal. It allows you to schedule your recordings as well as playback of your recordings, and it also allows you to play images, audio, and video in various file formats. The one reservation I had was the 2GB recording limitation where a 1 hour recording would be split into several 2GB files, which was resolved when they provided a firmware update yesterday – I had asked them about it on a Monday night and they advised Tuesday morning that it would be released later in the week, and sure enough, it was available on Thursday. Now that’s customer service the way it should be – they respond quickly and care about their customers. The firmware took a couple of minutes to install and the 2GB size limit is gone – my 1 hour video is now a single 7GB file. IMPORTANT: Before undertaking the firmware update, I highly recommend you format the USB flash drive in NTFS, then copy the firmware update file to it and proceed with the firmware update.
The recordings are beautiful – crystal clear and vibrant – no degradation of color at all. Besides the option of recording in 720 or 1080, you can set the recording resolution to Low, Medium, or High.There are also additional adjustments for aspect ratio, output display, and sound. You can record to a USB drive or your PC but note that PC recording will require installation and registration of their software; if you don’t register the software, you’ll be limited to 10 minutes of recorded video.
VERY IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure your USB drive is connected to the unit BEFORE you turn the unit on.This will allow you to play your recordings. If you connect your USB drive after you’ve turned on the unit, it will allow you to record, but video playback will not be possible. I learned this the hard way going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong.
The unit comes with a remote control that is well laid-out and easy to use. It provides a full complement of options including turning the box on and off (other units I’ve used stay on all the time). You can take a screen capture, start and stop recordings, change the recording input and resolution, schedule your recordings, and best of all, play your video recordings.
I highly recommend this little unit – it is a fantastic value considering all of its capabilities. Yes, it costs more than some other units out there, but the options, build, quality, and customer service of this unit are beyond compare. This is a frustration-free HDMI recorder that provides beautiful recordings and a host of options. With the new firmware that you can download and install in a few minutes, recording size limitations is a non-issue.
FYI, I purchased this unit at FULL PRICE – I did not receive a discount or compensation of any type for this review. I see too many 5-star reviews for crappy products out there – this is not one of them.
If you have any questions or need me to test something, let me know and I’ll get back to you.
In addition to wanting an HD DVR, I also am in the process of moving my owned DVDs and Blue Rays to MP4 files for my Home Theater Server. I have another software solution for moving my Blue-Ray movies to MP4, but the Cloner Box can do that too. I have found using the Cloner Box for the “Extras” is nice because I have to view them to choose which one to copy and it is easier on the Cloner than the software solution.
I LOVE the HDML Cloner Box Pro. Similar to the non-Pro Box, it records EVERYTHING coming across the HDMI port with EXCELLENT Video quality. The Remote functionality is fantastic. I have yet to test the Timer recording, but understand how it works. The Pro also allows you to Record on the PC through a 2nd Mini-USB port using their HDML-Cloner Pro Helper Application. The PC recording functions worked perfectly, giving you a mirror image of the HDMI stream on the PC (with a slight delay) and full recording control (with the addition of a Pause that you do not get on the USB Drive recordings). The recordings on the PC were as perfect as the ones on the USB flash drive. I can see one advantage of the PC recording is that you can record without having an HD monitor handy. I’m going to test recording from my DSLR Camera where that functionality will come in handy. The Cloner Box Pro Also has a Mic AND Headphone Jack (Mic Jack also on the Box), adding a headphone monitoring capability I currently do not have on the DSLR. The PRO also allows you to control the volume of the HDMI stream and Mic to get a perfect mix. One thing I noticed is my initial recordings had low volume (the Box recordings were slightly louder than the original program). I had to adjust the HDMI volume higher (controlled via remote) to get my recorded volumes back to “normal.”
The file sizes on the recorded videos are very large. Cloner-Alliance obviously made a decision to provide the best possible MP4 video quality and did not try to over-compress the video. I’m seeing that the Pro files are about 2G per half hour of video. You can choose between 1080 or 720 recording quality, but the file size does not change a whole lot. The Pro also has a 2G file size limit so it creates a new file every 2G (or 30 minutes). Cloner-Alliance recently removed that restriction on the Box version and is promising new Pro firmware soon that removes that restriction. I had a problem trying to record baseball games where the recording stopped after 1 hour and it appeared the Pro had trouble creating that 3rd file after filling 2 2G files. Cloner-Alliance support was excellent and suggested a different USB flash drive. That appears to have been the problem. Since changing flash drives I have been able to record two 2 hour movies without issue. After the All-Star break I will try baseball again.
Cloner-Alliance also provides another software application “MP4-Cloner” which allows you to “Trim” “Combine” “Convert” and “Burn” (to Disk). The Trim and Combine function do not re-compress the video so they work very fast, and do not diminish the quality. “Trim” allows you to remove extra things that are recorded at the beginning or end of the file (lead-in and recordings after the program had ended). Trim on a 30 min 2G file only took a few minutes. Combine allows you to combine the 2G MP4 files together into one file. The last 1.5 hour movie that I combined only took about 10 minutes to complete. “Convert” allows you to convert the native MP4 streams into other formats, although what I used it for was to reduce the 6G movie file down to 3G by decreasing the BPS setting. “Convert” does re-compress the video so it takes a bit longer. The video quality of the 3G file was still very good.
The Pro also allows you to record from various other input types: VGA, RGB, and standard AV signals. This is accomplished by a provided cable with those various plugs that feed into a multi-purpose plug (reusing a 2nd HDMI-looking physical connector). Of course I purchased the Cloner-Box to get away from an older RGB recorder so I don’t see using anything other than HDMI.
If you’re looking for a device that will record Full HD Video from your Game Console, Cable TV Box, PC Streams, or Blu-Ray Player, the Cloner Box and Cloner Box Pro is the device you have been looking for.