Cloner Alliance Cloner Box Pro with 60fps VHS video capture review & test 

I have used an older version by that company and had an issue that ended up needing it to just be reset. Their customer service was so amazing and polite and kept trying with me till it was fixed. They didn’t even let on that they knew it was obviously my fault that I was using this wrong lol. I was so happy. They kept saying they didn’t care how long it took they wouldn’t just abandon me and they truly cared about it working for me. And it was very close to out of warranty. I still use it constantly as a mobile work horse. Rock solid little guy.

I love that your style is never changed since 2010

They are trying to hide the HDMI name in every way imaginable, to avoid getting hunted down by HDMI Licensing LLC.

6:22 Don't you love the professionally applied PRO label?

Clicked on this thinking it was a new Techmoan video, but hey VWestlife is cool too.

This is the best review I've seen. I love the way you detail the frame-rate and de-interlacing stuff. I'm considering buying one based on your review. Thank you!

Rock solid review. Thank you! I was considering buying this. After your review, I will save my money! Thank you. :)

Thank you so much for making this video. I have been looking on how to import my video tapes into my computer and wanted to stay close to the same standard settings. You explain it very well. Much appreciated 😊

Very informative and insightful. Thank you for this video.

Excellent review, very thorough.

I've had very mixed luck with cheap versions of these things in the past, this one actually looks to do a fairly decent job overall. The VGA capture ability is definitely something that's very welcome. Great review!

Reminds me of the old Snappy adapter I had for my Win98 pc in the 90s.

20:28 Chyron! I learned a new word today, thanks. I've found the chyron on my HDML Cloner Box Evolve annoying too, but at least it can be dismissed immediately with the Back button on the remote. I also hope they offer an option to remove it completely (or at least not include it in the recording).

There is something in analog video that today still fascinates me.

"HDML" is a great portmanteau of HDMI and HTML.

Awesome review

@13:45 Notice how the Cloner Box crops the top and bottom of the frame and upscale the image, losing around 60 to 80 lines....

I would agree with your assessment that the poor time base and/or possibly the copy protection was causing the capture glitches. It's also interesting that it seems to crop the head switching noise at the bottom of the tapes, and that on the 8mm comparison it seems to "juice" the colors more than in the DV capture.

I just bought one of these but haven't tried it yet. I've been using the very similar HDML Cloner Box Evolve for all my C64 etc. capture on my channel, and wanted a second box for some upcoming videos where I need to capture two displays at once.

I noticed it comes with a cable which has composite on it. I have many high grade S-VHS tapes and was hoping there was a S-VHS on it. Some people say there’s not much of a difference but I disagree on my video’s.

Looks very similar to one of those android pirate boxes that you can put kodi on

Never heard of HDML before. Is that even a standard?

I wish i saw this sooner! definitely handy!

I use the cloner box to record gameplay. at first with the full screen resolution was off wider than my tv screen, but there is a setting on the tv to fix that.

Great info, thanks! IMHO one of the best VHS capture devices is the Hauppauge HD PVR. That sucker doesn't care if a tape has Macrovision or not, and the downloadable software works great. You can find them on EBay for about 50 bucks these days. The Canopus ADVC 100 and 110 also are great, but way more expensive.

Obviously the "MMI" cable isn't converting the analog signals to HDMI, I assume it's just using the HDMI plug for convienience, and all the analog to digital conversion is going on inside the box. I wonder what would happen if you tried to put a normal HDMI input into the MMI port.

I bought this product after watching your video, I just tried unit to make digital copies of my VHS library and ALL the files display stretched out as 16:9 when they are played back on my computer and mobile phone....I am so disappointed that 4:3 video gets stretched and distorted....I was hoping for the correct aspect ratio with the vertical black bar on the left and right sides to pad the video to make it display 16:9 correctly, and it does not do that as a file. Because your tv displayed the aspect ratio in 4:3 I assumed it recorded in 16:9 with (4:3 padding). Now I have to return this. Waste of time for correct VHS (or any 4:3 Full Screen video) recordings!

Presently, I've just been using my Sanyo VCR for tape transfers that I do for people. It has HDMI output and will not blank the screen even if the signal goes entirely to snow (like some of my old "made for public access" tapes do--they've gone sticky and need baking). I capture the output with an Elgato HD60 (I tried doing it with an AVerMedia LGP2, but the bitrate is so low and the thing is full of compression artifacts. The HD60 uses a ludicrous bitrate, but there are no compression artifacts visible). I think it would be pretty neat if it had some kind of S-Video input as I've wanted something other than my Panasonic DVD recorder and TBC box to properly record things like GameCube/Wii gameplay and output from my 1988 Panasonic full-sized S-VHS camcorder while my computer with a 1394 port is in storage (I have one of those ezcap devices, but S-Video has some sort of mesh overlay pattern with that thing--they sell it at Walmart for $50). As for why the display says 1080p 60Hz, most cheap cards from China will pass 1080p60 through and only record 30p (29.97p sometimes even). It's an odd quirk, my old HDMI capture card from 2015 does that.

Thank you for the review, but I think one of the most important features in your review was missed - How it records live video while conneted to a TV.

I've been waiting for this vid since you teased this unit on your Laboratory Technician (jk) speaker vid. NTFS is my preferred file system. Disappointing that it doesn't work well with it. Thanks for finding out that it doesn't do true NTSC field rate. VHS capture was one of the features I want from a device like this, so the frame glitches are troublesome. For now, I will probably continue to use a DVD burner (with Macrovision filter when necessary), then rip the DVD. I plan to do vintage game capture on my Win98 vid series, so the cropping on EGA 640x350 might be a problem with some old games. Thank you for this extensive review. For now I will keep my $160 plus tax.

I just ordered one of these in the mail, and it's arriving today. I'm wondering how it will work from the iScan Duo that my video sources will be going into. The iScan has underscan options, as the "zoom" function removing the bottom lines bothers me. There's so many of these recorder devices out there that I feel that none is absolutely perfect, so I'm gonna go with it and see how it goes.

Nobody thinks about us, SECAM men ! In fact, some of these boxes works in SECAM too, but it's not on the user manuel.

It’s possible the component input only works when all three plugs are connected.

Hi, I am an avid user of streaming devices, but one reason why I haven’t transitioned to streaming fully from my satellite TV service is I still need to record content to DVD for my work (I’m a writer), my question is if I were to buy a device like this to record from a streaming device, would I be able to transfer a recording from a usb drive to a dvd? Thanks for your time.

1:31 Aside from the different legends, the remote looks identical to that of the "Black Box HD", one of many pirate boxes used to steal pay TV. 13:11 So the "cloner box" doesn't offer as good of video quality as DV over FireWire?

I'm wondering if that's the result of audio data bitrate compression, or a built-in hiss reduction system set too aggressively?

a bit odd to use HDML on it but it seems like a capture box macrovision may or may not be getting in the way

thats cool

Good video! I've owned this box for over a year (same model number but you have a 1/8" audio line in that I don't have, and mine says HDML Cloner Box Pro). Some thoughts compared to your experience: Recording analog NTSC to the HDML crops / overscans the image to avoid head switching noise, etc., and therefore you lose detail. The color is over exaggerated. When you record NTSC to DV, it just crops a few lines from the 486i signal (did you know NTSC has 486 video lines?) to get 480, so it looks sharper. But DV color subsamples to 4:1:1 and looks dull compared to better devices that use 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. Although the HDML box can output 1080p60, it can't record it. I've used it to record footage off of a DVR that only had working component outputs, and it'll convert a 1080i signal to 720p60 or 1080p30, but not 1080p60! I pointed that out to them via email, and was told it would be mentioned to the engineers, but nothing has come of it. *sigh* I've had much better luck recording via USB cable to a Windows 10 PC instead of a USB stick. Using their downloadable software, I use the highest bitrate available, with no file size limitation. I've noticed no bad audio. If they'd just update the software with 1080p60 recording, this would be an amazing little doohickey!

Pity it doesn't have a S-Video input for converting S-VHS, Beta ED, and Hi8 tapes.

It's exactly what I need to archive some old home movies. My only problem is finding a working VCR, mine conked out and they're increasing in price and rarity for decent models. A lot of tapes unfortunately have locked up over time, and have to be loosened up somehow. Do you think recording the audio onto a program like Audacity as a WAV or higher quality AAC file and putting it on the video would solve the audio glitch problem?

They probably suggest using a lower bit rate to avoid glitching if the flash drive is not fast enough to write video at a high bitrate. I'm sure the hardware is only USB 2, but the flash could still be slow. It would be interesting to see if it would support a USB hard drive or SSD.

Good review on this. Heck I'm sure there is no vsync issues. I was given a TV wonder PCI card and tried recording a vhs to PC and had vsync issues on vhs recording .Is there a way to fix that and have it make a DVD or have it as mp4?

I'm not sure if all of them are that way, but mine only outputs 60fps in PC mode, even though it says 60hz in all other modes, but HZ and FPS are two completely different things..

Does this support 240p via component?

Hi, I finally decided to buy this device, but am wondering what type of flash drive I should buy that would allow to record for hours at a time.. I ordered two thumb drives from Walmart that I thought were 2tb drives, but everything I’ve read says they are 32gb. I’m waiting for both the device and for the drives to be delivered, but I was planning to use a 16 gb drive to test the device out in the event I get the device before I get the drives I ordered, but I’m getting conflicting information about how many hours a 16gb drive can hold. Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.

In another review I saw an option to turn captions off in the OSD Transparency menu. Could this not be used to avoid recording the captions, a problem you mention at 20m25s? Admittedly, it would make the box much harder to operate!

I felt same issues on my cloner evolve.. is there anything else that is better?

I was surprised to see that the recording played on the Handycam is the same recording of the used-car commercial from the Handycam covfefe video.

The fuzzy tape capture is a killer for me.

I have a clone of the HDML Cloner Box Turbo- it records 480P HDMI input at 4:3 no matter what, even if what you set the output source you’re using (which in my case is a Wii) to 16:9 widescreen. Should I get this one instead to record a Wii at 16:9? Or try to edit the settings of the one I have now?

A good S-VHS VCR (like the JVC 9911U) will play virtually all SLP/EP tapes without the need of an full frame external time base corrector (will even rarely need its own built-in line-based TBC.) Only my absolute worst tapes, off-air recordings with horrible reception (almost unwatchable) recorded in EP mode on extremely cheap tape needed an external TBC.

Have you tried exFAT formatted flash drive?

One thing it lacks is a PAUSE button. Being able to pause recording is an _extremely_ handy feature. Why it doesn't pause is beyond me. You need a GoDVD box to fix that Vertical Blank jitter.

Hi, the Amazon description say that it will record from TV sticks. Does it record from a firestick?

Can it be instructed to record in the native resolution and framerate of whatever you're feeding it, or will it always rescale?

I don't know if you've noticed. This cloner box crops the analog video input down to the "overscan" standard. I'd stick to trusty PCI capture card passing signal through a TBC, or a DV cam as you do. Even pinnacle USB thingy will do. Do not get tricked by how the "through DV" captured video seems washed out and cloner's is rich in colors it's simply because the brightness scale does not match. Need to do a proper TV to PC scale conversion. Yet, "through DV" capture looks more detailed.

Do you need a digital video stabilizer for VHS and what about HDCP?

Great video, thanks. What is the model number of your Sony Handycam?

Looks like it crops overscan on the analog SD sources too? Judging by the VHS example, it does seem to have some sort of TBC/Stabilisation going on (unless you were using some different VCR with a built-in TBC for the capture.), not seeing any horizontal wiggling. As for the jumping, imay be a combination of the capture chip struggling a bit and the deinterlacer getting confused. If the vertical sync are of the video is corrupted it can cause the image to jump a bit as the A/D chip may get the frame start wrong, or it has to "guess" where the frame starts. I guess that somehow ends up confusing the deinterlacer? It's odd that it doesn't happen on the monitor on the HDMI out though. Also, too bad it doesn't have S-Video.

Looks like it has microphone input... would be handy if your doing game capture and want to add commentary as you play. Is that what it's intended for? Adjustable? Thanks as always! EDIT: found this on the Amazon listing "Meanwhile, all the recorded videos can be shared to RU-vid/Twitch/Facebook instantly. The internal 3.5mm mic jack allows you to add own live commentary." Nice feature that you can share from this device directly... saving a step of transferring to a computer first.

I wonder how good it will work for Laserdisc

Seems like the box is cropping the HandyCam video, unless the 1024x768 mode is causing it--granted, it would have all been overscan on a CRT.

I tryed recording a vhs tape it did not jump around like yours did

The composite input is WAY too red and soft. Creepy Bob's wrinkles get hidden in the blur. I have an external TBC here if you want to test it with this, but the errors you are getting are consistent with a capture device dropping frames due to unstable video signals. It doesn't seem to do a particularly good job at VGA capture, even that is way too soft. No S-Video..... really?

I bought one of these... I returned it the next day. I ended up getting the StarTech.

192k AAC definitely shouldn't sound like that. It sounds more like 128k (or less) MP3.

Can I use a USB 3.0 flash drive?

Maybe feed the signal through a device with a TBC, like a Canopus ADVC 300, people tend to let them go cheaply now that other methods of capture are preferred. EDIT: Several of the ADVC models also remove any Macrovision 'issues'..

It’s a shame that the recording box zoomed in a bit on that camcorder clip!!

are you able to hook up a VCR to this cloner unit? if so,what would the connection look like? the VCR has RCA jacks

question - in your experience with this device, have you ever had the unit just stop and not allowing videos to be copied? My unit acts as if it is recording, but when checking after a recording is complete, there is nothing on the drive. I have tried 2 different flash drives and 2 different externals. Nothing is working. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks

Interesting. Can this record your laptops screen?

sandisk vmate is good for VHS's it converts interlaced video into progressive on the fly

Does it work with the Amiga?

I just use a DVD recorder with a HDMI out. You capture the HDMI signal and all the time base corrector stuff is done for you.

But I did just get a new Sony camcorder however will I know how to create great video now? Great video, I didn't like the way it captured that Hi8 Tape, it looked over saturated and was cropped. Considering the low bit rate and time code issues I'll think I'll pass. Given how well it seemed to capture older computer signals it might be good for that.

So can it record from an HDMI DVR output or not? That's why I watched and I'm sorry he didn't cover grabbing HDMI.

(Unrelated) Is it just me or the older Visio TVs are much better built and much higher quality than they are now, idk something like the light up Visio logo and well-built nature of them just feels better than what they sell now, which are sluggish smart TVs that make zero sense if across the aisle you could get a TCL or similar TV that has a better interface (Roku) and a better remote.

shame the audio is poor but good for older PCs.

Vhs is already fluid even without this

12voltvids just uploaded a test of five different capture methods, one of them is the Cloner Box, and it looks very good. Maybe his has updated firmware? Maybe one of the reason the video looks good is that the box drops the black a little bit and adds saturation? Compared to other methods, Cloner box did not stand out in terms of levels. He says that 4:3 is true, not pillarboxed into 16:9, and that the frame rate is 59 (sic!), not 60.00. I have a similar box with the same inputs, the same remote and slightly fewer features, my box cannot do 1080p60. My box records 720p60.00 or 1080p30.00, not 59.94 or 29.97, just like yours. Also, my box pillarboxes 4:3 in 16:9 and crushes black level. It gets usable results, but not what I would use for my own videos.

Could we plug it on a MAG BOX for IPTV ???"

Now the true question is how would one rehook one of these to record a "HDML" source to a VCR 🤔

But no S-Video input. No sale here.

I've owned one of this same model HDML box for over a year now. They are not perfect but do have some good uses. Your component video capture fail may have been more of a 240P fail...Some early computers and video game systems didn't bother to create a 480i signal and instead used a half field progressively scanned...Odds are the HDML box does not support that format. I don't use my box for analog capture (though I may try in the future). Our local cable company uses encrypted-QAM for every channel so I can't, watch, timeshift or archive ANY of their programing without using (renting) one of their cable boxes (those greedy bastards). Thus the only solution (for an HD recording) was to capture the output via HDMI...After having an HDMI capture PC card die on me just out of warranty, and seeing the difficulty in configuring one to timer record I decided to try the HDML cloner box. One thing about it that I hope they have since fixed is the limited USB stick compatibility...It can be sneaky. It took 2-5 long 4-hour+ recording sessions to first corrupt the first USB stick I used (which was a HDML site suggested good brand!). I was able to reformat it and keep going, but it kept corrupting every few recordings until one day I couldn't format the stick ($27 lost on a 64Gb stick)!..Eventually, I settled on a Lexar stick that has lasted probably 7-11 months by now corruption-free. A couple of complaints about the timer recording feature. It is a single event timer and lacks provisions for weekly recordings...So say I want to record a long late-night programming block every Saturday. I can either have it record once on the exact date (and go through the nuisance of reprogramming it the same way EVERY week) or have it record EVERY DAY of the week (if I'm home I can turn power off and on to skip days BUT...). If I want to go on vacation for more than 1 weekend it becomes nearly impossible to capture such a programming block (in HD) because the only way the timer can capture the second weekend is to instruct it to record every day (each day takes over 20BGB) and that fills a 64Gb stick before the next weekend hits (Yeah I know I could use an external HDD, but those things are expensive enough that if the HDML box corrupted one beyond repair I'd be "danger to society" level angry, thus $30 is the limit on the cost of memory I'd ever allow to be connected to it). Also the single event timer makes capturing multiple short programs in a day impossible without grabbing the entire time from the first show to the last. This product could be wonderful if the engineers would fix the memory problems, and model the timer functions on a high end 90's VCR...Especially if they could add a cable box IR interface to change channels on a cable box based on timer settings (it sucks only being able to timer record the channel the cable box happens to be tuned to)...It could probably all be solved in software/firmware if they bothered.

Can it record from a satellite receiver?????

Bought this no matter whT I connect to get a black screen saying no signal, tried everything. Very frustrated with this device!

Hi I won this on utube the adapter doesn't go into my outlet here in US

I’m stick with my Black magic intensity Shuttle since it’s the same price and better quality

Only downer is: Bob looks like he has a face for radio! :D

The jitter was immediately obvious, even in the interview segments. Forced recording to 60.00 fps, coupled with no TBC, causes this. I would not use this device for any serious use.

Is it better than an Elgato?

Very good video capture however

This looks convenient, but I'm perfectly happy using these directions with a cheaper capture device - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sn_TDa9zY1c.html The jumping is the result of the frames being deinterlaced in the wrong order

WOA I JUST CHECKED UR CHANNEL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER AND I SEE DIS! Don't get this mine is TRASH I literally got one for 5$ it has the WORST latency ever

- Does not handle weak/wobble analog signal (say VHS) well. - Convert PAL 50i signal to 60p for no real advantage. In all, that doesn't sound fit to my requirement, unfortunately. PS why they bother converting the frame rate/resolution? Life would be easier if it simply captures "as is".

FROM DIGITAL TO ANALOG THE WU WEAR CAMOUFLAGE

MMI = Multi Media Interface

No SCART support