ClonerAlliance Box Pro, 1080p@60fps Video Recorder, DVR with HDMI Capture, Playback on TV. RCA/YPbPr/VGA to Digital Converter. Schedule Recording. No PC Required.

I initially purchased the HDML Cloner Box (non Pro) because of the good Amazon reviews. I was looking for an HD DVR device and the HDML Cloner Box reviews said that it would record virtually anything across an HDMI connection with excellent video quality. I ran into the common issue of the “blank screen” after hooking up the Cloner Box and went the manufacturer web site (Cloner-Alliance) for help and found the “Pro” model with Remote Control, Timer Recordings, and Instant Playback. The Pro being a new product had no reviews on Amazon so I didn’t see it on first pass. After testing the Cloner Box and seeing for myself that recorded everything I tried (CATV, Blue Ray, PC Stream) with Excellent Quality, I instantly purchased the Pro Model and arranged to return the Box version. The blank screen on the Box version was resolved by pressing the 1080/720 button for 5 seconds (you do the same with the Input button on the Pro). 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.

Bought a Box Pro to replace my old VHS/DVD setup that finally bit the dust (and they stopped making new VHS recorders around 2014). Box Pro works great so far (see notes below) and I am able to record off my cable box as well as my Roku device. The Box Pro provides different input ports so I have both devices connected to the Box Pro simultaneously and use the Box Pro remote control to select the port/device I want to record from. Playback works as advertised and Box Pro provides two different playback resolutions. The company also provides digital editing SW that come free with the device ....I downloaded the SW but have not had time to use it yet. Things to be aware of: > You definitely need get a high quality flash drive or HD....Had an issue with an inexpensive flash drive but bought a Toshiba HD as recommended & so far no issues > User manual is cursory & needs to provide more detail > Box Pro can only Fast Forward at 10x in playback so 'zooming' through commercials is slower that I was able to do with VHS (a case where digital is not better than old school) >Playback always starts from the beginning so if you want to take a break during playback, you have to leave the Box Pro in the stopped screen mode....this means you can't record anything else until you jump back to the main menu (WHICH RESETS ALL PLAYBACKS TO START FROM THEIR BEGINNING...WHICH MEANS YOU LOSE YOUR PLACE).... in other words, you won't be able to return to watching a movie where you left off once to leave the 'stopped screen'...Note that the 10x 'fast forward' is ''lethargic' ... for example it takes 'multiple' minutes to get back to where you left off even if you remember where you left off (say you were 1 hour in to a movie)....This 'feature' also means you can't playback/save your place on multiple recorded sessions either....Box Pro only allows you to stop a single playback at a time.......I never had this issue with VHS, using multiple tapes but I guess this is progress!? Bottom line, I am happy with my purchase and it is worth the price.... thought it can be improved (I sent these suggestion in to the Box Pro customer service and they said they would pass them on to development).....We shall see

I bought this to interface with my Nvida Shield Pro. It does work, however I had to change a bunch of settings. I had to set the Shield output resolution to [email protected] because that is the only resolution that is compatible. I also had to turn off the HDR because that isn't supported. Additionally, I had to turn off the Dolby 5.1 because the ClonerAlliance Box Pro doesn't support that either. The directions for the ClonerAlliance Box Pro list a set up sequence of 1) plug in the power supply, 2) plug in the input device, 3) plug the HDMI out into the TV. I did those steps, in that order, and everything came right up without having to hold down the source button. The directions also recommend using a brand new flash drive. If you use an old one, they say that you shouldn't do a quick format. That was a half hour of my life that I will never get back. Then make sure that the device is on before you plug the drive in. It will automatically recognize and format the drive. After that go into the setting and set the record resolution and the quality settings. You also need to set the file size. PS - the FAT32 format will only handle a maximum of a 4GB file size. Also, if you plan on using the timer, you will need to manually set the date and time to reflect reality. You will also need to enable the loop through if you are going to leave this in line. By the way, the only way to turn this thing on or off, is to hold down the record button on the unit itself for 5 seconds. The remote does not have an on/off button, but it does have a red record button right at the top of the remote. When it is recording you will see a red record light in the top left of the screen. To stop the recording, hit the stop button in the middle of the remote. The files are titled by the date and time that the device thinks that it is. There are no thumbnails and there is no way to rename the files. So, using this as a DVR is problematic, especially since you would have to leave everything on continuously for that feature to work. Having said that, the recordings that are on the flash drive are readable by and transferable to any computer. The video quality is very good at the highest settings 1920X1080@60P MP4. I did not try to hook this up to any other input devices, so I can't comment on that, but my guess is that this will work with camcorders, VCRs, etc using the provided MMI cable as long as they don't have a S video output. It also should work with other streaming boxes. Just pay attention to the settings to make sure that the other devices will interface properly. By the way, ClonerAlliance did send me an Email for customer support before the box arrived and when you open the package there is customer support information right at the top. The company knows that this product is not a simple plug and play device. It does work, but you need to know what you are getting into here to get it to work.

2021 update ive bought another one. Yes another one. These little boxes accept line in inputs from everything. I uad to jave another one. This little box has processed 5000 recprdings so far. And is still humming along at warp speed. Really impressive. This is tue only model out of all tue game recorders out tuere to have multiple line hook ups. Of you have old dvds vhs vhs c laser discs ect. You can process them all. Worth your time. This little box is. Software can be wonky but effective. Use sandisk thumb drives 32gb to 116gb best response to recordings. Thos will record from all game systems as well. Though you may have to tweak your consoles settings depending on what you have. Customer service is in it for the long haul too. They actually have humans. Can take a day or 2 to respond but its a human.... 2019 review Okay I had to order a second box as the first one was somewhat defective.. The USB port was very loose. So Getting a replacement for it. Helpful Solution to this problem. Buy an added angled USB Extender And hook up your USB stick to that. USB sticks can be kind of heavy on the port It managed to record one tv Program and Game capture before it failed to do anything.. The picture Quality is nothing short of spectacular... Amazon has left and Right switchable angled Cables to aid in your quest for perfection.. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W56VLLY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2IME0Z5O2LH6Y&psc=1 This device so far performs well But it does have Its Quirks.. First Recording in NTFS Mode can be problematic. Your likely better off In FAT32 mode. Cloner box provides software via download from its web portal.. This will allow you to assemble your recordings nearly issue free. and they also offer Burning software to burn to disc. My issue is no ability to title your projects unless you use a PC to do it. Its a thing they are most likely working on to add in the future. The remote that comes with the unit does not have batteries with it. those are AAA in size so be sure you have some on hand. as you will need the remote almost immediately upon first use. Be sure to format your thumb drive to NTFS or FAT 32 Fat 32 being your better option.. And make sure your USB stick or drive does not exceed 2 Terabytes But make sure the USB is larger than 32 Gigabytes As most recordings will be large. You are recording in HD format MP4 video. You can lower your bit rate to make files smaller. This device does require that you have a bit of Know how to set it up. But a little bit of internet reading allows you to easily understand Bit rates and Formats for video. Not that hard to do. Make sure you read up on those as the instructions could be a little bit more descriptive. that come with the product. Cloner box does have an online instruction manual and how to section that is very easy to understand. That will allow you to save the PDF to your PC for future review. Suggestion also For a very good picture use the component in of this box or HDMI port in. But you can not record HDCP protected content via HDMI. You can however do so Using a work around Or The component YPbPr Connection. You can also use the HDMI out on your preferred device into a converter which lowers it to YPbPr which is still 1080p resolution. You will need a converter for that but that method does not transport the HDCP signal to the Cloner box. or any recorder for that matter. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F6URXYY/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A3GE4HK1J73CN8&psc=1 Amazon has a huge array of converters so they are easy to find. You will find the picture quality is really good regardless.. until HDCP is eliminated this is the method you have to use to copy HDCP protect content.. Advisable if you are trying to copy Blue ray discs ect. Convert your signal down then back up to HDMI via a second converter. Though your image will be better via just the component Direct connection.. Now that we have this out of the way. The unit itself is very small and very light.. All connections except the USB port are on the back of the device. The USB port is on the right side of the unit. Though it looks well constructed That USB port is in a very bad spot and the heavier your USA stick is the more it will weigh down on that port. The suggestion above solves this issue easily With an angled connector. All other ports were solid. But your PC Connector cable is way too short. I recommend an upgrade to this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0143K4ZSK/ref=twister_B07CBVG4L8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 This will be a 10 FT cable. Reason being is the provided cable is really short. And really thin.. If your pc is far away from the cloner box and most peoples PCs are you will need the length to use the record to PC feature.. Its basically a long phone charger cable. Make sure its USB data capable. The MIC recording feature also works really well to capture your own audio over gameplay for recordings. All in all this is a good purchase once you figure out how to get it to do what you want it to do. And Cloner alliance has very good customer support. They can help you solve a lot of problems. Note this will be some culture shock to those users used to DVD recorders. its a bit more complex but for the picture quality its worth the time. to upgrade to this format. Im sure future releases of boxes will have newer features and smoother operation. I myself will be keeping my eye open on Cloner Box They are the top of the line when it comes to capture boxes.. What I would like to see added to cloner boxes in the Future.. Longer cables for PC connections. An angled USB connector for the USB port.. Titling ability via the Remote.. But you can do this Via Your pc later its just an added annoyance The box itself could be about an inch or 2 larger to space out your connectors as they are really close on the back of the box. Also I would like to see smaller Formats added as most or large format recordings that are very high Gigabyte size More of a 300 to 700 Megabyte range. That would lower image quality But it would also allow Space saving for phones and Tablets.. Other than this the box is a great addition to a mediaphiles Equipment.. I hope this helps some of you to have a good experience with this device

Tough to do a review but after 18 months have to state its the best out there but has issues. The box does as promised but had problems. First box was returned but barely out of warranty so 15 dollar shipping fee. The recording button wasn't working after 13 months. They made slight changes resulting in replacement being a different UI and format of recording. So older YouTube videos have the old interface and the old remote is useless with new Box. Comes with a new remote. Tough to figure out timer. The instructions on newer box from last fall are the same are original box in fall 2020. But remote is a bit different now. Now sometimes recordings won't save. Depending on what you use it for the results vary. I am recording tv off a Firestick and sometimes casting videos with Chromecast. Own no gaming console. No VHS stuff. I wish I could say customer service is good but being its all emails it is not. No number or chat feature, if I recall right. They do respond timely but it feels like you are constantly waiting for replies because you don't have the issue resolved. Yes it's worked. But now I press stop to save recordings and half the time it freezes or if you put on another app it freezes and recordings lost. It's tough to explain and lots to unpack but it is the best out there. Update: 11 months later and the box kept freezing when I stopped recordings. Now it can't find the signal of the box. Overuse perhaps. Recorded TV and videos..but is that not a purpose for it? So now without a dent or a scratch .. Today it cannot find the signal on two TV's. Looks like it might have burned out. Blue light does come on but cannot tell if it is faded. Wanted a replacement or at least refund but decided let's get the support involved. All email. Though a newer live chat area said 4:30pm.to 1:30pm.....Eastern? Well I am in the central time zone and it is 8am. Highly upset or a tad confused. I was supposed to update firmware before this happened. Now it's useless if it will not appear. Rating is now at 3 stars. Only two years with this device and already on a second box.

I mainly purchased this to take off recordings from my cable box so it doesn't fill up with the paltry server oriented 500gb offered. One nice thing about the ca pro is that it has a small profile so you can put it and your external hard drive on the same table top as your flat panel. It will not obstruct the tv viewing experience. Hookup was quick and easy and took 2 minutes to do it. You are basically putting the device between your cable box and flat panel. Once you turn the device on for the first time you will invariably get a dark screen with the words: "ouch blah blah". Just hold the source button (located on the front of the device) in for about 10 seconds, then release. It should then show a normal tv picture. I record at 1080 and a 12 bitrate. An average 1 hour show uses 4.15gb but the picture quality is superb on playback. I have a roku tv so you can plug the usb from your drive into your tv and use roku media player to watch your shows or watch them via the device itself. Why anyone would want to use a key drive is beyond me. At 4.15gb/hour you can't get much on one. An external hard drive is much easier and can hold much more data. Here is the rub. I use WD hard drives. The max you can use is up to 2TB. I use a 1 and a 2. They are only about a bit over a year old so should be no problem. For some reason or another I have had each of the two drives develop bad sectors and I MEAN BAD SECTORS. I have read about not disconnecting the drives w/out first turning off the ca pro. I always did that and still got bad sectors. This means once hooked up to a desktop you are unable to open the drive ie corrupted/bad sectors. Of course, you can format the drive and fill the bad sectors with 0's but say goodbye to your videos. How do you notice this "in action"? You hit record on the cloner box and you do not see any read/write via observing the lights on the hard drive. The easiest solution to fix this and still save your videos is via the command prompt. Use CHKDSK /f/r X: where X is the letter of your drive. This takes a long time so be patient. You will then be able to see the files. I recommend backing them up to a folder on your pc hard drive. All I can tell you is that sooner or later the drive is going to fail. This is the one and only reason why I did not give this product a "5". Correct this and I will amend my rating. You must format the drive in MBR (Master Boot Record) NTFS file system. If you don't know how to do this cloner has an excellent "how to" pictorial on their website. Although tech support had no clue regarding the constant bad sectors, their support and response time is excellent. If you send them an email you will get an answer in less than a day from Julia. The answers tend to be canned but when you are going through the short learning curve, they can be helpful. I have had ca pro for about 3 weeks now. I will change my rating if and when the hard drive issue is corrected via a software/firmware upgrade. Otherwise, it is an excellent product. UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 I have given this product a 5 star review. This has nothing to do with anything they did or advised. To avoid hard drive problems, you must and I REPEAT, you must plug your external hard drive into a ups device; they are available for about 50-70 bucks. I found out that after a power blip the external hard drive becomes corrupt. Hooking it up to the ups has fixed everything. On the safe side, I also turn the external hard drive off when not in use. UPDATE AUGUST 8, 2020 I cannot recommend this anymore for anyone wanting to take off tv shows, movies, big time. For this, tiny flash drives will not suffice. The reason for dropping my 5 star rating to a 1 is simple. A COMPLETE AND UTTER NON COMPATIBILITY WITH NTFS FILE SYSTEMS when using an external 1 or 2TB drive. I cannot get more then 25-30 shows recorded w/out the thing crashing. It JUST stops recording. I have run CHKDSK /F/R from the dos prompt but that does no good outside of correcting bad sectors. You cannot use EXFAT file system. So all I do is swap out ext drives then use diskpart and win/r key to bring up disk management to run new volume/format. This is ridiculous. Until they get the product compatible with NTFS drives this device is basically worthless.

Updating my 4 star review to 5 stars! This unit is reliable and versatile (after using it for a while, you get a better appreciation of the features). I had been searching for an HDMI recorder for a while, but the prices were crazy .. this one is worth the money! Many streaming services have great content, but pesky ads and often inconvenient windows for seasonal offerings (e.g. Christmas shows / movies in October or March). Also, busy people have little time to see their favorites before they disappear. Add to that, those annoying cable / satellite DVR units with encoded hard drive storage, which can't be off-loaded for future perusal on a laptop. You PAY for that DVR (with limited disk storage), or the streaming service .. so watch the programs at YOUR convenience .. before they remove the limited time program you want to see in the future! Just place this device in series with your HDMI sources (2 inputs available) .. or from any component or composite video source .. and feed the output to your TV (the TV doesn't have to be ON). I thought it limiting that a USB drive is preferred for recording (FAT32 in 2GB segments) ... but this unit has never bungled a recording! Cropping off a longer movie using the 2GB segments is not a hardship at all! The 720p and 1080p format recordings are crystal clear! With their Cloner MP4 trimming and combining software, it's a quick and simple matter to get just the segments you want to record (including a simple multi-segment trimming feature for those pesky free streaming site ads). I have tried several of the "higher end" video editors to perform the same trim / combine functions, but gave up due to complicated procedures and very lengthy times to edit an program (these "professional" programs have lots of features, but a simple, non-compressive 'cut and combine' seems to be lacking). The included (via web site) software does an amazingly fast job of trimming and combining (along with some MP4 conversion choices, after the editing is done). This, currently, only works on MP4 files (which are generated on the storage device by this unit) .. so if you need to use their program to edit other video file types .. use a general video converter program, first. The software won't save you video file size by compression, but the ease of use is worth it (you can always compress the video with the "convert" feature .. or use a "higher end" compression program for those phones and tablets). You can use the included remote to control the recorder .. or you can perform more complex record / play functions by using their PC software. The manual can be somewhat overwhelming .. but it covers things in depth for the technically inclined. Finally .. their customer service is very responsive and helpful .. and I would purchase other devices from them, whenever those birthdays and holidays come around!

I have a cloner box I had bought a couple of years ago. I didn't like the 2gig limit. It would break up a movie into 20 minute pieces. This allows me to record an unlimited file size. I recorded a marathon of shows overnight. 12.5 hours of video in a 55gig file. I used the included software to break these down into individual shows. I don't recommend recording this way, more on that later. Fanless units produce heat when used for long periods of time. I have a heat sink from an Xbox 360 under the box and a small fan I got for $5 beside it cooling it off. The box ran all night and was cool to the touch in the morning. I am using an internal hard drive connected outside my computer. I am using something similar to this: 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.

Excelente producto. Graba con una calidad espectacular. El sonido es muy bueno también. Viene listo para usarse. Sólo conectas el cable HDMI del servicio de cable y un cable HDMI de la grabadora ClonerAlliance hacia tu televisor, le pones una memoria usb al aparato y listo. Tooooodo lo que ves en la pantalla lo puedes grabar instantáneamente, cuando digo TODO, es todo. No necesita softweare extra o puentear o formatear nada. Aprietas el botón de grabar en el control remoto y ya. Aprietas el botón de detener cuando quieres dejar de grabar y entonces guarda el video en segundos en la memoria usb. Desde ahí puedes reproducir lo que grabaste en la televisión sin necesidad de desconectar nada. Sólo aprietas el botón de reproducir en el control remoto y ya. Es una maravilla porque además graba en 1080 HD y se igual que el original.

Added this one to my collection as a latest version. These always work well.

Estou encantado com o cloner alliance, muito fácil de usar, muito boa qualidade, não tive que fazer nada nos settings a não ser alterar o bitrate. Em conclusão uma ótima compra, recomendo.

Non avendo più la possibilita di salvare il mio contenuto sul DVD perche i registratori DVD non esistono più non sapevo cosa fare. Ho trovato questo goiello quest'anno, registra da qualsiasi fonte, DVD player/recorder, VCR, Decoder satellitare e persino l'Amazon firestick. Ottimo, 5 stelle.

Setup was plug and play with a remote slight learning curve. First time using on IPTV (STB) selected 1080p than 16:9 ratio. Turned volume up slightly on remote than hit record button. Quality of video and sound was equal to TV playing quality. I did have a 60 gig USB 3.0 stick formatted in NTFS never tried it in Fat32. Once you click stop recording than play it does so seamlessly and you can delete right from remote. Very impressed with playback and fast forward . Only negative is instructions are way to basic but it seems to be a quality device.