ClearClick HD Capture Box Platinum - Capture and Stream Video from HDMI, RCA, AV, VGA, YpbPr, VHS, VCR, DVD, Camcorders, Hi8

Honestly, one of the best things I ever bought. This thing does exactly what I wanted it to do. My fear was I would buy this and it would work just OK with some glitchy issues, but it has been great. This is one of those rare times when I bought something and it works exactly like the company promised and I hoped it would.Details:As a note, I did not have the need to contact their customer service, so I cannot speak to the quality of their reps.I bought this box to convert my digital 8 mm tapes to mp4 format. I was looking for a device that allowed for recording directly to a flash drive, Why? Well, I am not keen on downloading software from some questionable website or using software that claims to work on Windows 10, but really doesn't. A vast majority of video converters seem to have these issues from the reviews I read. So far I have converted 25+ tapes to mp4-format with no issue, I have also done several home movies that were on both VHS and DVD - again, worked perfectly.So the box is pretty easy to use. As a disclaimer, I am using this only to convert videos. I am not recording game play, playing videos on it or using it as a pseudo-DVR, so I cannot speak to those uses. The manual could be a little better, but it does the job as it really is not that complicated to get going. The box has two video input ports and one output port. The output is HDMI, so you can connect this to a TV, monitor or other device so that you can view what you are recording (one relatively short HDMI cable is included). I have mine connected to a extra monitor. As far as input ports go, one is HDMI. The other port is MMI, and is used with an included cable. The MMI cable is split and allows you to input from VGA (does anybody still have a VGA output around? If so, respect man!), RCA jacks or digital component jacks. For my use, I have been using only HDMI and RCA jack input. For ease of use and given the cables are not super long, I have my whole set up is on a table: Clearlick box, monitor, laptop, camcorder, VCR and DVD player. This lets me switch things around quickly and transfer/back up files often.As far as using the remote, it can be a little wonky, but not too bad. I find this more than acceptable given the box is functioning perfectly. The only buttons I really use are power, input source, record, stop, aspect ratio and 720p/1080p. I believe some reviewer were not thrilled with playback buttons, but since I am not using those I cannot speak to that. As far as my use is concerned the remote is functionally good. However, as others mention, you need to point this remote right in front of the box. It is picky, but since I have my whole set-up on a table, I literally have the remote 6 inches from the box, so it is not an issue for me.The menu is a little bit goofy as others have noted. It is easy to navigate, but at times you press the arrow that signifies back or return and you are taken out of the whole menu instead of back to the last menu screen. Then you have to press the menu button to get back into the menu. I found this to be slightly annoying, but not really a big deal. I have not had to go into the menu too much. I have been OK with the default settings.Speaking of settings, let's talk about those. I did set the clock on the box, however, despite having the right time, my mp4 files have weird times on them (in the file names) that correlate to nothing. While odd, this is irrelevant as I rename the files anyway. The important thing to know is that the files will be named such that they will appear in the chronological order in which they were recorded (more on storage shortly). As far as resolution goes, as other have mentioned, you cannot record in standard definition (SD, 480). Apparently you can do this if you download their software and record right to your computer, but since I was trying to avoid that I used 1280x720 (720p at 60 Hz). when recording my 8 mm tapes that were in SD. This was the default setting when using the RCA jack input. Again, as others have noted, the result is you are recording your SD video in 720 p, so the video file is bigger than it needs to be. I find this to be a non-issue. In the day of USB 3 and large flash drives, slightly bigger files are not a hurdle. Typically, my one hour 8 mm tapes had files sizes of 4 to 4.25 GB. It is important to note here that you want to use the aspect ratio of 4:3 for SD video. Otherwise, everything gets stretched. This can look almost normal to goofy depending on your video. So yes, these videos will be letter boxed on the sides of your wide screen, like when watching an old tv show on wide screen. When using HDMI input, the default resolution was set to 1920x1080 (1080p) and an aspect ratio of 16:9. This is what I used for home videos that were on DVD, and it worked fine. In my hands, the difference in file sizes between recording in 720 p and 1080p were not noticeable for the same length of video. Once nice feature is that while you are recording, the REC button on the from of the unit (power button) flashes. It flashes green for 720 p and blue for 1080p. It is a nice way to verify recording resolution.Now, on to storage. The manual tells you not to go bigger than 32 GB for a drive. Other have pointed out that you can go much larger and not have an issue. The key is you want a USB 3 drive. You need the extra transfer speed to write the video file to the drive quickly enough. I am using a 32 GB USB 3.0 drive (you can buy these for around $10). How I have been transferring my videos is to press record on the remote, then play on the source device. When the video is done, I have been manually hitting stop on the remote. Once you hit stop, you will see an indicator on the screen that stays up for several seconds while the file is being closed. I have checked every file I have done, and they all work perfectly. There has been no issue with files not being properly closed like those described on some of Clear Click's earlier devices. So, I know what you are thinking, you manually hit stop? So you have to sit through all your videos? Well not really. First, the box does have a timer setting which some reviewers describe using. I chose to do this manually as I had no idea how long some of my 8 mm or VHS tapes were. My whole set-up is in my home office, so I have it going on the side where I can keep an eye on it, or I set a timer on my phone to come back and check on it. It works for me. If not for you, then see other reviews or try out the timer. Once complete and the box has fully stopped (no stop indicator on the screen), you can pull out the flash drive and connect it to your computer. You can of course do multiple videos as well. Given I am using a 32 GB flash drive, I was comfortable doing 5 to 6 videos at a time between transfers. One thing to note here is there is no way to pause the recording on the box while you start another source video - like if you wanted to merge two videos together into one mp4 file. There is only record and stop. Now, you can certainly keep the box recording while you switch or start another video, but keep in mind any screen images like when a VCR shows "Play", time remaining, etc will be captured on the box recording.As far as value for the money goes, well I see some reviewers bought the device much earlier than me and paid something like $100-$110. I paid around $150. I guess you could argue that the device is simple and should be much cheaper. I could not argue with that point of view. However, this box has worked flawlessly, and I could not find anything else on the market that allows me to record right to flash storage without downloading some kind of software. That fact, combined with the value in perfectly converting all my old videos to mp4, makes me feel like it was well worth it. No regrets, very happy!

ClearClick HD capture boxes are very easy to setup and use. Just grab a suitable NTFS USB drive and plug it in to the side, plug in the video cables and the power and you are ready to roll. I am a long time user of ClearClick products. I had the old HD Capture box and after 7 years of use it has seen better days and needed to be replaced. I was excited to get the Platinum version because of its extra functionality including a remote! The thing I liked the least about the old capture box was that I had to run up to push the button to start or stop "recording". The Platinum removes that issue with an infrared remote. The remote is very light and almost feels a little cheap - but it serves the purpose. Like all infrared remotes this one is very directional, and maybe more finicky than some when it comes to pointing it at the right spot to get it to work. None the less I love having that capability. Another advantage of the Platinum is that you get an onscreen display where you can see that you are recording and how long you have been recording, as well as gain access to a setup menu. In the setup menu you can make a lot of configuration changes including the bitrate that you record at. I found that the medium bitrate gave about the same quality and file size as my old HD capture box did (about 10MB/s). In my testing the high bitrate went up to 17MB/s, creating notably larger files. Important warning - the largest file size this box supports is 16GB. If you want to use the high bitrate that will mean about 2 hours of video. This can be a major limitation so please note this. If you use the medium bitrate you can probably get closer to 3 hours of video. All video is captured in 60fps (the old HD capture box only supported 30fps). I also like that the Platinum supports many other kinds of connections if needed. I currently only need HDMI, so I haven't really tried the rest although its good to know they are available. Additionally I like that you can visibly see the light blinking on the front of the capture box, letting you know that it is recording. The old model had the light on top and you needed to have the correct angle to see it. I also need to mention how exceptional ClearClick technical support is. If you are on the fence with whether you should purchase this device or a competitor, I would say purchase the ClearClick for technical support alone. They are very knowledgable and helpful. The only other complaint I have about this box is there is no way to remotely turn it off - you basically need to unplug it. In any case, I highly recommend ClearClick and the Platinum HD capture box.

Worked fine for awhile then suddenly it started freezing up, requiring a power shutdown to break out of it. In recent times it's been glitching like crazy to the point where I can't get any decent recordings without it dropping frames somewhere in the process - sometimes as many as 4 or 5 incidents within a single 90 minute recording. I've been using the same flash drive, so I'm presuming that's not the issue . .the box itself just appears to fail eventually. Pity. . .