

The window cannot be resized so the video preview window is rather small.


As indicated above, there is a “Stop” button on this screen that will allow you to stop the recording session at any point. The converter box outputs a 720 x 480 resolution video in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, so there is some benefit to selecting the correct display.Īfter the recording is complete you have the option of opening the file location of the recorded MPEG file, converting the MPEG to and. mp4, or burning the MPEG to a DVD readable format. mp4 allow you to select a file name, resolution of 640 x 480, 720 x 480, 720 x 576, or 1024 x 768 and some arbitrary quality scale that will show you the estimated file size. If you prefer to burn to a DVD then load a blank DVD into the RW drive and start. Note that the disc is burnt without a title screen and the video starts on title 1 chapter 1. There are no other chapters automatically generated by the conversion software. I didn’t actually own a VCR at the start of this review. I borrowed a unit from a friend, but it was an old model (circa. So I ventured to a local thrift store and purchased a VCR with integrated DVD recorder for a deal-of-the-century $7.99. Now I had a benchmark for evaluating the Vidbox. I will admit that the conversion process using Vidbox is extremely easy.

The wizard driven system did not produce any error messages about buffer under-runs, media write fails, or other messages typical of DVD burning. Also, The Vidbox system seemed to ignore any Macrovision protection on the VHS. My first impressions were that the Vidbox output was very pixelated compared with the raw VCR output. When I used the built in DVD recorder of the VCR, the output seemed almost identical to the original VHS. The Vidbox produced a MPEG with a constant bit-rate (CBR) video signal of 8000 kbps, whereas the DVD recorded a variable bit-rate recording of about 9500 kbps. I’m not sure if the different recording strategies and bandwidth are sufficient to explain the difference in quality. Anyone who wants to express their opinion about bit-rate, macroblocks, temporal coding, motion vectors and how these compression attributes can explain the video results is welcome to do so in the comments. I have made some side by side comparison videos to illustrate my experiences. The first video shows the output from a VHS recording of Four Weddings and Funeral. (Don’t judge me…actually the several pan scenes in this intro allow viewing of the same scene on both sides of the screen simultaneously.) The DVD output is on the left and the Vidbox output is on the right. Mp4 using VLC, made side by side on Cute CUT for iOS and uploaded to YouTube. Honestech vidbox video conversion for mac mp4# Honestech vidbox video conversion for mac software#.Honestech vidbox video conversion for mac mp4#.
