ClearClick Video to Digital Converter 2.0 (Second Generation) - Record Video from VCR's, VHS Tapes, AV, RCA, Hi8, Camcorder, DVD, Gaming Systems [Requires Working VCR/Camcorder & Tapes]

Over many years working as a videographer and photographer for myself and for an array of clients, I have accumulated a large collection of past recordings and in a variety of formats including MiniDV cassettes. Overall, I had scores of them stored. Recently I began looking at these collections and their content and decided there were at least some of them I wanted to preserve in a digital format.I spent a lot of time online looking for solutions before settling on ClearClick and after several hours of using it am very happy with the results. There are a few things I would change at least a bit.First, the instructions with the unit initially discuss the use of a USB or SD card (in a USB adapter as I am doing in the attached photo) for video capture. However only several pages later do they provide the crucial information that the formatting to be used is MS-DOS FAT32. Having that listed earlier in the documentation would have been helpful.Another item: You insert your cassette in your camera (In my case a Canon XH A1 purchased in the late 1990s) and start play. When you do, the image and sound play through ClearClick and you can start recording using the Record Start/Stop button. But it took me a bit of time to learn that to start recording you need to hit the button very briefly. A longer press captures a still image. If you do it correctly, a timer will appear next to the red camera icon in the upper left and document the length of what you are recording. With that, another nit to pick: The camera icon ALWAYS shows as red which can lead you to think it is recording. When you do start recording, the icon remains red, but the timer appears, letting you know that you ARE recording.There is a feature that allows you to stop a recording at a set time such as 30, 60, 0r 90 minutes. With my cassettes it is possible to record slightly more than 60 minutes, so using this option with a cassette that contains slightly more than 60 minutes is to select 90 minutes. Don't know whether it is possible, but it would be a better feature if users could select a custom time to avoid a recorded file that could include 20-30 minutes of blank.That said, Clear Click works well...provides a pretty good look at the video and sound as it is playing and so far has worked very well for me. I have found it best to fast forward through a given cassette to get a better understanding of content (is the cassette full of recordings or only partially used). Knowing that, I can start a recording and come back around the time I know it is concluding, or work on other things while it is transferring.Clear Click does not improve the quality of the original and given the age of the cassettes I am transferring, there are obvious signs of degradation in image quality. There are a variety of third-party apps you can try that do provide some degree of image enhancement. I use Final Cut Pro for editing and their latest update provides enhanced tools for such tasks. Another package I like is Wondershare Uniconverter 16 which provides a vast array of tools including file conversion, compression, image quality enhancement and more.jBottom line....I was a bit reluctant to spend this much to solve my problem, but after about 10 cassette conversions I am ahead of the game, given what I would be charged by third party conversion services. You can't do stuff in batches so you have to invest the time, but if you really want to convert and preserve past treasures, Clear Click is a very good tool to do so.

GOOD LITTLE GADGET!! DOES THE JOB!For the sake of this review, please keep in mind that I am not a connoisseur of audio or video signals! Personally, I can’t tell the difference between HD, hi-def, ect. I can tell basic differences in picture quality and sound if those differences are pretty big, but that’s about the extent of my ‘expertise’. With that said, let’s get to the actual review!Over the years, I have tried several different products and have had very little success and much frustration. To name a couple, I have tried ‘Dazzle’, as well as two different ‘Roxio’ pieces of hardware. Both gave me the same frustrations… they worked for a minute or two, but then I started getting a lot of picture static, as well as frames freezing and skipping! Also, after the ‘recording’ was finished, it would then lock up my computer for quite some time while is ‘saved’ the transfer conversion. Sometimes it would even freeze my computer and I would have to reboot it. At that point, I would lose the 1.5 hr film I just tried to convert and save. Lastly, both of those programs would not allow me to save it directly as an mp4. I would have to save it as their file type, then convert it later. (or at least I didn’t know how to save it directly as an mp4 file type from those other products.My current project is converting about 30 old Hi-8 tapes of family birthdays/Christmas’s to digital for safe keeping and watching later. So far, I have completed about 15 of these so far without any problems since getting this converter. It has not disappointed and has worked as expected. There were a few glitches, as well as some pros and cons, but all in all, well worth the money. I will explain a little more further.1) make sure you have the needed wires to connect your video source to this converter. It does come with RCA jack cables, but in my case, I'm using my old camcorder as the source to play the hi-8 tapes. My camcorder only has 2 output types… one is a 3.5mm a/v port, and the other is an ‘s-video slot’. Just an fyi for those who might not know, the s-video cable will only transmit video, it does not transmit sound. (I did not know this until I read it in someone else’s review  )2) it seemed like a got a little bit better of a picture using an sd card to record on rather than on a usb drive. However, I then transferred it to a usb drive to save for later. I would recommend to get 2 sd cards.. that way while you are recording on 1 card, you can put the other card in your computer to work with the file.3) the unit itself is nice and compact. It is about the size of a ‘larger’ cell phone. It seems to be sturdy too.4) with this device, it does not tie up your computer. As you are recording directly on the unit itself5) it does save the recording in ‘real time’ as an MP4 file. Therefore, no need for the conversion or the save to take another 1.5 hours after you just got done playing the full tape into the unit. After you push ‘stop’, your file is ready! **important note.. i read reviews where people were having ‘corrupt file’ error messages after trying to record/convert. After doing multiple experiments, I discovered that if you press ‘stop’ on your source device while you are still trying to record on this device, you will get a corrupt file every time. It’s as if the loss of signal causes the file to error out.6) this is very easy to use, right out of the box. Which is good, because the directions seem to be lacking.7) Other reviewers were complaining that the ‘auto-stop’ function causes ‘dead space’ which then corrupts the file. On my version of the unit, I was able to turn off this ‘auto-stop’ function, therefore I have not had this issue.8) Other reviewers stated they were having problems with the media card not ‘clicking’ into place, therefore not able to record on. I will say this was an issue at first until I looked a little closer. Normally when you try to insert an sd card, you push it till the pad of your finger touches the computer ect. At that point, the sd card typically clicks into place. However, with this unit, the card actually ends up being ‘inside’ the unit after it clicks into place. Therefore, I have to use my fingernail to push it into and out of place. This is a bit annoying, but once I figured it out, no problems. I'm assuming this is for the safety of the card?9) other reviewers stated they were getting ‘corrupt file’ error messages after converting. As I mentioned above, it is IMPORTANT that you stop recording BEFORE you press stop on your source device. The converter itself senses an input video signal and will not allow you to record until it does. Therefore, I'm assuming that when it stops sensing this signal, it stops recording but doesn’t finish the file out correctly.10) this is the same for when you start recording… the unit will not allow you to start recording until it senses the input video signal from your camcorder, ect. This wasn’t too big of an issue, but I did occasionally miss a second or two of my original tape due to this lag in recording.11) as far as the ‘quality’ of the recording.. I wasn’t really able to notice a difference. Again, I do not have a trained eye either… I will say this though.. Remember, you are recording from an old TAPE of some sort (aka, non digital)… it is not of extremely high quality to begin with.12) some reviews said to make sure you update the firmware once you get it. I was not able to figure out how to do this. However, it doesn’t seem to actually need an update. I don’t remember where I saw it, but I saw somewhere that stated if you ordered your unit after a certain date, then the unit is already updated.I know this was a pretty lengthy review, but I hope it helps yins make a good informed decision.Happy converting 

We just received this yesterday and I'm already blown away with the quality of the product, manual, and customer service! We ordered a certified used and still received a 1 year warranty. This company REALLY stands by their product and it's obvious why!It was super easy to figure out because of the video tutorial AND the manual was actually EASY to follow and read. I have not read a manual this well made in a while. Their website is easy to navigate as well.I ended up reaching out to the company due to an issue with recording quality (the manual actually brought this up and what to do if this issue occurs). The owner replied back very shortly after I emailed and got it figured out for us very quickly! I am blown away!!!I can't begin to explain the peace of mind we have knowing we can save our home videos. This has been the biggest blessing to find.Thank you, ClearClick!!! You are amazing in every way and we will be recommending you to everyone!