There are many reasons for converting old analog video to digital. Doing so allows you to retain video quality, as analog video tapes continually degrade when they are played. They even lose quality when they aren’t used, as aging & environmental factors can cause tape to deteriorate. Converting to digital allows you to preserve these videos without having to worry about the source tape media wilting away and becoming unplayable.

Converting video to a digital format also provides you with the flexibility to copy your video to a USB storage device, a DVD, a Blu-ray Disc or upload it to a website such as YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo or countless other streaming video websites. This allows for portability and playback on computers, smartphones, iPods and other modern devices.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – features

Roxio advertises the following “Video and DVD” features for this product:

New Automatically split home movies too big to fit on a single disc and burn across multiple DVD discs
New Reduce video noise common to old VHS tapes
New Stabilize shaky home videos
New Improve color balance and lighting
New Add transitions between videos
New Add rolling credits to movies
Go from VCR to DVD in a few clicks – the fastest way to create a DVD from your VCR home video
Burn DVD discs from your VCR or camcorder videos
Produce Hollywood-style DVDs with navigation and professionally designed menus
Trim and cut video clips

In addition to these core Video and DVD features, Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus also includes Music, Disc Label Creation and Sharing features, which are detailed here.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – What’s inside the box?

The product ships in an attractive looking retail package, which includes the Roxio Video Capture USB device, a software CD and a “Getting Started Guide” instructional booklet. Kudos to Roxio for including a physical paper booklet. Many products that include software CDs are skimping on physical user manuals these days, instead opting for instructions stored alongside the software as a digital file on the CD. A paper booklet is much easier to reference and provides for a better end user experience.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – Connecting the device

To test out the product, we dug out an old Emerson VCR and some old VHS tapes that we could convert to digital formats.

The Roxio Video Capture USB device is extremely easy to connect and use. On the source side, whether that be a VCR, a camcorder or another output device, you connect a set of RCA video cables to the device’s output ports. These cables then plug into the corresponding Red/Yellow/White RCA inputs on the Roxio Video Capture USB device. The Roxio Video Capture USB device then plugs into a PC via a standard USB plug. Easy peazy! Scroll down to our image gallery at the end of this article for more photos of the Roxio Video Capture USB device, the cables and the connectors.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – Installing & using the software

We popped the Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus software CD into our optical drive and easily installed the software on our PC running Windows 7. The software install did require a reboot to complete, which is a minor inconvenience. After rebooting, we launched the software and witnessed it performing some video tests, with windows resizing and flashing on screen. The software also prompted us to register for free technical support and communications from Roxio.

Above: The Roxio Easy VHS to DVD Plus 3 interface, showing a Record DVD session completing successfully. Click the image for the larger, full resolution version.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – Record DVD mode

To start off my tests, I selected the Record DVD mode and went about the process of transferring some VHS footage to DVD-R.

My first attempt at doing a “Record DVD” resulted in the very first few seconds of my video being cut off on the resulting disc. I found that there is a freeze or delay in when the software starts the actual recording from when you first click the record button. This is reproducible. To account for this, I advise that you click the record button in the software 5 seconds early, at the least, to avoid having the very beginning of your video not getting recorded to the DVD.

Another option is to pause your VHS tape at the point at which you want to start recording, then click record in Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus, wait for the software to provide confirmation on screen that it has started recording and then click play on your VCR. The downside to this method is that your recorded video file will show the paused screen to start with and it will also record the “PLAY” text that the VCR displays on screen after you press the play button. There is no reference to this recording delay in the Getting Started Guide, but I believe it should be added.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – Record, Edit and Save

The “pause” method mentioned above works great when you are in the “Record, Edit and Save” mode, because this part of the program also allows you to trim your captured video clips as well as providing additional video editing capabilities.

I found the “Record, Edit and Save” mode to be the more useful area of the software, but if you’re in a rush to quickly transfer an entire VHS tape to DVD quickly, you might use the “Record DVD” mode instead.

In the “Record, Edit and Save” mode of Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus, I found it simple to capture multiple clips, import existing video files, trim clips and even merge multiple clips into one big output file at the end if desired.

This mode also provides some advanced features such as Denoise, Stabilize and Color Correction. The Denoise option says it will reduce grain and noise from the video, the Stabilize option offers up the ability to stabilize shaky video taken with a handheld camera and the Color Correction option purports to correct color balance, brightness, contrast and saturation automatically.

I used the Denoise option on all my video captures, but I couldn’t really detect any improvements in video quality for my particular videos. I didn’t test the Stabilize option as I didn’t have any shaky clips to import. I tested the Color Correction option on one video capture and it really distorted the colors on the recorded video clip, so I didn’t try it out again after that. These type of advanced video enhancements are always hit or miss depending on the source video feed, so even though they might not have provided significant quality improvements for my particular videos, I’m still glad to see that they are included in the software as I’m sure they will help improve the captured videos in some cases.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – VHS tapes with recording breaks

I did encounter a snafu when attempting to record a VHS tape that contained breaks in between multiple video clips. In this case, the Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus software will report “no signal” at the break points and it won’t allow you to record, greying out the button. It will also automatically end recording if there is a break in the video signal, which can derail your recording plan.

In order to record a VHS video clip that has a break inserted just before the clip starts, you have to pause the VCR at the exact second that the clip starts playing, then you have to hope that Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus detects a video signal, and if it does, it will then make the record button available to click. This issue should be resolvable via a software update and I recommend that Roxio enables recording whether or not an input video signal is detected. I also advise against automatically ending the recording if it detects no video signal or at least making an option available in the settings to turn it off.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – captured VHS video example

Embedded below you can find one of the VHS video clips that I captured with Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus. The software captures VHS video at 640 x 480 resolution with 29 frames per second, saving it as a video file with the MPG file extension. The video file was then uploaded to YouTube and embedded below.

The resulting video captured by Roxio Easy VHS to DVD Plus looked just about identical to the video displayed by the VCR.

On one captured video clip, I did notice that the recorded video file did show a bit more distortion at the very top of the video compared to what I viewed on the source video feed, but the source video feed did have distortion at the very bottom and I think this transferred to the top of the recorded video clip.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – more photos

Check out the gallery below for more images of the Roxio USB capture hardware, the connectors, the cables and the VCR used.

Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus review – summary and conclusion

In this review, we pointed out a lot of little subtleties and nuances that you might encounter while using this product, but transferring video from analog to digital is always a tricky endeavor.

Overall, we feel that the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD 3 Plus package is a good product. It does what it advertises, it’s easy to use and it provides some advanced features for power users.

If you’re interested in purchasing this video capture solution, you can buy it on Amazon or directly from the manufacturer.

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) today announced a new agreement that will extend the current 28-day sales-only window to 56 days for Theatrical New Release and made-for-video titles on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

“Since we implemented a 28-day window for subscription and kiosk, we have seen very positive results with regard to our sell-through business,” said Mark Horak, president, Warner Home Video North America. “One of the key initiatives for Warner Bros. is to improve the value of ownership for the consumer and the extension of the rental window – along with our support of UltraViolet – is an important piece of that strategy.”

Warner Bros. is balancing its home entertainment revenue streams by creating different times at which a product is available at different prices. A staggered schedule allows the Studio to maximize the sales potential of its theatrical new release titles and VOD offerings.

“Netflix wants to ensure members have continued secure access to Warner Bros. DVDs and Blu-ray discs and, as such, is accepting the 56 day holdback,” said Netflix Vice President of Content Anna Lee.

The new agreement was announced at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev. in conjunction with an annual event held by the Digital Entertainment Group.

About Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s home video, digital distribution, interactive entertainment/videogames, direct-to-DVD production, technical operations and anti-piracy businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. WBHEG is responsible for the global distribution of content through DVD, electronic sell-through and transactional VOD, and delivery of theatrical content to wireless and online channels, and is also a significant worldwide publisher for both internal and third party videogame titles.

About Netflix

With more than 20 million streaming members in the Americas, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] is the world’s leading internet subscription service for enjoying films and TV programmes. For about US$7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited films and TV episodes streamed over the internet to PCs, Macs and TVs. Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are the Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, internet-connected TVs, home theatre systems, digital video recorders and internet video players; Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV. In all, more than 700 devices that stream from Netflix are available. For additional information, visit www.netflix.com. Follow Netflix on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group; Netflix, Inc.

The most promising content ownership solution from the owners of properties has finally arrived. On October 11, Warner Home Video released Horrible Bosses on Blu-ray Disc and DVD with UltraViolet enabled. Warner is committed to including UltraViolet on all upcoming releases, including Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, and Shameless: The Complete First Season.

Sony has also announced the upcoming releases of The Smurfs and Friends With Benefits will be UltraViolet enabled.

Every major studio except Disney is on board with the technology, and there is massive support on the hardware manufacturer side as well. The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) group of companies is hoping to challenge the streaming or renting concept we’ve all embraced for one of true content ownership.

Best Buy and Walmart are both interested in selling UltraViolet hardware.

How it works

UltraViolet logos will be located on compatible Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, and inside there will be a redemption code. The user will set up an account at UVVU.com and enter the codes. The content will then be available for use on up to ten devices (PCs, HDTVs, BD players, mobile devices, etc). Up to six people may be registered on each account with access to the content.

Eventually, UltraViolet content will be available for purchase as digital-only, but this may be burned to disc by the end user.

The caveat

Until UltraViolet-enabled hardware becomes available, owners of Horrible Bosses (and other future Warner Bros. UltraViolet content) will only be able to watch the digital copy at Flixster.com. Hardware support should follow in early 2012.

With my account in an on hold status, I won’t receive any Netflix service, but more importantly, they won’t receive any of my money, as all billing is halted.

So why did I do it and why am I writing about it? This move is just my little way of protesting their price increases, their poor “justifications” and their anti-customer behaviors. After all, the strongest consumer voice is the wallet.

Interestingly enough, the same day that I put my account on hold, Netflix announced that they were spinning off their DVD & Blu-ray Disc rentals into an entirely separate service dubbed Qwikster.

When I heard that Qwikster would require completely separate billing and queue management, I actually wasn’t that shocked. Netflix has been making dumb decisions and pissing off customers for quite some time now. By now I just expect them to do things that aren’t customer friendly.

I haven’t yet decided on whether I will be fully cancelling my Netflix account or removing the hold to reactivate service. At this point I’m still thinking about it and waiting to see what else the company will (or won’t) do.

In related news, I didn’t receive an email from Netflix regarding the Qwikster spin-off and I didn’t receive the “apology” email from CEO Reed Hastings, maybe because my account is on hold? If so, WTF?

According to rumors online, Netflix could lose up to 1/3 of their subscribers due to the recent fiascos. Is your service with Netflix or Qwikster still active or are you cutting them off?

Launching today, DirecTV’s premium video on demand service will provide the Adam Sandler movie Just Go With It for home rental less than 70 days after the film’s premier, and before any DVD or Blu-ray Disc release.

The price for such early access will be steep, at $29.99 for a 48-hour time frame. This is high, but may be competitive compared with taking a whole family to the cinemaplex at $10.50 per head.

This is the first time any major studio has allowed a movie to be released for home viewing this soon after playing in theaters. Just Go With It will be followed by Hall Pass, The Adjustment Bureau, and Cedar Rapids. Release dates for those films have not been announced, but may be as soon as 60 days after their theater release debut.

In 2006, under the direction of Mark Cuban, Magnolia Pictures released the Steven Soderbergh film Bubble simultaneously to theaters, cable/satellite and DVD as a pilot to test how such a release would work. A few months later, The Road to Guantanamo was similarly released by Roadside Attractions to theaters, cable and with internet download.

All it took was a near-collapse of the movie industry, and the bankruptcies of Hollywood mainstays like MGM, but the major studios look to be catching up to the 21st Century. Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem announced multiple industry partners at CES 2011 to include all of the major Hollywood studios except for lone wolf Disney.

“The most highly skilled users are already downloading content, making copies and watching on any device they want,” said Mitch Singer, the chief technology officer of Sony Pictures, who has been the key executive behind Ultraviolet. “We’re trying to build a business model for everyone around that behavior.”

UltraViolet is a cross-industry cooperation to provide digital rights ownership by consumers in a simple way. It was developed due to the frustrating way every manufacturer seemed to have their own digital rights management (DRM) which didn’t play well with others.

Each consumer will have a “rights locker” that will receive the DRM information at purchase or rental. The content will be streamed or downloaded from the provider in accordance with the rights stored int he locker. The digital content may be transfered between devices or shared without obtaining additional rights.

Digital content providers signed up so far include Best Buy, Comcast, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba. The content can be shared with up to six friends or family members, and can be transfered or streamed to up to twelve devices. They may also be copied to DVD or flash media for back up.

The studios and distributors retain the right to decide where and how to sel their content with UltraViolet technology, but the retailers will set the prices. Digital copies of movies and TV shows may be purchased or rented with computers, Internet-connected televisions, and with Blu-ray Discs. The estimated cost will be $11 or $12.

The coalition has been hard at work obtaining partnerships with phone, tablet, HDTV, Blu-ray player, video game console and computer manufacturers. Software will need to be implemented on any device to support UltraViolet DRM technology.

The CES 2011 announcement was for content availability from the major motion picture studios. Hardware and retail availability will come later this year. The studios wanted to provide the content now so there are no hurdles to getting the hardware and retail market up and running.

There were hints that UV technology would allow for ripping of DVDs for storage on local hard drives, and possibly in the cloud, with an UltraViolet license. UV-branded Blu-ray and DVD discs would come with a digital “copy-in-the-cloud” for streaming ro downloading. The stored content would be subject to the same terms as downloaded or steamed content.

Notably absent from this major consortium are Disney and Apple. (Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the largest share-holder of Disney.) These companies always went their own way, but they do it incredibly successfully so time will tell if they come to support UltraViolet in the future. Disney has been developing their own system for cloud-based rights management called Keychest. Just like they ad their own layer of encryption on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, Disney will certainly try to do their own thing here.

Unless Apple joins the group, iPhones, iPods and iPads – and maybe even OS X – won’t have access to the UV ecosystem. The die hard Apple fans will justify why they rent movies from iTunes while the rest of the world enjoys lifetime ownership of their collection.

The news we had all been waiting for has finally come: Blockbuster, Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Most of the company’s services will remain available throughout the process, which will last a few months. But as part of its reorganization, the company plans to shut down as many as 800 of its 3,400 stores in the United States. It also plans to move more toward a kiosk- and digital-based approach to delivering its content.

If you’ve been in a Blockbuster store any time during the past couple of years, you could see this coming. Gone are the days of perusing shelves and seeing if there was an extra DVD behind a movie title at your favorite video store. There has been a colossal shift in the industry, with mail and kiosks taking over much of the market.

It’s somewhat surprising that the kiosk-based approach that Redbox uses is still going strong. The convenience of stand-alone machines – usually found in front of pharmacies and supermarkets – coupled with the low prices make them successful, but you still have to drive somewhere.

Netflix is king of the home video market right now, but for how long? Many times I have grown impatient at the two-day turnaround time because I really needed to see the next three episodes of “Dexter.” Eventually this model will give way to on-demand, digital delivery of media. Netflix is already offering part of its inventory online, and Amazon and some cable providers are doing the same. Once set-top boxes such as Boxee and Apple TV become more common, we’ll see the scales tipped – again.

This was a guest post. About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics.

Even with the limited space within a rental machine, Redbox is making room for Blu-ray Discs to appear within the next few months.

Along with a new agreement from Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox, to include new movies 28 days after street date, is a partnership to provide Blu-ray Disc versions of popular movies. Rentals will incur a $1.50 rate per day.

Redbox rental kiosks account for 23% of the rental market, with 40 million DVDs renter per month. Owners of Blu-ray players hold 16.9% of Redbox customers.

Source: Home Media Magazine

After over two years of press releases, Kaleidescape has finally released their Blu-ray Disc players. First announcing BD support in 2008, Kaleidescape has been hard at work on a powerful high-definition media player. Originally scheduled for 2009, the project was put on hold in order to engineer a whole new processor enabling multiple streams of high-definition video.

The M500 movie player is the main player for the Kaleidescape System which allows for content loading and video playback (including discs not loaded on the server) and retails for $3,995. The M300 movie player retails for $2,495 and is a small-form factor movie client allowing streaming from the server.



The big questions have been answered. The server will store the Blu-ray Disc content, index it in the same menu as DVDs, and stream it over the network. A gigabit network will support five streams of bit-for-bit high definition video, while a standard 10/100T network will only support one stream. The kicker is the disc must be loaded in a player before the movie will start (any player in the system). The benefit is Kaleidescape bookmarks movies so the film will start immediately instead of waiting to load a menu, and so there is no sitting through trailers and warnings.

Kaleidescape has the largest metadata collection in the world (even bigger than Gracenote), and is individually bookmarked by Kaleidescape and given additional content like cover art, reviews, and more. Concert videos are even bookmarked to each song, another bonus. Additionally, if you run across an obscure title Kaleidescape doesn’t have, you can mail it to them and they will index it for free.



If finding a movie and loading it in the player before playing beats the whole purpose of a server, it does. But it was done that way for DRM purposes. Kaleidescape still hasn’t worked out all of the kinks with licensing, and until they get the go ahead from the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACSLA), they will have to prove the disc is present. This is why Kaleidescape is working on a multi-disc changer which will provide this presence without having to load the movie. The changer will index movies as they are added so it won’t have to find the disc before allowing access to the movie. Michael Malcolm, CEO of Kaleidescape, said, “Every once in awhile, there is a way to randomly check. Once it finds that one [disc] is missing, it will check them all.”

The multi-disc changer should retail between $3,000 and $5,000, which is more than half the cost of the Crestron BD multi-changer.

The new M Class players are also said to be “a platform for future sources of content.” These sources have not been named, but Kaleidescape feels content should be owned by the client, not rented, borrowed, or streamed. Also on the road map is iTunes sync and AVCHD support.

Along with new high definition players is news of an upgrade to the GUI, now in full 1080p high definition.

For videos on how the Blu-ray works, and on the new GUI, visit the Kaleidescape website.

Two years ago, the MPAA sued RealNetworks over their RealDVD software, which allowed for backing up DVDs to a hard drive, claiming an infringement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Last August, the MPAA prevailed in the case against Real. The Judge in the case made a very cryptic comment in the decision stating:

Had Real’s products been manufactured differently, i.e., if what happened in Vegas really did stay in Vegas, this might have been a different case. But, it is what it is. Once the distributive nature of the copying process takes hold, like the spread of gossip after a weekend in Vegas, what’s done cannot be undone.

After months of deliberation, Real decided not to appeal the decision, and paid $4,500,000 to the MPAA for legal fee reimbursement. They also shut off their online metadata service.

From the judge’s comments, it seems this decision affects software which could lead to distribution of the content. This may favor Kaleidescape’s argument considering their closed-architecture does not allow for data on their servers to be accessed except by associated Kaleidescape players.

It also seems to target a retail software, and should be a pronouncement on personal Fair Use.