I have had this for roughly three months now...here is my synopsis:- I use this to record from Roku. I have recorded approximately 80-100 videos, all using 1080, and have had two bad videos. Both were related to ultra cheap Walmart flash drives (Onn (?) brand). This records on everything else including external hard drives if you power the hard drive separately. I did record one Blu-Ray by attaching my Blu-Ray player. Worked perfectly.- Never had a copy protection issue. I've recorded from pretty much every commercial service.- The device does NOT get hot. It gets warm like all other electronics. My Roku gets warmer than this.- I'm not sure why people are confused over FAT32, ex-FAT and NTFS. Unless you are a masochist who would enjoy stitching together multiple video files, just format your media to NTFS and quit whining. It isn't complex. Just. Use. NTFS.- I've recorded tennis matches up to 6 hours long. No issue whatsoever.- Of course there is no time-shifting, scheduling function. If you want that, then just order a device capable of doing that.- What I use my device for: 1. Recording movies from premium services to store on a large HD, some of them I store on an external 1TB hard drive that I can plug into a TV or Roku. 2. Recording tennis matches to be transfered to PC to process into DVDs (if I ever get a Blu-Ray recorder I'll be able to retain HD on these).I haven't used the software. Apparently it adds some kind of scheduling ability via PC. As for the other functions the software seems to offer, I can achieve the same or better with freeware. (the video stitching capability too, but one would have to be an idiot to not use NTFS to avoid having to do that, if the object is to stitch Cloner Box recordings together.)A note on external hard drives: this device probably won't power one by itself. Just use 1) a HD that is powered by AC adapter or 2) a HD that has the split USB cable--plug the power USB connector into a nearby USB connection. I simply use the connection on my TV that the Cloner Box is plugged into.I highly recommend this device. I think most of the negative reviews are the result of technical ignorance or expecting something of the device that it isn't intended to do.***** UPDATE *****I have had this device for almost two years. Here are updates:- I NEVER have any kind of initialization issues. When I turn it on it just blinks blue/green for several seconds and pops on. I always turn on my TV and Roku first.- ZERO heat issues. It gets warm like any other device but not anything abnormal. It can run for several hours (I've run it up to about 8 hours) without any heat problems.- I NEVER use FAT, I've always used NTFS and haven't seen any poroblem doing that. I'm not about to use FAT and waste my valuable time stitching together files.- I don't remember if this came with software but if it did I never used it. I use a few actual editing programs if I want to edit video. "MP4 Tools" splitter/joiner is indispensible and I use it all the time. It is a small freeware utility.- ** USB MEDIA **: USE GOOD FLASH DRIVES. The only problems I ever had were using inexpensive flash drives. Recordings would stop or exhibit video issues while playing. Since switching to good drives I have had 100% success for roughly 1.5 years. I use Samsung Bar 32GB USB 3.0 flash drives. Again, using NTFS. FAT is a total waste of time. I use USB 3.0 so that transfers to other media go faster.- I never use external hard drives. That seems ridiculous to me given the availabilty of tiny, high capacity flash drives.- Get yourself a USB extension cable so that you are not wearing out the Cloner Box's USB port.- Not sure why anyone would use the 720 mode?If this is no longer in production I hope that Cloner Alliance is producing something very similar. I'd give it 10 stars if I could.First, my application was not recording games, rather video -- specifically copying movies and shows off my DirecTV DVR. I've been looking for a solution for a couple years now and have tried other (eg (Haup....) boxes. This works, and while it's not perfect, I am VERY happy.The Good: It records HDMI. Most solutions do not. Simply connected my DirecTV receiver (HDMI) to the "Box" and then pass *the included* HDMI cable to my TV. Press "PLAY" on the DTV remote and press the "RECORD" on the BOX. Done.The Bad... There's no timer. You must press REC again to stop. For gamers, I suspect this is a non-issue, but I'd like to set it up to copy and go to bed. I've done that, and it works, but ended up with a VERY large video file. Since I'm working with a 3 TB HD, not really a major problem. Just takes longer to copy the file to my laptop where I then edit the first minute or 2 and the last 'X' minutes to net-out the video.Again, none of this is major, it's just not as smooth as it could be.I am on my second unit. As others have said, their Customer Service is OUTSTANDING. The company is based in China and every thing is via Email -- so there's a 24hr lag, but I got *useful* responses EVERY time.My first unit was bad and they *immediately* offered a replacement and paid the shipping costs for my return (and shipped the replacement for free !) . THEY followed up asking if I'd shipped the unit.... I did not need to chase them ! Additionally they shipped the replacement as soon as I sent them a tracking number, which was exceptional.The replacement arrived and when I tried, the DirecTV receiver shut down as the (paraphrase) "Connected device does not support copy protection".I thought I had a new software build that would not allow me to do the 1 thing I wanted -- record the movies/TV shows that I wanted.An email to Customer Service and 24hrs later I had a "Do this..." (long key-press-reset)FIXED.Also, on my original unit I tried multiple storage devices. USB thumb drive (included with the purchase), my own (8Gb) and several USB HD's (including a 240Gb SSD). I had mixed results and believe a POWERED USB drive works better than an 'unpowered'. The 2Gb thumb-drive worked, but the 240GB SSD did not. The unpowered (read as requiring the BOX to power my drive) drives (several different sizes and manufacturers) did not. The 2TB powered work the best. I believe POWERED is the key element, although I haven't tested with the replacement BOX I received (just haven't tried). I suspect the USB powre out-put 'out' may be on the edge of underpowered. (just IMHO)Again, the company is based in China, but their manual is in *ENGLISH* as was there email correspondence. I *highlighted* 'ENGLISH' as their instruction manual was fairly complete and clear, and the emails were as well. For me, a unique experience with a China based company.The BOX is not perfect. On occasion it won't recognized the re-attached HD.My pattern was: I would record a movie and then disconnect from the BOX and connect to my laptop. Copy off the file and then re-attach to the BOX to copy another movie..(copied the video file to my laptop for editing and then re-attach to the BOX to record another video.)A LONG (5+ sec.) key press of the REC button resets the unit (I think) and it's good to go.I had been looking for something that would work with my SnapStream BTV. This does not. It doesn't need to. As long as you're willing to press "start" and "stop" (or have a large (eg 60GB) file, it works REALLY well. A little post recording editing (Wondershare !) and I'm done, and frankly it's as easy to edit a 8Gb file as it is a 50Gb file. I'f I did have a DVR, recording a 3am movie would be a pain -- the BOX cannot record the 3am movie (automatically) as there's no timer/tuner control, but I use the Recorder function of the DTV and the PLAY to off-load onto the Box and my HD.HD quality recording for under $100-- Wow !Finally, I work with Technology for a major tech company (not the BOX manufacturer ! :-) )So I understand (and appreciate) good documentation, GREAT support and especially a well made product.This is a lengthy review and hopefully useful as I am a happy customer.If you're looking for a solution to offload your DVR, this is it !Added 1 month later...Still working well but I am still only able to use the 2Tb powered drive. Going on the road and I'd like to take something smaller. Picked up an 128Gb Sd card and USB adapter, and it also has difficulty working, but...What I have found is:1. with the USB drive plugged in, unplug the power from the box.2. Holing down the Rec. button, plug the power back in and continue holding.3. After a short boot-up, the LED will switch to Green. keep holding until it goes Blue, then release.I will the unit did a better job working with USB drives, and I haven't tested my other drives, but I thought I'd add this as it seems to fix my problem and I know others are having it as well. Good luck.I bought this device mainly in order to capture programmes saved on the hard disk of a Sky box. These saved programmes have accumulated and are occupying valuable disk space. This device enables me to copy the programmes as mp4 files to a USB memory stick and thence copy to a computer where they can be further saved to the computer hard drive or SD cards or wherever. SD cards are very compact and handy portable devices, and modern smart TVs can read them.This device works as it says and does all this. The accompanying software is simple and easy to use. The trimming feature is useful to remove unwanted bits from the beginning or the end of the files. Don't be put off by the fact that the device records programmes onto the memory stick as separate files of approx size each 2 Gb (about 25 min duration). The software combines these into a single file and is a doddle to use.The instructions could do with being a little more detailed. I had some difficulty coaxing this device into life on the first use, but after that it has been just fine. Warning: if you save to standard SDHC cards, which use FAT32 format, the maximum file size is 4 GB, though the total capacity of the card can be up to 32 GB. Most read devices skip from one file to the next. If you want to save larger files you will need to look to larger-capacity cards such as SDXC, subject to compatibility with equipment.Difficult to Connect and lock on to a signal (the manufacturer must be aware of this because they send you an email shortly after buying the product explaining what to do in the event that it failed to work! I took their advice - it still didn't work. This my second purchase of this product, the former being returned for the same reason. Will I be tempted a third time. I DON'T THINK SO! Buyer beware.Using this device with a splitter cable does just what I wanted it for.Can't fault the device at all.Now I wished I had purchased the HDML - Cloner - Box - Pro.But that's hindsight. Amazon UK do not have it now!Quick reply to emails from the Cloner help desk.Follow up on 18th. Jan 2017.An email to [email protected], from me, regards the "Pro"version being no longer available on Amazon UK resulted in an emailback to me saying that there was now a few available on Amazon UK.How is that for brilliant customer service.Significant feedback loop problems audio and visual when trying to interface with and record to, my PC. HD.Comparisons were made with another product which performed perfectly with the same configuration.I was really looking for unit with a good timer for recording videos unattended. I shall continue my search.Works reliably. Helpful reply by seller to an email query from me.