When you first start the application you will notice that the interface can be divided into three modules. A maximum of two sections can be retracted to save screen estate. The left segment displays the program’s core features. Available are the following options:

• DVD Ripper – Copy movie DVDs to your computer
• Universal Converter – Convert video files
• Streaming – Capture videos from websites and applications
• Media Center – Displays video files, synchronization with devices, media player

The middle section changes depending on the application selected by the user, the right displays a media player, a playlist of recent video files and options to browse, sort or search the media collection.

DVD Ripper

When you select the DVD ripper app from the menu you are asked to insert a video DVD into the computer’s DVD drive. A convert menu is displayed here as well to select an output video and audio format for the DVD movie. Only some of the available conversion profiles are displayed directly. A click on the arrow at the end of the line opens advanced conversion options.

Here it is now possible to select the output audio and video format from a wide variety of types. A click on video for instance displays the formats that Audials Moviebox 9 supports, profiles for specific devices and an option to create a custom conversion profile. Supported are Android, Apple, Windows Phone 7 and Nokia devices, gaming consoles and many other devices. And if a device is not supported outright, you can create a profile for that particular device.

The very same options are available when the audio output format is selected. These conversion options are available in all Moviebox modules.

DVDs without copy protection are directly copied, converted and saved on the computer. Protected DVDs are played back in fullscreen and recorded by the application to comply with local laws. This process takes considerably longer as the movie plays back in realtime. You also need to make sure that you do not use the computer during the recording to avoid breaking it.

Converter

The media converter supports audio and video files. You can drag and drop files into the interface to populate the list of files that you want converted, use the file browser to select them or use the search to do the same.

You can play video or audio files that you have added to the conversion queue. The conversion options are available here as well. You can still select an existing profile to convert your media files to, or create a custom profile to suite your particular requirements.

The converter can search for covers, ID3 tags and lyrics automatically and add those to the program’s meta data if that is supported by the output file.

The program is fast when it comes to conversions. Even large files (600+ Megabytes) or files with a long playing time are converted in a matter of minutes. This may vary depending on the PC the program is running on and the output formats and quality selected.

Streaming

The streaming module can be used to capture audio and video streams from websites and applications. A click on the video recording button starts the scanning of the network stream for media files. You have the option to save videos manually or use the automatic save option to store all media files that you open on websites or in applications automatically. You can furthermore use the conversion options to convert the downloaded media files directly to appropriate formats.

A test on popular video hosting sites such as YouTube, Gametrailers and Microsoft properties was positive. The program catches the media files when they are played in the browser or in another application and displays them in the interface.

Moviebox either downloads the streams directly to the computer, or records what is shown on the screen. That’s handy if you need to download a movie from a site where the stream cannot be downloaded directly. A test on the popular Hulu website was successful because of this as well.

It may happen that the video that you want to download is not recognized by the application. You can then switch to manual mode where you define an area on your screen that you want to record.

Media Center

The media center offers two options. It for one allows you to manage your media collection which includes playing, sorting and even deleting files. The second option can be used to import or export media files to devices or locations. It is here for instance possible to export new media directly to iTunes, or import new media files from a smartphone.

Additional options include burning media to disc, creating ringtones, exporting it to a specific folder or to cloud storage providers. The program supports eSnips, Strato and T-Online as well as the WebDAV format (so that popular providers like SkyDrive or Amazon Cloud are supported as well).

Audials Moviebox 9 Verdict

Audials Moviebox 9 is a versatile tool for users who work with videos, movies and DVDs regularly. The program’s easy to use despite the functionality that it provides. Some users may say that other programs are more efficient when it comes to copying protected DVDs. That may be the case, but they are not really an option if you are living in a country where it is not allowed to bypass copy protections.

What I personally like about the program are the little things that make life more comfortable. The option to automatically download streaming media, that your custom profile is available in all program modules and that you can import or export media effortlessly.

Giveaway

Audials sponsored 20 licenses of Audials Moviebox 9 for the giveaway. If you are a Facebook user you could give them a like for that.

You will be included in the drawing when you leave a comment below. Make sure you use a working email address so that I can contact you in case you have won one of the licenses.

Please note that video capturing is only available in recent beta versions of the software. The latest beta version at the time of writing is MSI Afterburner 2.2 Beta 5. You can download the application from the official download page.

The video capture settings are available in the properties, which you can access after installation and startup. A click on the Settings button in the main application interface opens the properties window. Use the right arrow at the top to locate the Video Capture tab and click on it.

Here you define the global video capturing hotkey, the video format, quality, frame rate and the video output folder. Suggested settings are MJPG compression with a 100% quality setting, full frame size and a framerate of 25 or 30. You may need to experiment with the settings depending on the performance of your computer system and the screen resolution. Remember that you not only have to capture the video but to play as well.

Audio is automatically captured. Users who do not want that can disable audio capturing in the same configuration menu.

Make sure you define a global hotkey that is not registered by the programs that you are using. It can happen otherwise that the hotkey may not work or that it may trigger program functionality as well.

The hotkey will start and stop the video recording in games. A recording session is indicated with a small, barely visible circle in the upper left corner of the screen. This circle will not be on the resulting video. You may need to test a few configurations to find the best suitable settings for your computer system.

I have created a small Counter Strike Source video to demonstrate the recording capabilities.

Please note that this is not the high quality version of the video. You need to visit YouTube and select the highest resolution there to see it.

The size of the video depends largely on the screen resolution, compression and quality setting. The 3.25 minute test video occupied nearly 1.5 Gigabytes of space on the computer’s hard drive. This size can be reduced significantly by reducing the quality level or the video resolution (either before or after the capture). For demonstration purposes, everything was left untouched.

The video capturing capabilities of MSI Afterburner are on pair with those of Fraps. Users who are looking for a free Fraps alternative should take a closer look at MSI Afterburner, as it offers nearly everything that Fraps offers. Nearly? The program does not support external video compression codecs.

Cautious users may want to wait until the version is out of beta before they install and use it. I did not experience any problems or issues running it, but that again may depend on the PC system.

Amazon.com is offering a video streaming service for more than 40000 videos on their website. Users can watch the first two minutes of the videos without charge and have to pay to rent the movie 24 hours or to buy it. Both alternatives allow the user to watch the video right away on the Amazon website. Amazon uses Adobe Flash to transfer the movie to the user. The interesting aspect of the Amazon video streaming service according to Reuters is that they start streaming the entire movie even if the user is only watching previewing it.

The movie is stopped after playing for two minutes and a user who wants to watch the full movie would either have to rent or but it online. The streaming software on the other hand should be able to continue recording the movie because it does not receive the stop signal from the Adobe Flash server.

This would effectively mean that everyone would be able to download all movies that are offered for streaming on Amazon providing that they have access to the correct software. The software mentioned in the article is the commercial multimedia stream catcher Replay Media Catcher which can be tested before purchase.

Reuters mentioned that the trial version was able to download the movies from Amazon. A local test however did not have the same results. This could have several reasons. Reuters did only mention that the software was able to record the movie stream but they did not mention if any other applications or settings were necessary for it to succeed.

It could also mean that Amazon was able to close the security hole by adding another verification. Lastly it could also mean that the service is not available to customers from outside the United States. It would be interesting if any of you would be able to download an entire movie from Amazon just by using the Replay Media Catcher software or a similar product. Let me know if it works for you.