{rw_text}Software reviewed in this article:

Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro

Version reviewed:

v1.0.1.1

Software description as per the developer:

Foxreal YouTube FLV Downloader Pro is an all-in-one YouTube downloader and FLV converter software, which is powerful to download and convert YouTube FLV video or other Internet videos from YouTube, Google, MSN, Facebook, Veoh, Boxee, NBA, ABC, CBS, Fox and more video-sharing websites with fast downloading and conversion speed.

The web video downloader can detect/capture Internet videos automatically when you are viewing the online video, and convert YouTube FLV to 3GP, MP4, AVI, MOV, VOB, MPEG, MPG, DVD, MKV, VFW, ASF, SWF and more for playback on iPod Touch 4, iPad, iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Galaxy S, Motorola Droid X, Droid 2, BlackBerry PlayBook, BlackBerry Torch 9800, HTC EVO 4G, Nexus S, HTC Desire HD, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Creative Zen, Windows Phone 7 and other media devices.

In addition, it is also a good video converter allowing you to convert any video file from your PC to another popular video/audio formats without quality loss. Meanwhile, you can use the UPnP function to watch your video on your UPnP supported devices or share videos with other UPnP-clients.

Download size:

19.6 MB

Supported OS:

Windows 2000 and higher

Price:

$28 (USD)

{/rw_text} –>

{rw_good}

• Straightforward and easy to use.
• Has the ability to download streaming videos and convert videos.
• Streaming video feature supports many websites, including but not limited to Youtube and Hulu.
• Video converter supports many input formats, and output formats/profiles.
  • Has particularly good support for electronic devices, specially smartphones.
• Video converter can double as a standalone converter.
• Video converter can do SD and HD conversions.
• Supports UPnP.
• Can make use of multi-cores (if applicable).

{/rw_good} –>

{rw_bad}

• No option to automatically shutdown computer after downloading/converting has finished.
• Video converter is slow.
• Navigating through the output video formats/profiles can be a little quirky at times.
• Doesn’t give users the option to limit usage of cores to X number.

{/rw_bad} –>

{rw_score}
{for=”Ease of Use” value=”8″}Some people may find the browser-based video downloader to be a bit annoying, navigating through the output video formats/profiles list can be a bit quirky at time, there is no option to automatically shutdown the computer after download/converting, but overall very easy to use, and users have no option to limit CPU core usage to only a select number of cores.
{/for}
{for=”Performance” value=”7″}Downloads videos well, and converts them with good quality. However, the video converter is slow.
{/for}
{for=”Usefulness” value=”8″}I can see a good number of people finding this program useful.
{/for}
{for=”Price” value=”8″}Asking $28 for a Pro version after offering a freeware version is very fair in my opinion.
{/for}
{for=”Final Score” value=”7″}
{/for}
{/rw_score} –>

{rw_verdict}[tup]
{/rw_verdict} –>

This article is part of the new Rapid Reviews section on dotTech; thus it has no “full review”. (Please visit the announcement on Rapid Reviews to learn more about what Rapid Reviews are.) If you want, however, you can read dotTech’s review on Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader, the freeware version of Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro.

(NOTE: Even though there is no “full review”, all software featured in Rapid Reviews are still held to dotTech standards, and are evaluated fully and graded fairly. And, Rapid Reviews still have the program overview, the good and the bad, ratings, quick verdict, free alternatives, and final verdict; Rapid Reviews just have no full review section. dotTech fully stands by all verdicts handed out in Rapid Reviews, just as we back all our verdicts on full Shareware Reviews.)

This review was conducted on a laptop running Windows 7 Professional 32-bit. The specs of the laptop are as follows: 3GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 2600 512MB graphics card, and an Intel T8300 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

{rw_freea}

Streaming video downloaders and converters

Freemake Video Converter/Video Downloader

Tubemaster++

Streaming video converters

Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader (Freeware version of Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro – can only download, not convert, videos nor does it support UPnP.)

VideoCacheView

WebVideoCap

Video converters

{/rw_freea} –>

{rw_verdict2}I really like Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro’s streaming video downloading capabilities; many websites are supported and performance in regards to downloading streaming videos is great. The video converting features, however, I do not like so much. It isn’t that Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro converts videos with bad quality or doesn’t support a lot of input formats or doesn’t have a lot of output formats/profiles; it converts with good quality, has many input formats, and it actually has one of the most comprehensive output selections list I have found yet, particularly in regards to smartphones. Rather, the issue I have with Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro’s video converter is that it is slow. So, that brings me to my rating and recommendation. First of all, Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro definitely is a good program, so I give it a thumbs up. Recommending Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro, however, is a different matter. See the thing is Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader is freeware and has the streaming video downloading capabilities of Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro; regardless of if you purchase Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro or not, you can use Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader to download streaming videos. So the question isn’t “is Foxreal Youtube FLV Downloader Pro worth $28?”; but rather the question is “are the video converting and UPnP features worth $28?” On a personal level, until the speed of the converter is improved, I would say no; especially considering there are great freeware video converters out there. However, you may find that you have the patience to deal with the video converter and you need the UPnP functionality; in that case you may find $28 is well worth your money. In the end, it is your decision to make.
{/rw_verdict2} –>