TubeBox

Pros

• Small, compact program
• Quickly downloads and converts HD video
• Supports many different streaming sites
• App acts as a browser

Cons

• Not as feature-rich as larger programs
• Most features can also be accomplished via browser sites

TubeBox is a light and easy-to-use program that downloads web videos from many popular sites and allows you to convert them to various formats for your own playback.

How TubeBox Works

There used to be a big problem with watching videos online. If you wanted to record a streaming video, you basically had to sacrifice your time and the quality of the video by capturing everything with a screen recorder. It did not take developers long to create software that would automatically download the source material for you, and soon after that, programs emerged that would also convert the content. So, a program like TubeBox is not new and exciting; it is just one of the newer additions out there. It works by allowing you to enter the URL of a video and clicking the download options, or searching the app. It’s pretty much as simple as that.

TubeBox is similar to other programs out there such as the YTD downloader and even sites like KeepVid and Keep-Tube. Where it differs is basically in its size. As a full-size program with a variety of features, the total size is only 681 KB, and what’s even better is that it's not resource-heavy whatsoever. Even if you have an old, dusty, slow PC, you can download and convert all day without your hardware heating up or your memory lagging down.

Support for TubeBox includes site like: YouTube, Dailymotion, Yahoo! Video, CollegeHumor, Metacafe, SoundCloud, and more.

Essential TubeBox Features

TubeBox also earns a few solid points for designing a new interface with their newer version, 5.0.1 (at the date of the review). This allows for a cleaner, quicker job at downloading videos. You can simply enter the URL into the bar at the top of the screen and get busy downloading. But the other new features are what makes TubeBox even cooler. Instead of fighting off those 240 and 480p videos, you can select the “HD Only” option and receive only 720 or 1080p videos. You can also select the “3D Only” option if you want 3D Videos.

There's now a better search feature added to TubeBox, so you’re not only at the mercy of adding URLs. With the search box, you don’t have to be on YouTube with your browser while the application is running in the background. You can do it all from the app. You can search every site there's support for, so it’s a great time-saving tool.

The “Download,” “MP3” and “Convert” buttons are all in the same place at the bottom of the screen, so you can keep track of everything you’re doing. You can also keep better track of everything you've downloaded with the convenient folder. Downloading using sites makes it easy for files to get lost or even overwritten. TubeBox prevents this by cataloging downloads independently.

Pros

• Small, compact program
• Quickly downloads and converts HD video
• Supports many different streaming sites
• App acts as a browser

Cons

• Not as feature-rich as larger programs
• Most features can also be accomplished via browser sites