MovieSherlock for Mac
$9.99Editors' Review
With MovieSherlock for Mac, you can search for videos and audio content online and download it without the need to open a Web browser. It's a helpful albeit not free application.
Pros
Easy and intuitive: MovieSherlock for Mac lets you download HD and HQ YouTube videos with just a few clicks through its clean, accessible main window. Results are displayed with their respective thumbnails and duration information. You can also download YouTube videos via Safari by just clicking on the integrated button on the browser.
Instant conversion: You can quickly convert FLV or MP4 Web videos into the native Mac OS format. This application does a good job of making sure that the videos you download can be played on your Mac, so that you don't have to worry about format compatibility issues.
Automatic adding to iTunes: Your downloaded videos or MP3s can be automatically exported to your iTunes library.
Cons
No sorting capabilities or "download all" option: You can't select multiple downloads and start them at once. Also, you cannot sort results; the results are displayed just according to your search keyword, regardless of their sources or formats.
Limited options in the Lite version: This app is not free. It does come with a free trial, but you are only allowed to download three files. When there are so many free video downloading extensions for Web browsers, paying $9.99 for MovieSherlock's Lite version might seem too much as you are limited to downloading only from YouTube and not in full HD quality. If you want to download from other popular video sharing Web sites such as Vimeo, Dailymotion and VEVO, then you'll have to go for the Pro version, which costs $39.99. In addition, only the Pro version gives you the option for video capturing.
Bottom Line
MovieSherlock for Mac does what it promises almost flawlessly and comes with a useful format conversion capability. That said, if you're not satisfied with the free downloading applications you've tried so far, you may want to give this one a go.
Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of MovieSherlock for Mac 5.3.5.
