Adaptec Gamebridge 1400 (play console games on your PC!) - Now $10 at Fry's - review!

brianmoy

brianmoy

CAGiversary!
Feedback
311 (100%)
UPDATE: It looks as though these have dropped in price again. The 1400 model is now $9.90 and the 1410 model is now $19.90.


I picked one up so I will update!! See bottom of post
---

I saw this in today's Fry's ad:

Adaptec GameBridge 1400 - on sale for $14.99, (retail $69.99)
(Also of note is the GameBridge 1410 which includes a TV tuner and the coaxial cable, on sale for $24.99, retail $99.99)
Price may change after Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Also as Frys is a huge ass warehouse store (and it did not seem to be in the obvious places for me) the GameBridge at my store was located with the routers in the Upgrades section.

For product info, see the below links:

Press Release Kit from Adaptec
Datasheet for 1400 from Adaptec.com - Datasheet for 1410
Product page

Its an Adaptec Gamebridge adapter to play/record your console games in real time on your computer! Hooks up to your PC or notebook thru USB 2.0 with A/V inputs for your console (or other video source, like VHS, etc.), record your gameplay or VHS tapes to MPEG on your hard drive or to VCD if you have a CD burner. Says it will work with PS® 2, Xbox®, Xbox® 360, and GameCube (basically anything with an A/V plug). Graphic resolution is up to 1024 x768 32 bit. Includes CD-rom drivers, carrying bag, USB cable, 4in1 cable for RCA, S-Video, and audio.

Sale price is $14.99 which is amazing to me considering retail price is $69.99. The sale price is in store at Fry's and online at Outpost.com - link below.

4945601.box.GIF

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4945601

When you go to the page, it says, "add to cart & see special price", but it is $14.99. I'm not sure what shipping will come to. I'm going to pick it up instore tommorrow anyways.

--- The Review! ---​

Details on the 1400:

So anyways, I tested it with my GameCube as I already had it set up to my VIVO graphics card, which I was trying to play on my PC with that using VideoLAN, but that didn't really work out so good - so I really had no expectations for this. The package comes with the GameBridge adapter (which surprisingly is the size of a Zippo or Tic Tac box), 4in1 A/V cable - video (RCA), S-video, stereo audio, adapter to USB cable, drivers CD-rom, quick start guide, and a nice little black velvet drawstring carrying pouch. I followed the quick start guide, so setup was pretty basic and I had no problems with that. The software the program uses is InterVideo Home Theatre. So after restarting my PC, you open the Intervideo program when you want to do anything and its a pretty basic video capture program. Select "GameBridge" and go to settings - you can choose the video input source, composite or S-video. Then you can also select the record quality - good, better, or best. The "best" recording quality is MPEG-1, 16-bit stereo, 720x480, 29.97 frames/sec, 179 min record time. Someone else mentioned that the record quality is better on the 1410, but since I don't have one I can't comment on that.

The display is basically like TV controls. Double click the picture and you can play in full screen. In full screen there is a top and bottom taskbar that will autohide after 5 seconds (or you can set it for whatever you like in the config). And you can play it in a window, which I think is a nice feature that I could use to kill time when I'm waiting for a download or something. :) Also in the config (in the Start Menu) menu, you can select the video signal like PAL, etc. which is nice if you happen to have import consoles and an older TV that can't handle PAL video signals. You can also adjust brightness, contrast, hue and saturation.

I tried out Sonic DX on my PC which is a Athlon XP 1800 w/ 1.5GB RAM using S-video. And it worked really nice. The picture was clear and bright and in realtime with practically no lag. My PC isn't great for newer games, so I'm honestly used to lag/chopiness - but really the action was fast and in real time with occasionally a less than a second pause every so often - but not enough to really affect gameplay - still a lot better than I was expecting. Here's a screenshot I took using the software:

Surprised how clear it was.

0912010423.jpg


I also recorded 30 seconds of gameplay, however it seems the record quality is very pixelised (like an N64/SEGA CD game) and doens't look nearly as good as realtime. I would show it, but it is a 22mb file.

So Pluses:
  • Its only $14.99! (or $24.99 w/ TV tuner, etc.) Its $60 to $70 normally elsewhere, c'mon that's like $50 off!
  • Small, portable, needs no power supply
  • You can record gameplay - very cool
  • Picture quality is very good and in real time w/ practically no lag
  • You can actually play console games on your PC/Laptop!
  • Inputs to composite (RCA) and S-video
  • Play in borderless full screen or in window
  • includes cable hookups for RCA, stereo audio, and S-Video (1410 includes coaxial as well for TV)
And the minuses:
  • No component video, so no progressive scan
  • Recording quality isn't as good as real time playing
  • Not in high res
  • Company website isn't easy to navigate (lots of borken links)
  • Not like super high quality
  • Software is pretty basic
  • If you're looking to play in VGA, this isn't what you want - the lowest I've seen for a VGA box is $50 at Lik-Sang
For me, my main reason in getting this is just because I have 10 diff. consoles hooked up to 2 switchboxes in front of my TV and I'm running out of real estate! I was actually looking for a way to play console games on PC anyways and so far the lowest priced alternative I had seen was the Magic Box at like $50 I think. $15 beats the heck out of that! Plus the recording feature is just a bonus as I do have some VHS tapes of old TV shows I recorded that it would be cool to have on VCD to watch.
 
[quote name='neonglow']If you want a tv tuner for $10 more, you can pick up this model:
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4945691[/quote]

Well, I don't need the TV tuner. (I'd rather have the $10 :D) I've just got a mess of consoles in front of my TV - its like a jigsaw puzzle connecting like 10 different consoles at once to my TV using 2 switch boxes. If I get another switchbox I can move some of them up to the computer.
 
[quote name='Lou-Dawg']I'm interested...give me your review when you pick it up tomorrow.[/quote]

And yes - I'll definately update the OP with a review once I set it up. If its crap, believe me I will say so. But the tech reviews I looked up on Google, the reviews I saw all seemed to say how surprised they were with the product. And you can't beat the price for $15! Looking on Froogle, its still $60ish to $70ish elsewhere.
 
I bought the TV version last week from outpost.com. It would not work right on my pc, I had an obscure IRQ conflict that caused it to lock up whenever scanning TV channels. I sold it to a friend, it worked great on his pc - no lag, the TV tuner worked as advertised, and the capture/game function was pretty slick. We tried it with a PS2 and it looked great on a 17" monitor. The included software is a little cheezy, but it works.

Oh, be aware there is no free telephone support for this product even though they imply as much in the docs. Email support is available, but it's of the typically useless variety. I went back and forth with them for a couple of days and got nowhere. Just pray it works the first time out, and you be aight.
 
Interesting I might have to bite on that although I can't see why I need it. I figure it might come in handy oneday thou. Thanks OP.
 
I think I'll pick one up. I bought an external capture box for my PC about 2 years ago for 120$ and that was on massive clearance. It's firewire only though so I'm limited on what computers I can use it on and it has pretty much stopped responding anyway.

I don't really care about capturing my gameplay but capturing something off my DVR is always nice. I wonder what formats it outputs to... If it is proprietary I'm going to punch someone in the face.


FYI- shipping was 6.93 for ground or 7.20 for 2-day....
 
[quote name='kev'] I wonder what formats it outputs to... If it is proprietary I'm going to punch someone in the face.
[/quote]

Says to MPEG according to data sheet - if I'm hearing the question right.
 
[quote name='kev']I think I'll pick one up. I bought an external capture box for my PC about 2 years ago for 120$ and that was on massive clearance. It's firewire only though so I'm limited on what computers I can use it on and it has pretty much stopped responding anyway.

I don't really care about capturing my gameplay but capturing something off my DVR is always nice. I wonder what formats it outputs to... If it is proprietary I'm going to punch someone in the face.


FYI- shipping was 6.93 for ground or 7.20 for 2-day....[/quote]

According to the TeamXbox review, it records as MPEG1 (320x240), MPEG2 (480x320), and MPEG2 (720x480).
 
[quote name='FaLSe']Is there a version with component video input capabilities?[/QUOTE]

I went ahead and ordered one with the TV tuner. My wife has been wanting a TV tuner anyway. Thanks OP!
 
[quote name='FaLSe']Is there a version with component video input capabilities?[/QUOTE]
From the TeamXbox review listed above:
We have no complaints about the product’s performance; we love the GameBridge concept, but in the HD Era, a device that has no component video inputs and only captures images in standard definition with MPEG-2 encoding looks like it is coming late to the party.
 
...and I thought $55 was a good deal when I got this back in April...

I've been using this for a few months to hook up a PS2 to my laptop, and the experience has been more good than bad. First off, I haven't noticed any delays or lag when playing games (which so far have included Viewtiful Joe, Psi-Ops, and other action-intensive titles), as obviously that was my initial concern. In my experience, it feels like playing on a regular television, so zero response problems. Portability is also a huge plus, as the unit itself is about the size of maybe three stacked Playstation memory cards, which combined with the two cables simply doesn't take up much room. Since my only interest is in playing games, I haven't really done anything with the recording options, so I can't comment much there...

My main complaint is the software used to run all this. I've experienced issues with video scrambling out on occasion, which can be fixed by closing and restarting the program. Sound dropouts happen at times too, and the only solution I've found is to restart the computer. This could very well be due to conflicts with other software on my computer though, and to be fair, these problems only happen about 1/8 of the time, so it's frequent enough to be annoying but certainly isn't hindering. The presentation is sort of lame and could have used more tweaking and setup options, but once you put it in full-screen I suppose it really doesn't matter...

Overall, I'm not floored with the product, but it does work as advertised. I paid three times as much and think it was worth the price, so if you have any interest at all, I'd suggest picking one up. I've actually been bringing it to work lately, which really helps to pass the time when it's slow... =)
 
Picked the TV tuner one up. I saw this last week and thought about it...but at the price and for all that it does I'm giving it a shot. Thanks OP for the reminder.

EDIT: I also grabbed a Tekken T-Shirt and Enter the Matrix XBOX for $1.90 (figured it would be good trade in fodder for the current gamestop deal).
 
I got the TV tuner version (1410) two weeks ago for $24.99. Very compact and portable and works pretty well.

I haven't experienced the video scrambling problems that JJc14 mentioned, but I also haven't had much of a chance to really use it for more than 10 minutes. If mine does end up having that issue, it wouldn't really bother me because I got a great deal on it.
 
I have no idea how to use TV Tuner's so bare with me. I have Dish Network. I just put the coaxil cable into the tuner to get my TV through my computer?
 
No Mac support takes this from something that I would probably buy and never use to something that I won't buy. :)

Nice deal though if it's even halfway decent.
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Anyone know if you could hook up a tivo box to this and play the files and transfer them to a laptop?[/quote]

I do not own one (the capture part) yet so I cannot tell you for sure, but the TIVO does have the required output so this should be useable to record shows from the TIVO to a laptop.
 
This will NOT work with digital cable or satellite. It's an analog tuner only. You COULD plug the output from your digital box (svideo/composite only) and then watch through that, but you would have to change channels on the box, NOT on this unit's software.

This is an AWESOME price for this unit. There really is no lag compared to many other products. The software is pretty low end (and takes FOREVER to start up, even on a fast PC), but I've never had any issues with it on my desktops (I did try it on a work laptop when I was travelling and it blue screened whenever I tried to use it, but since it was a work machine I couldn't really fully troubleshoot it). I actually have ended up with 2, I paid full price for my first and got the second for around $40 AR as a cheapy video-in for portable use (to have in the toolbox).

And it is REALLY REALLY tiny. The remote the 1410 comes with is almost as big as the unit itself. Recording quality isn't spectacular but for this price you can't complain. It's a very cheap way to getting into video editing, since it does an adequate job and records MPEG-2 (if you get the 1410). It will take ANY S-video or Composite signal, not just a game system.

Wish I would've waited for that second one...!! (or the first, I can't believe a $100 tuner is going for $25..)
 
I have absolutely no use for this, but I'm tempted by the price and the fact that having a portable USB TV tuner sounds pretty interesting.
 
I couldn't resist...picked up the tuner model, a 360 battery recharge kit and crapload of some of the sub $5 items. Some decent stuff in there.
 
[quote name='xmrblondex']so the chances of this working on Mac OS X are slim to none, yes?
-xmrblondex[/quote]

None, according to what I've found online. I'm sure someone could write a plug-in for Quicktime or something, but as of right now, I can't find any software that would support this device on a Mac.
 
Just to make sure i understand if you use this to record off of your Tivo you would run your tivo outputs thru the box and then into computer right? Also it would record in real time, so an hour long show would take an hour to record.

Also how is the cheaper one different from the one with the TV tuner? What can you do with the TV tuner you can't do without it?
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Anyone know if you could hook up a tivo box to this and play the files and transfer them to a laptop?[/QUOTE]
if your tivo is a series 2 or newer (not directv) then all you have to do is go to tivo's website, enable transfers, force a daily call, download tivodesktop from tivo, and bam, you can transfer to your pc
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Just to make sure i understand if you use this to record off of your Tivo you would run your tivo outputs thru the box and then into computer right? Also it would record in real time, so an hour long show would take an hour to record.

Also how is the cheaper one different from the one with the TV tuner? What can you do with the TV tuner you can't do without it?[/quote]

Yes you just hook up the svideo or composite outputs to this device and press record. It will record in real time so it will take as long as the show is, minus any commercial skipping you do, to record.

As far as I see from reading the description the big additions for the tuner one are the tuner. The other thing I saw was you can start a recording from the remote which may be a bonus.
 
[quote name='ashram']if your tivo is a series 2 or newer (not directv) then all you have to do is go to tivo's website, enable transfers, force a daily call, download tivodesktop from tivo, and bam, you can transfer to your pc[/quote]

While it is true you can do this, I find that it is more of a hassle. You have to re-encode / decrypt it to use non TIVO partner DVD programs to record to DVD. You also have to transfer over USB 1.1 which, in my experience at least, ends up being roughly 1 to 2 times the length of the show. And I have friends that have had the TIVO crash doing this. So your mileage will vary.

I perfer to re-encode if I want to get a show off.

I have a All In Wonder for this purpose so far, but this will be nice to add to the laptop.
 
Yeah i can already hook my tivo up to my network but its a pain for certain stuff. Re-encrypting the files is a pain for when I want to burn data discs.
 
[quote name='WarlordFDC']While it is true you can do this, I find that it is more of a hassle. You have to re-encode / decrypt it to use non TIVO partner DVD programs to record to DVD. You also have to transfer over USB 1.1 which, in my experience at least, ends up being roughly 1 to 2 times the length of the show. And I have friends that have had the TIVO crash doing this. So your mileage will vary.

I perfer to re-encode if I want to get a show off.

I have a All In Wonder for this purpose so far, but this will be nice to add to the laptop.[/QUOTE]

series 2 should be running over usb 2, directv tivo's over usb1, but since you have to hack it..... it can be upgraded to usb2....

i have 1 directv tivo and 1 series 2 transfering to each other and to pc without any issues at all.... but this is a discussion for another thread.
 
[quote name='ashram']series 2 should be running over usb 2, directv tivo's over usb1, but since you have to hack it..... it can be upgraded to usb2....

i have 1 directv tivo and 1 series 2 transfering to each other and to pc without any issues at all.... but this is a discussion for another thread.[/quote]
Technically the hardware is 2.0, but it looks like the speeds are still 1.1.

http://forums.tivo.com/pe/action/forums/displaysinglethread?rootPostID=10144954

The posts are a little old but that is the experience I have been seeing as well.

-- EDIT --
I should point out that I have not tried to transfer over USB for at least 6 months after the slow transfers my first time. Maybe they have updated since I tried last, but I had found other posts similar to this in the past that led me to believe, apparently incorrectly, that the hardware was USB 1.1.

Sorry for the bad info and thanks for the correction ashram.
 
I know NOTHING about TV tuners, so what's the difference (aside from price) between the two versions?

Like gofishn, I basically have no use for this, but I still want it. :D
 
Sounds great. I've been meaning to use this to record myself playing games for video reviews on my blog. I'll be buying the $14.99 since I'm a Cheap Ass Gamer :p.
 
[quote name='Z-Saber']I know NOTHING about TV tuners, so what's the difference (aside from price) between the two versions?

Like gofishn, I basically have no use for this, but I still want it. :D[/QUOTE]

The $15 one only has a video input (for composite or s-video). The $25 one adds a coax hookup and a tv-tuner.
 
I bought it for $18 at Fry's a few weeks ago. It's not bad, but I was expecting more. There is some barely noticeable lag, but it was fine for most games, just don't play any games that require precise timing. My complaint with this Gamebridge is that 60fps games run like 25fps games, that's how fast this adapter can capture video. Playing Burnout Revenge on the XBOX with this was not a pretty sight at all.

It's useful if you want to use your laptop to play console games and don't want to buy a TV. I wouldn't play any 60fps or fast-paced games on it, it really ruins the experience. RPGS would be fine though.
 
Supposedly the 1400 (no tuner) only records MPEG-1, the 1410 (with tuner) records MPEG-2 (much better quality, required for DVD). So it's not just a "tuner/no tuner" difference...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top