Adaptec GameBridge 1400 Review

Ever wanted an easy way to take screenshots or record videos of your favorite games? There are a few ways to do it, but the hardware required usually costs a lot and the software isn’t the most stable you’ll find. Enter the Adaptec GameBridge 1400, a tiny little device that lets you hook any game console into your computer. It isn’t perfect, but for the performance you’ll get and the price you’ll pay, it is worth checking out.

Pros: Easy, fast setup; small size; no external power supply needed; takes nice screens and video for the price (but you get what you pay for)

Cons: Screens and video won’t win any quality awards; can’t go high def

Setup

The Adaptec GameBridge 1400 is a little USB 2.0 device that allows you to plug any game console into your computer using composite (Red,White,Yellow) cables. The credit card sized unit has an output which goes to your computer and an input where you can plug in the game console of your choice with composite and/or S-Video. Setting it up is as easy as inserting the setup CD into your computer and following the onscreen instructions. I was up and playing within 5 minutes of opening the package. The software that comes with the GameBridge is easy to use and has been nice and stable in my tests. You can play games in a windowed mode or you can stretch it to full screen and you can take screenshots and start recording with just a couple clicks of your mouse. You can also record a VCD of your video from within the software as well. You’ll have to have a different video editing program if you want to edit it in any way, though.

See pictures of the GameBridge in our Adaptec GameBridge Gallery.

Performance

One thing that has to be said about the GameBridge is that it isn’t going to provide you with crystal clear screenshots and perfect videos. It can’t do it. But, if all you want it for is to show off your accomplishments with a screenshot or put a video up on YouTube, it is more than adequate. There are multiple video quality settings you can choose from, with the best looking pretty decent (but creating HUGE files!) and the lowest setting making nice bite sized videos that look ok. As long as you don’t try to stretch the videos or screens to fullscreen they look good enough.

Another thing that needs to be mentioned is that it can’t record any high definition stuff, but that is understandable since making HD stuff look good would require a lot more muscle than the tiny GameBridge could ever supply. You can still record Xbox 360 games by setting the system back to 480i mode and using the composite cables, but I’m not sure you’d really want to. Once you go HDTV, you’ll never want to go back.

Besides games, you can also use the GameBridge to copy VHS video onto your hard drive and then burn them to a VCD or DVD. Very handy.

Screenshot and Video Tests

YouTube doesn’t really do the videos justice. They look a LOT better on your hard drive or when you burn them to a CD. Keep that in mind when gauging the quality of these videos. This is more of a proof of concept than a display of visual quality. Here are some screens and videos I took with the GameBridge. You’ll have to excuse my performance in the games as I haven’t played them in many, many months. I’m much better at Marvel vs Capcom 2 than this.

• Test #1: Halo
• Test #2: Need for Speed Underground 2
• Test #3: Marvel vs. Capcom 2

You can also see some screenshots taken with the GameBridge as well as some pictures of the unit itself here Adaptec GameBridge Screenshot Gallery.

It must be noted that I didn’t really notice any kind of lag or delay while using the GameBridge to play games. I won’t say it is perfect or just as good as playing on a TV, because it isn’t, but I didn’t have any issues so you probably won’t either. Of course, your performance will vary depending on how good your computer is.

Bottom Line

Overall, the Adaptec GameBridge 1400 is a solid product that is worth having around if you are interested in taking screenshots or videos. Putting the videos up on YouTube murders the quality, but if you have other ways to use the videos the quality is pretty decent. It is very easy to use and the software is surprisingly stable and also easy to use, so you can’t really go wrong. The only way I would not recommend it is if you have to pay full price for it. The MSRP is around $75, but if you do some looking around you can find it for much, much less. I got mine from Outpost.com for $15, so check there and check PriceGrabber to find the best price. For so little cash you get an amazingly good value and I highly recommend it.

Also, keep in mind that this isn't an alternative to using a VDigi VD-Z3 or Neoya X2VGA+ because they do different things. The GameBridge lets you record screens and video to your computer's hard drive and the VD-Z3 and X2VGA+ let you connect your consoles to your monitor so you can use them in high definition. Big difference.