GameBridge TV Review

Adaptec has released a new gadget for gamers called GameBridge. Two flavors are available: GameBridge and GameBridge TV. What GameBridge does is allow gamers to play their favorite games on the PC and record or take snapshots of their accomplishments. GameBridge TV does this and allows for you to watch and record tv programs and even set a timer.

The GameBridge allows you to plenty of things. You can capture some crazy stuff you did in a game or capturing a high score to show friends or post online. You can also take screen captures and turn them into an avatar or a signature banner for forums. The main problem is that you won't want to use just for playing on a computer like you would a HD VGA adapter since it doesn't support component inputs. In that sense, the $69.99 for the GameBridge is probably not worth it. The GameBridge TV is $100 and is nice for those without any recording devices. It's meant to connect directly from your cable connection and record to your hard drive. There is even an included remote control for changing channels and to control the recording. What I was able to do is take a digital converter box and use the "to tv" output since I was using component cables to connect to the tv. By doing it this way I obviously got the digital cable channels that I won't get by going directly through the wall connection. The only problem with this route is that you have to control the channel through the converter box to change channels, but I didn't care. In addition to recording tv, there are also composite inputs (and S-Video) to use and transfer other video from things like an old camcorder.

Recording quality is pretty nice, but again component would've been a nice support. Snapshots aren't that good for action shots because of blurred movements. Being able to set a timer really makes the tv version stand out as I wasn't expecting it. And for those that don't like a lot of things cluttering up their space, the size of GameBridge is incredibly small. A carrying pouch is even included making it very portable to be able to take any where.

The GameBridge itself may not be worth to a lot of people. If it also acted as an HD VGA adapter it would've been a lot more useful. As it is, playing games on the PC through this doesn't give the best results. It is cool to be able to record game footage, however. GameBridge TV provides some extra value even if it is more expensive. So if you are interested in the GameBridge, the GameBridge TV might be a great choice.