Castrade's Game Box lets your game consoles talk VGA, sweet nothings to your computer monitor

If you have HDMI out on your game consoles and HDMI in on your computer monitor you can pretty much stop reading. If, however, you're still stuck in the analog realm, check out Castrade's upcoming CG-USC01HD-PLUS Game Box. It sports composite, S-video, and component inputs, porting everything over to VGA at resolutions ranging from 800 × 600 at 75Hz all the way up to 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz. But, with maximum input resolutions of 1080i or 720p, true 1080p to your display is right out. DVI output would also have been nice, but there are adapters for that, and since the box sports a VGA pass-through you can use that same monitor for PC gaming, too -- you know, in case you start to miss patches and pesky DRM and such. The Box ships in Japan on May 27 for ¥10,000, which equates to about $100 here. Just like that white PS3 in the background, though, there's no word of an official US release.

[Via AV Watch]

[Jonathan @ May 22nd 2009 9:01AM]

I've been using my 360 on my Dell monitor for 2 years now with the VGA adapter with my computer in the other slot, switching modes with a button on the monitor. So, no thanks, I'm sure this costs more too.

[Maestro @ May 22nd 2009 9:07AM]

LoL...I was about to post the same thing...works great.

[evan.zelkowitz @ May 22nd 2009 11:05AM]

I would think it may upconvert a little bit, but if your looking to do dreamcast, do yourself a favor and get the actual dreamcast vga box. There are a couple shops online that sell them and the output quality is fantastic. The dreamcast actually has the pinouts to do native vga so its not upconverted or anything, I dont remmember the output resolution but its tons better than the svideo or composite.

[evan.zelkowitz @ May 22nd 2009 11:06AM]

whoops, that was supposed to go to the comment below this one

[pika2000 @ May 22nd 2009 9:03AM]

Will it upconvert older consoles output (like Dreamcast, Gamcube, PS2, etc)?

[DR House @ May 23rd 2009 12:20AM]

I think yes but they gonna look ugly just like the HD PVR
HD PVR only record files to the same input feed for example feeding it 480i videos will give you a 480i video files which looks so ugly when you play them back on PC (i wish if there was 480p option that you can use with 480i input feed meh)

anyone know if there is away to change HD PVR file option? its like no matter what you cant save it as other than what you feed it

[ZeroCorpse @ May 23rd 2009 9:15PM]

Kinda dumb, unless this is 14 years ago and the Dreamcast isn't out yet (the Dreamcast had plenty of VGA adapters available to play on a PC monitor). I would have loved something like this back in the old days, but right now? What the hell would you use it for? PS3 and Xbox 360 use HDMI and (via cheap adapters) DVI and VGA. The Wii has component at least, and I'm sure there are VGA adapters out there for it. Am I supposed to dig out my TurboDuo and play some Keith Courage on a VGA display?

Seriously.. Anything that could really use this is either so out-of-date that it would look like crap on a VGA monitor, or modern enough that a digital alternative would be better.

I suppose if you were jonesing to connect a SNES or VCR to a VGA monitor, this would be awesome. Personally, I haven't used VGA *at all* in the past couple years; It's either HDMI or DVI around here.

[fluxusfuxus @ May 22nd 2009 9:12AM]

What does it do with your genitals, afterwards.

[Jeff @ May 22nd 2009 9:40AM]

Ask Lorena Bobbit

[egress63 @ May 22nd 2009 10:02AM]

Was thinking the exact same thing. I am guessing the target audience are not be biological punners.

[InfinityPlusOne @ May 22nd 2009 3:05PM]

What an awful name for a company.

[trevor @ May 22nd 2009 9:12AM]

so when is someone gonna make a component/HDMI input adapter for laptops? you got this beautiful 1080p screen and they're tryna tell me all i can use is an S-Video or composite tuner?? kick ROCKS.

[Kieran @ May 22nd 2009 9:26AM]

You can't input to a laptop monitor, as far as I know no laptops with this functionality have actually been produced. The s-video connection you refer to is an output.

[trevor @ May 22nd 2009 10:02AM]

nope, i got an ATI TV Wonder. it does S-Video and composite input. used to play my Wii on my laptop screen all the time. no lag or anything but now i got a PS3 too so id rather have some hi-def input. been looking all over the internet like a mission but have yet to find one.

-so here's a challenge. if component/hdmi input adapters (thru usb or expresscard... for laptops) exist and anyone can find one and show me a purchase link ill paypal them 10 bucks. no lie. (yes its been bothering me that much)-

[Kieran @ May 22nd 2009 10:43AM]

[Reposting due to a shitty comment system.]

Sorry, I thought you meant you wanted something integrated into the laptop. Any USB capture card designed for a desktop pc would also work on a laptop, though when I looekd a while back I could find no HD one. I presumed this was something to do with the bandwidth/speed of USB2.0 as I found plenty of PCIe ones. If express card can handle it then I'd be surprised if a HD capture card didn't already exist.

[Pretend Geek @ May 22nd 2009 1:09PM]

I think the Hauppauge 1219 hd-pvr may do what you want. Where is my money?

[DR House @ May 22nd 2009 8:10PM]

The HD PVR is great to record on laptop/desktop and play on HDTV (Yes you can do both in the same time)

But if you wanna play with the laptop/desktop screen you basically cant, there is 1 whole second of lag (Make racing/FPS/action/etc games unplayable) but if you play RPG Games you might get away with it, and no its not PC related that lag is always there no matter how strong is your PC (Which is sad ;( if there was such a machine with no lag i would buy it) i got the HD PVR is super nice for recording HD

[DR House @ May 22nd 2009 8:21PM]

Just to make it clear that if you were using desktop LCD with 2 VGA/DVI inputs you can can capture on one and play with the other VGA through component to vga converter with no lag at all then you can check your records when you switch the screen with LCD button or you can use 2 LCDS in the same time XD

But for laptop you can do that unless a new laptop gets released with VGA in and screen switch option lol

[trevor @ May 22nd 2009 10:25PM]

DAMN that thing's expensive... and jeez. that one second lag won't do me any good... so i still gotta hold off till they perfect this kind of thing. but the deal was just to find an input so i guess you still win pretend geek. whats your paypal email address?

[Shinigami @ May 22nd 2009 9:24AM]

So to connect my PS2 to monitor I have to pay the same amount of money that I paid for PS2??
Still waiting for a cable that can connect PS2 to VGA and costs $20 or less. But I guess I'm out of luck...

[jonac13 @ May 22nd 2009 9:39AM]

I had something that looks identical to this box, only it was black and had a different brand name. Clearly it's an older version, as the greatest resolution it outputs at is 1440x900. But in the time that I had it, as a college student with no television, I was pretty satisfied using it. There were some weird contrast issues, but I'm not sure if that was more the fault of my budget monitor or the product similar to this one. It scaled to monitor resolutions by stretching the pixels, not by lopping any off, if I remember correctly.

[Alan in Belfast @ May 22nd 2009 9:39AM]

Why is this news on Engadget? These devices - and in particular, this very one, only in black with a different logo - have been around and on sale for years.

[jonac13 @ May 22nd 2009 9:50AM]

In fact, I just found the box that I previously mentioned. Clearly it was made from the same molds, as it looks identical.

http://www.pricebat.ca/Kworld-Tvbox-1440-External-TV-Tuner-Box-1440X900-NTSC-Composite-S-VIDEO-Component.p_115110/

[Cheng @ May 22nd 2009 10:47AM]

I guess the news here is that this new box does 1080p.

[ZaxCG2 @ May 22nd 2009 9:45AM]

Wat?
At that price I'd rather find a monitor with multiple inputs... whats that called? Oh yeah, a TV.

[pika2000 @ May 22nd 2009 10:04AM]

An HDTV for $100? Besides, what if one already have a perfectly good monitor?

[goten75 @ May 22nd 2009 9:56AM]

so... whats up with that PS3 in the background?

[skyblaze @ May 22nd 2009 10:13AM]

its albino. dont stare, its rude.

[GingerFox @ May 22nd 2009 10:42AM]

They have then in Japan is it?

[Clay @ May 22nd 2009 10:09AM]

Who came up with that name? Seriously, who would buy a castration box?

[Kinger @ May 22nd 2009 10:04AM]

I was going to Post that too.
I can get 1080p from a $5 VGA cable for my 360 that I bought off ebay.

This seems like a very expensive solution.

[SteveJ @ May 22nd 2009 12:26PM]

Uh, obviously this isn't intended for the 360, it's intended for consoles that don't have a VGA out option.

[singj65 @ May 22nd 2009 10:34AM]

VGA analog is all but dead. I can't tell the difference in quality between VGA, DVI or HDMI. They all look good to me.
http://jamesmsingleton.com

[ZaxCG2 @ May 22nd 2009 11:12AM]

Same here. I think once you start getting into the super large screens there would be a difference... but I don't know very many super huge monitors that don't have multiple inputs.

[Kieran @ May 22nd 2009 10:41AM]

Sorry, I thought you meant you wanted something integrated into the laptop. Any USB capture card designed for a desktop pc would also work on a laptop, though when I looekd a while back I could find no HD one. I presumed this was something to do with the bandwidth/speed of USB2.0 as I found plenty of PCIe ones. If express card can handle it then I'd be surprised if a HD capture card didn't already exist.

[Kieran @ May 22nd 2009 10:43AM]

This was a reply to Trevor above. Fuck Engadget's broken comment system.

[tony @ May 22nd 2009 11:39AM]

I have one of these that outputs 1440x900 and it cost me £25 at Maplin. I've also got one that I bought in 2006 that has exactly the same shell as that and outputs up to 1280x1024, which cost me £25 at the time as well. I use them for running my PS3 into my 23" monitor, and I've got no complaints...

[spam_free @ May 22nd 2009 12:04PM]

Did they have to PAY someone to come up with that name?

[SteveJ @ May 22nd 2009 12:24PM]

What does it mean when it says under "Game Type", "Dedicated Wii / PS2, PS3 exclusive"? Does this thing only support those platforms? I want something like this, but for use with PS2, Gamecube, Nintendo64 and Wii.

[Pretend Geek @ May 22nd 2009 1:14PM]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?sku=A1749417&cs=04&c=us&l=en&dgc=SS&cid=27722&lid=628335

Hope posting links wont get me in trouble.

[Pretend Geek @ May 22nd 2009 1:22PM]

Thats for Trevor.

[trevor @ May 23rd 2009 7:09PM]

i owe you ten bucks dude, where you at?

(reply with your paypal email)

[Pretend Geek @ May 23rd 2009 9:02PM]

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Send it to them. Thanks.

[trevor @ May 23rd 2009 10:19PM]

k, done! ^_^

[peepeepants @ May 22nd 2009 4:04PM]

I'd hit it.

[Tom @ May 22nd 2009 5:20PM]

Wonder if this thing would let a Mac Mini talk speak to a Pioneer Elite 64" RPTV that has VGA input on it.

[tomokazu.osada @ May 22nd 2009 11:59PM]

it's about time......

tomo

[IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII (BarCODE) @ May 23rd 2009 2:57AM]

Nothing new, HDfury has been on the market for years now.

http://www.hdfury.com/