Officially Retiring My CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box

retire

I finally decided to upgrade my gear back in mid-November of last year and decided to get an AverMedia HD DVR from Amazon.

I received my new capture device in early December which up to that I was still using my old CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box. The capture box allows for an HD pass-through (up to 720p/1080i) but only captures in 480p. Even though it brings the name "CD-RKing" which we know is a hit or miss brand (usually a miss), it has served me well. It is by no means broken in any way but after trying the AverMedia HD DVR, the difference in quality was very VERY clear.

I have yet to fully explore all the features that the AverMedia HD DVR has to offer just because I was busy for the whole month of December and am still busy to this day but the tests are coming along slowly but surely. I've also been using the HD DVR for the most recent videos that are up on our youtube channel so head over there and subscribe.

I don't plan on getting rid of my Gaming Capture Box. I'll keep it around as a backup or bring it along if I need to capture some footage outside the comforts of my own home. To my old trusty capture box; you have served me well. For now, you may slumber until the need for you arises again.

 

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box:

 

AverMedia HD DVR:

 

retire

Quantity over quality? CD-RKing PS2 Controllers

CD-RKing PS2 Controller

For those familiar with CD-RKing then just from looking at the top picture alone you are already shaking your heads in disapproval. Shameless, I know. But hopefully these will last me for the next 2 or so months.

If you do not know what CD-RKing then let me give you a brief explanation. CD-RKing is a computer and gadget retail shop here in the Philippines whose products go for usually a third of the price compared to leading brands. The reasoning for such a big price difference is because for the most part they use, dare I say, "bootleg"-esque quality parts. That means that though the price is cheap, the quality is very iffy to say the least. The best way to describe it is "there is strength in numbers" which is exactly what I tried to do in my situation.

I just recently got a hold of a 2nd hand original PlayStation, known also the 1st PSX or the Fat PS1. The controllers that came with work but are very beat-up with a lot of bumps and scrapes on the plastic, as if it was thrown down a rocky hill. Though my issue isn't really about its looks but the main fact that the cord is really short and that these are the pre-Dual Shock controllers meaning no analog sticks. I busted out my PS2 controllers, 1 original and 1 class-A. However, my PS2 controllers seem to have a problem. Some buttons on my original PS2 controller don't register quickly and need a really hard press before they input. The class-A one auto mashes the cross button which makes playing most games completely unplayable.

CD-RKing PS2 Controller

I'm a little short on cash at the moment but I wanted to get at least 1 working controller for both my PS1 and PS2. At Datablitz, a brand new PS2 controller is going for around 750php I think which does fit in my budget albeit a little tight. However due to my trip to CD-RKing first to pick up a few blank CDs and DVDs, I asked if they were still selling PS2 controllers because I was curious about their price. The clerk told me that the PS2 controllers were going for 180php a pop. My mind went blank as I was caught off guard. I then asked to look at them and saw that they came in a few clear colors aside from the standard solid black. Me being a sucker for clear colored plastic caught a glimpse of a clear blue, it was different from DiEnd (my translucent blue PS3 controller) which had a matte finish and thus produced a foggy effect. These one were in smooth clear colored plastic, similar to the ones you find on action figures. Sure they crack easy but it's not like I throw of slam my controllers around. Honestly if it were not for the clear plastic, I wouldn't have cracked and impulse bought them. After I said that I would take the blue one, I thought to myself that this is a CD-RKing product and knowing the "quality" of their products, a single controller might not even last a full month. Knowing that it had such a low price, I opted to buy another just in case. Went with a color that I haven't seen on PS3 controller which is colorless clear plastic.

I truly am a sucker for clear plastic, I even thought of having my Wii's housing changed to a clear case more than once already. Aside from the tremendously low price, I do have another good thing to say about the CD-RKing PS2 controllers, the buttons do feel better than the ones you'd find on a class-A controller which had very hard buttons. I just hope that these controllers don't decide to break on me so soon.

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box (Addendum)

Narutard 1 After spending some time with the program that came with the capture device. I took a few screen shots, and recorded some videos using each of the formats available. Here are the results.

Video

For the videos I played Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 because that game can have so much stuff happening on screen at the same time while being so vibrant makes it fitting for a video test to see if the hardware or software chugs.

H264

 

iPod (High)

 

iPod (Low)

 

PSP (High)

 

PSP (Low)

 

DVD

 

MPEG1

 

MPEG2

 

VCD

 

Screenshots

As for the screenshots, I took some screens in UMvC3 and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2.

 

Note: The TV I was using during the capture of these videos and images was a Panasonic CRT TV. I have not yet confirmed if the image quality would look better if captured while playing on an HDTV.

 

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box. It works.

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box

If you live in the Philippines, just from seeing “CD-RKing” in the title is enough to dishearten you away from this post but fear not for I actually have a lot of good things to say about this particular product.

We here at TMG are trying to do live streams of our video game antics and aside from the consoles and video games, broadcasting equipment is quite an investment in itself. Some of us have gone the cheap method by using those USB TV capture ‘sticks’ an to be honest, though they work, these are not very good. With most quality capture devices ranging from 100-200+ US Dollars, it can be hard to save up.

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box

I have had my eye on the Roxio Game Capture, the AVerMedia HD DVR, and the Hauppauge HD PVR but the Hauppauge is a tad too expensive so I ruled that out. As for the Roxio and AVerMedia, the Roxio is the cheaper of the two but lacks features that the AVerMedia HD DVR does. From what I’ve read, the AVerMedia HD DVR is pretty much the same as the Hauppauge HD PVR in terms of features and quality while sporting an overall sleeker design and even an HDMI out port (of which the Hauppauge HD PVR only has component out). The Roxio Game Capture goes for $100 on their site but you can find one for $70-$80 if you look in the right places while the AVerMedia goes for $140-$160. Now just the Roxio itself is quite a feat for me to work up the money for right now and I haven’t found any local shops that have it so the only option for me is an online purchase. Add to that the bogus-ness of our country’s postal system which could add more than half the price of the product itself so yeah, not easy at all.

Then during a trip to CD-RKing to stock up on DVDs and whatnot, while waiting in line I saw pegged on the wall a box that said “Gaming Capture Box” and from the picture on the box it looked pretty much the same as the Roxio. I asked to have a closer look and while they didn’t have a price for it at the time (the shop seemed to have an early shipment) it got me very curious as to what features it could have and how well it performs. If you didn’t know, CD-RKing is sort of like our version of BestBuy, they have their own branded electronics most of which are on the ridiculously cheap side so they are usually the alternative to getting a lot of gadget and computer accessories. The catch is, since the products are cheap they usually breakdown a whole lot sooner or don’t exhibit the same amount of quality as a big branded item of the same kind. There is always a certain amount of risk when buying a CD-RKing product. To sum it up, it’s quantity over quality.

Even with all that in mind, curiosity overwhelmed me when it came to the Gaming Capture Box. It’s a little pricey compared to the other CD-RKing products that I’m used to buying but it is a hell of a lot cheaper than the over capture devices that were on my list. It also seems that I am the only one who knows about this product and have found no other reviews of it at the time of writing this post. I just had to man-up, get the damn box and try it out for myself.

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box

To my relief it actually works. The image I get on the TV is a crisp as what one would expect using component cables and it does feed a decent video image to your computer.  The box claims that it can play up to 1080i on your TV  which is the same as the other capture devices since they all have component out but only records in a maximum resolution of 720x480 which is similar to Roxio claiming that their box records in 480p.

The device has a set of Component In jacks and Component out jacks. It also has S-Video In and S-Video Out ports which I didn’t notice the first time. Audio jacks are limited to the Red and White RCA style so no optical audio for surround sound. It connects to your PC via USB 2.0 and comes with quite a lengthy USB cable which is good. It also comes with a set of Component cables that connect the box to your TV. For a CD-RKing product, it was packaged pretty neatly too. The device itself was encased in bubble wrap and the cables were in sealed in little plastic baggies. Also included were some pretty boring and mostly useless instruction manuals and the much needed driver disc which had the device driver and a program called VivaStation. The colors are a little weird by default when you try to us the device on programs directly like XSplit and Flash Media Live Encoder but you can probably find a sweet spot if you mess with the sliders long enough. It seems to work fine on VivaStation though but I haven’t fully explored that program yet.

CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box

Bottom line is if you are on the fence about getting this cheaper capture box then don’t fret because it works. Given our country’s caveman live internet, we can’t really stream in HD either so it fits the bill unless you want to record footage in HD but that’s another story.

The CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box goes for 1880php and I have (as of this post) only seen this product in the GreenHills VMall branch on the 3rd floor near Datablitz. No other branch seems to have it and every employee I’ve asked have all said “ha?” or “ano yun?” when I asked them about it. You have to point it out yourself otherwise they won’t even look for it.

 

Update: I made a second post showing off the various video formats you can record with the included software as well as some screenshots.

Check it out here: CD-RKing Gaming Capture Box (Addendum)