GEAR: XCM V-Box

We recently received the XCM V-Box for the Wii at our office, and I immediately snatched it from its cardboard prison and plugged it in to my USB 2.0 port, without any sort of instructions. To my utter delight, my computer recognized the driver and automatically installed it for me. And after a small software download directly from their website (14MB in size), I was looking at Madden 07 right on my PC. The device itself is compact and lightweight, but do not let that fool you; this little adapter produces pretty spectacular video quality. It can also be adjusted to three settings according to your taste and needs (Normal, High, and Highest). This setting affects the quality of the video, and I found that having it on highest using some of the formats produced a 1 minute 30 second video at a mammoth (98MB). The normal setting produced quite decent results for us, and casual gamers will be pleased with the results on normal. For me, I liked the video on High. It gave it just a bit more sharpness, and I was glad to sacrifice a few megabytes to get that.

The XCM V-Box connects easily to the Wii and the USB 2.0 Port

The streaming video can be stored in MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MPEG-4/AVI/VCD/DVD/SVCD formats according to the user’s preference. Another nice bonus was the still capture button. It captured nice screens of the game itself, although it faltered a bit in isolated instances. One of the main reasons I chose Madden 07 was the constant motion the players undergo. The device had no issues while capturing the video, but when still captures where taken, the image was blurred when the players where in motion. I couldn’t capture a good image after the snap or while the play was going on. However, it did perform very well when the game was paused or when I hit the replay button and took the screens from there. The device supports JPEG, GIF, and other image formats without a problem. The software which is designed to run on Windows 2000/XP/Vista is very flexible and includes its own little editor program (good for making small revisions, edits, don’t expect a full blown movie studio here), a video player to watch your recorded videos, a picture viewer, and all the tools you need to customize your experience. Everything right up to the image sharpness can be adjusted very easily.

Small and Compact but the video quality is Superb

Looks Like a Perfect Match to Me

Conclusion:
The XCM V-Box is the first and only USB VGA box designed for the Wii and it delivers in just about every aspect. The video quality is easily adjusted and even at normal settings, it delivers quite nicely. There is no way this product could be easier to install or use. I spent less than 5 minutes in total installing the whole thing. The software is easily downloadable from the website and is very easy to use. Without a doubt, this product has all the tools needed to get excellent quality gameplay video. One of the few flaws I saw in this device was in the still captures. It performed well when paused or when in replay mode but could not deliver in motion. Another small setback is the price. At $59.99 this might be a bit too much for the casual gamer. Either way, the XCM V-Box is a high quality VGA box that will have you recording your own gameplay footage in no time at all. With its user friendly design and plug and play compatibility, this product is a real winner.

Screenshots captured:

You may purchase the XCM V-Box at these online authorized dealers for $59.99:
TotalConsole.Com
Heo.Com
Play-Asia.Com
GameFreax.Com
Videogame.Ch

To vist XCM and check out the rest of their products online, go to XCM.CC