Startech Video Game Jockey Review

 

Wanting to play your gaming console on your PC Monitor? Well Startech has something you might want to have to do just that. The Startech Video Game Jockey!

The package arrived in perfect condition. The box design is nice and effective in attracting attention. The rear of the box has more information. One thing to not about the box is that it uses the cheapest ink possible. If you spill water on it like I did, it will smudge off without a doubt. Not a good thing, but what matters is the product inside right?

About the Video Game Jockey

Features...

  • Automatic NTSC and PAL video signals detection
  • Plug and Play, no drivers required
  • Audio pass through with amplified (Active) speakers
  • Ability to switch between video and PC input
  • Supports composite (RCA) and S-video input

Specifications...

  • Connectors: 1 x Male DB15 VGA In
  • 1 x Female DB15 VGA Monitor Out
  • 2 x RCA composite Audio In, 3.5mm line in and speaker out
  • 1 x RCA composite Video In
  • 1 x S-Video In
  • Power Supply: DC 9V power adapter included
  • Cables Included: 1 x HDDB15-pin extension cable
  • 1 x 3.5mm stereo audio cable
  • Output Frequency NTSC: Horizontal = 31.4685KHz Vertical = 60 Hz Resolution = 720 x 480
  • Output Frequency PAL: Horizontal = 31.25 KHz Vertical = 50 Hz Resolution = 720 x 576
  • Maximum VGA resolution supported: 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz

When purchasing the Video Game Jockey (“VGJ”), you receive the following:

  • VGJ
  • 15pin Monitor Cable
  • AC Adaptor
  • Audio Cable
  • Manual

The VGJ has many uses other than just for games. You can use it for displaying your VCR, Laserdisc, VCD, Camcorder, or DVD player to name a few. Anything with RCA Composites or S-Video can be used with the VGJ. One of the big things is that this VGJ is NTSC and PAL compatible, meaning you can bring it all over the world. The VGJ converts these signals into VGA mode to be displayed on your PC monitor.

The front of the VGJ has ports for your Audio, Video, and S-Video connections. The power button is at the front right with the green LED.  On top of the VGJ is the Brightness button, Status button (for color modes), Reset button, and the button the switches from RCA composites to S-Video depending on which medium you choose to connect.

The rear of the VGJ is where everything works. This is where you connect the right connections in order for the VGJ to work. From left to right, you have your DC9V port for power, VGA In (for connecting the included 15-pin monitor cable if you have an LCD without any), Monitor connection (usually connection of choice, just plug monitor cable in it), Line In (for connecting audio cable to computer sound card), and Speaker Out for using your external speakers. What I simply did to play my Xbox was basically use my monitor cable and plug it into the Monitor connection and used the Altec Lansing speakers and connected it to the Speaker Out port.

No feet!  Just plastic feet, but they slide.  So those are like fake ones

I was curious to know what kind of video converter the VGJ was using so I decided to open it up.

Here is the green PCB. If you look closely, you will find that AverLogic makes the chip of choice used for video conversion. Particularly the AverLogic AL-250-T-0.

How does it perform? What about quality?

After playing for a number of hours with the Xbox and DVD’s, I can say that the VGJ works well. The color quality is very good. You can adjust the how colorful you want it to be as well from the VGJ and your monitor. The overall picture quality is pretty good but not excellent. Images were somewhat washed out or you can say a bit blurry. There is some distortion while playing the Xbox and again you can see it if you look closely. However if are not directly close to the monitor, then the picture quality is fine. Overtime, I tweaked the settings a bit and found it to work well. Mind you that these are with RCA composite cables used. Games had jaggies like on a television set but higher quality S-Video cables will help solve that and giving a sharper picture. Flicker-free too!

DVD’s on the other hand were much better. These were still on RCA composites. DVD quality is sharper and color reproduction is very good.

Conclusion

The VGJ has many uses if you want to use your PC Monitor as your main entertainment system. It provides good image quality and it is easy to use. I wish there could have been rubber feet on the bottom of the unit to prevent any slippage.

I rate the Startech Video Game Jockey a…

8.5/10!

Pros and Cons

+ Good quality
+ Many uses
- Rubber feet please
- Some image quality quirks; a bit washed out

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