Review of Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650 Dual Tuner Cable Card TV Tuner

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $139.99
Sale Price: $129.03
Today's Bonus: 8% Off

I just received this tuner today, and have had it running for about four hours, so I will edit if I encounter any issues in the next few weeks.

Preliminary review good tuner for its price range. If you don't need the four tuners in the Ceton InfiniTV, or the three tuners in the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime, this two-tuner box from Hauppauge is worth the look. As for me, I already had a card for ClearQAM, so I didn't really need more than two tuners. HD quality on my HTPC is equal to the quality from the cable company DVR (which is going back tomorrow!).

First things first don't even mess with the CD in the box, download the latest software and firmware directly from Hauppauge. The firmware has been updated at least twice in the last two weeks, and will probably be updated quite frequently as more features are added.

Following the instructions in the box, installation went smoothly. I did encounter a bit of a hiccup in getting my CableCard activated, but it is a known issue with activating CableCard equipment on Cox's network (short version just ask the tech to send two "cold hits" to your box, about five to ten minutes apart it seemed to work for me).

If your cableco uses SDV / tuning adapters, you may want to wait Hauppauge is still working on getting tuning adapter support. However, I don't, so it was a non-issue for me.

You'll probably want to run a clean line to this box no splitters just to make sure you have sufficient strength and quality of signal.

Overall, my early impression from this box is very favorable. If it continues to work well, I will be recommending that all my friends abandon the cable company DVR and build their own HTPC's.

EDIT 11/8/2011: I've been using the WinTV-DCR-2650 for about two months now. In that time, Hauppauge has released several firmware and driver updates, and the tuner appears to be quite stable now. In the two-month period, I did miss one recording, but that was due to issues with Windows Media Center moreso than the tuner (the tuner and WMC didn't communicate very well on whether I could record a "copy once" flagged channel); the issue was resolved by reconfiguring WMC. If two tuners are sufficient for your needs or you are using in combination with a QAM tuner, I continue to recommend this tuner.

EDIT 3/3/2012: Almost six months since I bought this tuner, and I still highly recommend it. By my calculations, it will have paid for itself in another month over Cox DVR rental rates. The firmware has been stable for about three months.

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I bought this mainly for the price... it was $75.00 cheaper than the HD Homerun Prime by Silicon Dust. It has one less tuner (2 instead of 3) and lacks the network sharing feature of the HD Homerun. Basically, you plug it into the wall, and connect it to your computer (via USB). Then plug a coax in for your cable line. You have to have an M-Card from your cable company. I have Comcast in South Jersey and I was able to go to my local Comcast office and pick up a cablecard free of charge.

Once you plug everything in, you go into Media Center and run through the setup. At one point during the setup, you'll get a screen with three numbers that you have to give to Comcast to activate the card. There's a self-install line that you should call instead of the general number. It's mentioned in another review on here, so search the reviews for Comcast and you should find it.

After I called, I completed the setup in Media Center and I was good except I didn't get any of my premium channels. A follow-up call the same day resolved that issue.

All-in-all, the device worked well for the first few days. Eventually though, I started getting "turner unavailable" messages in Media Center on startup and also while the device had been in use for a few hours. The only solution was to unplug the unit and plug it back in. It's not that big of a deal but if you are buying this to get rid of your cable box (like me), this can get annoying.

In the end, I ended up returning it to Amazon and ordering the HD Homerun Prime. As I said, it costs more but it has an extra tuner (which is nice) and you can view it from any computer on your network (like a slingbox). I didn't think I would need more than two tuners, but if you are recording something and watching something else, you need an extra tuner if you're watching on a second computer. Also, if you want to record two things at the same time and watch tv, you need three tuners.

In sum, it works pretty well with the exception of the error that causes it to loose connection ever now and then. If you are looking for something to use in addition to your cable box (like, for instance, if you only want to use it as a DVR), this is probably your best bet, but if you're looking to replace your cable box, I'd go for the HD Homerun Prime.

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As most of the reviews on these cable card tuners go the tuner itself works great but dealing with the cable company to get it setup was a huge pain. I had to call Comcast around 10 times before they finally got the card paired and initialized correctly at the same time. If you are a Comcast customer don't waste your time calling the normal phone number to setup your card. Call 1-877-405-2298 that is their cable card department and you get connect to a person right away. Most of them still don't seem to know what they are doing but eventually you will get bumped up to tier 2 tech support where your chances are higher. As of now I have all my digital channels working and working well. What they don't make clear in the description is this is a DIGITAL ONLY tuner so if your cable company still has some analog only channels you won't get them with this tuner. All my basic channels are still analog only so I'm going to have to buy a regular tuner so I can pick them up too. Took me a while to figure that out. On the plus side that will give me 3 tuners kind of. Channels changes are about the same speed as my Comcast box which isn't great but at least this isn't even slower. I'm using my xbox 360 as a windows media center extender and that is working well too. Once I get my analog tuner I'll be able to ditch my $18 a month comcast HD DVR box.

update 11/22/11

Just wanted to ad I installed a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1250 to take care of my analog basic cable channels and all is working well together. Windows Media Center integrates all three tuners seamlessly. It even knows to record a show using the 1250 if the two tuners on the 2650 are busy automatically.

Update 7/30/12

Just had my first issue with my tuner. For some reason I lost all the channels that require the cable card to receive. Called Comcast twice to try and resolve thinking it had lost its pairing and hoping Comcast had improved but they haven't at all lol. Just for the hell of it before calling the third time I updated my firmware since it claimed to offer better diagnostics and it fixed the issue and I started getting all my channels again for some reason.

Honest reviews on Hauppauge WinTV DCR-2650 Dual Tuner Cable Card TV Tuner

Firmware fixes (2 releases in September) have made this much better, still drops occasionally, but now this with WMC is a viable HTPC and a good vendor STB replacement. Got this a a couple weeks ago, setup was easy; cable card activation a breeze. But after anywhere from 1-30 minutes tuner loses signal (tuner light flashes), WMC freezes, and the the device becomes unknown as a USB device. Half the time the PC then locks up; power cycle of both HTPC and DCR-2650 is required, but then again next time only works for ~10 minutes so wash-rinse-repeat. Opened support case, got essentially a one line response of "updated firmware." That would have been my first troubleshooting step but from 8/22-8/30 (first week I had the device) there was no updates on their support page. Firmware update (from 8/30) has NOT fixed the issue. Only saving grace is that it looks like it heavily based on the SiliconDust HDHomeRun Prime which has reports of similar experiences, and they seem to be actively pushing out beta firmware to address these issues. Hopefully Hauppauge will quickly leverage SiliconDust's work to get functional units. Has promise, but in its current state unusable. I had to break down much of my HTPC and extender infrastructure and just revert to provider issued STB to placate family.

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I bought the Hauppauge Win-TV 2650 because Amazon had the best price and I am cheap. First, I have it up and running and want to pass on some information to help others.

If you have Time Warner Cable and the local office doesn't have the cable card ($2.50 a month) and free tuner adapter (required by my TWC) order it first when you order the Win-TV 2650. My cable card and tuner adapter came UPS from NC to NY. That way you won't lose any time hooking everything up when you get your Win-TV 2650. The Win-TV 2650 box says no remote, most reviews at Amazon and other sites says no remote. It does come with a remote and it works great. The IR receiver is built into the Win-TV 2650. At the time it was with-out remote because of 2011 Black Friday specials. So don't buy a remote.

Follow the guide that comes with your Win-TV 2650 and the instructions that you get with the Cable card and tuning adapter. Don't use the CD that comes with your Win-TV 2650. Go to Hauppauge web support page and download the latest software/firmware versions. I also installed the beta from their web site. In order to get HD channels the tuning adapter has to be used. Both cable card and tuning adapter need to be plugged into your computer with USB cable provided. I am using a 3-way cable splitter so that I have direct access to my TV, Win-TV 2650 and tuning adapter (my adapter is a Cisco STA1520). Time Warner Cable broadcast their channels thru SDV (HD) and this is why you need the tuning adapter. Otherwise you get a lot of channels but no HD channels.

The tech support, Barbara at TWC 1-866-606-5889; George at Hauppauge 1-631-434-3197 know what they are doing in their respective area. I spend approximate 2 hours total from hook-up, cable card activation and tuner adapter connectivity. Everything works and just love watching HD and the ability to record programs that I want to watch later. Just a note, the remote that came with the Win-TV 2650 stopped working and Hauppauge had me run the exe program in the downloaded zip file wintv-dcr-2650_ver_29310 .zip in a folder named IR and the program called WinTV-DCR-2650-IR.exe this will get your remote working.

I wrote most of this about 2 weeks ago and I am still having no issues other than WMC 7 in full screen locks the cursor so if you have dual monitors you need to make WMC smaller if you want to use the cursor on main monitor.

I have a Sceptre 23" HDTV, Samsung 22" monitor a WD Media player hooked up using a 3 to 1 way HDMI switch, model number: PET0301S ( which I bought from Amazon) so I can use HDMI for best picture.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem Review

Customer Ratings:

There have been quite a few attempts at video games based upon Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos, but they never seem to make it to the market. Although Eternal Darkness is set within its own little universe, it borrows heavily from the mythos, and Lovecraft's influence is readily apparent.

The game begins when your character, Alexandra Roivas, decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding her grandfather's death at their ancestral mansion. Through an absolutely brilliant plot device, the player is able to take control of many of Alex's ancestors from ages past and several other characters from all over the world. Each of these chapters help the player piece together the mystery and reveal the hidden agenda of a group of extremely powerful and malevolent entities.

Gameplay is very smooth. Holding down one controller button allows you to lock on an enemy target, and with a flick of the control stick you can aim at specific body parts. Some baddies fall when they are decapitated, some you have to take apart limb by limb before they will fall. As with most third person games, camera angles are fixed and sometimes problematic, as you may find yourself being disembowled by some horror just off screen.

Combat is relatively well balanced, and the puzzles in the game find a way to be interesting without being terribly difficult. the graphics are quite good, many monsters can be on the screen without any noticeable slowdown. The monsters themselves are quite detailed and look great, but they don't vary a whole lot towards the earlier part of the game.

The magic system is very cool. You must find runes of power hidden throughout the game (often inside of monsters). Each rune corresponds to an alignment, an effect, and a target. By mixing and matching the runes, you can create many different spells. There's also a large variety of mundane weaponry to collect and to toss a beating with.

Each of the characters you control seem to have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent melee fighters, some excel at throwing spells. Some have a ton of health, while others are quite fragile.

By far the coolest aspect of the game (and the part that perhaps owes more than a little to Chaosim's Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game) is the sanity system. Everytime you undergo something hideously supernatural, you lose a little bit of your mind as you struggle to grasp the situation. This manifests as hallucinations, both visual and audial. You may get an unexpected phone call, or have a horrible vision of your own demise. This effect is truly very creepy. I've already had statues come to life and watch me cross an empty hallway. I've seen walls bleed, and bugs crawl across my television screen. There are several ways to regain your sanity, but sometimes it's just fun letting it fall a little bit to see how creepy things can really get.

Resident Evil may have been an inspiration for Eternal Darkness, but it is a poor comparison. This game is truly a wonder to experience, and definitely a killer title for the GC. It's worth every penny.

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The opinions I've read below on this game seem to be about 80% who absolutely love it and 20% who hate it, and as far as I can tell the people who hate it are either young children who can't appreciate anything other than a hack-n-slash gorefest, folks who prefer shallow, poorly constructed games such as Resident Evil, or worst of all, people who only played it for five minutes or not at all. I fall in with those who love it.

Eternal Darkness didn't get the promotion or the acclaim it deserved when it came out, but don't let that fool you. It's still one of the best games on any of the current generation of consoles, hands down.

This game is all about mood. Play it at night with all the lights out. Everything from the lighting to the ambient sounds is designed to establish a creepy feeling, and it really hits home in several key parts, especially when your sanity meter is running low.

Ah, the sanity meter. Yes, it's every bit as crazy as you've read. One reviewer wrote that there are only 10 different insanity effects. He most likely avoided going insane most of the way through the game, because the truth is there are around 100 different effects, ranging from minor things you'll barely notice to "What the...?" I won't spoil them for you, as they're one of the best parts of the game.

It's got a compelling storyline and a mythos based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. You control 13 different playable characters who all exist at different points in history. Although there are really only 4 different stages, each of which is repeated a few times by different characters, the stages do change from one visit to the next, sometimes making them very different places from last time you saw them.

The gameplay itself involves navigating through the stages with one of the characters, encountering several types of creatures, and solving puzzles. The combat system gives each character several different weapons, including close-range, long-range and projectile combat. You can target different areas on a creature's body, some more effective than others. There is also a highly satisfying magic-casting system where you combine sets of runes to make new spells.

You may notice in other reviews that some claim the game is way too easy, while others say it's too hard. Some also said the game is too short. What happens is, at the beginning of the game there are three different branches you can take in the story, and these dictate the difficulty of your quest as well as the creatures you encounter, including a completely different mid-game boss creature in each branch. However, once you complete the game once, you can go back and start again with one of the other possible stories, and when you complete all three you are treated to a special ending.

If you're looking for a quick fix shoot-em-up scare-me bloodfest, don't bother. If you're looking for a disturbing and riveting game that will stay with you long after you turn off your GameCube, don't let this one pass you by!

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i chose to get a gamecube rather than one of the other systems because of this game (and mario sunshine). having now played eternal darkness makes me realize i made the right decision. the graphics are excellent, the sound amazing and the story totally involving. it's the little details that make the difference; when you're walking on hardwood then walk on carpet the sound of your steps changes accordingly.

the best part is the gameplay. the menus are intuitive and moving around is not a chore like it is with resident evil. i was able to put it in and start playing without wading through a manual to learn the basics.

it starts out slowly; i was concerned that it would be too easy and uninteresting. by the time you have completed the first couple of tasks with the first few characters the gameplay becomes a lot more involving and difficult.

the sanity meter makes the game. when you face certain zombies they lower your sanity level; you can regain some of it back by killing thembut not all. once you're near the end of your sanity blood will start dripping on the floor, the camera angle will be tilted and the background effects become more spooky. the rest of the insanity effects i'll leave for you to experience first hand. you start to doubt your gameplay and, oddly, just after finishing up for the night i expected the same in real lifeit's that surreal.

there are minor things one could take issue with, but then show me a game that is perfect. i can't recommend this game highly enough. there is a perfect balance between logic, exploring and fighting. this is all coming from someone who is not usually a fan of these types of games; i generally enjoy games like ssx tricky, super monkey ball and tony hawk 3.

Honest reviews on Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Well to be fair this is also the only psychological horror action-adventure game on any platform that I know of.

This unique game has an amazing atmosphere and really great soundtrack. The graphics are also really good.

You play the game as the grand-daughter of some guy that just died and so you visit her mansion. While you are there you start finding chapters of this ancient book and for each chapter you find you get to play as the character the chapter is about. The first chapter is a guy from ancient roman times so your gameplay is a legionaire with a sword... during your play of the first chapter you make choice that effects the rest of the games story so you can play the game three times with the three choices available to you at the end of the first chapter. If you play all three story lines then you get the full ending...

First play through took me about 20 hours. Second and Third time took me more like 10-12 hours each cause the puzzles are pretty challenging the first time through.

I think there is something like 12 or so chapters and in each one you play a different character. Everything from legionaire to priests to reporters to fire-men. Male and female characters both. In between chapters you have to spend time with the lead character in the mansion finding the next chapter.

The story of the game makes it well worth playing through three times. It is a classic and it deserves the good reputation it has.

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This is the first survival-horror game that I've ever played. I never really got into the genre, but this game always intrigued me. I read about it when it first came out, and the game's new feature of the sanity meter sounded really cool. One of my friends (who is now my roommate) has the game, so I finally tried it, and was blown away.

Right from the beginning, things start off creepy, and they only get worse (which, for players, means better). You start out as Alex Roivas, a young woman in her 20's whose grandfather was recently murdered. The police are stumped, because there doesn't appear to be any sign of a break-in, nor does it look like Grandpa Edward Roivas put up much of a fight. This would normally lead to a ruling of suicide, but the state in which they found the body makes suicide an impossibility. Alex decides to investigate herself, and you navigate her grandfather's mansion. Everything in it references the dark and macabre, from paintings of murderers to books in the library about some of the darkest periods in history (the Inquisition, the Salem witch burnings). Eventually, Alex discovers a book called the Tome of Eternal Darkness. When she reads it, she is transported to another time, place, and body. Whenever players "read" a new chapter of the book, they take over as another character in another historical period. A Roman centurion, a young Cambodian girl, a British photographer, and a few of the Roivas ancestors are just a few of the people that you'll control throughout the ages.

As the story unfolds (which depends on a choice you make as the centurion), you learn about the Ancients, three god-like beings fighting for control of the world, and if one is summoned, will reign destruction upon the galaxy.

Not only is the story engaging, the gameplay is great. The weapons and magic system are great. I love the fact that you can design your own spells before you are actually "supposed" to learn them. This game has some really cool weapons, like the elephant gun, the broadsword, the double-barreled shotgun, and the fireman's axe, which is great for chopping off heads. Due to a unique and great aiming system, you can aim at specific body parts, being able to chop off heads or arms.

The other aspect of gameplay is the sanity meter. Sanity is a running theme throughout the game. As your sanity decreases, weird things start to happen, and not just to your character in the game. Many of the effects are directed at the player, and even if you know what might happen (like me), many of them will still catch you off guard. And while some effects do effect the characters (many of them foreshadow future events that will happen to them), they do rattle the cages of the players as well. This game has an insanity effect that targets Alex, and it is the only thing in a video game that has EVER made me jump is shock and even horror.

I guess the one thing that I would change is the whole "choose your path" thing at the beginning of the game. You have three paths to choose from, but they are, for all intents and purposes, the same. The only thing that changes between path to path is the Ancient that Pious summons, which does have a few effects. The color of that ancient will play an important role througout the game, but besides that, the missions are all exactly the same. In order to get the full ending, you have to play the game 3 times through (one with each Ancient), but it would be more of an incentive if each Ancient had a different path to play. Oh well, it's a small grievance.

Overall, this is one of the most interesting, creepy, and all-around fun games in a while. It may be too intense for some people, but I urge you to give it a try.

Batman: Arkham Origins - Xbox 360 Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $59.99
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first off .... i LOVE Batman!!!!

i've always loved Batman since i can remember, and these days there seems to be no shortage of Batman to go round!

over the years we've been Lucky enough to experience some truly amazing Batman comics, cartoons, toys, movies and video games.

unfortunately we've also been duped every so often into falling for the shameless license exploiting cash grabs!

after playing through some awesome moments in 'Arkham Origins' i honestly believe the makers REALLY wanted to make a great game

a game they could be proud of and one that we'd all praise and love!

but due to whatever reason the game is quite amiss in a number of many MANY areas!!!!

now before i start picking it apart i'd like to say that i'm glad i bought it and am getting enjoyment from it for the most part, .....BUT

i just can't begin to describe JUST how choppy the game plays!

ESPECIALLY the hand to hand combat!!!

i mean, that's the whole meat and potatoes of the game right there!!!

though while not completely unplayable it's hit or miss, and i do mean that literally!!!

this games big draw is the HUGE amount of Boss battles and when you face off in a very long drawn out battle where split decision precision timing means the difference between winning and having to restart a level all over again, it gets very VERY frustrating!!!

speaking of restarting from the beginning? IF you DARE try 'i am the night' if you die it's game over and you to have to restart from the VERY beginning of the game! highly increased difficulty coupled with faulty gameplay, this mode is only recommended to the most hardcore or those who want an ulcer?

but if you actually DO complete 'i am the night' mode you'll be rewarded with a very cool Batman 'Arkham Origins' Avatar.

somewhere along the way i also unlocked a 'Joker' Avatar, but i don't recall exactly how and when i did it?

the broken non-responsive controls in this game are a sin and really hold it back from that greatness that it could have been!

but besides the faulty controls there are glitches A PLENTY!

i think my favorite moment was in challenge mode when an enemy was holding a crate over his head to throw at me and i couldn't attack him.

he just stood there till the match was over still holding the crate over his head!

another instance my character went inside an elevator, and as the elevator rose my character didn't rise with it.

but more frustrating is when your game freezes and you have to restart your console

or even WORSE if your game save corrupts and has to be deleted!!!

that was probably the most glaring example of lack of quality control and gameplay testing!!!!

from a design point of view, visually and cinematically the game is a masterpiece!

the story is intriguing the voice acting is VERY good! and though it was at first jarring not to hear Kevin Conroy voicing Batman

i really grew to enjoy the vocals Roger Craig Smith provided! there are moments he sounds truly intense and powerful!

and then he also knows when to bring it back and play the cool and calculating Batman!

the Back and forth between him and Martin Jarvis as Alfred are a pleasure to behold.

a decent amount of voice cast return from Arkham City,

but a real thrill was to hear Robert Costanzo from Batman the Animated Series reprise the voice of Detective Harvey Bullock!

i'm still adjusting to hearing Troy Baker voice Joker. he's doing a decent enough job of it (not many would dare follow in the shoes of the AMAZING Mark Hamill)

but i think Baker's best Joker moments are when he makes the roll his own and has fun with it, rather than the moments where he sounds like he's trying to emulate Hamill. but that's just my own personal thoughts. even still, i think he did a good Joker and i hope to hear him voice the character again in the future.

one thing that really was frustrating was the new branching upgrade ladder!!!

i honestly DO NOT see the point of why you can no longer just immediately chose the combat boost upgrades instead of having to upgrade your armor first?!

when i'd play 'Arkham Asylum' or 'Arkham City' i'd upgrade every combat boost available before leveling up my armor even in the highest difficulty setting.

both games had such tight fighting controls, you could avoid taking damage with enough practice.

not being able to upgrade my special takedown boost from 8 hits to only 5 hits right away really made me notice how broken the combat really is.

even after i purchased the upgrade, the combat is vastly improved but overall control issues continue to be tiresome!

grapnel boost/gliding through the city also feels a bit disjointed and not as fluid as it was in Arkham City.

it seems there are less areas on the building to grapple and launch from?

soaring through the city just seems a lot less fun than it was last time!

the City is much larger than previously and while environments are reminiscent to there previous version, they are fresh and new.

the model of Gotham City is Gothic and it is beautiful! and seeing the city and hearing the powerful Musical Score is a wonder to behold!

despite all the glaring issues and flaws, there are things to enjoy here.

and Batman fanatics are in for a REAL treat! .....especially if you are a real Comic enthusiast!

***************************************MINOR SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

***************************************MINOR SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

***************************************MINOR SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

*************************************************************************************************************************

*************fans of 'Killing Joke' and 'Mad Love' will just love what happens with The Joker!!!!!!!*************************

*************************************************************************************************************************

***************************************************END SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

***************************************************END SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

***************************************************END SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!*************************************************

everything else aside the big question is WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS GAME?????

my answer to that would have to be, if you are a Batman fan? then.... YES!

but be warned ..... there is a LOT that needs improvement!

and although it's nowhere near as BAD as 'Batman: Dark Tomorrow' but the game requires a lot of getting used to it's flaws and hiccups.

so here are the pro's and con's

Pros-

beautiful environments

fantastic character models

great musical score

engaging story

brilliant voice acting (for the most part)

excellent cinemas

plenty of missions

lots of Boss battles

return of most fan favorite moves

return of most gadgets

Cons-

game freezes and needs to be restarted

awful collision detection in combat

non responsive controls

combat does not flow as smooth

aim of quick-fire gadgets is terrible

some of the special moves are now inefective

camera issues

difficult to navigate city

'game plus' mode not as good as 'Arkham City' IMO

upgrades locked in set sequence of availability

dark knight system challenges locked in set sequence

game save files will corrupt from time to time

i am enjoying Arkham Origins for Batman experience it delivers

there is so much potential here!

but the true shame is that with all the issues, the game is only a 3.5 when i know that with more polish it could have been a 4.5 or even 5.0!

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Winter snow falling,

Batman has glitched through the floor,

the game auto-saved

will they patch this game?

At least fix Burnley Tower?

Why did I buy this?

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This mess was not ready to be released. Glitches galore! Game freezes frequently causing you to have to restart. Boss battles have HUGE difficulty spikes. Be prepared to play many of the boss battles over and over before you can get past them. VERY FRUSTRATING! This is further exasperated by the broken/non responsive combat controls. Had to restart several missions due to the inability to interact with other characters or controls in the environment. Had multiple corrupt save files. If you must play it, wait until it's in the bargain bin.

Honest reviews on Batman: Arkham Origins - Xbox 360

I am not a gamer that is close or follows the Batman story or development outside the games/movies. So whatever story is developed I enjoy very much. I just play games because I enjoy them. I remember trying the demo for Asylum and loved it because I fell in love with the fight system. I'm a perfectionist and the fight system really challenges me and also annoys me when I know I can do better. With that being said I am glad WB Montreal kept the fighting/predator system the same. Here are my thoughts of how I view the game of just being a gamer.

Here are some of bad things first for some people:

1. Lack of innovation: This might drive some players crazy because there is not really anything new to the fighting/predator moments. At the same time if you are a fan of the older games...why change something that is great? There are some new things that were added but not much different from the base of the old games. The only new things seem to be the detective mode, where scanning crime scenes go more in depth and you need to find evidence. There is also multi-player which I have not tried yet.

2. Lifeless: Since this is a prequel you are doing missions across Gotham city and of course Arkham City before it was converted for the inmates in AC. I wanted to see civilians in the street and traffic but there was nothing. In AC there were those helicopters flying around and would follow you if they spotted you, there's not much going on in the air this time around and I felt alone in the city which should be full of life.

***SPOILER***

When you run in to Joker for the first time and he blows up the building across the street. Then Batman grabs Joker and asks "How many innocent lives did you take?" I felt nothing because you don't see life in the city to make that connection to the citizens in the game.

***END SPOILER***

3. Prequel: I mostly hate prequels because you always know what the future outcome is going to be with some of the main characters. I liked to be surprised. Like I said above I don't follow Batman stories outside the movies/games. Introducing some lesser known villains was a plus and it helped balanced that out for me for unpredictability.

4. Freezing: I have had the game freeze up on me 4 times already within the first 24 hours I had it. There is no pattern for it and it's random. It happened to me on the title screen the first time I started it, when I was in a fight, when I was gliding around, and when I was upgrading my abilities. It seems like many people have run into freezing issues and hoping this is something that can be patched.

Now for the good things:

1. No learning curve: This could be a good or bad thing for players but for me this was good. Why change anything if it's something we fell in love with in the first two games? I loved being able to dive into the game without having to look up the controls.

2. Challenge: Even though fighting and predator is copy/paste, I found myself dying a lot more in boss fights and even a couple of street fights. Since I am a fan of the fighting in this series I paid close attention to detail in the fighting. It made me think WB Montreal put more thought into the beginning of Batman and I saw that in the fighting.

As you level up, you are limited to what you can upgrade because you can only upgrade certain abilities as long as you follow the upgrade trees. I liked this because you can't start off getting the combo finishers after a 5x hit combo as soon as you level up and pick it. This means you're stuck with 8x hits before using a combo finisher for awhile. There is no such things as perfect hits anymore as well (which is replaced by an alternative later in the game). It made gang fights a lot more challenging and made me think "this is perfect" since this is a prequel. Batman should not be an expert yet and this made me feel like Batman was "learning" and grew into the fighter he was in AA and AC.

3. Story: Seems like a lot of people are finding the story boring and ill admit at the start it felt boring until there was a good turning point within a few hours of game play. I thought the voice acting is also incredible. I knew Mark Hamill had retired from the Joker's voice and they were using someone new for Batman as well. I had to look up the voice actors as I was playing it because Joker sounded identical. I could tell the difference with Batman, but the actor was still great for him.

Final Thoughts:

The game has its ups and down and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm looking forward to multiplayer and challenge maps. If you liked AA and AC, this is worth a buy. I think most of the down sides is just players being picky.

I was very worried hearing that WB Montreal was taking over this game, but in the end I am very happy with what they did. There was so much worry and buzz around WB being the new developer that I was almost expecting this game to be bad. In the end I find myself smiling because WB Montreal stuck with what we loved in the game and tried to add some changes of their own. I loved that it was something I was familiar with, unlike others might not like the lack of innovation.

People complaining about the lack of innovation are just bored with the game period. I love the fighting in the game and it will be awhile before I am "tired" of the game play.

For example Assassin's Creed. I loved those games, but when I got to the 4th game (Revelations) I was so bored with the repetitive game play it took me over a year to finally force myself to finish the game and play Assassins Creed 3. Its part of human nature to get bored of things and I wouldn't be surprised if I got bored with the next Batman game like I did with Assassin's Creed.

It's almost seems like lose/lose for WB. Players will complain that everything is the same, but at the same time if WB had changed up the game play, those same people would be complaining how it's not as good as the "older" games. If you are one of those players...move on already.

If you loved the first two games, you will love this one as well. Don't over think it before you buy/rent the game because you will get lost in it like you did with the others.

Thanks for reading and I will update this as I complete the game and try multiplayer.

**UPDATE 10/27/13**

I made a mistake in my original review above. I said there were no such things as perfect/critical hits anymore. As I got near the end of the story I noticed my combo meter building up faster then normal. I looked into my upgrades and critical strikes was unlocked. I am not sure what unlocked it but it is not something you can manually level up to unlock.

Multiplayer was actually a lot better then expected. It's very hard finding a match at this time and it's probably because not enough players have finished the story before moving on to multiplayer. Since the game is new, I expect to see matchmaking to speed up by next week when more people finish the story and definitely a huge spike in players after the holidays. Currently I have only played in 2 matches and it took about 5 minutes to get 7 other players to join in a match.

Playing the 2 matches was actually pretty fun. The controls are very similar to Gears of War since you play as henchmen with weapons. Aiming/zooming is the same as Gears and you can take cover behind objects. Its basically 3v3v2. 3v3 are henchmen and the other 2 are a team of Batman/Robin. Basically its a domination style match while Batman/Robin can interrupt you. Batman and Robin get their own score by building up "intimidation".

I don't know how the scoring works in the end, because after both matches, the heroes won both times. It is random if you're playing as a henchmen or a hero. Of course if you play a hero, the controls are all the same like they are in single player. The best way to describe it right now is Gears of War mixed with Batman. There are other multiplayer modes as well but I was only able to play one mode since the others were still locked?

**UPDATE 10/28/13**

I changed my rating of the game overall to 4/5 stars. It probably should have been this rating from the start but all the freezing in the game is really starting to get to me. After reading many forums and seeing other reviews on here its a common technical problem for everyone.

Now I'm trying to get through game mode+ and when I'm trying to be more focused and into the game, it freezes up on me and I have no idea where the last save is going to be. Because of the constant freezes, it makes me more aware of the save icon in the corner of the game because I am always ready for the game to crash or freeze. Obviously that is not something you should have to be aware of when playing a game like this! If this gets patched then I will change my rating back to 5 stars. Since this is a very common problem, it probably should be patched soon... we can only hope.

**UPDATE 10/29/13**

This might be my last update for awhile since there is really nothing more to go over. I did do a few more MP matches and got to see how bad the online servers are.

They are a little laggy because when you knock someone out as a hero, the player's body could be 5 feet away as you are punching the ground to knock them out, and it still counts as a KO. If the host leaves the match, it will try to find a new host, but in the process it won't ever transfer to a new host and you will have to reset the game. Same thing happens if you finish a match and a lot of other players leave, the game will try to find another session for the remaining players to join and it gets stuck in that process and you would have to reset again.

Until they patch the freeze issues for single player, I wont bother continuing game mode+.

**UPDATE 10/30/13**

Game developers WB Montreal has acknowledged problems with the game.

"We are currently reviewing and validating issues that have been reported to us," Warner Bros. told X360A. "Updates will be deployed once we have fixes available."

**UPDATE 11/8/13**

Put the game in today to find an update! Since I wasn't sure what was updated I looked on WBM website. Looks like they fixed some on the random infinite falling points. I was able to play 3 hours without a crash or freeze even though they said they were still working on the crashing and freezing. They are still working on the corrupted game files too.

**UPDATE 11/12/13**

I continued my story and that is where the freezing happened again. The update must have fixed something because I only froze 2 times in 2 days which before it would be 4-5 times a day. With my last update I was doing the challenge maps and I guess those are fine for not freezing up on you.

**UPDATE 11/19/13**

Changing back to 5 stars since my freezing issues appear to be gone.

I was able to complete new game plus. Throughout my whole play through I only froze up 2 times which are the freezes I mentioned in the last update. It feels stable enough now for me to try I am the night mode. Tried to get into multiplayer again but it couldn't even match me up with one other person. Not sure if most people gave up on multiplayer or if they are having server issues.

**UPDATE 11/25/13**

I tried I am the Night mode. It does add extra excitement while playing it. I actually played it for a couple of hours and got to Gotham's Police Department. I ended up dying in the predator mode in the GCPD building. Weapons definitely do more damage in I am the Night mode because I took a shot gun shot in the back and died with almost 75% of my health left.

I read that physical damage from punches do more damage to Batman as well, but after getting hit once or twice, it appeared to be the same amount of damage in normal mode. I think they just added extra damage to weapons. Even though I was a couple of hours into the game and died, I wasn't even upset because I hadn't felt that excited or felt that awesome for taking on Death Stroke and not even losing half my health.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Batman: Arkham Origins - Xbox 360

I got about 20 hours into the game, ignoring the game freezes, and occasional glitches as i could but then my save dike got corrupted and I'm afraid to restart cause my file may get lost again. The game is fun when it works so there is that. I tried asking for a refund from wb. As a response they deleted my comment and blocked me on Facebook and havnt responded to my email so add terrible customer service to issues with this game.

Buy Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue

Customer Ratings:

This game is a great game for young girls. I got it for my daughter on PS2. She's ten and loved it. The story is basic, you have to rescue missing baby horses, but there are hidden coins and presents that let you unlock new outfits for Barbie and customize her horse. A couple of the puzzles were a little challenging, but nothing she couldn't figure out. It was fun for her to jump things and race her friends. Probably my biggest complaint is that controlling the horse takes a little to get the hang of, but after some practice, it became no problem. I recommend this game for any little girl who loves horses like my daughter. She and her brother had fun challenging each other with the multiplayer, too. It's not violent or dark and scary, just a fun and engaging adventure.

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Every little girl dreams of owning a horse and this is a great game to play that you do. It is a great game it is a lot of fun. You track down wild mustangs (not the car) and try and help them to get to a save area. This is a very simple game, but kept me wanting to play for a long while! You can change clothing, and the look of your horse! This game is a lot of fun!

GREAT FOR THE FAMILY!!

Best Deals for Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue

My almost-6-year-old received this for Christmas and loves it. It's her first video game and it serves it's purposes wellit's challenging enough for a young girl, yet not so hard as to be frustrating. There are a variety of activities to interest girls and opportunities to have 2 person games if you have 2 controllers. Overall, I'm quite pleaed. If you're an experienced gamer and like flight simulators and Halo, this will not be your game, but you probably knew that already

Honest reviews on Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue

After months of watching her brothers play Xbox games, my 7 year old daughter has a game she loves and can play well. It isn't intimidating, it isn't even particularly challenging; it's just fun. Of course, her brothers think it's stupid, but hey, she thought Lord of the Rings was stupid. As a fun game for girls, this is a hit.

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Like many girls my daughter loves horses. She is also fortunate enough to enjoy riding them too. And yes, in her spare time on those wet days, she has a lot of fun playing this game. Some aspects of the game are quite challenging at first but learning it is part of the fun. We've had it for a month now and she's still discovering new things.

Review of Rayman Raving Rabbids

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List Price: $9.99
Sale Price: $6.49
Today's Bonus: 35% Off

Rayman Raving Rabbids for the PC is not a platform adventure game like the previous games in the Rayman franchise, it is more like Mario Party in the sense that it consists entirely of mini games. So if you are looking for a platform adventure game, this may not be the right choice for you. However, if you don't mind trying something different, it is very likely that you will enjoy yourself.

The story of RRR is that you (Rayman) are captured by these creatures called Rabbids, and you are forced to complete 5 tasks each day in a sort of gladiator style arena. You can only save after you have completed each day, so if you have only completed half of the day's tasks, your progress will not be saved unless you beat the rest of the tasks in one sitting. Also, you cannot play any of the mini games in multiplayer until you have beaten the game in the Story mode. While this can be frustrating at first, it gives you incentive to beat the Story mode.

Some of the games themselves are not so great. Games where you have to tap buttons repeatedly or slam joysticks back and forth get really old really fast, and I have no desire to replay those games after I beat them in story mode.

Fortunately, most of the mini games are really fun to play, and on top of that, the Rabbids are absolutely hilarious. Ubisoft did a really good job making a creature that is consistantly funny and rarely annoying. I would recommend that you use a gamepad to play the games, because otherwise it may seem a little easy with the mouse and keyboard. Also, if you have multiple gamepads, you can play with friends in the Score mode, which is where this game really shines.

NOTE: If you have an Xbox 360 Controller, it works GREAT with this game, and Ubisoft is one of the first companies to truly support it. (It also works well in Rainbow Six Vegas on the PC) It also supports other Logitech controllers that I have.

The problem with this game is that it was designed for Nintendo Wii, and Ubisoft ported this version poorly to the PC. There are many bugs; some of which make the game unplayable. For example, when I ran this game on my computer, it would speed up and slow down randomly, making some of the mini games impossible. I was able to fix this bug by changing the power scheme on my laptop from "Portable/Laptop" to "Home/Office Desk" in the control panel. Once this was fixed, the game seems to work a lot better. It took a while for me to figure out how to fix it, I was required to search through forums online to figure out what to do to get it working.

The graphics are pretty good, but I couldn't get the game to run well on "Very Detailed" mode, which is strange because I have a top of the line Alienware system that should be able to run that mode.

All in all, Rayman Raving Rabbids is great fun and would be good not just for kids, but also for teens and adults too. If you can't tolerate fixing bugs, you may want to wait and see if a patch will be released concerning problems with the PC version. Otherwise, If you need a break from typical action, puzzle or adventure games, Rayman is a unique experience that will definitely give you a few laughs along the way.

PROS:

-Most mini games are fun and interesting

-Supports almost almost all gamepads (including Xbox 360 controller)

-Good fun with multiple people

-Rabbids are funny and rarely get old

CONS:

-Initial bugs are frustrating

-Some games really aren't fun

-Only a few of the games can be played with multiple people at once, most are turn-based

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If you have a platform I would *STRONGLY* recommend you buy it for that instead of for XP. My first copy of the disk gave errors during the install (bad disk).

The second copy worked to install and then I had problems with jade enr.exe crashing on game start. Since on the Ubisoft forums 15000 other people viewed this topic before it was closed I'm sure this is quite common. I followed the instructions online (basically cracking my legally bought disk) to get it working.

I thought my problems were over until I started playing. The game can't do simple math. In several of the games it adds up the score wrong making it impossible to beat several of the games.

I've contacted Ubisoft several times and received nothing of use back. There is no mention of future patches to fix the problem or even anything to fix the issue. This is the last Ubisoft game I'll buy until they improve their quality.

Check out the forums at Ubisoft regarding this game. You'll see how many problems their are.

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you've got to love those "developmentally challenged" rabbids.....simple goal based levels that get progressively harder....run the story mode first, and set the mouse sensitivity for your own sanity (the default setting is a little loose)....chemical enhancement during game play doesn't help, makes some games slap nutz funny though......

Honest reviews on Rayman Raving Rabbids

This was great. My grandson really enjoyed this. I definitely would order another show again. It was very entertaining for my grandson.

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It has levels that are the exact same games only that get harder. So it feels a bit like watching paint dry after you go up 6 levels but it is still funny in a boy crude way (I'm a mom and I like it ;) ) but it just needed to be different on the way up. I have a little more than half to go and I gave up even after my 8 yr. old gave up on like level 4 because I got boring. I still think it's funny though but it gets played just after it has been a few months and I kind of forgot about it and I'm bored enough to make myself try to see if want to go farther. It's not even because it's too challenging it's just a slight boredom issue. It's pretty cute though so, ehhhhhh, tough call here. I certainly would have been mad if I didn't get it for dirt cheep but I got it for cheep enough.

Drop shot, Auto-aim, Jitter Xbox 360 Modded Controller COD Ghosts Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $159.99
Sale Price: $89.99
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

First let me say thank you to the guys and gals at Geniusmods who put these controllers together only true gamers could have done such an awesome job. I am not going to get into the details of this controller but I will say that it is all they promise and more no false advertisement. I bought two of these controllers and I recommend them to anyone who loves first person shooter games. I am really happy with these controllers. Thank you Geniusmods!

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Best Elgato Game Capture HD PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 Recorder for Mac Deals

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List Price: $179.95
Sale Price: $154.99
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

When it comes to capturing gameplay from your consoles, you want as good quality as you can get so you can show your friends or the world those amazing moments in detail.

The problem is there are so many different game captures to choose from these days such as Roxio, AverMedia, Hauppauge +more, that it can be a daunting task to choose the right one.

Whilst I can't comment on the others being bad or good due to the fact I haven't personally tried them myself, I can safely say that 'Elgato Game Capture HD' offers simple connectivity, ease of use and very high quality.

So what's in the box?:

Game Capture Device | AV Cable(PS3) | Unencrypted HDMI Cable(Xbox or use as pass-through) | Component Cable | Mini USB USB cable.

Minimum system requirements:

* Mac: Mac OS X 10.7, 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU.

* PC: Windows 7, 2.0 GHz dual core CPU.

* Sound card | 4 GB RAM | Built-in USB 2.0 port | You will also need an internet connection to download the software from Elgato's official website as there is no software disk included.

-

Setting everything up was extremely simple:

Step 1) Download the game captures software.

Step 2) Connect your console to the 'Game Capture HD' using the appropriate cable:

PS3: You need to use the AV cable rather than HDMI cable, this is because the PS3's HDMI port is encrypted (You can still get 1080i quality).

Xbox: Use the HDMI cable provided.

Step 3) Link the 'Game Capture HD' and HDTV together via HDMI cable.

Step 4) Insert the USB cable included to both your computer and 'Game Capture HD'.

Step 5) Load up the software.

Step 6) Turn on your console.

IMPORTANT PS3 Information: PS3 users will need to go to their PS3 "Settings" "Display Settings" "Video Output Settings" "Components / D-Terminal" When selecting resolution, make sure "1080p" is NOT selected, only go up to "1080i".

The PS3 auto-detects when an HDMI cable is used, but it doesn't auto-detects the AV input. The way I got around this was hooking the PS3 up directly to the TV(whilst AV cables were also connected to the game capture), I then went to the display settings and clicked on "Component / D-Terminal", once selected I had quickly removed the HDMI from the PS3 and connected it to the 'Game Capture HD', this solved the problem and took only 30 seconds for me to do.

Step 7) If there is no picture displayed on the game capture software, go to the 'Game Capture HD Settings' which can be located within the "Device" box under the "Capture" tab. The setting button is to the right-hand side and looks like a hammer and spanner crossed over. It is important to have the "Input Device" on the right settings, after selecting the right option, you should have your gaming consoles screen displayed on the software. *Note*; the software has a few seconds delay on game footage, so use your TV to play games.

Step 8) Tweak other settings if necessary, then your done!

Set-up took barely 5 minutes overall, I was very pleased with how easy it was to set-up. :)

-

The computer specs I used whilst using the 'Game Capture HD' software were:

* Windows 7 64-bit Operating System | Intel i7 960 3.2 GHz Processor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Graphics Card | 12GB RAM.

First of all, the installation process was error free(always a good start), the program loads up promptly and so far I have yet to see it crash.

The layout is basic in a good way and is very easy to navigate, you have simple settings to choose from such as where you would like the gameplay recordings to be saved, the quality of the video files(which will impact the file size) and adjustments in the picture output.

As for recording gameplay, couldn't be any simpler, just press the big red button to start the recording process and press it again to stop.

To the right of the record button you have a "time-shift" bar, this is probably the best feature I have ever seen. Lets say you decided to stop recording because the game your playing is not going in your favour, then out of the blue you do the most epic thing you have every done in gaming history, which of course could not be re-created even with the highest bit of luck... well don't despair, the software keeps an ongoing backup for a certain period of time, which by using the "time-shift", you can go back in time to record that epic moment.

There is also an edit tab available, however it is very basic. Tools available are 'trim' & 'delete', it basically lets you keep the good parts and throw the bad out. For those wanting that extra editing experience, I would suggest something like Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 (other software's available).

The final part of the edit section is a quick share where you can click on lets say "YouTube", then all you have to do is type in your account details and it uploads the video for you.

-

Overall I think this is a completely solid package, and whilst it may seem a tad expensive, I do feel you get your monies worth and would highly recommend!

-

♦ UPDATE: 29th December 2012 ♦

Since the review had initially been published, there have been several significant updates for the software:

1) Now supports 1080p.

2) Live Commentary: This is my most favourite update for the software, it lets you capture your voice by using a microphone that's connected to your computer, results are fantastic and I use it all the time.

To use, you have to enable the microphone icon and then select the microphone from the "Audio In", there is also an option which when checked, reduces the game volume as when your talking through the microphone which delivers a fantastic balance between game & microphone audio.

When you decide to stop recording using this feature, as you would before, give it 5-10 seconds after you have finished your gaming before you click to stop recording, this will ensure nothing is cut off.

3) Stream live gameplay onto websites such as Twitch.

4) You can now record from your standard definition retro gaming consoles.

5) Now confirmed it works with Nintendo Wii U via HDMI!

♦ Current software available is 'Version 1.2'. ♦ -

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Hello gamers if you're reading this review you most likely want to capture game content and upload your footage to YouTube well I hope you find this review useful. I'm going to be comparing the Elgato Game Capture HD to the Hauppauge HD PVR and the Elgato Eye TV. And my goal is to give you direction as to which one you should buy based on my experience as a regular uploader of gaming footage to YouTube.

The straight dope: IF YOU JUST WANT TO RECORD GAMEPLAY BUY THIS OVER A PVR IT IS THE PERFECT DEVICE.

To watch Drift0r do a video review search this code on YouTube: 1RXqiyQetiA

Here is Drift0rs how to live stream video on YouTube: dTsBQeoy-nA

This short and sweet review of this device is: Buy this over the Happauge HD-PVR or Eye TV I feel it's just a superior unit for capturing gameplay no extra pieces of equipment are required like with the other products that I mentioned. It's compact and just simply passes your signal directly to your TV and allows you to capture all your gameplay and just jump back simply if you need to grab a clip. I feel that Elgato has been paying attention the gaming community on YouTube and is bought out one of the better products for us to use. The price at the time of this review is $190 about on par with HD PVR's you might be considering and this works seamlessly with Mac and PC as the software is provided for both so to me it's a no-brainer.

Another very cool feature is that it does HDMI recording on the Xbox on the PS3 you need to use a special cable they provide. But I'll discuss that more below.

My only complaint (and it's not really a complaint) is that it doesn't capture 1080p and only 1080i. Not a big deal because I think it's 720p is perfect and when you get into 1080p video files they get ridiculously huge and add to render times. Just an FYI 1080i is 30 frames per second and is interlaced whereas 1080p would be a full 60 frames per second. But then again the files would be ridiculously huge and I feel 720p is great for YouTube.

***UPDATE 1***

The super benefit of this unit is it is bus powered (9aka draws it's power from the usb port) so no wall ac adapter (wall wart) needed! I feel if you want to go places and get gameplay (i.e. a gaming convention/a companies offices/a friends house) all you need is the Game Capture and a laptop. This thing is waaaaay better than an HD-PVR

The meaty review The Elgato Game Capture HD vs HD-PVRs FIGHT!

So most likely your gamer and you have awesome gameplay that you want to put out there on the YouTubes or you've been doing it for a while and maybe your HD PVR finally took a fatal head shot and you might want to get something new. I feel that this device is much better than HD PVR and here is why.

When you're dealing with HD PVR's if you're unfamiliar you have to use YpbPr composite cables (it's 5 cables that are like RCA cables that used to connect your console to your HD PVR) now these composite cables require that you purchase the correct one for your PlayStation or Xbox they cost around $10-$20. And the bundle of cables is a huge mess to deal with and kind of a general PITA. But just to get an idea the general layout is like this.

Console (connects to) HD-PVR (connects to both) your TV and your computer and or having to deal with composite cables when connecting your console to your PVR and then from the PVR to the TV. It is generally a major pain in the butt.

And if you were thinking about getting the EyeTV from Elgato it requires that you purchase a $70-$90 signal splitter to use that as a capture device for the Mac.

On a side note I believe that HD PVR's can be used to record television and such (not a feature I ever used but if you're interested in using them for that as the only scenario where they have an edge over the Elgato Game Capture)

So now on to the game capture and why I think this device is awesome. 1st off you can run HDMI directly from your Xbox into the game capture and then out your TV just plain awesome one cable very simple. Now for the PS3 since Sony are such sticklers for copy protection you need to use a special cable that thankfully Elgato provides. But again its only one cable and not a bundle of 5 cables that you have to deal with when you're using composite cabling. but the beauty of this device plain and simple is that it runs on both Mac and PC and its small and easy to take with you. It really is an amazing thing and beat HD PVR's hands down.

Now the software: Elgato software is amazing I personally use an Happauge HD-PVR for my Mac and use their Eye software so that I can use my Hauppage with my Mac because it only ships with software for Windows (and the Windows software for the Happauge sucks big time). But the software that comes with the game capture is awesome the cool thing is it allows you to not have to constantly be recording your gameplay but if you get a clip that you want to savor game is use the jump that feature and recorded when you're ready. And another awesome feature is that like their EyeTV software you can export and encode in many different formats. I have always and think I will always love the way Elgato gives its users options when it comes to transcoding to different formats. So the software apartment again another win for the game capture HD

The way I look at it if you want to capture game content this is the device that buy I think the day and age of the HD PVRs being used for game capture is over. This thing is awesome!

If you want to check out another cool review of the software by Tejbz search on YouTube for this video: fX5YGLyiUWc

So thank you for reading I hope you found this useful and easy to understand my recommendation is by this device plain and simple. Thank you for reading this please like if you found this review helpful.

Chuck the Capper

Best Deals for Elgato Game Capture HD PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 Recorder for Mac

New Edit: Elgato is continually updating their software, so I've updated my review below with important points (and noted where things no longer apply, marked with three asterisks ***).

As the title says, ***this appears to be the opposite of the HD-PVR 2 in almost every regard***. -Since Hauppauge has now released their own capture software for their HD-PVR devices, and I have not used said software, I can't really compare the software.

Physical ease of use the pass-through just plain works. The HD-PVR 2 required the PC to be powered on and the software opened before anything was passed through. The Elgato, I didn't even have the drivers installed yet and the pass-through worked. Definitely a plus.

Video quality the 1080p bitrate on the Elgato is over twice the HD-PVR 2 (30 Mbps vs 14 Mbps). It's not a big deal for just uploading clips to YouTube (since they compress 1080p to the 2-6 Mbps range anyway) but for a filmmaker like me, quality is the number one priority, so the Elgato won out on this alone.

Software the Elgato approach is both good and bad. For filmmaking, HD-PVR 2 is preferred because you hit record, you made a file, and you stopped recording. Then you have a file. That's it. With Elgato, it starts recording as soon as you open the program and doesn't stop until (presumably) you run out of disk space. This is a plus for gameplay footage there's no need to record all the time and then go back later with a different program to cut up your footage, all this is built-in. You scroll back to before that big play happened, hit record, then edit it and export it. In-program cutting with no re-encode is definitely a plus.

***HOWEVER file management definitely needs work. As soon as you hit record, the ENTIRE FILE that it has been recording is saved. So if you open the program for 10 minutes, scroll back 5 minutes and hit record, it shows the latter 5 minutes in the program, but the entire 10 minute file is actually saved. And there's no way to get that first 5 minutes back unless you go get the raw TS file and cut it with a different program. You could have the program open for 45 minutes, hit record on only the last 2 minutes, and you'd have a 2-minute file in the software but a 45-minute file on disk.***

The previous behavior no longer exists during Timeshift recording, the program actually makes multiple smaller files, and then only saves the files it needs to depending on where you scrolled back and hit record. So it will have a small part of the "unrecorded" footage, but when you stop recording, it cuts the file down to exactly where you scrolled back to.

***So to save disk space, I would cut the clip I want and do the "MP4 Original" export, which cuts and remuxes the video into an MP4 format (which jives with Media Player Classic and Premiere Pro CS5 with no problems awesome). And then, after exporting the clip, I delete the original file, and the software DELETES THE EXPORTED FILE TOO. Unless you move the exported MP4 from the default folder, the program deletes it when you delete the source clip, which to me, doesn't make any sense and is why I only gave 3/5 stars. I lost ALL of my first-day test footage because of this bug. (and none of the files were recoverable because I kept playing after exporting and deleting, and recording the new file overwrote all the old ones).***

The above point has been fixed exported clips are no longer deleted when you delete the footage entry.

The "Input Device" selection is also very strange to me. As far as I can tell, it has a huge impact on picture quality. Even with an Xbox 360 plugged in, the "Other" option looks much better than the "Xbox 360" option (deeper blacks, better contrast, etc). So I leave it on "Other". However, when the software is not open, it appears that the option defaults to "Xbox 360" (even when a non-Xbox device is plugged in) so the picture looks worse when the software is closed than when it is open (and thus, recording). I removed the Elgato from the equation and plugged my device directly into the TV, and it looked as good as it did with the "Other" option checked and the software running. So the Elgato is doing some sort of processing on the signal, meaning the pass-through is not a bit-for-bit pass-through of the source material, which is a bit unsettling. But hopefully that's just a bug that can be fixed.

Overall, the hardware is amazing, but the software needs ***a lot of work*** (not as much anymore). It's definitely geared towards the less-technical user (the quality slider is just "good" to "best" and only recently did they add an indicator of what "good" or "best" means in terms of Mbps), so I'd like to see some more advanced options available, and maybe more explanation on what "Input Device" really does (and an option to turn off whatever processing it's doing).

But the bottom line is, it records 1080p at 30 Mbps, which is a better bitrate than even my professional video camera. So this device beats out the HD-PVR 2 (which is 14 Mbps) on that alone.

P.S. I tested setting my Xbox 360 to 1080p output using the component cables, and the Elgato read it and recorded from it just fine (albeit not as good quality as HDMI), but I'm assuming that means you PS3 users can record at 1080p.

*** Some other notes that still apply as of July 2013:

Flashback (timeshift) recording can be disabled, but when it is, you cannot pause the preview in any way.

Streaming to both twitch.tv and YouTube has been added, and works wonderfully

They added in-program commentary recording from any microphone on your computer

Dolby Digital will not pass-through the Elgato downmixes it to stereo for both recording and the pass-through

In conclusion, this is the best high-definition USB capture device on the market right now. The only better devices would be ones that don't have real-time compression (i.e. Blackmagic)

Honest reviews on Elgato Game Capture HD PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 Recorder for Mac

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have to admit that although I have been an avid gamer back in the college days, I don't spend any more than an hour or two per week playing video games. I don't own a PS3 so I didn't test it for PS3. For Xbox 360, it works right out of the box!

I found this device can capture pretty much any (unprotected) video source. I think Elgato should read this review and advertise this as a general HD video capture device not just a game capture device for Xbox 360 and PS3.

The best part about this device (as others have mentioned it), is that it uses one USB cable for both power and data you don't have to deal with separate power cable to hook up to an AC outlet.

Another thing that I like about this is that this device is so light and so small that you can take it with you anywhere in your bag. This is about the same size as the popular external hard drives only lighter!

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*** Xbox 360 ***

After hooking up the HDMI cables from this little device to my Xbox 360 and then back to my LED TV, I tested by recording Gears of War 3, Kinect Sports and Kinect Adventures. The software worked flawlessly with Windows 7. The captured video was HD-quality. The software allows me to do basic video editing and directly share it with my social network or post it on YouTube. Right from the provided software, I can also export it into Windows Movie Maker if I want to do more video editing.

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*** HD TV capture ***

I am into capturing live TV events for personal use. Though this was not advertised as a TV capture device, I couldn't see why it won't be able capture video and audio feed from my Comcast Motorola digital TV set-top box. So when I hooked up the HDMI cable to the digital cable box, the device's software quickly identified it as "Protected HDCP". But to overcome this, I instead hooked up an AV to component adapter cable and connected to my digital TV box using component cables for video and audio. Viola! I can now capture live HD TV!!

Here's why I would get this over instead of Elgato EyeTV even if I am only capturing live TV:

1. Both are similarly priced (~$180)

2. EyeTV appears to only work with Mac not PC. Game Capture works with PCs and Macs.

3. EyeTV does not support connection out to your HD TV since it has no HDMI out ports. Game Capture includes a HDMI out port.

In short, with Game Capture device, you can capture Xbox 360, PS3 as well as digital TV on both Windows and Macs, but with EyeTV device you are very limited in your choices. The only downside that I can see is that EyeTV allows you to schedule recording while this device's software doesn't have that feature. If you don't care about using this for DVR, this would be a better solution than EyeTV to capture digital TV (in my opinion).

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*** Screen capture from Windows and Macs ***

I've found some additional uses for this device that I'm sure other geeks must find useful. I tested it to capture the screen output from my MacBook Air by connecting a Thunderbolt to HDMI converter cable into the HDMI in port and It worked without a glitch with the highest video quality settings. Likewise, my Dell Studio laptop has an HDMI out cable so it works with that too. So not only can I use this little magical device to capture games, digital TV, but I can also use it to record training sessions on computer if I wanted to by capturing the screen output from my computer to another computer. This essentially provides the same functionality that you'd get if you used one of the software-based screen capturing applications such as Camtasia Studio that retails for $300.

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In conclusion, not only do I recommend this device to the avid gamers out there who want to capture their gaming feats but I also recommend this to people who are considering other HD TV capturing devices to capture HD TV and to people who want to just capture just about any unprotected HDMI source.

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From Matrox Mini, to miscellaneous PVRs, to Roxio's (anemic SD) offering, the gadget landscape is littered with "not quite there" products for game capture. Let's get this out of the way: I SUCK AT GAMES-I am a n00b in perpetuity. Yet I play them obsessively. But as a video editor by trade, I have been interested for a while in dipping my hand in Machinima. The Elgato unit is just what the doctor ordered! It is, pardon my French, pretty much "retard proof". The UI is super simple, clean and elegant. (I can't speak to the editor as I use Media Composer or Adobe Premiere to edit.) Not only can I use this baby for Xbox and PS3 captures, but for PC to PC captures. For folks playing GTA 4 (or Crysis) with GPU-heavy mods (like iceenhancer for GTA), here's a way to get your (near) photo-realistic Liberty City stories made! I have successfully tested the capture on 4 different Windows 7 machines: 2 laptops, 2 desktops. Yes, like all other game capture files, there is a bit of image softening, but nothing a simple sharpen filter can't fix. The image and audio pre-capture tweaks are a nice touch. And the longer mini-USB to USB cable is much appreciated. Even with the included short HDMI cable and the aforementioned USB cable, you can set your capture laptop on the sofa next to you while fragging a swath through Halo.

(For all those who offer up FRAPS as a cheap alternative for PC gaming capture, have you actually checked your frame rate while using it? On a 3+Ghz quad-core/Sandy Bridge rig with 24 gb RAM, my fps in games like GTA -even without iceenhancer modrarely stays at 30 or even gets to thirty. The same goes for Crysis, Dead Space, Deus Ex Human Revolution and a whole bunch of others.) The icing on the cake? IT'S BUS POWERED!!! No lugging around wall warts with this baby. All you also-rans trying to make these devices, surrender now. Game over. (I don't give out five stars easily.)

Cheap Boogie Superstar with Microphone - Nintendo Wii

Customer Ratings:

I have never tried the first version, Boogie, which didn't get great ratings. However, I can tell that this version is much better already.

The music is obviously targeted at the younger generation with the Top 40 type of music, as opposed to the oldies but goodies of American Idol 1 (not sure about AI 2 yet). The genres are pop, urban, and electrodance. When you play more often, more songs are unlocked at higher difficulties. Additional songs cannot be downloaded through Wi-Fi, which I heard is a new option for American Idol 2. By the way, my unlocked music is only available for me under my character, while others still have to work at getting more songs to reach the same level.

The music plays at one speed, so I did feel some frustration at the beginning when the lyrics flew across the TV screen. The song words scroll from left to right for both Boogie Super Star and American Idol, while Guitar Hero offers a second option when the lyrics are shown in static mode, meaning one line at a time, which I have found easier to follow. If your eyes are quick, then it's fairly easy to read the lyrics as opposed to the small jammed up font in Guitar Hero.

You have the option to play up to 3 songs per set.

First, select the activity type: dance one at a time, dance side-by-side, sing one at a time, or sing a duet (passing the mic back and forth, which I found hard to do).

Second, decide if you want the song to be random (by the Wii) or selectable (by you).

Although you have set this all up, the game stops in between songs if you decided to select your own music (and take a quick water break for your worn out throat). It does not give you the option to select 6 songs upfront like it does in Guitar Hero for continuous fun.

All of the games mentioned here do not take advantage of your personal Mii character, except for Guitar Hero's side activity of creating your own band. The graphics are more cartoon-y, if you will, as opposed to American Idol which is trying to look realistic. There are 2 male and 3-4 female characters (can't recall the exact number right now), from which to choose for the general look. After that, you can change the skin color, hair color, add tattoos and accessories, switch clothes and shoes, but most of it is "locked" until you have earned enough points.

The microphone is the same for Boogie Super Star, American Idol and Guitar Hero World Tour, so if you own those, you don't have to buy the bundle and save yourself 7 bucks or so. Unfortunately, the duet in this game only uses 1 microphone so you have to learn to share and be quick in passing it back and forth. So I prefer to go head-to-head by singing solos (one player sings after the other). For 2 players, both must dance or both must sing. There is no option for one person to sign and the other dance. The game is rated for 4 players, but I have yet to find enough courageous people. The limitation of one microphone for duets is the biggest con in my opinion, which is not necessarily a show stopper. Although the cord length was not an issue, I do wish the that the microphone was cordless (everything else is!). I decided to buy a mic stand, so that I can be hands free, especially when I try to play guitar for Guitar Hero (double the challenge!).

Each player needs a remote for the dance competition, no mic and no nunchuck. Yes, you really only need to dance with one hand, the hand holding the remote. The Wii does not know what you are doing with your lower body. It was funny to watch my brother compete with me, standing there with only one hand moving, while I'm truly trying to boogie with arms, legs, booty, and all. With that said, if you put your energy into it, Boogie Super Star does get you off the couch so you can burn some calories if you do it long enough.

This game is good for people who like to sing in the shower as well as the karaoke super stars. Boogie Super Star offers the extra element of dancing, while American Idol focuses on singing. This game also works for people who want to learn some coordination in the privacy of their own home before taking over the dance floor at a local club. Ok, ok, ok, the dance moves in Boogie Super Star don't quite translate to real life dancing, but it still does teach you how to stay on beat. The Wii can tell if you are doing the "Eagle" dance move on tempo (there's a tempo meter which tells you to speed up or slow down). There are 4 basic dance moves and 4 special moves per genre, which come to a total of 16. There are also "combos", which are self-explanatory. Don't worry, a "dance guide" poster is included with the game, which was more helpful than the instructional manual. For more advanced skills, you'll have to attend professional dance classes. I do think it will be quite hilarious if and when I recognize someone using the Boogie Super Star dance moves in real life at a dance club!

There is a dance "academy" feature. You can record your own routine and save it, then use it later during a competition. I found this quite amusing actually when you see your character (you) replay. You really need to know the dance moves by heart at this point to make up a decent routine. Have no fear for the 2-left footed folk, there is a training section. You can learn one dance move at a time and you keep doing it until you have been on tempo (green light) for a set time.

This game is not for serious singing and dancing as opposed to other games, such as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. There are also 3 judges like that in American Idol, but their commentary is very short and sweet 1-2 liners and can be skipped by pressing the A button. For real-life examples, there are several homemade videos on YouTube if you want to see some people in action. But I find it much more fun and amusing when YOU are the Boogie Super Star! Bottom line: Yes, I'd buy it again.

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I bought this game for my daughter who wants to sing and dance yet is not a gamer and has not had any interest in the Wii. My daughter is still in elementary school and luckily this game is not too mature for her (I censor two songs using the select vs random song selection function). She loves the characters and the cute graphics. Some of the commentators ('judges') can be a little rude yet during the action the game also encourages her to keep trying. I hope there is another song bundle as I am unsure how long it is going to take her to unlock some of the other songs. My son, who is five, even tries as well just because he sees how much fun the girls are having.

In short, she loves it her friends love it too and it keeps them dancing for hours. I enjoy it too because the laughter fills the house.

Best Deals for Boogie Superstar with Microphone - Nintendo Wii

My daughter got this game for Christmas. She loves Hannah Montana and HSM, but was really dissapointed with those singing/dancing games. Boogie Super Star just rocks!!

Someone else has already written about all the different parts of the game, so I will just tell you what we like etc.

The one downside to it is that you have to go in with the name/symbols they give the character you pick. You can go in and change that, but it would be nice to do it from the beginning. However as far as the clothing being locked etc, we wanted to get into playing the game so much that we left them as they came.

The Superstar mode is a blast. You can customize your contest so you can do as much dancing/singing/duets as you want. You can even choose less than three rounds if you want. You can also choose your songs or let them be picked at random. If you choose the random option the game makes sure it does not pick songs that are too easy for you. Once you score high enough it says some songs are too easy and you can still sing them but it assesses a penalty like -0.5 points, etc.

At first we went with the songs we knew, but it was actually more fun to let the computer choose to spice things up and let you learn more of the songs.

Another fun thing you can do is let "vickie" the evil judge, add some glitches while you sing. She will drop bombs on your songs that do things like distort the music, make the pitch markers invisible, take away the music, scribble on top of the lyrics. It doen't last the whole song, but it adds more fun to the contest especially when you still do good in spite of the glitches.

One person said that sometimes the moves don't register with the Wii remote. I found that at first too, but realized the problem was in the way I was doing them. For example, with the "criss cross" dance move, instead of pumping your arms into and out of the move (like it shows) simply move your arms across and away from your body without ever lifting your hands up. One smooth movement. And, with the tornado, instead of going in a circle like the dancer, just swing your arms from one side to the other over your head. The circle causes the delay. If you think of making a smooth movement instead of a jerky one it helps.

I hope this helps someone. I am 30 years old and I love this game more than my kids do, lol!

ETA: after playing for several hours yesterday I woke up with a severe case of vertigo (which I am just prone to) I found out later after attempting to play this game again that it was the scrolling karaoke that caused it. I will play it again, just not until my vertigo goes away again.

Honest reviews on Boogie Superstar with Microphone - Nintendo Wii

Absolutely love this game. I'm not really a game person, but spent all day singing and dancing. Very east to play, even my 5 year old had a blast. Great game for the family.

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I love this game. I was looking for somethig like American Idol, but with more updated songs, and this was great.

Cheap Def Jam Rapstar (Software) - Xbox 360

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $5.99
Sale Price: $3.74
Today's Bonus: 38% Off

This is a karoke game, so it is as fun as you make it. It is best enjoyed among friends at parties. It does a great job of accurately picking up your pitch and words. The song selection includes popular songs with the ability to download more in the future. It is much better than Lips (which is the only other Karoke game I played).

Now if only you could get other genres of music it would be great.

Anyway if you are a fan of hip hop, have friends over a lot you need to entertain, and don't mind making a fool of yourself in front of them...GET IT.

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Fun game to play with friends. Great songs. We love this game. Just ordered this game only to replace the one from our set the dog chewed our original game disc. I'm glad we could replace the game only.

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The game itself was in perfect condition. The service was great. Unfortunately i was disappointed with the limited selection of songs, but that has nothing to do with the company.

Honest reviews on Def Jam Rapstar (Software) - Xbox 360

I bought this new for $3.99, so it was worth a gamble. There are some really great songs on this game, it's fun, and challenging. I'm not the biggest rap fan, but I knew most of the songs.

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We did not expect much for this game because of the low price but it was well exceeded our expectations. It is very fun to play and is enjoyable watching old school videos. It def helps if you have a few drinks in you before playing.