Is this the ultimate VGA box for your Nintendo Wii? Is this item worth buying? Well you just have to read on to find out. I was actually looking for a VGA box that supports Wii and I came across this item, XCM V-Box. It’s actually an USB VGA box where you just download the software, install it, plug it in and you are good to go … or so it says anyway. If you want more information you can find it here.

Personal Experience

I didn’t have any problem hooking up the Wii and the V-Box. Just connect one cable into your Wii Video/Audio port and the usb cable into your usb port and windows (xp) will automatically detect it. Base on the instruction given, I was suppose to install the driver first before hooking up the box. So anyway during driver installation, an error pop up stating some stuff couldn’t be registered bla bla. I just ignore it and the installation went on without a hitch.

The problem comes when you are trying to get the stuff to work. When I first ran the program, I manage to get the Wii menu to show up but the images were really really blur. Other than the usual brightness, contrast, sharpness etc there’s not really much to tweak around. Changing different types of NTSC modes didn’t really help either. Not to mention the program kept hanging my laptop and I had to reboot windows a few times.

Screenshot taken from the V-box softwareSurprisingly after some re-installation or something I messed around, the image projected on my screen became a lot clearer. Taking the chance I fired up Resident Evil 4 and Zelda. Both games played like normal and I didn’t experience any sort of delay as I would have expected. Picture quality wise, its playable but it definitely looks a hell lot better on TV. Sound quality was pretty bad tho. I’m not sure if its the box or my speakers but the sound was like literally cracking. I will try to perform some further tweaking to see if I can improve the sound quality.

*Update* : I installed the latest driver for my sound card and the quality of the sound output improved. Those cracking sounds are more or less gone and it’s definitely a lot better. If only I have better speakers.

Screenshot taken from the V-box softwareConclusion

Does this mean that you should avoid the V-Box at all cost? Well it depends on your situation. The V-Box isn’t actually cheap. I bought it at SGD$99 and with that amount of money, you can get a really cheap 14 or 15inch TV which will produce a better sound and picture quality. For my case, I really have insufficient space to even place a small TV and my girlfriend’s desktop monitor isn’t actually functioning too well (thus I avoided this product). So all I have is my laptop and since the V-Box is using usb connection, it solves my problem. In short, only purchase this item IF and ONLY IF …

• You have insufficient space for a TV
• You want to play Wii through your laptop
• You don’t own a desktop or LCD monitors

Pros

• Compact and Light
• Easy to setup
• Uses USB connection
• Works with laptops
• Performs pretty well (If you can get it to work in the first place)
• Able to capture screenshots and record your own gameplay

Cons

• A bit pricey
• Unstable software
• Crashes quite frequently when you tweak around with the settings too much
• Picture and Sound quality not up to par compared to normal or LCD TV

*Update* : Gotten better speakers but the sound cracks at high bass or treble. If you are having sound problems, try plugging out and plug back in the V-box, or mute your sound until the software runs. It’s really a pain in the ass get the sound to work properly, but it will eventually work after some fiddling.

You can purchase this item from here or perhaps you would like to look at XCM 1080p VGA Box which is good for those who are using LCD or CRT monitors. More VGA boxes available at Play-Asia.