T.The Switch’s 6.2-inch screen is fine for playing alone, but despite what Nintendo claims, it’s not great for multiplayer if you’re away from a TV. The Genki ShadowCast fix this by using another portable device you are likely to travel with, your laptop, to a bigger screen for almost any device with HDMI.
Human Things isn’t exactly a household name yet, but the company has knocked it out of the park with accessories designed to fill some huge gaps in the Nintendo Switch’s functionality. The Genki Bluetooth audio was a tiny dongle that made the Switch work with wireless headphones, while the Genki Covert Dock drastically reduced the size of the Switch’s cumbersome TV dock. The company’s third creation is its smallest to date, but the small dongle makes the console even easier to travel with without limiting gameplay to the 6.2-inch screen.
The Genki ShadowCast plugs into a device’s HDMI video output – be it the Nintendo Switch, the PS5, or even a streaming box like a Roku – and converts it into a video signal that can be transferred via a USB-C signal and displayed on a laptop screen or on a monitor via a desktop PC using a Genki app. There are some limitations to what the dongle can do. While the video signal can accept up to 4K, it only outputs video at resolutions of 1920×1080 at 30fpsor 1280×720 at 60 fps. That’s a significant step back, especially when the current generation of next-generation consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X can push 4K to 60 fps and further.
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Using the dongle with the Switch also means having the Nintendo TV Dock or Genki Covert Dock with you, as there’s no other way to extract video from the console. Anyone planning to travel with consoles like the PS5 or Xbox Series X has probably already done so plans to hook it up to a large TV when they get to their destination, so the Genki ShadowCast will almost certainly appeal to Switch gamers the most. Nintendo’s hardware already reaches a maximum of 1920×1080 when connected to a TV, and given the choice between jostling around the 6.2-inch screen with friends or living at a lower frame rate on a larger laptop screen, most will happily go for choose the latter.
A little bit of latency has also been introduced while the Genki ShadowCast does its thing, so don’t expect competitive gamers to embrace it or even consider using it. But for casual players, or those looking for a cheap and easy way to stream or record live gameplay, you won’t find a more affordable solution than the $ 35 ShadowCast, the price tag for the first 1,000 units sold. As with its previous products, Human Things uses one Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to help put the Genki ShadowCast into production, with delivery expected as early as February next year for the earliest lenders. It’s always good to be cautious when it comes to supporting crowdfunding-funded products, especially during a pandemic that brings additional manufacturing challenges and shipping logistics issues. But Human Things has gone through this process before and excellent products delivered, so if you support this one, you might also be able to reserve some extra patience.