Tuesday, June 24, 2014

How to Choose the Best LED Headlamp For Camping and Hiking

There are several things to think about when shopping for the best LED headlamp for running, camping, hiking or backpacking. Lumens, bulbs and weight are the main things people think about, but there are a few lesser known topics and features that hikers and campers tend to forget about. These factors may be what really matters in their choice for a great headlamp light.
First, people are concerned about price. The more features a headlamp has the more expensive usually. The biggest deciding factor is the lumens or lumen rating. The higher the number the more powerful the light. This specification can be deceiving for a number of reasons.
Some things to remember is that even the best headlamp will have restrictions. These are beam distance and battery life. Your lumens only matter as long as it can stay on and if it can shine for as far as you need it to. If not, the LED headlamp from whatever brand will not serve your needs. Yes, it will the bright, but if you're running and it doesn't reach and illuminate the running trail or path as you need it to, then you need another headlamp that will.
This is an example of how some people go wrong by just choosing the highest lumen rating. If the beam distance is not far, then it's not good for running or hiking. If you're going to use it on the street and the light doesn't have a blink feature, then this may be a deal breaker as well. Like any other purchase, you need to figure out your needs before buying.
If you're going to need a static light for a campsite or base camp area, then the brightest light will work without needing to care too much about beam distance. Then, you may be worried about battery life instead. You'll want to go for the highest level of power economy. Weight may not be as important as this type of light is not going to move too much.
Brands like Petzl and Black Diamond are top makers for LED headlamps that are the best for all sorts of uses and applications. There are models for trail running, hiking and backpacking as well as for camping and any other activity you can think of that needs a little light. Of course, these lights were made for caving and other recreational activities of that sort. The hands-free convenience does apply to other sports and uses as well.
Knowing the type of portable light you need is the first step. Thinking about lumens, bulbs and battery life is important when shopping for these types of lighting devices. If you need a great tool for lighting up an area which leaves your hands free to do other things, an LED headlamp may be just the thing you need.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Computer LCD Monitors

Every PC, unless it works as a server in some remote place, must have some kind of monitor to display data. Years ago we mainly used cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, but today we are using LCD monitors exclusively. They are available for every possible resolutions and sizes. It is not uncommon to find monitor that supports higher resolutions than the graphics card in the PC.
LCD Monitors have many advantages. The first one is obvious. They need less space. It is very easy to put a LCD monitor on any table. Another advantage is picture quality. If the connection with the graphics card is digital (via DVI interface) there are no adjustments for size or position and no blurred edges.
Of course, there are also some disadvantages. Each pixel has to be physically implemented. This means that during the manufacturing process or later during operation some pixels may fail. This damage is represented as dots with fixed color. There are many types of pixel defects but the end effect is the same: wrong pixel color. Few dead pixels are not a problem and with usual work they are even not noticed. But if the number of defective pixels is high the monitor becomes annoying.
Many LCD monitors have some additional functionality like HDMI input, USB hub, TV tuner, etc. The later comes pretty handy when you would like to watch TV. Usually you also get remote control with such TV enabled monitor and you can convert a computer monitor into an ordinary TV set. Unfortunately, most such tuners only support analog TV--you still need a set-top-box for digital broadcasting.
Since television is changing aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 similar transitions are happening in the monitor industry. 16:9 or 16:10 is a very common format also for computer flat monitors. In general, the larger the monitor is the higher resolutions it supports. Higher resolution also means larger desktop area and more comfortable work with any software. It is highly recommended that you choose as large monitor as you can afford. You will appreciate it.
In fact there is no significant difference between computer LCD monitor and LCD television--as far as the display is concerned. The difference is in peripheral interfaces and built-in tuner/decoder. Every digital TV that has HDMI or DVI input can be connected to a PC. DVI is, at least in general, compatible with the video part of the HDMI interface and there are interface cables which can be used to connect a PC with DVI output to a TV set with HDMI input.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

How to Connect Your PSP to the Internet With Bluetooth Devices

This day Sony PlayStation Portable (aka PSP) becomes the most popular game console for children, teenagers, and even for adults. There are many kinds of games that you can play in PSP for example sport games, adventure games, racing games, puzzle games, fighting games, Role Playing Games (RPG) and many others. Sony PSP isn't just a device that lets you play games, but it is also offered with many features such as media players, MP3 Players, built-in wireless networking capabilities, bluetooth and TV out.
As a portable console, PSP enables you to enjoy free internet access in hotspot area with its wireless system and Internet-ready Bluetooth device. If you want to do it, we will give you instruction about how to connect your PSP to the internet. First, you have to activate PSP-Go and Bluetooth system. After that, select the "Bluetooth Setting" in PSP-Go Setting. Then, select "Manage Bluetooth" option. The next screen you will see "Scan for Bluetooth Devices", just press "X" button to continue. After that, your Bluetooth will scan the nearest Bluetooth devices in the area. After you get one, just connect or pairing your Bluetooth with it for the Internet Access usage. Be careful since some devices are protected with PIN Code.
Next step, select "Network Setting" in your Setting menu and continue select Infrastructure Mode. Then, select your new connection via "Bluetooth Modem". You can apply these steps for several devices that you want to store in the PSP and the console will take you through the final steps to enable the Internet connection through the Bluetooth device. Last step, choose the connection you established with your Bluetooth device.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

How to Select TFT LCD Monitor for Gaming?

You have probably heard it before, but it bears repeating...the best way to know if a monitor is right for you is to view it in person. Specs are a great tool for narrowing down your choices, but they are no replacement for hands-on experience. Plenty of large resellers stock a wide range of monitors and some are on display. Go down to every shop you can and see if you can find the monitor you are thinking of buying. You never know, that slightly low spec one you shunned in favour of that extra inch of screen may beat everything else hands down in 'real world' performance.

The Minor Issues

Dot Pitch/Pixel Size

Dot pitch is the distance between phosphor dots (sub-pixels) or between TFT LCD cells of the same color on a display screen. A smaller number generally means that the image on the screen is sharper, as there are more dots in any given area.

A display with a smaller dot pitch is usually better, but this is not always true because of the methods used to measure it. There are many methods of measurement as well as differing pixel geometries on the screen and differing screen resolutions when judging image quality on the display.

Most of the time, dot pitch is measured on the diagonal, this gives the most accurate representation of dot pitch of the display. Later some companies introduced a horizontal dot pitch measurement. By measuring only the horizontal dot pitch and not the vertical, cheap, low-quality displays can appear to have a smaller dot pitch.

For example, a display with a 0.28mm (diagonal) dot pitch has a horizontal pitch of 0.24 or 0.25mm depending on some monitor construction variables, a good quality 0.26mm (diagonal) display has a horizontal pitch of 0.22mm.

Be careful not to get the two different measurements confused as that 0.26mm dot pitch monitor may have more dots per millimeter than the 0.24mm dot pitch display.

Contrast and Brightness

Contrast is the ability for the monitor to vary brightness between the foreground and the backgound. It is expressed in a ratio ( i.e. 500:1). Typically the higher the ratio, the better the image quality will be as the display will be able to show bright colors next to dark without washing out the black or dulling the colors. Display brightness is expressed in candela (cd) and is defined formally as:

Phew, what this means to us it that the greater this number, the brighter the display is capable of being. However, you must watch the power consumption of the unit. A display that has a very high brightness level will consume more power than others with a lower value. The old adage, "a light that burns twice as bright lasts half as long" sort of applies here. So a trade off between brightness and power consumption is something to watch.

Viewing Angle

CRT monitors are viewable from almost any angle. That is to say if your view is not blocked by the curve of the screen or the surrounding plastic frame. TFT LCD's have a narrow focus and therefore can only be viewed from inside a certain arc of angles. As the technology improves, this arc is being improved. This should not have any affect on the primary user of the PC, as they should sit facing the display. But if you like to have bystanders watching you achieve the ultimate score on puzzle bobble or you are trying to show off to your girlfriend your best trick in Tony Hawk's pro skater, then you may have some issues (and they also might not be able to see the monitor ;-)

Analog vs. Digital connectors

More and more graphics cards are coming equipped with DVI connectors. But should you get a display with a DVI connector, and analog connector, or one of each?

The advantage of a DVI connection over the analog is that the DVI connection allows for lossless transmission from the computer to the display. Signal noise, for instance, should not be a concern with the DVI connection (no more hum bars on the monitor when the vacuum is being used). It also provides support for much higher data rates which are needed for the larger diplays (such as cinema screen size displays). Currently, no other advantages of the DVI connection specification are being exploited. If you would like to know more on this subject go to the Digital Display Working Group (DDWG) who developed the specification.

What To Look For When Buying

As mentioned earlier, Response Times are the primary concern of any TFT LCD screen. Viewsonic is advertising their VP201s monitors as having Response Times (Pixel Response, Video Response) that are fast enough to present "Realistic, artifact-free 3-D gaming." These monitors have a "blistering 16 millisecond (16ms) Response time." Hitachi also advertises their CML174B and CML 175B LCD monitors with Response Times of 16ms "enabling smoother computer video, animation and gaming movement." Samsung goes one step better with their 172X LCD monitor that sports an amazing 12ms Response Time.

Next, be sure to select a screen that has a native resolution that meets your needs. That is to say, if your system can only play games at 800x600 then buying a 2048x1536 monster display won't give you any advantage and will almost certainly do more to hinder your game playing and your enjoyment of it.

Check the dot pitch measurement and make sure you are comparing like-for-like if you are looking at more than one display, especially from different manufacturers.

High contrast and high brightness, but low power comsuption is a very good combination because this will give you impressive visuals and your display will hopefully last longer.

Other, smaller, concerns (like the price) I will leave to personal preference. A TFT LCD that satisfies all of these criteria will hopefully do justice to your game visuals and give you the gaming experience that you desire.

Willson Peterson is computer expert and network engineer. He is the author of “How to backup your computer data.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

LCD Video Monitors Make Your House a Safer Place

With the help of LCD Video Monitors you can make your house better and safer place to live. It is very important to have a monitor for your supervision and inspection with a good system. With the help of vigilance and security camera, activities inside and outside of the house will be recorded. These monitors will enable you to watch the recorded video. These recorded notes and videos are excellent proofs for police whenever necessary.
These help in better viewing of the captured moments taken all day long. Buying the suitable CCTV LCD Video Monitors for your house is the main objective here. It should consist of high quality picture tube, good picture resolution, speakers and clarity is a must. There are various high-quality LCD Video Monitors available in the market. You will get these monitors in various sizes. For example, it ranges from seven inch to twenty inch monitors.
As a naive person, what will you look for? You look for smooth audio and video viewing and also for better clarity. But you need to look after the resolution power. It should be six hundred to twelve hundred pixels. The best part is that these are now available in these LCD Video Monitors. It will be attached with one eighty degrees stand with swivel system. A mini jack of USB cable will be which can be attached a personal computer also comes along with the pack.
You can also put up wireless systems; hidden and dummy cameras, original alarms, dome or fake cameras and many more security systems in your house. These also enhance the safety of the house. These video monitors are a little costly. These monitors may range from three hundred and thirty five dollars to five hundred and seventy dollars. The range varies due to the sizes. But these are absolutely worth the price. You will be able to watch all the videos captured all day long with a great ease.
Do not forget that you can be a victim of burglary. For keeping your house safe for your family and to have a good night's sleep, you can indulge into high-quality LCD Video Monitors. Alarms will help you in attracting people and police but not in time. Even if the thief manages to escape, your video will help in identifying him or her. It can also help in keeping a personal track record of your people.
You can also be relaxed on your vacations. You do not have to worry about the house. Your alarms, cameras and video monitors are perfectly recording. You can watch the videos as many times and whenever you want. Thus, these LCD Video Monitors are very helpful in keeping your house safe and secured.

Protecting LCD Monitors in Outdoor and Industrial Environmentssdasd

The LCD monitor is changing the way we use computers, TV screens and other technology. Unlike the bulky cathode ray tube televisions many of us grew up with, LCD TVs are flatter, lighter and cheaper to produce.
It is these reasons that we are now seeing LCD screens in areas not normally associated with televisions. From outdoor digital signage to information screens in factories; flat-screen devices are being installed in almost any location.
Of course, if you take a standard (or even commercial grade) screen outside or place it in a dusty factory - it probably won't last very long.
LCD Monitor Enclosures
Protecting these devices is hostile locations is straightforward thanks the LCD monitor enclosure. These devices can protect almost any sized flat screen device (either LCD or plasma) in almost any location.
LCD monitor enclosures are ideal for hostile areas as they protect the LCD from: 
• Rainfall and weather 
• Dust and other airborne debris 
• Excessive temperatures - either sub zero or baking heat 
• Impacts - either accidental or deliberate
LCD enclosures and monitor enclosures are found in various locations for various applications:
Outdoors
Whilst outdoor digital signage is the most common use of an outdoor LCD screen there are other reasons why these screens are taken outside. Information is a key area as LCD TVs are really useful for providing important news and info and are often used to display timetable information on railway platforms or providing churches and schools with an interactive notice board. The number of LCD installed in an outdoor location increases year on year.
Even in highly hostile areas such as ski resorts where temperatures plummet below zero you will find LCD screens housed in monitor enclosures as the inside of the enclosure is often kept at optimum conditions by cooling fans and heater systems - and other climatic controls.
Industrial
Factories and industrial locations are also using LCD devices to display important information. LCD monitor enclosures are used in these locations too protecting eh screens from the harmful elements of the factory floor.
Other Locations