WD TV Live
- Details
- Category: Smart Home
- Published: Monday, 25 March 2013 13:00
Over the last few years, streaming media has become one of the most popular forms of entertainment to many people around the globe. Many customers out there are trying to find new ways of cutting the costs of the tired standards and physical media. Consumers now have a growing number of devices to help with their streaming media demand that they can place right into their living rooms. Today we are going to look at the WD TV Live from Western Digital and see how it can extend your local network files and content from the Internet directly to your HDTV.
When it comes to gaming keyboards there really are only a few names that the average person will name off. The first one will most likely be Logitech, because not only have they been around forever, but also if you haven’t owned a G15 at some point then chances are one of your close friends has. They really did set the golden standard for a long time in gaming focused keyboards. The thing is recently a lot more people have been interested in mechanical keyboards and Logitech took their time bringing their first one out. Now that the G710+ is out, I’m excited to see how it performs. Was it worth the wait? There is only one way to find out.
We have seen a lot of In-Win products both through our office here at LanOC and as raffle prizes for the LanOC events. With the upcoming LanOC 12.0 we were in the market for a portable solution for our router, one that wasn’t built in haste on a late night in the middle of our last LAN like our current router. Intel had already provided a mini ITX motherboard and a half height network card that needed a home so we started our search there. We came across the BP655 from In Win that fit the bill perfectly. They were kind enough to supply us with a new home for our new router, now join as and see how this case sizes up (pun intended) to the competition.
Games that utilize a large roster of activatable skills, such as MMORPGs and MOBAs, are extremely popular and require serious time investments. Beyond providing comfort throughout gaming sessions, peripherals that lend themselves to quicker, more efficient casting and management have hit the industry, and we’ve scored the leading players such as the Razer Naga and the SteelSeries World of Warcraft lineup. We recently received the latest competitor to the scene, Logitech’s G600, just in time for a Pandas, Asuras, and a new season of Yordles. Let’s get in game!
Recently I did a review on a pair of earbuds from Gigabyte. They were a nice pair of earbuds for only being $10. When Wes told me that the price of earbuds can get quite high I began to wonder what could make a pair of earbuds worth so much money. Steelseries sent us a pair of their Flux In-Ear Pro headphones, and priced at $129.99 they certainly come with a hefty price tag, though still at the price point of most decent earbuds. Join me as I take a close look at them and find out what separates them from their competitors and if they are worth your hard earned money.
Generally when it comes to video card reviews, I only get a chance to check out cards when they launch. The rest of the year things are slow and I don’t get the chance to revisit cards as the drivers improve and companies introduce various other designs. Today is an exception to that with a card from PowerColor, their PCS+ HD7870. If you haven’t been paying attention to the market, PowerColor has been changing things up considerably with cards like their Devil 13. I’m excited to see what they have been up to on their other cards as well.
When I reviewed the Aver Media Game Capture HD late last year there were a couple of things I felt were missing. The first was the ability to record HDMI gameplay footage, and the second was the ability to stream any gameplay. Roxio has sent us one of their new capture boxes. The Game Capture HD Pro claims to offer many of the same features of the Aver Media card with the added bonus of being able to do HDMI gameplay and live stream all of your gameplay footage with the click of a button. Let’s take a look at the box and compare its features to that of the other.
I finally got with the times and bought a smart phone, being that I wanted to go with straight talk; the Google Nexus 4 seemed like the logical choice. The next decision I needed to make was what case I wanted. I took a look at the recent reviews Wes had written for different Poetic to see if they might have a case I would want. I expressed interest in their cases to Wes and he said he had another one lying around the office that needed to be looked at. So let’s take a look at the next case in the Poetic lineup, the Palette.
Being a headphone guy myself, when Wes told me I was being shipped some speakers, my first instinct was either a portable speaker set for laptops or mobile listening, or maybe a small set of speakers for a desktop setup. To my surprise AlienVibes sent out one of their W401 model speakers. This is part of a new larger line of speakers that AlienVibes recently released. The W401 is a full size desk speaker setup with subwoofer. After clearing off some room around my desk it’s time we take a look and see what these guys are capable of.
Our pal’s over at Thrustmaster have once again sent us a review sample, the Thrustmaster HOTAS WARTHOG flight stick. While at CES 2012 I asked about this flight stick and what made it so special. After giving it a quick look over I knew I was in for something crazy. After reviewing the T500RS a couple of months ago I came to realize that Thrustmaster doesn’t make the cheapest products but they do make some of the best quality products. Read on for my impressions of the 
Dinosaurs and rifles are a dastardly duo. Putting them together in a game is an interesting combination to say the least. It has been attempted before in games like Turok and Dino D-Day. Fans have shouted for a Battlefield 3 expansion with dinosaurs and Lukewarm Media may be here with the answer. Their new game Primal Carnage is a class based first person shooter that pits humans and dinosaurs against one another in an all-out slaughter fest. Let’s take a look at Primal Carnage and hope that much like John Hammond, Lukewarm Media spared no expense.
Being in the LAN scene, mobility is something that is important to most of us. The solution for some is a laptop, for others it is a sling for their tower and dealing with the grunt work that goes into lugging around an entire system. More and more however folks are turning to smaller form factor motherboards that will fit into LAN boxes. Fractal has sent over one of their Mini ITX cases that can perform as a LAN boxe, the Node 304. Let’s take a look and see how it stacks up against the competition.
When it comes to cases there are two different types. The first is the flashy cases that are meant to grab everyones attention and show off all the cool hardware inside. The second is the sleek professional looking case that is all about style and function. When it comes to Fractal Design I always seem to place them in this second category. They don’t make anything flashy or over the top, but their cases are always functional, cool, spacious, and what I like to call business sexy. Their Define cases have always been a perfect example of this, today we are going to take a look at the Define R4, their lastest version.
We have taken a look at a whole collection of unique case designs in the past with two standing out more than the others. The Silverstone Fortress FT01 and the Silverstone Raven. Both stood out because of their 90 degree rotated motherboard design that works so well for cooling. Although no one else been making cases with the motherboard oriented that way, Silverstone is still working on perfecting the design now with their Raven 3. We loved the previous versions so I have high hopes for the 
A number of Lian Li chassis have made their way through the offices of LanOC. Each time they manage to surprise and impress us with something new or innovative. Today we get to take a look at their new 
It wasn’t that long ago when we took a look at the 
We here at LanOC love to go to LAN parties for obvious reasons. The LAN staff especially like to make it out to other LAN events so that they can kick their feet up and just enjoy fragging, friends, and fun rather than spending the entire weekend working to bring a great event to the attendees. This weekend a group of us made our way out to Fort Wayne Indiana to the Indiana Tech college campus for the very first FortLan event. With great excitement we hooked up our PCs in preparation for the 27 hour long frag fest that was to follow.
One of the newer names out there that you may not have seen before is Oblanc. They are jumping into the market with headphones for gaming, music, cell phones and other products. One of their most recent items to hit the shelves are the NC2 line of U.F.O. themed headphones. The NC2 headphones are designed to be used with games, music, or listening on a mobile device. All of Oblanc’s gaming headphones have a futuristic or alien theme to them, which in my opinion look very cool and it’s refreshing to see something new. The different models come with some unusual shapes, as well as colors and features. Today we will take a look at the NC2-2 (black and silver) model and see how the headphones will stack up against many other models and designs out there.
When it comes to gaming, you only use two senses: sight and sound. While a great monitor, or an Eyefinity/nVidia surround setup can cost you $500 or more, a top of the line headset won’t cost nearly that. Asus has sent over one of their Republic of Gamers branded headsets in the Orion Pro that falls directly in the category of high end gaming headset. In a sea of headsets ranging from awful to amazing, it’s time to see where the Orion Pro lands.
One of the reason’s Mini ITX builds have been slowly becoming more popular is their portability. Packing up your rig and carrying it into a LAN is much easier when you have a nice handle to hang onto. We recently took a look at the Silverstone FT03, although I found it to be a perfect case for LAN use, I also felt it was hard to carry. Because of that Silverstone sent over their 