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Nicholas R.

Nicholas R.

Joined on 03/07/10

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 15
Most Favorable Review

Updated review "It's a gamble"

Hauppauge Colossus - Record your high definition video gameplay and TV programs by H.264  for resolution up to 1080i, PCI-Express x1 Interface
Hauppauge Colossus - Record your high definition video gameplay and TV programs by H.264 for resolution up to 1080i, PCI-Express x1 Interface

Pros: This one works. Component HD & 5.1 optical audio capture. Finally HD for the HDTV through my HTPC. Giving it 5 stars to balance out my last review...

Cons: Too many people receiving faulty cards, as I did with the first one. Software may be limited in functionality, but as long as it captures I can take it from there with the files generated.

Overall Review: I wrote my last review in anger as this was a b-day present and I spent a whole day trying to get a faulty card to work. Boo hoo, I am over it. Again this is the only card that does HD video w/ 5.1 audio so I had no choice but to give this card one more try. This card works so far, left it running for about an hour in showbiz. I apologize to hauppauge for the harshness of my previous review. Tech support did respond to my Email 1 day after I sent the faulty card back. The WMC integration is a 1 year 5 mo old beta not a 3 year old beta. Looking foward to finding the best integration for this card, still don't know if I will use the WMC integration as WMC tends to encrypt .WTV files from channels w/ the copy once flag leaving me no option to convert the file to save on disk space, and the loss of access to the file if I ever reinstall my O/S as I am sure I will forget to back up and reimport the liscense keys for my recordings if I do reinstall, which I really shouldn't have to fiddle w/ in the first place imho. If you're wanting the whole package HD video and 5.1 audio this is the card. Be patient (note to self) and be prepared to try more than one card if yours is faulty.

Most Critical Review

What a headache

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX550M 550 W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi Modular High Performance Power Supply
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX550M 550 W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi Modular High Performance Power Supply

Pros: Look of unit, "brand name" ?

Cons: The plastic of the sata power connectors is so thin that any pressure against them will make them snap and incapable of staying in place. My particular unit was semi modular but whenever I tried to supplement the broken sata connectors with a modular one, the system would not boot. Tried multiple cables to ensure I just didn't have a bad cable. Ultimately the common denominator of all the issues was this PSU... but it managed to put two mother boards and a graphics card into an early grave before I put this PSU into the trash next to bags of used cat litter where it belongs.

Overall Review: Got two years out of this thing... a year ago when I tried to add in a 2nd hard drive is when I snapped two sata power connectors with the tiniest bit of force... I should have chucked this PSU then when the thing would not boot using a modular cable.... what made me think I could sneak a new graphics card into this build (card required a 450 watt) is beyond me, and the fact that I subjected not one but two motherboards and a brand new GPU to the abuse of this PSU ... well shame on me.

Magical device

Logitech T650 910-003057 1 x Wheel USB RF Wireless Touchpad
Logitech T650 910-003057 1 x Wheel USB RF Wireless Touchpad

Pros: replaced my mouse, especially since I use a game-pad for gaming. Highly accurate and once you learn the gestures which I did in the past couple of hours this device makes using a windows 8 PC simply futuristic... can you adapt?

Cons: none

Overall Review: charges in one hour for one months worth of battery life ^^

Amazing!

Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Rage USB Connector Circumaural Gaming Headset
Creative Sound Blaster Tactic3D Rage USB Connector Circumaural Gaming Headset

Pros: *No more cord to sit on or yank on my ears when I reach for something. *16 glorious hours battery life. * Sound quality, Bass, loudness clarity. Transforms my music into "an experience" *long range, I haven't even propped the usb transmitter some place other than directly on the usb port of my computer and I do have usb extensions to do so, but I can easily walk around the house with this headset. *comfortable, been wearing these for 6 hours so far as I'm writing this. *Surround sound, been testing these with online 3D sound tests, can hear things going behind above below and around my head. Also been playing with the 3D settings in teamspeak and can position people anywhere. *Can use while charging. If these last, they will be the last headset I ever purchase.

Cons: I honestly can't think of any, some people said they've had theirs die on them after the first week, if that happens I will post a follow up.

Overall Review: The 3D is right on target. Just got off a 5ish hour Skyrim binge and I can hear things coming from the direction they are in no matter which direction I am facing in the game. =D

Be advised

RCA RT151 Home Theater System
RCA RT151 Home Theater System

Pros: Low cost, low power usage

Cons: Not a true 5.1 system, for a true 5.1 system you would need one of the following inputs... for digital: HDMI, Optical SPDIF, RCA SPDIF, For Analog: 6 RCA jacks (FL,FR,C,SL,SR, Sub) , or finally triple 3.5mm jacks which is the same as the 6 RCA jacks just uses headphone connections that carriers two channels per connection. So many options and this system does not include one of them This system has 2 channel RCA inputs in the back giving you left/right only. Meaning the two speakers on the left play the same thing, the two speakers on the right play the same thing, and the center speaker plays everything Enjoy.

Overall Review: How hard would it have been to throw analog inputs for 5.1 into this system ? So Cheap...but if you really want to try this out you can pick it up at Target for 30$ less

RCA scam

Pros: Sleek, compact

Cons: Not a 5.1 system. Bought this from target, opened the box to see it only has stereo inputs. This is why they only include a front picture and no picture of the back of this unit. Stereo input on a 5.1 system with no dolby decoder means the left front and left back speaker play the same thing, the right front and the right back speaker play the same thing, and the center speaker plays the combined channel of everything left and everything right.

Overall Review: Not that it would be true surround with a dolby decoder but it would at least be closer. I can't believe they couldn't at least include 6 channel analog inputs for this unit... triple 3.5mm jacks in the back... problem solved. Shame on you RCA for even hinting at 5.1 when this unit only has stereo input.