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XSplit is a broadcast application like OBS (Open Broadcast Software). There are a few differences in the features because there are paid and free versions of XSplit. XSplit Broadcaster has a professional feel and is not hard to set up because it easily integrates with all the major platforms, including Twitch.
What You Need to Stream on XSplit
XSplit Account
Livestream platform account on Twitch, Facebook, YouTube or Restream
A PC that can handle at least 720p, 30 fps
A capture card if you are streaming from a console.
Mic / webcam / headset: For recording yourself. Check out our lists of best webcams, best gaming headsets and best gaming microphones.
How to Set Up XSplit
1. Sign up for an XSplit account at www.XSplit.com.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Download the Broadcaster software after you sign up for your account.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. When the software downloads it will ask if it can make changes to your computer, click Yes to continue. It will ask you this every time you open Broadcaster.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Click Broadcast in the left corner the select Set Up a New Output. To set up a new output means to connect your streaming platform like Twitch or YouTube. You can set up multiple accounts for multiple streaming platforms.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Each platform will request authorization for XSplit to use it . Click Authorize XSplit to use Twitch (or whatever platform(s) you have).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. After you verify your Twitch account it will show up under Choose a Twitch Account. Once you see the account you want to stream to click on it. You can also have multiple Twitch accounts logged in on XSplit. But you can only stream to one account at a time.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. This is what authorizing XSplit to use your Twitch will look like. Click Next.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
XSplit will automatically determine your server and tell you what your recommended settings are for Twitch and the other platforms available. Just because there are recommended settings doesn’t mean that’s the highest setting you can stream on.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
XSplit Settings for 1920 x 1080 running 60 FPS on Twitch
Twitch Properties are for technical stream settings like your Bitrate and Codec. You don’t usually have to pay attention to these settings. The only thing I would change for a smooth stream with great graphics is the Video Encoding.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Codec encodes or decodes a digital data stream or signal. Currently, it’s on H.264 and is using my graphics card the GTX 1060. I change my Codec to x264 because it has better quality, meaning it gives my stream a more polished look.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Bitrate: The lower the Bitrate the choppier the stream can be. I recommend 5000 for 1080p streams. Running at a lower setting like 1280 x 720 at 30FPS the bitrate should be raised to 4000 maximum and 1500 minimum. And the Codec can still change x264.
That’s recommended bitrate for Twitch. Recommended setting for YouTube & Facebook are 4000 to 6000.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Change the Resolution and Framerate on XSplit
1. Click on theresolution and framerate in the upper right corner.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Scroll down to Resolution and select the resolution works for your stream. The two most common Resolution options are 1280 x720 (16:9) & 1920 x 1080 (16:9).
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click onResolution scroll down to Framerate to change your framerate. While streaming at 1920 x 1080 the framerate is usually 60 frames per second. Streaming at 1280 x 720 the framerate is 30 fps.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Import OBS Scenes into XSplit
If you have scenes on OBS that you don’t want to recreate in XSplit, there’s a very easy way to port them over. Before importing your OBS scenes to XSplit you must save your scenes.
1. Open OBS, click Profile in the upper left corner & select Export and choose a place to save them.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Switch to XSplit.
3. Click Tools located in the upper left menu.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Select Permissions.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Check the box for OBS Scene Importer and click apply.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
6. Click Import from OBS Studio.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
7. Select the scenes you’d like to import and click open.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. Click Import. Now your scenes and sources are available in XSplit.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Create New Scenes & Sources in XSplit
If you are starting from scratch and want to build your scenes in XSplit, whether you’re using StreamElements, StreamLabs, or importing an overlay you made yourself, it’s very easy to use.
1. Click the + button to add more scenes.You can rename the Scene by clicking on the white bar toward the bottom.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. To add an overlay as an image, video, or GIF click Add Source at the bottom of the screen. Your File Explorer will open up and you can choose your overlay from there.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to add an Overlay from StreamElements to XSplit
Adding an overlay from StreamElements and StreamLabs is easy. These are free websites in which to create overlays.
1. Sign up for an account on StreamElements using a streaming platform or your email.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Create your overlay.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click the link button to copy the URL to your clipboard.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Switch back to the XSplit software and select paste.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. Grab the edges of your overlay to adjust it to the size you want.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Using VCam with XSplit
VCam is an additional free program under the XSplit brand that allows any user to remove background without a green screen and create different effects without any additional software.
1. Download install and run VCam. You can get it on XSplit’s site.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Click continue after Vcam launches and starts its calibration.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can blur your background by moving the slider up & down.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can remove your background.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can add a background from their collection of images or upload your own image, gif, video, or webpage by clicking Add Background.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You can also change the brightness, contrast or move the image to the right or left by clicking the edit button near the blur bar.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If you have multiple cameras you can select them from the list.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Click 3 dots “…” to adjust your webcam settings.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to add your webcam or VCam to your Scene
1. Select Add Source ->Devices -> Video and then XSplit VCam or your Webcam.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Use Your Phone or Tablet Instead of a Webcam
If you don’t have a webcam you can use XSplit Connect Webcam which allows you to use your smartphone camera as a webcam.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Open XSplit VCam & select the ^ button.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click Connect your mobile phone camera.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
It is supposed to connect because it’s on the same IP address. However, in my tests, it didn’t yet work because it’s in beta. You may have better luck.
How to add your Mic to your Scene in XSplit
1. Select Add Source ->Devices-> Audio, and then select the mic you want to use.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Additional mic & audio settings are located in the bottom right corner.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Click Settings underneath the mic button for advanced options like using Noise Gate.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Use Noise GateThreshold if you have a fan that your mic is picking up. Sliding the bar down lowers the gate and lets in more noise. Sliding the bar up raises the gate and let’s less noise in. Checking the Noise Suppression box helps lower all background noise.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
4. Clicking the settings button will open general and advance settings.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
5. In the Audio tab, you can adjust your system sound/headphones, microphone, and control if you’d like your audio to have a delay.
6. Use the Audio Preview section to monitor the final audio output from your stream. It may sound like an echo but the echo won’t show up in recordings or livestream.
7. Click the drop-down menu under System Sound allows to choose what audio your stream picks up, like audio from your entire PC, which might include, Discord notifications or YouTube audio. Or you can set it to just pick up your voice and the gameplay.
Due to latency, there may be a delay between the live feed of the game and when it reaches XSplit (particularly if you are using a capture card). The delay checkbox allows you to create a delay on video and audio sources, like your System sound, Webcam, and microphone.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
8. The white bars next to the microphone and speakerphone icon control the volumes of your mic and the PC sound. Click and hold the left button on your mouse to make the volumes go up or down.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Set a Delay for a Source in XSplit
1. Find out how much the delay is by measuring it in seconds.
2. Convert that time it into milliseconds. For example, 2 seconds is 2,000 milliseconds.
3. Input that into the delay section and tes it. There will be a lot of fine-tuning to get the delays the sync up.
How to Set Up a Console and Capture Card in XSplit
If you are streaming with a console, you need a capture card to connect it with XSplit
1. Hook up your capture card to your console.
2. Turn on your console.
3. Click Add Source at the bottom of the screen, select devices -> video and select your capture card. You can resize the window by grabbing the edges of the box and pulling them outward or inward.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Set Up PC Game Streaming in XSPlit
If you are streaming PC Games you don’t need a capture card.
1. Open the game you’d like to play.
2. Select Add Source at the bottom of the screen then select Game Capture and the game will appear in the list under Auto-Detect.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Resize the game display by grabbing the edges of the window and pulling them outward if you want to make it bigger or inward to make it smaller.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
How to Start a Livestream in XSplit
After your platform of choice, overlay and gameplay are added and your mic and camera settings are configured, you can start livestreaming.
1. Select the button on the top right above your preview window. If you only have one platform click the Stream button and your stream will startup.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Select the platform where you’d like to go live if you have multiple platforms.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
3. Click the stream button and your stream is now live. The red button and the message in the bottom right corner confirm your stream is live.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Saving Scenes
You can have multiple scenes for different platforms or games. Multiple scenes saved into one file is a Presentation.
1. To save these scenes select File in the upper left corner, Save Presentation, and choose where to save it.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
2. Select File, New Presentation to create another set of scenes You can even save, load, or add individual scenes by selecting File.
Adding Transitions in XSplit
Transitions are for moving from scene to scene. And XSplit comes with preloaded transitions, which you will find on the bottom right corner of the screen.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
You are able to favorite them with the star button.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
And if you have a custom transition that you’ve made, feel free to upload it by selecting the transitions, scrolling to the bottom, and selecting Stinger or Luma.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Express Video Editor
XSplit has its own video editor which is another program you can download from its website.
Andrew Munro 51 mins ago Featured Tech Reviews, Mouse
2020 has been a big year for peripheral launches of all shapes and sizes – we’ve seen holey mice, large heavy weight mice and even mice with number-pads on them, ranging from budget models to eye-watering high-end products. Today we’re going to be giving your our top 5 mice of 2020, and be sure to let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments!
Watch video via Vimeo (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
#5: Logitech G203 Lightsync
See the Logitech G203 Lightsync review HERE.
#4: Mountain Makalu 67
See the Mountain Makalu 67 review HERE.
#3: Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite
See the Corsair Scimitar RGB Elite review HERE.
#2: Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro
See the Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro review HERE.
#1: Razer Naga Pro Wireless
See the Razer Naga Pro Wireless review HERE.
KitGuru says: Make sure to watch the full video to find out why these mice made our Top 5 list. We discuss their price point, key specifications, unique selling points and unique features. Don’t forget to check out our other Top 5 2020 compilations too. With all of these great additions it makes us wonder what peripherals have in store for us next year.
The video explains the basics of AMD’s FreeSync and NVIDIA’s G-Sync features and explains their current compatibility.
Commercial cooperation with AOC
Today, virtually all gaming monitors are equipped with AMD’s Freesync or NVIDIA’s G-Sync feature, which means synchronizing the screen’s refresh rate, or synchronizing it with the graphics card’s ever-changing screen refresh rate.
The video explores AMD’s FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync features, what they are, what they do, what their benefits are, and finally shows with examples how to enable the feature on Radeon and GeForce graphics cards.
Exemplary AOC Freesync display 240 on Hertz TN panel:
Hinta.fi, Search: AOC Agon AG 273 QZ from 690 €
If you liked the video, subscribe to io-Tech’s YouTube channel for free, thanks
Tweakers uses cookies Tweakers is part of DPG Media. Our sites and apps use cookies, JavaScript and similar technology, among other things, to provide you with an optimal user experience. It also allows us to record and analyze the behavior of visitors and add this information to visitor profiles.
Cookies can be used to show advertisements on Tweakers and to recommend articles that match your interests. Third parties can also track your internet behavior, as is the case with embedded videos from YouTube.
Cookies can also be used to display relevant advertisements on third party sites. More information about this can be found at tweakers.net/cookies.
To view pages on Tweakers, you must accept the cookies by clicking on ‘Yes, I accept cookies’.
Tweakers uses cookies Tweakers is part of DPG Media. Our sites and apps use cookies, JavaScript and similar technology, among other things, to provide you with an optimal user experience. It also allows us to record and analyze the behavior of visitors and add this information to visitor profiles.
Cookies can be used to show advertisements on Tweakers and to recommend articles that match your interests. Third parties can also track your internet behavior, as is the case with embedded videos from YouTube.
Cookies can also be used to display relevant advertisements on third party sites. More information about this can be found at tweakers.net/cookies.
To view pages on Tweakers, you must accept the cookies by clicking on ‘Yes, I accept cookies’.
For the true music fan, there should be as little difference as possible between listening to your music on your home system and listening when you’re out and about – whether that’s simply being in the garden, on a walk or even (fingers crossed for the future) on your daily commute or on holiday.
Until fairly recently, though, being able to listen to your tunes on the go required a massive compromise in the quality you had to accept. That gap between home and mobile is, as is the way with technology, closing all the time – and here we have a terrific example of just how good your music can sound from a relatively simple handset and headphones combination; with a rather important addition to link the two…
Here’s a brilliant turntable, tablet and wireless speaker system
Here’s an excellent hi-fi system combining vinyl and streaming
Enjoy CDs and streaming with this complete digital hi-fi system
While we’re huge fans of bespoke personal music players (and for the very best sound, you should plump for one, and listen to high-resolution music files), being practical about this, it’s clear that for most people, using their mobile device is the preferred option. It’s simply more practical to use one piece of kit for everything – provided it can do a competent job. And today’s smartphones do a really fine job of being the jack of all trades. You can take your pick of the best Android or Apple devices, but for our purposes, we’re going down the Apple route here, as the Cupertino king has produced consistently great-sounding products over the years.
And, of course, for our purposes here it’s the sound that we’re thinking of. Plug in a decent pair of in-ear headphones (you’ll need Apple’s 3.5mm-to-Lightning dongle), or fire up a pair of wireless earbuds and the iPhone 12 really earns its stripes. We’ve come to expect musicality and rhythm where Apple’s smartphones are concerned and its latest effort doesn’t disappoint.
Essentially, it’s a case of more of the same, with the iPhone 12 delivering enthusiasm and musicality in spades. It works well across multiple genres and keeps you entertained right to the last second of every track.
Play Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror and there’s plenty of sparkle in those highs during those opening seconds. The iPhone picks out plenty of detail and texture from Jacko’s voice and its ability to handle dynamics with aplomb means you feel the full impact as the vocal switches from sounding delicate in the verses to punchier and more direct in the chorus, reinforced with the backing of the gospel choir.
Best smartphones 2020
(Image credit: AudioQuest)
The iPhone is a decent music player in its own right, then. But, to really boost the sound of this little system, you need to add a good DAC. Audioquest’s DragonFly range has always impressed us with its abilities at a reasonable price. And the DragonFly Cobalt we have here is its best effort yet – although also its most expensive. You’ll need to invest in Apple’s USB camera adapter to use it (another £26/$29 to the bill, sadly), but you’ll certainly appreciate the difference to the sound the investment makes. And it’s not restricted to simply improving your mobile tunes; use this little stick on your laptop and it will be a winner as well.
Once attached to your device and selected as means of audio output, the DAC’s LED will shine one of six colours to indicate sampling rate: red for standby, green for 44.1kHz, blue for 48kHz, yellow for 88.2 kHz, light blue for 96kHz or purple when decoding MQA.
The Cobalt does wonders in cleaning up sonic performance, no matter what kind of file we feed it or whether it’s streaming from YouTube, Spotify, Tidal or playing from our own hi-res library.
AudioQuest claims its new DAC ‘strips away fuzz and fog that weren’t even noticeable until removed’, and we’d have to agree. It is so precise a rendering that we feel almost duty bound to play our highest-resolution recordings through it.
Lines are indelibly drawn round the edges of each instrument, with granular detail on offer to complement the cleanliness and military precision. The Cobalt isn’t necessarily concerned with polishing your music, only the lens through which it can be seen: bedroom recordings can still sound intimately lo-fi, purposefully screeching treble remains uncensored and grisly riffs still drag their knuckles along the floor.
You could spend your time analysing the music if you like; the Cobalt makes that easy with its wide-open soundstage and impressive clarity, but AudioQuest has not lost itself entirely in the detail, offering still a keen sense of rhythm and expressive dynamic range. The Cobalt’s hard work is also heard as it belts out grand dynamic shifts before donning its reading glasses to contour those more diminutive quivers.
The only reason some people might be put off the Cobalt in favour of the cheaper DragonFly Red is that the Cobalt is a serious performer. It improves on almost every aspect of its older sibling’s Award-winning presentation, yes; but with that added insight and maturity comes a slight loss of the fluidity that makes the Red sound so human. That doesn’t counteract any of the sonic improvements you’re getting for your premium outlay, but some may favour the Red’s more relaxed temperament.
Best DACs 2020
(Image credit: Shure)
Our choice of headphones for this on-the-go system might be a surprise to some – they’ve been around for many a year now, after all. But the Shure SE425, for all their lack of modern wireless connection, are still, after seven years, hugely competitive in-ears. As we said when giving them their gong in 2019, these simply sound fun, absorbing, classy, polished, captivating…
Get some music going and it’s as if the Shures disappear, leaving you with just their sound. To say it’s an immersive experience is an understatement. The level of finesse on offer is astonishing even at this price: you’ll hear things you never thought were there, even on recordings you know inside out.
They’re energetic, too, more than capable of handling tight rhythms and punchy rock, while never tipping over into brashness. It would be easy to overcook the top-end in the name of excitement, but Shure has kept just enough of a lid on it to create space and fun without making it feel like someone’s squirted lemon juice into your ears.
The midrange performance is as solid as you like – that vein of detail continues all the way down the frequency range.
Vocals are nuanced and placed to the fore, yet they never conflict with other elements in the same frequency range.
Move down to the bass and there’s a decent amount of thud. The sense of isolation helps with low-frequency extension too – these really do block out almost everything around you.
And, of course, that cable only helps to get them in this system. As with most hi-fi, having a direct physical link tends to help quality – and the DAC and headphone combo here is a superb recipe for sonic success.
For anyone who’s been lucky enough to spend the majority of the pandemic working from home, the idea of escaping the room (or couch) that’s become a makeshift office is probably a relatable one. Enter this series of “escape rooms” built in Google Docs, that let you do just that, inside web software you’ve probably become far too familiar with. ”Part 3” of the game was finally released today, but you’ll never fully escape using Google Docs.
“Escape: A Game” by Anthony Smith is styled as a choose-your-own-adventure game set in a series of interlinked Google Docs. You “wake up” from a mysterious dream in a cabin room filling with smoke, and are tasked with getting out. “Part 2” has you do the same thing in a hotel corridor, and “Part 3” that just released today, I won’t spoil for myself or anyone reading this. We’ve seen other escape room games built in Google’s software before, but “Escape” has an odd, creepy charm that’s hard to deny.
The first of many choices in “Escape: A Game”.
As cool as this all is, Google Docs is not the best place to play a game. Clicking links in Docs can require multiple clicks to actually take you somewhere else, and the new tabs quickly add up. I could tell my laptop was straining under the number of tabs I had open for cross-referencing clues and dialing the in-game phone. What is a nice benefit of playing in a collaborative word processor is the possibility to get help solving puzzles. Both “Part 1” and “Part 2” feature pages that pull double duty as guestbooks for people to leave their names, and help each other solve puzzles. You need to request access to edit the page for “Part 1”, but even without live edits, it’s still handy for hints.
The actual narrative early on in “Escape” is slim, but it leaves plenty of room to fill in the weirder edges with your own connections. For instance, for the entire time I played, I couldn’t shake the similarities between the game’s smoked filled cabin, and Control’s “Oceanview Motel”. That Control level featured an escape room-style puzzle and functioned as a liminal space in the game that you returned to multiple times. “Escape” lacks the cool visual aesthetics of Control, but there’s some shared heritage in their weirdness.
I spent around an hour working through the first part of “Escape” and ended it with over 50 tabs open and a pretty weird YouTube history. I learned some facts about dentistry, grew frustrated with myself for not remembering all of the 151 original Pokémon, and became increasingly concerned that this was all a trick to get me to better understand how links work in Docs. All in all, it’s not a bad way to spend some time online
“Escape: A Game” can be played for free in Google Docs. ”Part 1“, ”Part 2“, and ”Part 3“ are available now for your puzzle solving pleasure.
Poco has been on a roll in the budget end of the market lately and the Poco M3 is arguably the best entry-level phone out now. We’ve already published our written review and now we bring you the video breakdown.
The M3 packs quite the compelling spec list with a large 6.53 FHD+ display paired with a 48MP main cam and 6,000 mAh battery all packaged in a unique design for around $150/€150. It’s not the first time that Poco ventures into the entry-level segment but this time it’s striking strong.
You’re getting a device that would normally be priced in midrange category. Of course, bringing the price down required some corner-cutting like an LCD panel instead of an AMOLED one, no NFC nor ultrawide camera and an uninspiring (if still solid) chipset. All omissions we can live with at the end of the day when keeping the price tag in mind.
Due to circumstances that transpired over the past months, the new video is not on YouTube and we are instead publishing it on Facebook. You can read more about our uphill battle to reclaim our rightful YouTube channel ownership here alongside a video breakdown by Will.
The people of vloggers represent a potentially very interesting market for companies engaged in the creation of cameras and camcorders: if mostly video content on YouTube o TikTok are made using a smartphone, those who want to make a real leap in quality are often oriented towards the purchase of specialized equipment.
To capture the needs of vloggers, however, something is needed that together with high video quality (not only in terms of image quality, but also of expressive capabilities that can only arise from a direct control over parameters such as aperture and shutter speeds) also accompany a certain handling.
Sony with its A7C it was the first to put forward a full-frame mirrorless proposal expressly for vloggers, taking the good things done with Sony A7III and condensing it into a compact body with articulated display. This is something quite unprecedented in the panorama of full-frame mirrorless and that goes to attack an audience that, we are sure, other brands will not want to miss.
Canon thinks of vloggers with a camera-gimbal
A patent filed by Canon that outlines a device that winks conspicuously at vloggers but with a completely different setting to that of Sony A7C and very similar to something we have already seen in other forms. In practice it is a sort of gimbal-cam conceptually similar to DJI’s Osmo solutions , but with the possibility of changing the lenses. We can therefore think of a sort of hybrid between a mobile Osmo and a gimbal for traditional cameras. Or maybe something close to Zenmuse solutions, also from DJI.
In the patent drawing you can also see the presence of a hot-shoe for accessories such as flash, which, however, would hinder the proper functioning of the gyroscope-based stabilization system. From this point of view, moreover, also the possible use of lenses seems to be somewhat limited: one thing is to manage standard and relatively light focal lengths, another matter is the use of more massive optics. The particular camera would also seem to have a display, which however seems to be constrained and not rotatable which results in the impossibility of being able to see yourself while you are shooting.
Before letting go of enthusiasm or, on the contrary, easy mockery, it is good to remember that a patent does not necessarily indicate a product that will arrive on the market and that Canon, like many other large companies, exploits the patent mechanism to protect intellectual property even without a concrete desire to translate a concept into reality.
Dominic Moass 47 mins ago Featured Tech Reviews, Graphics
While the start of 2020 may have been a quiet period for GPU releases, it has felt like a new graphics card has launched every week for the past few months. Here, we recap our five favourite GPUs from 2020, explaining why we have chosen the products that we did. As always, let us know whether you agree – or disagree! – in the comments.
Watch via our Vimeo channel (below) or over on YouTube at 2160p HERE
#5: Nvidia RTX 3070
Read the full RTX 3070 review HERE.
#4: AMD RX 6800
Read the full RX 6800 review HERE.
#3: Nvidia RTX 3080
Read the full RTX 3080 review HERE.
#2: AMD RX 6800 XT
Read the full RX 6800 XT review HERE.
#: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti
Read the full RTX 3060 Ti review HERE.
KitGuru says: There’s always a lot of discussion about new GPU releases – let us know your thoughts on this list and whether or you agree or disagree with us. And of course, stay tuned for plenty more GPU reviews in 2021 and beyond!
A stunning AMOLED panel helps the XtendTouch Pro stand out among the portable monitor competition. But a required power hub and a high retail price mean this screen will mostly appeal to professionals.
For
Astounding image quality and brightness
More versatile than competition
Touch controls work well
Against
Expensive, especially at retail price
Requires two cables and a power adapter to function
Could use a metal kickstand
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As far as productivity-focused portable screens go, the OLED-powered XtendTouch Pro is by far the nicest we’ve seen yet. And compared to professional alternatives, it’s surprisingly affordable — if you grab it from Kickstarter preorder for its starting price of $699 (the company claims retail price will be $1,299). But unless you need the level of color and brightness, that’s still a high price compared to lesser LCD-based 1080p resolutions models — though those don’t look nearly as good.
The XtendTouch Pro also requires two cables and a USB charging hub to function, making it a lot less practically portable than models that work over a single USB-C cable. So while the panel in this screen looks astounding, it will likely make sense solely to professionals and well-off prosumers who don’t want to pay much more for larger OLED alternatives.
Portable monitors have for years been a good option for those looking for increased productivity while on the go. And some, like Lenovo’s ThinkVision M14t, also include touch. But most don’t get very bright and/or don’t deliver the rich color, detail and contrast that professional or prosumer image and video editors need.
Enter the XtendTouch Pro from capsicum-themed peripheral maker Pepper Jobs. It’s a portable 15.6-inch 4K AMOLED, (a type of OLED) monitor with touch control, over 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and a high rated peak brightness of 650 nits. It’s very portable at under 2 pounds and about 0.5-inch thick with its origami-like cover/stand.
Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro Specs
Panel Type / Backlight
AMOLED
Screen Size / Aspect Ratio
15.6 inches / 16:9
Max Resolution & Refresh Rate
3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz
Color Depth
8-bit
Response Time
1ms (typical)
Max Brightness
650 nits
Contrast Ratio
100,000:1 (static)
Power Consumption
30W (peak)
Ports
2x USB Type-C, Mini HDMI, OTG/USB-C, 3.5mm audio
Touch
10-point
Stylus
4,096 pressure levels
Dimensions
14 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches (377 x 224 x 10mm)
Weight
1.87 pounds (0.85kg)
Design of Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The eye-catching deep blacks and high brightness of the AMOLED panel in the XtendTouch Pro will likely be the main thing people notice about this monitor. Note that AMOLED is a variant of OLED developed by Samsung, with an additional active matrix (hence the AM) TFT film for faster, precise pixel control.
But many other aspects of the monitor’s exterior look much like other portable displays. At 14 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches and 1.87 pounds, it’s quite portable. But that statement discounts the necessity of two USB-C cables and an external power bank to deliver the stable power required to run the high-brightness screen and the touch layer — much more on this in the next section.
Bezels around the display are slim, save for the bottom lip, which is typically larger to house necessary components, as well as to lift the screen a bit more than 1 inch above your desk for more comfortable viewing.
There are more ports on the XtendTouch Pro than most portable displays. That’s in part due to the fact that you need a dedicated USB-C/Thunderbolt cable just for power — the company says the screen needs about 30W at peak brightness with the speakers turned up. But there’s some extra versatility provided here as well.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The right edge, near the bottom corner, houses one USB-C port for power, a second for data and a Mini HDMI port. Those with devices with a DisplayPort Alt Mode or Thunderbolt capabilities will want to use the pair of USB-C ports. But for devices that lack this, you can still use the top USB-C plugged into the included powered hub, while using HDMI for video. This is handy for connecting to things like consoles or a Raspberry Pi. But if you connect this way via PC, note that you won’t be able to use the screen’s touch layer.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The XtendTouch Pro also has stereo speakers that fire out of either side of the device (when in landscape orientation). When I listened to the new “Seed EP2” from dirty electronic pioneers Portion Control, the speakers did a decent job of conveying the layered complexity of distorted sounds and samples, and volume was enough to fill my small office (once I realized you need to use the OSD and an on-screen slider to go up past the default 50% volume). But as you might guess about speakers shoved behind a screen in a chassis that’s just 0.4 inches thick, bass was pretty much non-existent. If you want that, use the headphone jack or plug in some external speakers.
Over on the left side is a small rocker wheel/button used to bring up the on-screen display (OSD), a headphone jack and a USB-C On-The-Go (OTG) port for connecting the display to a smartphone or tablet. The monitor even comes with a picture-in-picture mode, so you can display a secondary signal in a small window in a corner of the screen. Given the small size of the resulting image on a display that’s only 15.6 inches diagonal, we suspect this feature will have minimal appeal for most.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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Overall, build quality feels quite solid, as we’d expect given the price. Aside from the glass front, the shell is made of solid-feeling metal. And there’s even a pair of small screw holes on the back for mounting the monitor to a 75mm VESA arm or stand. That’s something we haven’t seen in a portable monitor before and a nod to professionals who may want to use this screen in a more permanent setup.
Accessories for Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The XtendTouch Pro ships with far more accessories than most portable monitors. In some ways, that’s a good thing, but it’s also partially out of necessity. As noted earlier, the monitor needs two cables to work, one of which needs to be plugged into a dedicated power source. The company shipped our unit with a 100W charger for this purpose, which also lets you handily power a few more USB devices at the same time. A company rep told us that there will be another option with a smaller 60W charger that also comes with plugs for multiple countries.
The latter option will likely appeal more to those who travel (whenever we get to a point where we can safely travel again). But knowing that you need to plug into an external power adapter and bring along two cables to plug in your external monitor means the XtendTouch Pro is less travel-friendly and more cumbersome to set up than many portable monitors that can get all the juice they need from a single USB-C cable. But then those options don’t deliver anywhere near the color, brightness and contrast of this AMOLED panel — and most don’t include touch support.
Touch and Pen Support on Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Speaking of touch, the monitor also ships with a premium-feeling pen-like stylus with 4,096 pressure sensitivity layers, powered by a single AAAA battery. It worked well in my limited use (I’m no artist), though as with most styli I’ve tested over the years, there’s noticeable lag when you’re writing or drawing at any speed.
Touch controls worked much as you would expect with a touchscreen laptop. But the thin folding stand cover also isn’t sturdy enough for input with the pen or much more than light taps and swipes. So Pepper Jobs also includes a second metal stand that lets you adjust the screen’s tilt and, to some extent, height. This stand is far-better suited to use with the stylus and general use at a desk because it lifts the screen up as much as 3 inches off the surface for better line of sight. But it’s bulky and weighted at the bottom (to aid stability), which makes it less travel-friendly, though it does fold flat.
Aside from the stand, the cover, the USB Power Delivery power hub, a small stand for the power hub and the stylus, the company includes a few cables and a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box. All of this is appreciated but will weigh you down if you plan on traveling with it. And final shipping models may ship with a slightly different set of accessories. So make sure you know what’s included before buying (or preordering on Kickstarter).
Image Quality of Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As you might expect given its AMOLED origins, many aspects of the image quality on the XtendTouch Pro are unrivaled, at least compared to most portable and budget monitors. I watched various 4K resolution videos of Scotland on YouTube (as I await the ability to safely travel there again). And the mixing shades of green, brown and gray looking over the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye were just as endless, complex and vivid on the AMOLED screen as I remember from hiking there in person. Looking at some of my own photos of the nearby Storr in the mist, the deep black of the Jurassic-era cliff faces, ripped down and exposed by the largest landslide in Britain, brought back a sense of timeless foreboding that I hadn’t felt since I last stood there myself, near-stupefied by the magnitude of everything around me.
The glossiness of a touchscreen can often cause viewing angle and reflection issues, as we saw with the ThinkVision M14t. But not so here. Thanks to a combination of the high contrast of AMOLED, (which is lit on a per-pixel basis, leading to the deepest of blacks) and high brightness (Pepper Jobs claims 440 average nits, with a peak of 650) means the image looks great from any angle and lighting condition. I have three 4K displays of various types that I use for testing and photo editing. But even the 49-inch Sony TV that I use as my primary productivity display couldn’t compete anecdotally on image quality, despite being a nice VA panel with some better brightness specs.
Again, OLED looks better than pretty much any kind of LCD display because the pixels provide their own light, rather than relying on any kind zone or edge backlighting. That said, for long-term use, my eyes prefer the (much) larger Sony TV than a 15.6-inch display.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
XtendTouch Pro surpasses any other portable or budget monitor that we’ve looked at recently, with a brightness at default settings of nearly 423 nits, a little shy of the rated 440 average. You should see higher peak brightness if viewing HDR content, but I never felt like I was wanting for more brightness with this screen, even when working in direct sunlight.
According to our colorimeter, the XtendTouch Pro is also easily the most colorful display of the portable monitors we’ve looked at lately, delivering nearly 175% of the sRGB space and 117.8% of the more-demanding DCI-P3. Nothing else we’ve tested in this class comes close, making this a great panel for media editing.
Color Gamut Accuracy of Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Our saturation sweep of the DCI-P3 color space turned in a Delta E (dE) result of 3.68, which isn’t good for a monitor aimed at content creators. But the version of the XtendTouch Pro that Pepper Jobs sent us was just an engineering sample ,and early on a company rep told us that professional profiles and firmware were still being worked on.
So given the unfinished nature of this aspect of the screen, we didn’t continue with detailed color, grayscale and gamma testing. Those primarily interested in this aspect of the screen will have to wait for tests from a finalized version of the display. Of course, professionals with calibration tools may also be able to get more accuracy that way, though we hope Pepper Jobs delivers solid accuracy out of the box with its final shipping display.
Settings and OSD on Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro
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One of the nice things about having a touch screen display is when the on-screen display (OSD) is also touch-enabled, as it is with the Xtend Touch Pro. Rather than having to navigate every setting and slider with the jog wheel button on the left side, you mostly just press that to bring up the OSD and switch between screens. Adjusting sliders and selecting options and sub-menus is handled by tapping things that pop up in the lower-right corner of the display.
Most of what’s available in the OSD is expected and self-explanatory. But as noted earlier, to go past the monitor’s default 50% volume on the speakers, you need to open the OSD and tap and slide up the volume meter here. I just set it at 100% then used Windows to adjust the volume further. For those using other devices or operating systems, however, having the volume in the OSD might make more sense.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Given that similar portable OLED options, like Asus’ larger 21-inch ProArt PQ22UC OLED monitor cost thousands of dollars, the Pepper Jobs XtendTouch Pro is arguably a bargain for professionals and prosumers who need a colorful second display for working on the go or in small spaces. That’s especially true if you pick it up via Kickstarter for $699 rather than the eventual suggested retail price of $1,299. The good news is that the company estimates Kickstarter orders to ship in January 2021, so you won’t likely have long to wait. Just know that you’ll need to carry around a power hub and extra cables to get the screen working.
But even at the $699 price, the Xtend Touch Pro is too pricey to find much favor outside the creative realm. And we were unable to test final color accuracy, which is a key consideration, even for enthusiast photographers who want to make sure what’s on the screen is an accurate representation of reality.
If you just want an extra screen for productivity, there are lots of alternatives that, while they don’t look as good or get as bright, will let you bang out documents or sort spreadsheets for hundreds less. And while the 1ms rated response time means this screen should suffice for gaming, those spending anything close to this much on a portable monitor for gaming will likely be after a screen that can output more than this panel’s 60 Hz refresh rate. For those users, there’s the Asus ROG Strix XG17AHPE, which does 240 Hz, is larger at 17.3 inches and sells for about $500.
Among the dozens of peripherals and accessories dedicated to Game Boy, WorkBoy is considered a lost treasure. The add-on (hardware and software) has never seen the light, but a 28 years after its announcement we have finally seen it in action thanks to the discovery of the journalist Liam Robertson.
by Pasquale Fusco published 28 December 2020 , at 16: 21 in the Videogames channel Nintendo
The Game Boy by Nintendo is in all likelihood the most popular handheld console ever, considering that, from 1989 to today, sold the beauty of 118 million units sold . The little jewel of the Big N is not only remembered for its iconic games – such as Tetris or Super Mario Land – but also and above all for the incredible variety of accessories dedicated to it.
One of these peripherals responds to the name of WorkBoy and, unlike the more famous Game Boy Camera or the bizarre Handy Boy, he never saw his debut on the market. A 16 years from its presentation, a working prototype was found accessory that would transform Game Boy into a practical (and unusual) handheld computer .
WorkBoy, the add-on for Game Boy that has never seen the light
Announced by Nintendo in 1992, the WorkBoy was shown in action during the CES of the same year: we are talking about an add-on that would have extended the features of the Game Boy both on the hardware and on the software front, introducing some tools dedicated to productivity .
The device consisted of a small keyboard to connect to the console, which would have allowed us to use an exclusive package of 12 applications , which included a calendar, an address book, an agenda for appointments and much more. The software developed by Nintendo for the WorkBoy would have supported five different languages, including Italian.
In short, the small portable console of the Kyoto giant could have become a real workstation in reduced size. In Nintendo’s plans, WorkBoy should have seen the light in late ’92 and the spring of ’93, at a particularly high price for a “simple” accessory : between 79 and the 89 dollars , at least for the US market. Today we know that that debut never happened, due to some obstacles found in the last stages of production.
The miraculous (re) discovery of the peripheral after 28 years
The history of the discovery of the WorkBoy is almost unbelievable. The author of the (re) discovery is Liam Robertson , journalist and videomaker for the YouTube channel DidYouKnowGaming, where has already been able to tell the story of some games and consoles that are now missing.
Speaking with Robertson, the designer of the WorkBoy Eddie Gill has revealed the existence of only two prototypes: one, most likely, would be hidden in the “dungeons of Nintendo”, while the other would belong to Frank Ballouz , founder of Fabtek – company in charge of the production of the peripheral. The journalist then got in touch with Ballouz, who showed the infamous WorkBoy during the video call with Robertson .
Not having a working Game Boy, Ballouz sent his very rare prototype to Indiana Jones at DidYouKnowGaming to allow him to carry out any tests. The only missing piece was the WorkBoy software , never released and therefore unobtainable.
Paradoxically, Robertson’s stroke of luck was the recent “Gigaleak” that hit Nintendo by stealing an enormous amount of data; apparently among the leaked files there was also a ROM of the aforementioned software package. Within minutes the reporter was able to run the WorkBoy applications on his portable console.
Thunderstorms can be something wonderful: What could be nicer than sitting inside in the warm, while outside lightning and thundering and the gusts of wind lash the rain around? Sometimes you would like to capture this cozy feeling and put it on your desk …
Make turbulence visible In so-called rheoscopic fluids one can make currents and turbulence visible. Typically these liquids contain mica – a mineral made up of tiny shiny platelets that move around easily in liquids. The mica platelets reflect incident light and transform turbulence into a fascinating spectacle.
You can find large rotating vessels that are filled with a rheoscopic liquid, for example in scientific museums: you can use them to demonstrate atmospheric currents on the surface of planets. On YouTube you can find a video of the Atmospheric Movement exhibit at the Glasgow Science Center, which inspired me to this project, as well as my proof-of-concept video, which shows the vortex effect in a backlit kalliroscope.
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