I believe that everyone is familiar with the words Volt (V), Ampere (A), and Watt (W), from the general socket (110V), but a converter may be used abroad (ie: 220V to 110V), to cables that we carry around (ie: 1A), and mobile phone battery markings (ie: iphone5 3.8V 5.45Whr). These three words actually exist in our daily lives. It might seem very familiar to us, but we might not know exactly what it means? Let us explain it to you! Volt (V) Volt is actually the unit of voltage.  And if the electricity is imagined as water, the voltage corresponds to the water pressure, in simple terms, it is the power of electricity.  Here, we will not only introduce to you where you’ll find volts in your daily life, but also list the precautions for volts.  Because if the voltage of power supply terminal and the voltage of the appliance do not match, it may cause the appliance to burn or be damaged! Precaution 1: When traveling US sockets are generally 110V, therefore electrical appliances plugs for the US are also designed to match the voltage of 110.  However, the socket voltages in China, Europe and other places are all 220V!  If you don't pay attention and plug it in directly, it is very likely to burn and damage the appliance for good!  Hereby we remind the readers to confirm the socket voltage of the destination before traveling.  If you are traveling to a destination different from the US, please remember to carry a converter! Precaution 2:  Choosing a power bank So far, the standard voltage of USB is 5V±0.25V.  However, the output voltage of some power banks on the market will be higher than 5.25V or lower than 4.75V, so it is easy to cause the phone to burn out or cause internal circuit damage.  Pengo is here to remind the readers to pay more attention when selecting power banks!  Also don't be greedy and cheap, you get what you paid for.   Ampere (A) Ampere is the unit of current. If the electricity is imagined as water, the current corresponds to the size of the water flow. The main influence of current is the speed of charging - in fact, this is not entirely correct.  What really affects the charging speed is actually Watts, and Watt = Volt x Amps.  Therefore, the larger amperage is to increase the input wattage under the same voltage to increase the charging speed. Most of today's mobile phones have current management chips.  If the current is large, it will automatically adjust to the current that the mobile phone can charge, but the charging speed is relatively limited by the mobile phone itself, and it will not increase indefinitely. Be aware that when the current required by the electrical device (ie: 3A) and the current that the converter can provide (ie, 3A) are greater than the current that can be applied by the charging cable (ie, 1A), the charging line is likely to be damaged.  This is why Pengo is able to charge 3A, 5A devices with our charging cable!  If a charging cable can load up to 3A or 5A, it has a wider range of devices that this cable can charge.  In 2012, USB-IF (USB Developer Forum) proposed USB-PD, which is to meet the power supply requirements of various devices through a single charging cable.  Whether the charging cable can load the corresponding current is also an important aspect!  (For more information on USB-PD, URL) Watt (W) Watt is the unit of power, as we previously mention watt = volt x ampere.  Devices or electrical appliances that consume electricity are usually related to watts.  Let’s talk a little bit about Watt-hour (Wh) and milliampere-hour (mAh) Milliampere-hours (mAh) unit is not a scientifically formal usage, but a unit that is easy for consumers to understand! mAh = mA × hour. For example: If a cellphone has a battery capacity of 1500 mAh, and it is charged with 1,000 mA (1A), it will be fully charged in about 1.5 hours; if the capacity of a battery is 10,000 mAh, with a continuous current of 1A, it can last up to 10 hours. As for Watt-hour (Wh), most people are unfamiliar with it, but if you look at the carry-on baggage restrictions for batteries, you cannot bring more than 100Wh of battery!  Most of the battery or power banks will only list the amount of volts (V) and the amount of milliamperes-hours (mAh) but does not tell you the watt-hour (Wh).  Let us provide you the formula to calculate Wh: Watt-hour (Wh) = (milliampere-hour (mAh) / 1000) x volt (V) Based on the below image of power bank, (13000mAh/1000) x 5V = 65Wh. It’s below 100Wh, therefore you can bring it on your carry-on bag. Hopefully after reading this article, you have a preliminary concept of these terms.  Now when you want to buy power banks or charging cables, you can pay attention to the specification markings and know what they mean!  Finally, if you want to know more technical information, LIKE our Pengo FB page.  We will have occasional giveaways or promotions for you and your friends!  Follow us! *2018/12/24  

Streaming games is everywhere right now, it doesn’t matter if you’re watching your friends clutch their way through Fortnite or join the record numbers of over 45 Million people concurrently watching League of Legends, watching games has become just as big as playing it yourself. With the most popular streamers becoming not only celebrities but also wealthy, there are more and more parallels with professional athletes. On the e-sports side, players sign contracts with professional organizations to earn a yearly salary most people can only dream of at that age, while the amateur streamers are mostly entertainers, skilled entertainers that is. With the number of subscribers that popular streamers like Ninja, PewdiePie, and Tyler1 have they are already earning $50.000 - $100.000 every month purely on Twitch Subscription revenue. At that level, there is not much difference between being a professional athlete, or a professional streamer. And much like traditional sports, where you can play for fun with friends or play in an amateur team, nothing beats watching professionals on TV or in real life to get inspired and get the best exposure of your sport possible.   *Picture by Anonymous Gamer YouTube But streaming your games isn’t always as straightforward as you’d want it to be. Your PC might not be able to handle things well, you can’t show your webcam or adjust your layout while streaming on a PS4 or Xbox One, but luckily there’s a small box, with a big solution for all this. Let’s explore the things we need to start streaming and what is required for it. First, you need software to stream. The most popular options are OBS (Open Broadcasting Software) and XSplit. OBS is completely free, while XSPlit requires a license fee to use its most popular options. You’ll find that you’ll get a 1-year license with various different motherboards and graphics cards, so it might be worthwhile to check this if you’re planning to upgrade to the latest AMD, Intel or NVIDIA products right about now.   *OBS Software, source: OBSProject.com Secondly, get a good webcam to show yourself while gaming. Though it might be really awkward at first, if you really want your shot at fame, its best to show you’re really having fun at the game. One of the most hilarious videos is this father having an amazing jump scare when his daughter walks in while he’s playing the horror game Outlast 2. And of course, as with everything, there’s a complete Reddit sub about live streaming fails. Third, having a decent microphone will do wonders for your interaction. While it might be hard to hear yourself over all your teammates yelling during a game, making yourself understandable to your viewers is vital. While most people are satisfied with the sound quality of their gaming headset or earbuds from their phone, any streamer worth his salt will have a “studio quality” condenser microphone for their recordings. Mind you, “studio quality” doesn’t mean you’re spending insane amounts of money, one of the most popular microphones for streamers and podcasters, the Neewer NW-700 costs less than $15 on Amazon! Fourth, having an extra screen would be great for your interaction. Most streamers will use an old or cheap monitor as a secondary display, so they can read their chat messages while streaming. If you don’t have a monitor, a tablet or your smartphone will do just as well, but streamers prefer a secondary screen so they can quickly look for information on the web, while still having their chat messages up on screen. Our fifth and penultimate suggestion, have a decent internet connection. Twitch recommends a 3.6 Mbps (Megabit) upload for 720p 30 fps content. So you already know that having a 4 Mbps upload and sharing that with family or friends will result in a lot of frustration. As through some universal kind of faith, your best streams will be spoiled by family uploading pet pictures to Facebook, or another PC connected to your network, deciding to upload a Microsoft patch while you’re actively trying to find out why your stream is lagging. Logically, we also suggest making sure you always use a wired connection, we’ve seen the weirdest problems occur including someone that found out that his neighbors using their microwave was crippling his wireless network!   *Twitch network issues, source: Github And finally, our sixth suggestion is where we would tell you to have a beefy PC. Normally, people talking about streaming would suggest you have a fast PC with good GPU and a fast Intel or AMD processor, but the beauty of the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber is that it captures all your video on the way to the monitor and then sends it back through USB. This means no stress for your graphics card, and minimal processing power required from your CPU. With this in mind, you can even use an old laptop you have laying around to stream your games to YouTube, Facebook, or Twitch while you’re playing on your own PC or Console! You can grab the Pengo 4K HDMI grabber right now on Amazon for just $149.99. You can capture content up to 4K@60 Hz and stream it in FullHD to the platform of your choice. *2018/11/12  

DAC, which stands for Digital to Analog Converter, is a chip that converts digital audio information into analog audio signal.  In simple words, DAC is a decoder that provides a much better analog audio signal by increasing the sound quality. Wait a minute, what is digital and what is analog? What does that have anything to do with us?  If you are a total beginner to this, please allow me to explain to you in simple words.  There are a lot of detailed articles out there, but we want to make it simple here.  First of all, let’s look at analog and digital signals.  To put this in a simple way, we can think of analog as a continuous transmission of audio and image that can be greatly affected by distance or surroundings; whereas digital is non-continuous and usually can be seen as the binary code in computer or cell phone system. (as the image above) Have you noticed that? Although computers and smartphones systems have a non-sequence digital signals still broadcast realistic sounds?  That is because DAC is more than just a conversion between digital and analog.  During the conversion, it enhances the signal and logic operation must the performed to restore the signal to its original state as undistorted as possible to optimize the music in your ear.  So with the help of DAC, the music sounds better, clearer and as undistorted as possible. We can go into details and more technical words on how the technology works, but we are trying to make this as simple as possible. Since we have got this far, one thing I would like to bring up is that all the major smartphone brands including HTC, Mi, Huawei, Google have removed the 3.5mm headphone jack and use one single type-C connector.  This revolutionary move has changed the whole market trend of DAC chips, the need of DAC has then increased dramatically.  Therefore from that moment on, all the adapters with a DAC chip becomes a necessity if you own one of those type-C mobile phones and demand for a High-Res sound quality. Below, we can simply show you how DAC will work for us.   You may also be wondering, if those companies removed 3.5mm jack, does that also mean we can no longer charge and listen to music at the same time?  That is why Pengo not only created the USB-C to 3.5mm Audio Cable but also the USB-C to 3.5mm Audio + Charge Adapter because Pengo has heard all your complaints!  Now you can charge while listening to music.   Hopefully now you have a better understanding about DAC as well as the basic principles that causes music to sound more realistic.  Finally, if you would like to learn more about some simplified technical knowledge, like and follow us on Facebook.  We also have occasional promotion campaigns for you, so don’t miss out on the good deals! *2018/10/23

With every new generation of hardware comes new hardware and software features.  In the last generation of consoles, the Sony PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch both got dedicated “Share” buttons which are a great start for sharing your gameplay on these consoles, but they don’t come near to what’s possible on PC.  Additionally, a lot of accidents happen when people accidentally don’t record properly on miss-click the button in the heat of battle. There are many tutorials on YouTube right now how to capture gameplay on various platforms, which all involve a lot of extra hardware, work-around, and limitations.  Besides with companies like Microsoft and Sony continuously changing the firmware to add and remove features, even workarounds that previously worked have been cut, leaving gamers with fewer options. Nintendo Switch The Nintendo Switch as a handheld gaming system isn’t exactly what you’re thinking about when you talk about recording your gameplay. Record the last 30 seconds of gameplay.  Even then, you need to buy an additional SD card and you need a computer which can actually read that SD card.  Of course, this means that you can forget live streaming and the recorded resolution is actually only 720p, so your cool actions will actually look worse when you try to review them. The Nintendo Switch has a built-in screenshot/record function which allows you to take a screenshot or even if you can get over the technical hassle, do you really remember to push a button every time after you get a great kill, or perform an insane move?  You’re probably too focused on staying alive and playing the game. Another downside is that your screenshots and clips can only be shared on Twitter or on Facebook, which means that if you want to do anything else, you’ll find yourself using a PC anyway. Microsoft Xbox The Xbox One doesn’t have the built-in “share” button like the other console offerings, and with it being a Microsoft product, it is really trying to push other Microsoft products’ like its Mixer video streaming service.  That’s why you’ll find a generally younger audience playing Overwatch and Fortnite, which might be a concern if you like to stream using games or language that is considered 18+. Another issue with both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 is that streaming does require resources, many users have encountered lag and with this being a console, there is not much to do in the way of troubleshooting. One weird thing that you will certainly notice when you try to set-up twitch on Xbox, is that you need to create an account on a PC first.  Besides not having a lot of options to set for streaming quality for a long time streaming with an Xbox still required you to use an old (and obsolete) Kinect camera. Sony PlayStation 4 Finally, the PlayStation 4 was the first console made for streaming, but after many years there are still some downsides.  Streaming directly from the PS4 has quite a huge impact on your video quality, no matter if you pick 720p or 1080p, with the latter only being available on the Pro model.  Another downside is that on YouTube it is limited to 360p, 480, 720 or 1080p, as other popular resolutions like 540p are not available. Trying to use a webcam on your PlayStation 4 while streaming, you’ll also find you’re limited to using a PlayStation Eye camera only. What about phones? Most USB Type-C enabled devices also have an HDMI output integrated into the Type-C port.  That means you can use most laptops and smartphones to connect to a TV or another HDMI device with the right cable. While the YouTube gaming App allows you to stream in 720p or 480p, it doesn’t allow you to stream in 1080p resolution. The Twitch route is even harder as it involves other apps that require annual subscriptions to even allow anything but the lowest-quality streaming from your phone to your PC. On iPhone’s Apple’s ReplayKit the hurdles are even bigger, to live stream on YouTube, you need at least 100 subscribers and then only a few games actually support ReplayKit.  For streaming to Twitch, you need actual application support which isn’t really automatic. The easiest solution for streaming of any platform The better solution that is free from all these limitations is an external streaming solution, like the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber. The biggest advantages of the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber are: · Allows streaming of every gaming platform with HDMI output · Complete freedom of streaming output and platform · No hardware limitations · Freedom of audio · Recording and streaming when you want · Play in 4K stream in any resolution from 360p to 1080p To put it simply, getting an external HDMI capture card such as the Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber (available now for less than $150 at Amazon) opens up the possibilities of streaming from gaming consoles and even phones without any of the limitations that the software platforms have. It connects to the HDMI port of your console or phone and through USB to any PC or Mac, it connects to any free streaming app like OBS, Gameshow, 1AV Streamer, and XSplit (paid) which allows you to stream to the streaming platform of your choice while you have control of your upload quality without being confined by the choices of big companies like Sony or Microsoft. *2018/12/06

USB-PD is the first new power supply specification proposed by USB-IF (USB Developer Forum) in 2012. The core idea is to meet the power requirements of various devices through a single USB cable, while increasing the charging speed and achieving two-way charging. To put it in simple words, in the future, consumers will no longer have to buy different charging cables for mobile phones, or for computers, or for TVs, etc., one cable will be enough! How does USB-PD do it? Aside from the additional chip placed on both end of the devices that allows them to communicate with each other and provide additional power. One, it can adapt to different voltage and current from different devices, and secondly, it can decide the direction of the charge! That is to say, if your monitor, laptop, and tablet supports USB-PD, then the device can be charged by other devices or be able to charge other devices. So when your laptop, tablet are low in power or you are unable to charger it, you can use the power of the monitor to provide power; and when the monitor needs power, it can also be powered by the host, laptop or tablet. Isn’t it great! Five Profiles for USB-PD Volt, Ampere Power supply Applicable device Profile 1 5V@2A 10 W   Portable devices such as mobile phones and digital cameras Profile 2 5V@2A、12V@1.5A 10～18 W   Tablet PC, external storage device Profile 3 5V@2A、12V@3A 10～36 W   Ultrabook, detachable tablet, etc. Profile 4 5V@2A、12/20V@3A 10～60 W   High-performance notebook, AIO computers Profile 5 5V@2A、12/20V@5A 10～100 W   Standard A/B and Type-C connectors for LCD monitors, flat screen TVs (If you forgot what is Volts (V), Ampere (A), Watt (W), please read this article) (You can also find more information about PD from our previous articles: article.) USB-PD relationship with cables So far, PD does not have a unique symbol for identification on the cables or connectors. Then, how do you know if this cable really supports PD? After reading the five profiles of USB-PD, you will know that if the cable can support PD, it can load up to 5A. If your phone, computer, or monitor supports PD, but your cable only supports 1A of charge- we regret to tell you but your cable may soon be damaged. (Pengo’s cables supports PD, takes all your worries away. Product link: URL) After this article, we hope you have more understanding of USB-PD. When you want to buy a charging cable, don't forget to be watch out for the specification markings on the packaging! Finally, if you want to know more technical information, like our Facebook Pengo page, we will have occasional activities and promotions for you and your friends! *2018/12/24    

We’ve started the digital world with VGA and moved to DVI sockets, now to the current HDMI world.  Why and how is HDMI winning?  What kind of secrets we don’t know about?  Let us first explain from the beginning.  VGA The VGA connector introduced by IBM in 1987 and everyone should be familiar with it (most schools still use projectors that only support VGA connectors).  You can also see VGA connectors on most of our desktops.  The VGA connector is often referred to as the D-sub connector, in fact the D-Sub refers to all the trapezoidal internal pins with pins, not just a VGA! The biggest difference between VGA and DVI / HDMI is the analog signal transmission.  (If you forgot and you are not sure what analog or digital means, please refer to this article.)   Perhaps many people will think that VGA does not support high resolution but in fact VGA transmission cables can support up to 2560×1600P!  However, VGA easily gets transmission interference by other signals, so in order to avoid video interference, keeping and viewing at 1920×1080P or below resolutions is more stable. Although in 2010 many manufacturers jointly decided to completely eliminate the VGA interface in 2015, thus the VGA connector has been removed as the newer laptops are getting thinner and thinner.   There are still too many existing and professional devices using the VGA interface to output images, therefore the VGA era should not be completely over just yet.   DVI In 1999, after VGA was introduced for 12 years and has been widely used;  Intel, HP and COMPAQ jointly released DVI in order to replace VGA. DVI is most commonly divided into three types: DVI-A (analog), DVI-D (digital), DVI-I (mixed).  DVI-D and DVI-I are divided into single channel and dual channel.  In single channel, DVI can support 1920×1200@60 Hz, which is slightly higher than our usual 1920×1080@60 Hz.  Therefore, the most common DVI screen is the DVI-D Single Link connector.  In dual channel, DVI can support up to 2560×1600@60 Hz resolution, which is slightly higher than 2K (2560×1440 @ 60 Hz). Everything seems great, but why didn’t DVI take over the market?  First, because the size of the DVI connector is too big, it is difficult to accommodate the smaller size notebooks;  second, it was affected by the tariffs of various countries.  From 2004, the European Union began to recognize DVI monitors as TVs, it increased from a 0% import tax on computer monitors to a 14% import tax on TVs;  In 2006, Taiwan decided to have DVI monitor classified for TV tariffs.  A 13% of goods tax plus 10% of the import tax, making a total of 23% tax.  Therefore the manufacturing cost for DVI monitors became more expensive than a VGA monitor.  Many manufactures went back to producing VGA LCD monitors while DVI interface can only be found in middle and high-end products.  The DVI ear is bound to be limited,thus the VGA will not disappear anytime soon. HDMI In 2003, TOSHIBA, SONY, Panasonic and other home appliance manufacturers promoted HDMI, which was originally designed for TV, DVD and Blu-ray players.  It is not only  smaller in size and has the ability to transmit sound and video simultaneously, HDMI is also supported by leading film production companies such as 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Samsung Electronics, and other cable TV systems. There are many HDMI versions, and the most common ones are 1.4 and 2.0 and the 2.1 version was introduced back in 2017.  The 1.4 version can support 1080P@120Hz; the 2.0 version can support 4K @50/60Hz and support 21:9 aspect ratio;  2.1 version can support 4K@120Hz and 8K@60Hz, its transmission bandwidth also increased significantly.  It is worth mentioning that HDMI has added an Ethernet channel after version 1.4, but nowadays the average family will not apply this function and it will also depend on how HDMI is going to develop in the future!   HDMI is better than DVI and HDCP is one of the reasons (Forget what HDCP is? Come see this article: URL) HDMI started supporting HDCP in 2003, but DVI joined later in 2007.  This is why many movie companies support HDMI at an early stage.  We hope you have a basic idea of these three types of connectors.   In short, the advantages of HDMI are: the ability to transmit sound at the same time, small size, high quality, easy to plug, supports HDCP and so on.  HDMI should have a stable and long-lasting position in the market, unless there is a new development of a new connector.  We hope you like our simple version of HDMI introduction.  Finally, if you want to learn more about technology, please join and like our Facebook Pengo page.  We will have occasional activities! *2019/02/13