Let us explain to you in very simple words as technology keeps defining new heights. USB  2.0 operates at a max. of 480Mbps transfer data called “high speed” and it only has 4 pins.  Generally defined in black color connector. USB 3.0 operates at max. speed of 5Gbps transfer data rate called “super speed” and uses a blue connector to differentiate from USB 2.0 and has more pins.     USB 3.1 Gen 1 is the same as USB 3.0.  USB 3.0 got a new name when the new speed USB 3.1 Gen 2 was released.  USB 3.1 Gen 2 data transfers up to 10Gbps, at 100W of charging power also known as “charger and cable clutter” is defined with a red connector.   USB is always backward compatible until the new USB-C where you may have to buy a new converter.    *source www.usb.org   updated 2018/04/01

USB Power Delivery is a charging protocol that enables USB-C cables and connectors to deliver higher levels of power to your devices.  Provides faster charging, more power for larger devices, shorter charging time, and charge simultaneously between devices.  It enables the maximum functionality of USB by providing more flexible power delivery along with data over a single cable.  USB Power Delivery offers the following features: Increased power levels from existing USB standards up to 100W. Power direction is no longer fixed. This enables the product with the power (Host or Peripheral) to provide the power. Optimize power management across multiple peripherals by allowing each device to take only the power it requires, and to get more power when required for a given application. Intelligent and flexible system level management of power via optional hub communication with the PC. Allows low power cases such as headsets to negotiate for only the power they require. *source www.usb.org updated 2018/02/01

Quick Charge (a.k.a. QC) is a technology found in Qualcomm Snapdragon systems-on-chip, used in devices such as smartphones and computers, for managing power delivered over USB. It offers more power and thus charges batteries in devices faster than standard USB rates allow. Using certain Snapdragon-powered devices with a QC certified power adapter and any USB connector, including Type-C, you can refill the battery faster than with a conventional charging.  At allows for high levels of current to flow to the batter, in an attempt to maximize it’s charging efficiency.  It tends to charge their batteries at higher voltages, allowing for a higher rate of power transfer through commonly found cables.  Both the phone and the charger must be compatible with the same charging voltages and currents.  QC 2.0 supported 4 modes at varying power levels 5V/2A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.67A, and a 20V option. QC 3.0 communicates with the device to request any voltage between 3.2V ad 20V at 200mV increments, allowing for a wider selection of voltages. Below you’ll see a chart with the different types of QC for your reference.   *source www.qualcomm.com *source wikipedia updated 2018/04/03

The RGB color space is the color space used by computers, graphics cards and monitors or LCDs.  It consists of three components, red, green and blue, the so-called base (or Primary) colors. 4:4:4 is another name for RGB color space and it’s a digital image or video in which all color components have the same sampling rate, thus not using chroma subsampling.  This scheme is sometimes used in high-end film scanners and cinematic post production.  Chroma subsampling is a type of compression that reduces the color information in a signal in favor of luminance data. This reduces bandwidth without significantly affecting picture quality. A video signal is split into two different aspects: luminance information and color information. Luminance, or luma for short, defines most of the picture since contrast is what forms the shapes that you see on the screen. For example, a black and white image will not look less detailed than a color picture. Color information, chrominance or simply chroma is important as well but has less visual impact. What chroma subsampling does is reduce the amount of color information in the signal to allow more luminance data instead. This allows you to maintain picture clarity while effectively reducing the file size up to 50%.  In the YUV format, luma is only 1/3rd of the signal, so reducing the amount of chroma data helps a lot. Because of bandwidth limitations from internet speeds and HDMI, this makes for much more efficient use of current systems. 4:4:4 vs 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 The first number (in this case 4), refers to the size of the sample. The two following numbers both refer to chroma. They are both relative to the first number and define the horizontal and vertical sampling respectively. A signal with chroma 4:4:4 has no compression (so it is not subsampled) and transports both luminance and color data entirely.  In a four by two array of pixels, 4:2:2 has half the chroma of 4:4:4, and 4:2:0 has a quarter of the color information available. The 4:2:2 signal will have half the sampling rate horizontally, but will maintain full sampling vertically. 4:2:0, on the other hand, will only sample colors out of half the pixels on the first row and ignores the second row of the sample completely. Color subsampling is a method of compression that greatly reduces file size and bandwidth requirements with practically no quality loss. Unless you are going to use your TV as a primary PC monitor where lots of text is going to be read, there shouldn't be a need to worry about it.  In simple, the higher the number, the better it is.   You’ll see it most visible impact in the following devices.   *source www.rtings.com updated 2018/04/02

If you own one of the Apple devices, you may notice icons like the above picture. Have you ever wondered what they mean?  In this article, Pengo is going to explain the importance of MFi certification. What is MFi? MFi stands for Made For iPhone/iPad/iPod.  Products that are certified by MFi means they are qualified for numerous rigorous tests designed by Apple.  But, how hard is that?  Honestly, it’s quite difficult. On average, there are only 2% of the suppliers who are eligible for the certification. What has MFi secured for your Apple devices? Long story short, MFi is here to assure products’ performance, safety, specifications, and to avoid problems and failures that may occur during the use of your Apple products.  MFi eliminates issues such as unable to transfer data, slow charging and data transfer speed, cable malfunctions after an upgrade, low durability, communication interferences, swollen battery or the worst of all, battery explosion. The interior case are reinforced with a metal protective shell and equipped with Apple-certified chips and power management chips so that the charging rate, charging voltage at different stages can comply with MFi standards.  Avoid excessive voltage or electric current to cause damage to the device.  When a problem occurs in the output of the power supply (e.g. the voltage gets too high), the certified chips installed inside the cable will automatically cut off the power. If you find our price higher than other brands, it is because it includes MFi licensing fee, chips and quality maintenance in our costs, and all those essences are the factors that make our products better  and more reliable than uncertified cables.  Apple also routinely audits MFi manufacturing facilities to maintain products’ quality. Does MFi mean better? Apple listed the four issues you may encounter while using uncertified or counterfeit accessories: It will damage your iOS device stability Uncertified accessories have a higher rate of damages. The connector end could come off, get overheated or does not fit properly into your devices You might not be able to sync or charge your devices Since 2018 January, there have been three explosion incidents due to the use of uncertified accessories.  Apple always recommends using only the accessories that Apple has certified, by which Apple has also stated, if an explosion is caused by using uncertified accessories, Apple will not provide any repair service nor any compensation. We all know the saying “you get what you pay for” and not everyone might be concerned about the transfer speed;  however, the harm caused to your iOS device by using uncertified accessories is unpredictable and yet cannot be neglected.  If an uncertified cable only lasts one or two months and costs about $10-14 dollars cheaper than a quality cable, why not choose one for its quality to protect your expensive device? What’s more, with MFi certified accessories, they are more durable and safer for you!   How do I know if my accessories are MFi certified?   If a notification like this appears when you plug in your cable, it means that this accessory is uncertified. Another case is when you use a certified cable but with an uncertified adapter, a message like this might also show up. What other methods can we take if a message like this doesn’t show? Go to Search for Accessories and input Pengo, a list will appear of all the products under Pengo brand that are MFi certified.  Same method applies to other brands as well if you want to find out if your accessories are MFi certified. How do you look for a brand name?  1. Select “brand’ from the drop down menu,  2. Input the “pengo” or “Pengo” in the text bar,  3. Press “Search” This search system was designed for suppliers to check if they pass the MFi tests, and if their brand names will appear in the search result.  Although this was meant to help with the suppliers, consumers can also take advantage of it and check if their accessories on hand are safe and quality-assured by Apple. Hopefully now you have a better understanding of MFi certification, and this is the reason why Pengo insists on providing only the MFi certified products.  We care about your safety rather than just selling products. Finally, if you would like to learn more about USB-C or some 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! *updated 2018/10/5

High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a security feature that’s created to protect the copyright of high-definition videos and to prevent contents from playing on unlicensed devices.  To put this in a simple way, this protection avoids video quality over 480p becomes pirated while transferring data through HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort or USB connections.  Your transmitting or receiving devices will not function if either end of the two devices isn’t HDCP certified.  If we use non-HDCP devices, the resolution might decrease below 480p or the worst of all, not able to transfer data at all.  (The initial intention was to prevent people from re-recording movies or videos and create pirated copies.) None of the HDCP compliant devices supports data copy due to digital content protection.  (Now you know the reason why Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber does not support HDCP feature!) If you are still unsure about how to successfully operate Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber, here we’ve got some examples for you (see diagrams below).  Next time if your device is still not showing the content or it fails to transfer high-definition videos, you can first check whether your source is HDCP certified, and then check the HDMI cable and the receiving device. Diagram of our Pengo 4K HDMI Grabber and HDCP: Here are some examples of HDCP compliant platforms: High-definition MOD, Netflix, Chromecase, PS3, PS4 (HDCP feature is adjustable), Blu-Ray DVD Finally, if you would like to learn more about USB-C or some technical knowledge, like and follow us on Facebook.  We also have occasional promotion campaigns for you, so don't forget to follow us! *Reference: Wikipedia *2018/10/15