Thursday, February 27, 2014

How to Position Your LCD Monitor Ergonomically to Reduce Eye and Neck Strain

Beware - the position of your monitor may be harmful to your health. Sitting all day and staring at a screen is not a natural or comfortable thing for most people to do, and you must be careful to avoid health problems this can cause. This article describes the current recommendations for reducing eye and neck strain by adjusting your monitor's viewing distance, height, and angle.
The main cause of computer-related eye strain is usually sitting too close to the monitor. Measure the current distance from your eyes to the screen. If your eyes are closer than 20 inches from the screen, you have a much higher chance of developing eye strain over time. Sitting too close to the monitor causes your eye muscles to work harder to focus and converge. OSHA recommends a viewing distance of 20 to 40 inches. Most people will find the higher end of that range difficult to achieve, but if you currently sit only 18 inches away, changing that to even 22 or 24 inches may make a huge difference in your long-term comfort level. Just make sure your font size is set large enough to easily read text at your new viewing distance.
The height of your monitor relative to your eyes is also important. Your gaze should be slightly downward toward the center of the monitor, around a downward angle of 15 to 20 degrees. This can usually be achieved by setting the monitor height so the top of the monitor is near your horizontal eye level. The angle of the screen should be tilted slightly up so the center of the screen points toward your eyes. This slight downward gaze helps reduce eye and neck strain. It is very important to avoid positioning your monitor too high, since craning your neck upward will quickly cause fatigue.
Most people find adjusting the monitor's brightness to match the ambient light level in the room reduces eye strain. An overly bright or dim monitor can be tiring to use. Glare should be minimized by adjusting the lighting or seating position in the room as possible. And using a quality high-resolution monitor can also reduce eye strain since it will produce crisper, easier-to-read text due to higher pixel density.
Finally, taking a break every 20 to 30 minutes to rest your eyes and focus in the distance is a good idea. Standing, stretching, and walking a little will also help reduce fatigue and the risk of blood clots from prolonged sitting. Making a few changes in your monitor position, along with taking the time to rest your eyes and stretch your legs, can result in a significant improvement in your comfort and productivity at work.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Extending Display Capabilities Via a USB to HDMI Converter

For some people, having multiple displays can make them more efficient in operating computer systems. Furthermore, sophisticated tasks such as stock trading, graphic design, 3D rendering, and video editing are generally more convenient when done on wider screens. Unfortunately, many laptops and desktops these days still don't have the capability to extend their screens beyond one display. This is mainly due to their built-in video card. The card simply doesn't have the hardware component that enables the screen to be extended to a second or third screen.
Filling The Need
Since just about every modern computer has USB ports nowadays, getting data from the USB port and then converting it to some other form of data is sensible and seems more practical. For instance, a laptop that has no extra video output interface but has several USB ports can be turned into a makeshift home cinema appliance by using a USB to HDMI converter. Another scenario wherein the converter can be utilized is when in the middle of a client meeting, the laptop screen has to be extended to a larger screen such as an HDTV for better viewing. To some extent, a USB to HDMI converter is just more economical than obtaining a new laptop or a second display device.
How It Fills The Need
The USB to HDMI converter is essentially a video card which provides the missing video interface that the computer lacks. In this case, it provides an HDMI component to the computer. A second video card implies that the computer screen can then be cloned and sent to another compatible display device. As an added feature, the converter also supports functions that will either extend the screen or mirror it.
Shortcomings
Although the idea of a USB to HDMI device is nifty, it has some setbacks. Compatibility is a major issue in many multi platform devices such as the AT-HDPiX2 converter from Atlona. Problems vary from incompatible and outdated drivers to inaccurate display resolutions. Nevertheless, a driver update will often solve the problem. The software included with the product also supports online updates for convenience. Another problem is hardware potential. Since the converter acts as a second video card, it draws computing power. This means that a computer with a 128 MB video memory will get a considerable performance hit when displaying the screen to multiple display devices than one with a 512 MB video memory. Aside from video memory, the computer's random access memory and central processing unit also play an important role in determining hardware potential. In any case, a computer with at least a dual core processor that's clocked at 2 GHz or above, 2 GB RAM, and a discrete nVidia GeForce 9 series or AMD/ATI Radeon 3000 series video card is recommended.
Moving Forward
Generally, a USB to HDMI converter is a device that stretches the useful life of a laptop or a desktop computer that would otherwise be outdated and under powered. Power users and gaming enthusiasts may have moved on with other solutions that do the same thing and more efficiently. One notable solution is AMD's Eyefinity technology which allows up to six simultaneous displays off of a single video card. For the rest of the community though, the converter is a reminder that this kind of device exists and works as expected.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Importance of Video Production to Businessmen

Video production is no longer restricted to the movie industries unlike back then. These days, business men are beginning to know the importance of using videos as an advertisement strategy. Articles have been used over time to reach audience effectively but the rate at which it imparts its target audience cannot be compared to a video intended for the same target audience. Videos brings out that emotion that will make prospective customers interested in your product, it also has the tendency of reaching many more people when compared with articles although the niche your video belongs too also has a role to play in gaining recognition with web traffic and search engines.
Web video production is not limited to any form of information so long as you are able to successfully promote your company with it passing the relevant information that will attract their interest on your product. When business video production is discussed, the first thing you should think of is how to produce compelling videos with great quality and if you find this difficult to do, try the services of professional business video production companies. They are grounded in the job so you can be sure of getting the best from them although you may be required to pay more than your initial bargain depending on the popularity of the company.
According to recent studies, YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google so you must try as much as you can to exploit the web traffic it commands. Once you come up with a quality video and publish it on YouTube, you can start getting viewers and building prospective customers immediately. You can also copy the link to your video and have it displayed on your Facebook wall to boost the traffic directed towards your video. A quality video sells for itself so you may not need to do too much work trying to make your video seen because the few people who saw it and liked it will surely send word to their friends and families who will all be curious making them watch your video too even as they continue informing more and more friends.
One key factor capable of selling your product is the comment box placed below every video uploaded to YouTube and other video sharing sites. People who were positively imparted with your video will surely leave good comments and these comments may prove instrumental in attracting other customers to your product.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Hannspree HW-173ABB Widescreen LCD Monitor Review

The hannspree HW 173BB monitor gives the newest technologies at reasonable price. It's not one of the most performant LCD monitor on the market but it's strong point's the low price of 100$. A generous display size of 43 cm and a resolution of 1240x1024 make it a great Monitor LCD 17.
The monitor supports 18-bit, this means that it can display in over 16 million colors for a perfect clear image. The maximum view angle is 160 and its pixels are no bigger than 0.255mm, giving a sharp precision in displaying videos or pictures.
Because of the fact that this monitor displays perfect quality pictures, the videos displayed look amazing, almost real like moving pictures. The response rate is narrowed down to 8 milliseconds response, improving a lot the quality of any video that plays on this screen.
The monitor can be plugged through DIV/VGA HD-15, and has a maximum resolution of 1440x900. Because of the very widescreen, this monitor is perfect as your own home cinema system, and creates an unforgettable high definition experience.
However, the monitor can only be connected to a computer, thus making it impossible for TV connections.
The product comes with a 3 years warranty and refundable money in case of damage to the monitor that has been caused by the manufacturer. This practically means that if you get to buy a broken Monitor LCD 17. The price for this device can be different from store to store, but only by a few dollars. At purchase you get to have all the cables and accessories included in your initial paid price. The warranty does not stand for the accessories that you receive, but most likely for the monitor that you bought.
The basic color for the monitor is all black, but since many people prefer this color when it comes to technology, the buyers are not complying about the lack of color.
Being very affordable and having a big time warranty, this monitor has a great advantage in front of all other more expensive products. Since you can watch HD movies for 100$, why should you watch the same movies on a 300$ monitor.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Comparing One Type of HDMI Cable to Another

Whether it is a Blu-ray player or an HD cable receiver, the HDMI cable is what you would use to connect these to your TV. If you have HD equipment but no but do not have the proper cables to connect them, you will still have a standard definition picture. This is due to the fact that the cables are the least costly component of HD viewing. Therefore, the quality of the picture that you receive will only exhibit the quality of the least common denominator. Here are some suggestions for comparing these types of cables.
Length of cables - the primary aspect that you want to consider first is the cable length itself because this is what directly affects the price that you will pay for it. A difference of 12" to 24" could impact the price by as much as $20. So you should accurately measure the distance between the ports on your HD devices and your HDTV HDMI ports.
Gold tipped cables - it is well known that gold is the best electronic signal conductor so you should always shop for gold-tipped cables. Despite the price of gold on the open market today, there isn't enough in an HDMI cable to drastically impact the price of it.
Check out the insulation of the cord - the cheaper, lower quality cables will only be rubber coated whereas the higher quality ones will have additional protection over the rubber coating to prevent damage to the cable. Although it is not a requirement that you spend the extra money for additional protection, it is an option that you should consider.
Make sure that you purchase full 1080p HD-supported cables - most of the cables on the market today are 1080p HD-supported. However, there is the rare occurrence of finding those that are only 720p. Downgrading to cheaper cables is really not a smart option when you have a 1080p HD TV. The box (receiver) will state all of the attributes so you want to ensure that 1080p is one of them.
In closing, you want to avoid bending the HDMI cable at all times when you are connecting it between your TV and your HD device. Remember that there is only one way in which you can insert this type of cable. Therefore, if you try to force it into the input, this will damage the cable and the input if you are not inserting it properly.