Product Description
When
you’re gearing up for battle, you never compromise. Not on your team,
not on your weapons, and certainly not on your hardware. If you take
your gameplay seriously, you want the Logitech® G19 on your side.
Control
Tiltable,
color GamePanel LCD: The (320x240) display shows unprecedented levels
of information-both in- and out-of-game-including game stats, system
information, VOIP communication data, video playback, image slideshows,
and many other items.
User-selectable backlit characters:
Personalize the keyboard to better fit with the rest of your computer
and gaming equipment, and easily locate keys-even in the dark.
Twelve
fully programmable G-keys with three macros per key: Program up to 36
single keypresses or complex macros; use the MR key to record new macros
on-the-fly.
Multi-key input: Use up to five keys at once to
perform multiple complex actions.
Game/desktop mode: Disable the
Windows/Context Menu keys so they won’t interrupt your game if pressed
accidentally.Convenience
Two powered Hi-Speed USB
2.0 ports: Transfer data to and from peripherals-such as MP3 players and
flash drives-while also charging battery-powered devices.
Intelligent
cable management: Keep mouse, headset, and other cords out of the way
by routing them through channels on the underside of the keyboard.
Instant
media access: Use the convenient one-touch controls for volume and
media playback.
Product
Details
- Color: Black
- Brand: Logitech
- Model:
920-000969
- Format: CD
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions:
2.75" h x 11.00" w x 20.60" l, 4.25 pounds
Features
- A
color GamePanel LCD displays game stats, system information, VOIP
communication data, video playback, image slideshows
- User-selectable
character backlighting color lets you personalize the keyboard to
better fit with the rest of your computer and gaming equipment.
- Twelve
programmable G-keys with three macros per key provide space to program
36 single keypresses or complex macros
- Two high-speed, powered
USB 2.0 ports give you the ability to transfer data to and from
peripherals like MP3 players and flash drives
- Multi-key input
allows you to use up to five keys at once to perform multiple complex
actions.
Editorial Reviews
From the Manufacturer
From
the Manufacturer Give yourself the advantage you need to win. Giving
you an arsenal of advanced gaming technology, the Logitech G19 gaming
keyboard is the first Logitech keyboard to feature a color GamePanel
LCD. The tiltable, 320-by-240-pixel display provides valuable in-game
information for over sixty games, including World of Warcraft (requires
installation of included Logitech GamePanel software).
| In
addition to in-game information, the screen can show VoIP communication
data, clock, CPU load, or other non-gaming specific items such as
pictures or videos. And you can easily switch among types of information
– without ever leaving your game.
If you take your gameplay
seriously, you want the Logitech G19 on your side. Play with the best. |  |
Key Features
 | Color
GamePanel LCDA tiltable, color GamePanel LCD displays game
stats, system information, VOIP communication data, video playback,
image slideshows, and many other items, without leaving the game.
|
 | User-Selectable
Character Backlighting ColorLets you personalize the
keyboard to complement the rest of your computer and gaming equipment.
|
 | 12
Fully Programmable G-keys with Three Macros Per KeyProvide
space to program 36 time-saving commands per game (single keypresses or
complex macros). The MR key allows you to record new macros on-the-fly.
|
 | Two
High-Speed, Powered USB 2.0 PortsYou can connect and power
devices – such as your G9x Laser Mouse or G35 Headset – with the two
high-speed USB 2.0 ports. You also have the ability to transfer data to
and from peripherals – like MP3 players and flash drives – while
providing power to charge battery-powered devices.
|
 | Game
Mode SwitchA game/desktop mode switch lets you disable the
Windows /Context Menu keys so you don’t get accidentally kicked out of
your game.
|
 | Multi-Key
InputPerforming multiple actions simultaneously is also
made easier with the keyboard’s multi-key input-functionality, which
allows you to engage up to five keys at the same time. |
|  |
Suggested
games for the Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard:
- World
of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
- Warhammer Online: Age of
Reckoning
- Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
- The Lord
of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria
- Left 4 Dead
- Call
of Duty: World at War
- Crysis Warhead
- Fallout 3
- Brothers
in Arms: Hell's Highway
Check out the
G-SERIES 
from Logitech:
 |  |  |  |
| Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard
The
G13 advanced gameboard gives you game-changing comfort and control.
Naturally contoured design follows the natural shape of your hand and
fingers for increased comfort during long sessions. | Logitech G25 Racing Wheel
With
simulator-grade force feedback, 900° of wheel rotation, and a true
six-speed stick, this high-performance racing wheel lets you feel every
inch of the road for maximum control. | Logitech
G35 Surround Sound Headset
Game-changing immersion with
7.1 surround sound powered by Dolby technology. Featuring swappable
headband pads, customizable G keys, and on-ear audio controls. | Logitech G51 Surround Sound Speaker System
Bring
your games to life with 360° surround sound – for amazing audio clarity
that lets you hear your enemies sneaking up behind you. |
What's in the Box
 | Package
Contents
- Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard
- AC power
adapter
- Software CD-ROM
- User documentation
- 1-year
limited hardware warranty
| System
Requirements
- Windows XP and Windows Vista
- Mac
OS X 10.4 or later
- Available high-speed USB 2.0 port
- 20
MB of available hard disk space
- CD-ROM drive
GamePanel
LCD requires software that supports Logitech GamePanel technology. See
front of box for a partial list, or visit www.logitech.com/gamepanel. |
Customer
Reviews
Logitech G15 vs. G19 Keyboard
Watch Video Here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R38V8VFSGQLGK2 The video I uploaded
shows a quick unboxing and showing the G19 with the previous G15
keyboards, and the color LCD displaying some YouTube videos.
**
Review Updated: 8/16/09 **
Short Review (if you don't want to
read all that):
======================================================
I
give it a 4 1/2 stars. The keys feel nice and mushy. The LCD is no
doubt really awesome to have for any multi-tasking person. I feel the
features on the video player/YouTube player is missing some basic
options and that is why I'm not giving it a 5-star (although this could
all change with new apps or updates). Overall, the keyboard is for any
gadget lovers/video enthusiasts/YouTube fans -- not just gamers. The
macro G-keys, as usual in previous keyboards, is also a powerful tool
for anyone wanting to work more efficiently, and again, not just for
gaming.
======================================================
[2005
model] G15 v1 (Blue LED) has 18 G-Keys x 3 modes = 54 programmable.
[2007
model] G15 v2 (Orange LED) has 6 G-Keys x 3 modes = 18 programmable.
[2009
model] G19 (White is the default LED) has 12 G-keys x 3 modes = 36
programmable.
THE KEYS ON THE KEYBOARD:
G15 v1: It's small and
spread apart.
G15 v2: It's larger and close together.
G19: The
size is in between those two keyboards; it's also close together like
the v2. Overall, I like typing on this the best.
Some positives
and negatives of each keyboard...
G15 v1 (2005 - Blue LED):
+
Has the most G-keys (most people didn't seem to need/use this much,
including myself, hence why v2 had so little)
+ Volume/media control
wheel is nice
+ LCD can be closed shut completely
+ Has handles on
the top of the keyboard for carrying it easier.
+ Lots of custom
apps to be found on the net.
- Takes up the most desk space
- USB
1.1 (okay for plugging USB headphones and gaming controllers)
G15
v2 (2007 - Orange LED):
+ For those that don't need that many G-keys
and prefer larger keys.
- LCD cannot tilt (already fixed)
-
Volume control is just a plain button
- USB 1.1
G19 (2009):
+
Color LCD (biggest selling point and biggest upgrade) - what keyboard
has a color video display?! Any geek's dream come true. It's great for
multi-tasking and time flies even more now that you don't waste a second
even on game loading screen or spectating a game.
+ USB 2.0 (all
previous G15's were USB 1.1, so now it is suitable for even connecting
flash/hard drives and not just game controllers) -- this is why it also
requires an AC adapter to the keyboard. The USB ports are both on the
same side now, which makes it a little easier to locate than the
previous keyboards having it one on each side; however, it can be a
problem when connecting flash drives or SD card readers that really
stick out to the side)
+ Custom backlight colors
+ Volume scroll
(although I wish it turned smoother) / some custom apps for the G15 uses
the volume up/down to select menus/songs, so the new up/down scroll
volume control on the G19 works out perfectly for that.
+ The keys
have a nice clean feel and layout (as mentioned before, the keys aren't
too spread out and still large enough, so there's less strain on the
fingers for me)
- Requires AC adapter (although it is understandable,
some may not have a plug open)
- Lack of app support for now.
-
Price is a killer! (considering there isn't really any other keyboard
with a video display, it is slightly understandable... but the apps
still needs work.)
======================================================
ISSUES FOR ME:
* I have to say the documentation is very poor
for this keyboard. I had no idea what the "Clipboard Commands" (10.4 on
the readme file) was all about for playing a YouTube video -- that I
actually want to watch. The only option you get when you enter the
YouTube Video Player is viewing "Top Rated, Top Favorites (not your
own), Most Viewed, Most Popular, Discussed, etc." -- of all time, this
month, this week, or today (default) -- Sure, sometimes some interesting
videos may come up, but I honestly never really care for those "RANDOM"
videos anyway; I prefer watching videos that I actually WANT to watch
(not some "YouTube Celebrity" talking about their life all the time).
I
mean, the dedicated YouTube viewer is definitely a nice idea, but I
don't know why they couldn't just add a simple built-in search to toggle
between typing on the LCD and out of it! (Hopefully some talented
people can make some custom app to do this; for the G15, the custom app
music players, such as the myLCD WVS, are far superior to Logitech's
Music Media player)
It has the usual LCD Clock, Performance
Monitor, Countdown Timer, but having an LCD screen, it would have been
useful and nice if it at least had a built-in notepad to type out codes
and other memos! (this would have also been a great workaround for using
the "clipboard command")
Basically, you first have to enable
"automatic playback of YouTube video URLs" in the advanced tab options,
and whenever you copy (Ctrl + C) a YouTube URL, it will automatically
end up on the LCD screen. So if you're in a game and you can't type and
highlight/copy text, then you really can't search anything.
And
to actually search for videos, you have to use their "clipboard command"
(you'll want to macro this instead of having to remember and type this
command every time):
======================================================
lcdyoutube:search=
======================================================
So
for example, if you want to search Logitech videos, you have to type
======================================================
lcdyoutube:search=Logitech
======================================================
AND
THEN you have to highlight all that and COPY (Ctrl + C) it to actually
execute the search. I believe in games like WoW and Counter-Strike, this
is OK for now and not completely useless, since it lets you type and
highlight in-game for games such as those.
* You cannot navigate
to different video folders through the LCD. You have to keep setting one
video directory/all sub-directory and it will list all of them.
*
Would be nice to change aspect ratio/stretch/zoom/fit when viewing
videos, and especially for pictures. Since it has directional controls,
they should allow you to zoom in on pictures. The picture viewer is
pretty useless for me.
* It needs a quick jump to top/bottom or
multiple files instead of scrolling through all the files one by one,
especially if you have lots of videos. It would be nice if the volume
control scroll could be temporarily toggled into acting as navigating
up/down menus because it's so much easier than the buttons.
* I
find it odd that it allows you to go quickly back to the top/bottom if
you get to the end of the list for the main 'Switch to Program' menu
screen; however, for the video/YouTube player list, once you get to the
top or bottom, you're stuck and have to scroll all the way back up/down
yourself! Personally, I find this inconvenient, especially since the
navigation buttons aren't necessarily easy to keep pressing. For the
YouTube search results, it does not allow you to HOLD-scroll either.
*
For YouTube search results, it only displays the first 25 video
results.
* It would be nice to be able to have a video playlist
or be able to access your YouTube account's favorites. I would love it
if it had a Winamp support so that it plays videos from the Winamp list
too.
* Fast forward is already determined depending on the video
duration. If it's a really short clip, like less than 10 seconds, then
you can fast forward/rewind at 1sec intervals. However, if it's an hour
long clip or so, it's already set to fast forward at 5 minutes. It
doesn't matter how long you hold the button or release, the speed is not
variable and is already set. This makes getting the precise spot of the
clip impossible.
* It only looks for common video extentions. I
have some .flv files that I saved directly from YouTube, but I have to
rename them to .avi for the LCD to pick it up.
* If you searched
several YouTube videos on the LCD, then you can press the Logitech-back
arrow button key to see the previous results/videos, but once you go
back, you can't go forward!
* Once a current YouTube-sent video
ends playing, it ends up going back to the menu screen and there is no
quick video repeat option. It really would be nice to have a history of
viewed YouTube videos played on the G19 LCD!
======================================================
OTHER THOUGHTS:
* The install CD that came with mine was an
older version 3.0.1 (but the website had a 3.02), so you should check
that before installing.
* As long as if the video plays fine on
the main system player, such as Windows Media Player, having the right
codecs and everything on the system (not built-in codecs like VLC), then
it should play on the G19 monitor.
* If the person uploading a
video on YouTube doesn't allow external linking, it will not be playable
on the LCD; you will get that error message instead and ask if you want
to play directly on a browser.
* Sometimes the YouTube Player
may not respond to your clipboard commands; you'll either have to
restart the Logitech LCD Manager or just kill the "LCDYT.exe" process
and open just that YouTube software (LCDYT.exe) again, which is located
at "C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel
Software\Applets\ColorOnly\LCDYT.exe" (at least for XP, that's the
default location.)
* It would be awesome if there was an option
to view comments for YouTube videos also on the LCD; and again, if it
had a toggle built-in key input for the LCD, it would be even more
awesome if it were possible to comment on YouTube videos while still
running a video game too. (how about it developers?!)
* Would be
nice if there was a small LED above the USB ports to indicate when USBs
have successfully connected (I like USB hubs that have this, which
allows me to know that a USB is successfully powered and connected; I
notice there's a small orange LED on the keyboard near the USB ports,
which indicates that the AC is powering the keyboard, so I wish they
added something similar for the USB ports)
Cons:
- The video
player is cool, but it's still missing some key features! (fast
forwarding speeds, YouTube searching - and other suggestions in my rant)
-
MSRP is asking too much for what it does for now. (I can understand
Logitech's leather racing wheel costing this much, but $200 for a
keyboard? Maybe Logitech tried to target the Alienware buyers, since the
LCD shape design seems like it would match great with those systems,
and you know people who buy Alienware already spend a lot of money...)
-
Menu buttons/arrows need to be pressed hard
The original G15 has
had a lot of enthusiastic custom app developers and it has made the G15
keyboard better than what it was out of the box. For now, I give this
keyboard a 4 stars. I really wanted to give this keyboard a perfect
5-star; I mean, come on... a color LCD video player on a keyboard?! This
keyboard definitely has potential to be a 5 star, but that all depends
on the apps. The keyboard is nice, but the app features that comes with
it is just a little too basic (the video function); it's missing some
key standard features, so in that aspect, that needs more improvement.
Hopefully, the cons can be addressed and the color LCD can be taken more
advantage of. I hope future games (like StarCraft 2?) would really take
advantage of this keyboard LCD feature. It would be cool if game
characters displayed as a video on there talking directly to the player
whenever you accomplish a mission or something; something that really
makes use of the game exclusive to the keyboard.
It's a no
brainer, the G19 is the best out of the three. If you have money to
throw away, then obviously this is the best one to get. However, for the
LCD to really benefit over using an actual -- larger -- dual monitor,
the features (ie: built-in YouTube searching) on the 320x240 LCD need to
be addressed to win over those alternatives.
I found a
workaround for having a playlist in video; If you use VLC Media Player,
there is a third-party G19 plugin to send the video directly to the LCD
instead of the VLC player. (However, when it goes to the next video on
the playlist, it doesn't work perfectly because there's a minor nuisance
where you have to hit the 'switch to program' button on the keyboard to
get the player in view again. Moreover, you can't control with the
Logitech keys, so you'll need to set up global hotkeys if you want to
control during a video game. See 'Comments' for the link, since I can't
post links in this review. And if you know any other good plugins for
the G19, be sure to comment too.
** Update: The plugin called
"LCD Miscellany" just made this keyboard x1000 times better! It's a
must-have plugin if you want to get the most out of your G19 keyboard!
This plugin had the perfect by-product tool of what I wanted this
keyboard to do. 'LCD Miscellany' has a built-in Calculator tool, which
allows copy and pasting text -- WITHIN THE LCD (you can toggle in and
out of it) -- so it's a really great workaround to search specific
YouTube videos -- while in games or in other applications that don't
have any text input/highlighting! The plugin also has a Text Viewer, so
if you just create a text file with URLs of your favorite YouTube
videos, save it; and then access the text file within the LCD, you can
then highlight (using the arrow keys while HOLDING the shift key), and
then do the routine Copy (Ctrl + C) to execute the videos -- a
pseudo-YouTube playlist!. This plugin also contains displaying your
local weather and forecast, controlling your task manager, and more
details about your CPU/memory/bandwidth usage/graph/volume/time/date all
on one screen -- and much more! This plugin supports the G19, so the
display is in color and the Logitech control keys work with it!
G19 Overview
The Logitech G19 keyboard is
perfect for 1: Serious gamers 2: Serious Geeks or 3: Seriously rich
people who have nothing better to do with $200.
There is no
instruction manual included with the G19, everything you need to know is
included in the software, including a video guide to get you started.
Comes
with a wrist rest that can be attached if desired, but it is made of
hard plastic and is therefore not comfortable and of little use.
The
following is an outline of the pros and cons I have found while using
the G19.
Pros:
-The backlit keys are completely
customizable. You can choose any shade of any color including white.
-Awesome
LCD with many applets and features including: CPU/RAM monitor, clock,
RSS newsfeeds, Youtube feed for viewing Youtube videos,picture
slideshow, and video player. Also works with supported games giving you
in-game info.
-12 G keys each capable of storing 3 different
functions acessed by the M keys.
-Media controls (Play/pause,
stop, next, back) mute button and volume roll wheel.
-Windows key
disabler switch which is standard on the G series keyboards.
-2
USB ports on the back of the G19 allow you to plug in and power any USB
devices you want.
-Up to 5 keys can be pressed down at the same
time and still register.
Cons:
-Needs to be
plugged into both a USB port and a outlet. Extra power is needed of
course for the LCD panel.
-What, you expected there to be more
cons?
Conclusion:
Overall it is a wonderful
keyboard that comes equipped with a not-so-wonderful price. Is it worth
the dough? You be the judge.
Now if you'll excuse I shall watch a
Youtube vid on my keyboard... because I can...
Love this keyboard!
I struggled with the cost of
this keyboard but found Amazon to have the best price plus the free
shipping. I am not a heavy duty gamer but was looking for a solid
keyboard with good back lighting of the keys. I had tried the Razor from
Microsoft and was extremely disappointed with the lighting which comes
more from around the keys than through them. Also, the feel of the keys
was too "weak" for my tastes.
On this keyboard the lighting comes
only through the keys and you can change the colors. This combined with
a solid feel with I type makes me very satisfied.
I found the
installation to be a breeze with the included software. Really, this is a
plug and play unit once you have installed the software which gives you
some utilities to control the features.
If you want a solid
feeling keyboard with backlighting and can handle the extremely high
price, this is a keyboard that you will not regret buying.
Now to
load the WoW software that my daughter talked me into trying and then
will learn how to use the macro keys!
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