Logitech G19 Programmable Gaming Keyboard with Color Display Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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):
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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.
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[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." -- ofall 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):

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lcdyoutube:search=
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So for example, if you want to search Logitech videos, you have to type

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lcdyoutube:search=Logitech
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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...Read more›

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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.

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