Nyko
Air Flo EX for PC: $299.95
www.nyko.com

As I’ve often said, I’m a terrible excuse for a gamer. My Halo ID on my friend’s Xbox is “Whipping Boy.” And I’m one of those people who, while sitting and playing a first-person shooter game, move his entire body in sync with the on-screen character. Somehow, I’ll be able to dodge those energy blasts better if I suddenly throw my torso to the right. When this happens while playing on the couch with my wife, she will turn and proceed to beat me with her controller.

The point is that even though I suck at games, I still get into them and contract a bad case of sweaty palms throughout extended play. Nyko’s Air Flo XE for PC fixes this problem. With rubberized, vented hand grips and a variable-speed fan system that blows air through it, the Air Flo XE provides considerably more comfort for extended frag sessions. I also find that the rubber grips help with the inevitable finger stiffness and cramping I experience during game play, probably because I relax my death grip a bit.

The Air Flo XE differs from the regular Air Flo in that the bundled drivers allow the controller to work with any PC game, not just those with the right controller profile. Nyko sells the product through distribution and has versions available for gaming consoles, and wireless editions.

Plextor
ConvertX PVR PX-TV402U: $199
www.plextor.com

Plestor’s PX-TV402U is an intriguing sequel to the original design. This compact, stylish box is essentially a realtime video encoder. You plug a coax feed from your wall or set-top box into the back of the TV420U. (Alternatively, the front of the unit features RCA audio, composite, and S-Video inputs.) The box contains a processor that performs the heavy-duty task of encoding the video stream in realtime into your choice of DivX, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (DVD), or MPEG-4. (The original model only handled MPEG-1/2.) The encoded stream is passed over a USB 2.0 connection to the PC, where bundled InterVideo software (WinDVR 5 and WinDVD Creator) record the stream to your hard drive.

Because the Plextor unit has a built-in TV tuner, it can take instructions from WinDVR to change channels, but this only works for analog channels, meaning the first 125 stations. Digital cable or satellite subscribers will have to manually change channels and leave WinDVR to record at a given time. Alternatively, you can use the TV402U to watch, record, and “pause” live TV shows.

Now, for $50, you can buy a cheap TV tuner card that comes bundled with some rudimentary software to do some of the same things. You won’t get DivX or MPEG-4 support, which is what users want when working with portable media player devices (see the Archos AV480 in our MCE hardware cover story). I’ve tried several low-end approaches to realtime PC-based PVR, and the video quality tends to suffer. Far worse, though, is the impact on system resources. Because the encoding work is done in software, and thus computed by the CPU, multitasking becomes almost impossible unless you’re content with massive hiccups in the video stream. Realtime encoding needs to be done in hardware, and Plextor’s answer gives you a convenient box that can be easily moved from location to location.

The package includes integration with TitanTV, the leading free online programming guide. TitanTV can’t compare to MCE or SnapStream, but it’s not bad for free. Additionally, Plextor supports burning directly to disc, so live TV can be not only viewed on-screen but saved concurrently to CD or DVD. That’s pretty sweet. Check the system requirements, because you’ll want at least a 2.4 GHz CPU to get the most out of this product, but $200 is a lot easier to swallow than a new MCE system, and this product does several things that MCE can’t.

OCZ
ModStream 520W Power Supply: $119.95
www.ocztechnology.com

If you caught the notes on the Antec Neopower PSU in this month’s MCE hardware cover story, you already know the pitch on modular power supplies. But Antec isn’t the only modular PSU in town. Ultra has its super-flashy modular incarnation, and now OCZ joins the fray with the ModStream.

I confess, I’ve been waiting for this unit for quite a while. I received an early prototype of OCZ’s first power supply, the PowerStream, and found it to be the most powerful, dependable, and quiet PSU to ever land on my test bench—which is why it’s still there. Now the company has it’s second-generation model, the ModStream, and I suspect it will ultimately make its way into my main office PC. There’s no greater compliment I can pay to a component.

The ModStream is 100% modular. Nothing is hard-wired in, not even the ATX power cabling. The 120 mm fan keeps noise levels imperceptible. The 520W rating is for continuous power. Peak load is rated at 620W, and this is no small point as most vendors (Antec excepted) only give peak loads as their rating. If you were to design a system for someone based around a peak rating, you could probably measure the system’s runtime in milliseconds.

I really like this unit’s light blue on black styling with the silver-wrapped, UV-reactive cabling, and the electronics under the surface are just as notable as the unit’s good looks. Measured continuous voltage is extremely stable, and OCZ packs in just about every safety precaution possible in a PSU. The company also stands behind the product with a three-year warranty. If you get someone in your showroom shopping for a power upgrader, you couldn’t recommend a finer option.