HDfury blanking out

Seems I might have solved the mystery of the HDfury mysteriously blanking out... in my case, anyway. Apparently this is a known problem since searching "HDfury blanks out" returns results for all HDfury models.

My chain is source > DVDO Edge > Monoprice Item 5369 + 2029 > HDfury (VGA out) > monitor.

Apparently my short 1.5 ft Monoprice HDMI cable (from Monoprice Item 5369 to the HDfury) was what was causing the blackouts, in which I would lose at least five seconds. For now, switching to a longer HDMI cable (same Monoprice brand, 6 feet) seems to prevent the blanking out.

EDIT: Since then I've just bought a higher-speed HDMI cable... seems to work fine.

EDIT 2: No, it doesn't. But flicking the Monoprice HD #5369 seemed to do the trick... and actually, now that I've got the Monoprice item page open, I'm reading the reviews and maybe the loss of sync is related to voltage drops, according to "Mike" from December 24, 2009. Now I just need to figure out what he means by voltage regulator.

EDIT 3: Pretty sure the problem is not with the HDfury but with the Monoprice item. I think I can make sure it doesn't lose sync by making sure the power switch is flicked on when there are no more source changes. In other words, make sure I power on last, or in the case of PS3, turn off and turn on again when entering and exiting a game.

Capturing upscaled gameplay with an OSSC on an Intensity Pro

Quick footnote here folks: Sometimes I have to set the Intensity Pro to capture at 720p60 rather than 720p59.94 like I do with the PS3, TiVo, and anything else I capture  off the DVDO Edge.

• 240p line X3
• 480p line X2

Going in depth, assuming these are my DVDO Edge settings:

DVDO Edge:
Video Output: 720p 60 Hz
1:1 Frame Rate: Enable
Output Frame Lock: Auto Lock


Here's when I need the Intensity Pro at 720p59.94 Hz and when I need it at 720p60:

PS1 (SCPH-5501), RGB SCART, line X3: 720p60
PSPgo, component, 480i, line X3 (PS One Classic): 720p60
PSPgo, component, 480p, line X2 (PS One Classic): 720p60
PSPgo, component, 480p, line X2 (PSP game): 720p59.94

Words I hate (2016-11-22)

• tchotchke (also: tzotchke)

So damn hard to spell. Good god.

New blog

The Aboveground Underground
http://theabovegroundunderground.blogspot.com/

Written by... a friend... but I'm handling all the administrative duties. Check it out!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Neutral Alignment for Dummies

First, huge thanks to KeyBlade999 for his FAQ, Zaruel for the original Neutral method, and Tigo73 for a more condensed version of it. But it still wasn't as easy as it could be. Here's what the FAQ says:

• When given the choice, use the first-listed response for all questions.
• Go with Jonathan when the team splits after Shene Duque ("An Important Rendezvous").
• In Tsukiji's question maze, always go left.
• Choose "Destroy the status quo" when speaking with the White after Infernal Tokyo, but don't opt to become the True Messiah.
• Only do the Challenge Quests required of you, or at least those that don't affect alignment. (See Challenge Quest Interactions for more.)

But I'm on my second playthrough and I want to get everything, so I'm doing everything considered optional. That also means keeping things in mind:

• Don't worry about killing the demonized Issachar too quickly in your OP NG+ form. In keeping with using the first-listed response for all questions, killing Issachar too quickly means you'll miss the chance to choose the first response, which means your alignment points will be 5 points higher. Following through the end with first-listed/choice/Jonathan/destroy the status quo, however, that means your alignment points will be exactly zero instead of -5 (which also counts as Neutral). This however assumes you do the following as well:
• With the two hunter tournaments (prelims and finals), you want to kill two and spare two, effectively canceling the alignment points out. The tournaments have four rounds each, and this way you'll have easier math.
• In Ikebukuro there's an apparently optional woman who forces you to answer a question, and that question moves your alignment 10 points in either direction. Keeping in mind the previous two points, if you want to experience "everything" and still get the Neutral ending, then talking to the woman is not optional. So don't worry about talking without saving.

Less capturing from the TiVo and more buying from Amazon

I've noticed I no longer have the time and energy to capture, edit, and encode absolutely every show I want to keep forever, so I've decided to buy from Amazon more. I'm not just talking Blu-rays (which I absolutely will for the CW superhero shows), but Amazon Video as well.

This decision was made a lot easier when I realized that even if I did have a 1080p capture card, various TiVo hiccups (loss of sound, Skip notifications) and huge lower screen ads mean I won't ever get a clean capture anyway. And I'm going with Amazon rather than iTunes because while you can view your Amazon content on many different devices, you can only watch your iTunes content on Apple devices. Also, SD content on iTunes is complete crap (think: low-res, mobile-friendly videos).

America's Secret Slang is still just as good as I remember, and the quality is excellent in full 1080p. But there are plenty of other one-off History specials that I'd like to see, and they're all on Amazon too. Just search "History Specials." It's all part of one season, and obviously they won't let you just purchase an entire season (they're all unrelated and who knows how big the list will get), but they're (mostly) reasonably priced; $1.99 for SD, $2.99 for HD, and $4.99 for the handful of ripoffs.

Shows I'd want to buy in the future:

• 101 Objects that Changed the World (and the other "101" shows)
• How Life Began
• Hacking the System
• Wizard Wars
• The various Anthony Bourdain shows
• Food: Fact or Fiction

Panasonic AG-1980 quirk

I noticed Ranma 1/2 was on Hulu, but I got nostalgic for the way I watched it from the Blockbuster rentals: in English, and with various Viz Video trailers. I was able to snag the complete English-dubbed OAV collection for about $12 on eBay.

So I just hooked my Panasonic AG-1980 back up to my DVDO Edge for the first time in years and I'm noticing I need to let the VCR warm up for about 30 minutes (making sure to actually press the power button after plugging the power cord). No need to have a VHS playing for 30 minutes too.

I know this because after I had the VCR displaying a good picture, I had to leave so I stopped playback and powered off. When I powered on and hit Play, the bad picture returned.

For reference:

• Manual: 
• https://www.manualslib.com/manual/305291/Panasonic-Ag-1980.html
• Repair: 
• http://www.tgrantphoto.com/sales/index.php/products/maintenance-service-for-panasonic-ag-1980-vcr

Weird-ass dream (2016-09-25)

I was in Japan on some amusement park ride, which turned into a futuristic bus ride, which turned into a regular bus ride in America. Got in a pretty heated argument too, but I was better in Street Fighter II so whatever.

HTML table test

Because maybe I'm thinking of translating some of the data in the Japanese Shin Megami Tensei IV Official Complete Guide?

http://www.tablesgenerator.com/html_tables

Results
No	Competition	John	Adam	Robert	Paul
1	Swimming	1:30	2:05	1:15	1:41
2	Running	15:30	14:10	15:45	16:00
3	Shooting	70%	55%	90%	88%

Just got Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Bah... I had two years to get the other endings in SMT IV. But it looks like I'll have to get them now anyway for the best start on SMT IV: Apocalypse?

Oh well, I'll feel better about Reincarnation NG+ and I won't hold back on that DLC I purchased so long ago. And I got to admit, Blight'ing everything to death is fun!

The one worry I had with my OP Flynn was killing Issachar without him asking me to (since I'm going for neutral), but one Blight from a Level 90-ish Flynn (about 250 HP), one Fang Breaker from a Level 20-ish demon (about 80 HP), and one regular attack from an apparently OP Isabeau (about 180 HP) and I had Issachar begging for mercy. Easier alignment math, yay!

Now if I could just get a handle on those NG+/alignment exclusive demons...

Downloading all Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd DLC

I've found that downloading all of the DLC for Project Diva F 2nd is extremely difficult, especially when you're trying to download it all to both your PS3 and your Vita.

First, there's just a lot of DLC to download, and you're sure to miss some just searching through your already bloated download lists. The Vita is particularly nasty here as it always resets you to the top of the download list after you tap an item.

Second, in the American PS Store at least, it's not immediately clear which platform you're downloading to, as the icon is exactly the same. One rule of thumb is that the PS3 DLC is smaller than the Vita DLC. The naming is slightly different between them as well; one platform has it as "Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - [content]" while the other is "[content] - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd."

Third, you want to use only the PS Store on your browser. For some reason not all the DLC is displayed on the PS3 PS Store or the Vita PS Store. Adding to the download queue is really the only way to do this; you only need select the PS3 content and the Vita content will be downloaded to your PS3 as well.

You'll want to use these links as reference, copying the DLC title right into the search bar on the browser PS Store.

http://projectdiva.wiki/List+of+Skins+(F+2nd)

http://projectdiva.wiki/List+of+Modules+%28F+2nd%29
Typos:
Aile D’Ange Module
Ha2une Miku Module

http://projectdiva.wiki/List+of+Songs+(F+2nd)

I've also learned that you can only add 100 to your PS3 download list, and only 33 (or about that) will actually be downloaded. Otherwise you'll have to go into your download queue on your computer and manually click retry for each of them.

A sort of fix for Vita error C1-2741-4 not really but maybe

The story so far...

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/620272-playstation-vita/74223732

Basically my 64 GB Vita memory card crashed again loading Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd, forcing me to reformat (though apparently I could've just rebuilt the database several times to get the lost games back).

Now I'm putting all games 900 MB or over onto my 64 GB card. I tried starting Persona 4 Golden and got error C1-2741-4 every time. Powering off and powering on again didn't fix it. So I played a bit of WipEout 2048 which I know saves pretty frequently and then P4G was working again.

DVDO Edge and PSP

I recently made public my DVDO Edge and PSP video to leech off the popularity of My Life in Gaming's RGB105 video.

But I remembered I wrote a fairly substantial post in the shmups forum on how to do stuff on the DVDO Edge by the PSP and for the PSP (namely, one-button zooming and unzooming of the PSP's output video), so here it is:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=1130274#p1130274

Words I hate (2016-08-03)

Learn the difference between implying and inferring, will you? Idiots.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/imply.html

Resolution / Aspect Ratio Cheat sheet

http://blog.chameleondg.com/post/111891072017/resolution-aspect-ratio-cheat-sheet

Found this while trying to digitize my Aladdin LaserDisc with its wacky original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 (5:3).

Note for future me: this is how I enabled LaserDisc closed captions on the Samsung smart TV: 

I got closed captions to work on the new TV with LaserDiscs. Turns out I had to really really enable them: Settings > General > Accessibility > Captions > On.

Hulu subscription, again

I decided to buy one month of the lower-tier Hulu subscription ($8 with limited commercials) rather than the even-more-expensive-than-Netflix higher tier ($12 with no commercials). Why? Well, I really liked these current Naruto Shippuden filler episodes and my FireTV Stick was coming in the mail.

Subscribing to Hulu definitely improves the quality on my computer, but when they say "limited commercials," you don't get any fewer commercials; it's the same amount of "limited commercials" they've always had!

I checked out Seven Samurai since I know that's part of the Criterion Collection, and I'm glad the movies aren't interrupted by commercials.

UPDATE: Having upgraded to no commercials, Hulu still does the fade in/out between segments.

Weird-ass dream (2016-07-11)

I was struggling and running out of time in a physics test (a class that I had no business being in in high school), but Ronnie and Elizabeth (from Holy Angels!) were there too, so that was... comforting? Oh, and Ava Addams was there too.

Muting Google Chrome

http://www.cnet.com/how-to/add-a-mute-button-to-chrome-tabs/

Useful mainly for Hulu, since hitting the actual mute button during commercials on Hulu isn't the best idea; sometimes the show would resume with the volume off, no matter what you do with the mute button at that point.

Words I hate (2016-06-10)

Connote, not "connotate."

So it was the cable!

Not-so-fun story:

Some months ago I let my Loopy-modded 3DS fall onto the hardwood floor. I picked it up and I heard something rattling when I shook it. Then I tried the only micro USB cable I could find to test the capture card and I couldn't get a picture to display. Note that this was after my Katsukity Vita capture card didn't want to work on Windows 10 anymore, so I was pretty crushed.

Fast-forward to today and I'm charging everything I know that has a lithium battery. The Dual Shock 4 was last. So I grabbed that same micro USB cable and tried charging it with my laptop. No reaction. I tried charging the DS4 hooked up directly to the PS4 (and the PS4 was turned on, of course). No reaction. The battery indicator wasn't even moving like I saw in a YouTube video.

I went to the living room and found where all the phone chargers were, and I grabbed an unused micro USB cable. And that cable charged my Dual Shock 4! Then I tried it with the 3DS capture card and it worked too!

So I guess the moral of the story is, cables can and do go bad. The cable wasn't frayed or anything. I'd better buy some cables now.

Charging PS3 controllers on a laptop

It's the beginning of the month and I'm trying to be good about charging all my lithium-battery-powered devices (gaming handhelds, controllers, and now the Wii U GamePad) so as to prevent permanent capacity loss.

I don't want to turn on the PS3 just to charge the controllers, so I figured I'd charge them on my laptop. You can tell controllers are charging because the red lights are flashing, but now I'm noticing the lights go out after a few seconds. I didn't think they were charging anymore.

The solution is a simple tweak in Device Manager. David D writes,

Go to your Device Manager and then to your Human Interface Devices section before plugging in your PS3 controller. Then plug in your PS3 controller and you will see "HID-compliant game controller" and "HID-compliant wireless radio controls" be updated to your Human Interface Devices section. Right click and disable "HID-compliant game controller" then unplug and replug in your PS3 controller and it should charge fine.

Trying out DOSbox

I'm primarily a console gamer, but Psycho Pinball was one of a handful of PC games from my early childhood that I really, truly loved. I was also quite fond of Pong Kombat and Sango Fighter, but that's another post. Maybe.

So I got the CD for about $10 shipped on eBay, and then I found I needed DOSbox. Installing it was a bit tricky, so I'm going to list links and document exactly what I did so I can do it again on other computers later:

DOSBox manual
Installation and game start examples
Another installation tutorial with ISO examples
Settings tweaks


During the game installation, for sound, I did SoundBlaster 16 and then auto-select.


For tweaks (getting the proper aspect ratio on my 1080p display):

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=desktop
windowresolution=1280x960
output=ddraw
[render]
aspect=true

That output=ddraw part was a doozy; I couldn't figure out why the game would briefly lose sync after starting.

Since I'm not fond of using the CD to start the game (the DVD drive takes up both of my USB 2.0 ports), I'm going to try loading the game as an ISO... which means doing everything from scratch again...

---

EDIT: So this is exactly what I did. I wanted all my ISOs in C:\DOSBox so I manually created the directory in Windows. But of course DOSBox and/or the game will make their own directories during installation, and I didn't want any redundancies.


Installation: Starting DOSBox:

mount c "c:\dosbox"
c:
imgmount d "psycho.iso" -t iso
d:
install


Installation screen:

CD ROM drive letter: D
PSYCHO Directory: C


Now on my actual computer, the directories are nice and neat:

C:\DOSBox\PSYCHO

(PSYCHO was created by the installation; DOSBox would've created a DOSBox folder, but since I chose C as the PSYCHO directory, there was no need.)


Starting the game in DOSBox (put this under [autoexec] in DOSBox 0.74 Options.bat):
mount c "c:\dosbox"
c:
imgmount d "psycho.iso" -t iso
cd psycho
psycho

Subscribed to Weekly Shonen Jump today

http://shonenjump.viz.com/

I wanted to start Boruto right from the beginning, and the price and perks of the 12-month subscription didn't seem too bad. Viz claims these Weekly Shonen Jump issues are simultaneous with Japan, so I know I won't be behind... though that still doesn't explain the 14-month wait between the original Japanese manga volumes and the translated English manga volumes.

Boruto is a monthly series, so it looks like I won't really care about 1/4 of the issues -- at least until the collected manga volumes of the series I do care about (namely Bleach) catch up to chapters in my very first WSJ issue.

I got the complete Japanese Naruto manga in print form last Christmas (gift to myself), so I figure I'll get Boruto monthly digitally in English, and then collect the Japanese Boruto manga volumes in print form as they're released.

Finally deactivated (and reactivated) PSN video content for PS3

So I checked out the PlayStation Store on PS3 to see the Golden Week deals, and then I saw Ip Man 3 was available.  I wasn't even going to bother considering renting it until I saw it was in the original Chinese language with English subtitles. And it was, so then I started looking into finally reactivating my PS3 for video content.

I haven't bought video content from the PS Store since 2011 when my first PS3 broke. I tried sending that PS3 out to get reballed and they couldn't do it. And I really, really didn't want to call to deactivate for video content. Back then you couldn't even remotely deactivate your consoles for video content, let alone game content. And you couldn't even redownload your purchased videos! Then Sony allowed us to deactivate all our consoles for game content once every six months through their Web site. Some time later, Sony allowed us to redownload our videos and stream them; I guess they realized that their video service really was the worst. With this new feature, I was able to download and view my purchased SD videos on Media Go from my laptop. But remote deactivation for video content was still impossible.

Some more searching and I found this link:

https://support.us.playstation.com/articles/en_US/KC_Article/Deactivate-Consoles-Via-PC-Website

This in particular caught my eye:

• If you only want to deactivate games or video on one system and not all of your systems, you must do that via the console you wish to deactivate. If you don't have access to that console, please fill out our Console Deactivation Web Form to request a deactivation. 

So I clicked the link, filled out the form (I still had that first PS3 to check for the serial, and I wrote down the serial number somewhere on Google Docs just in case I never got the PS3 back), and at long last I was able to deactivate that dead PS3 for video content. The email came within an hour or two, but it said all my consoles were deactivated again, for game and video content. Luckily for me it really has been just over six months (my brother got me my newest PS3 sometime in October as an early birthday present), so no problems with reactivating.

I might never download videos from the PS Store ever again (because Amazon seems to have more and better content, cheaper, and available on more devices), but it's good that something I've been concerned about for the last five years is finally resolved.

So I made a joystick for my PSPgo...

http://forums.shoryuken.com/discussion/comment/10714857/#Comment_10714857

More notes:

Turns out the broken PSP that I thought wasn't broken (because my official charging cables really did charge it) really is broken; it wouldn't work with the component cables. Either messed up colors with a direct connection, or not at all through the dock. So to completely cover my bases, I'm going to have to get another PSPgo (black, preferably) because you can only sync a Sixaxis/Dual Shock 3 to one device at a time, and the PSPgo can only pair to one controller. As cool as the AXISdapter stick is, there are still some games that are best played with a controller, and I know Final Fantasy Tactics actually requires the analog to rotate the screen.

The plan was to have the "broken" PSP hold all the PS1 and PSP games that were best played with a stick, and my original, main PSPgo will be paired with a Sixaxis as usual. But there's no point in me playing on the tiny PSPgo screen with a stick, so I'll have to get another, working PSPgo which now go for around $80 to $100, even without the cables.

But at least my plan of having dedicated PSPgos for critical save points for save state abuse in Einhander is one step closer.

Been playing my Wii a lot lately...

And all because I finally got a component switcher. It's a GE 73344 4-Way Switch, which is the best you can get; it's four inputs, non-powered, and picture quality remains unaffected. The Wii component cables (and the original Xbox component cables, apparently) are just so hard to plug in and take out, and I dreaded having to pry them out of the DVDO Edge. Usually the PS2 and PSP take the first component input in the Edge, with the Dreamcast taking the second component input for VGA-to-RGBHV.

Because I wanted a Wii controller with turbos, I got a Mad Catz Tatsunoko VS Capcom Wii arcade stick on eBay for just under $50 shipped all the way from Canada. My Toodles TE Kitty already has Gamecube compatibility, but some games (Mega Man 9, Samurai Shodown Anthology) don't accept Gamecube controllers and I wanted to cover my bases.

Searching for Wii hidden gems, I discovered Sin & Punishment: Star Successor and I knew I had to get it immediately. And without even playing any of the other highly acclaimed Wii games, I can safely say that it's the best game on the Wii by far.

So right now on I'm on a Wii buying spree. I bought a Wii MotionPlus Adapter and its silicon cover for about $10 shipped -- really for no reason at all as I don't have any compatible games and outside of Nintendo's own offerings I'm not really interested in playing them. The bigger controller just looks cool, IMO.

Then I bought WarioWare: Smooth Moves which is what you'd expect from a WarioWare game. I'm currently waiting on Rhythm Fever Heaven, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and the Wii's supposed crown jewel, Xenoblade Chronicles. I'll pick up Wario Land: Shake It! and Donkey Kong Country Returns maybe next month.

Up next, all those weird Raphnet adapters.

Hassan, Poet Laureate (of this blog)

She's like an angel, wrapped in an angel, stuffed in an angel. Served on top of a bed of angel feathers.

-- Hassan, Hell's Kitchen, "11 Chefs Compete"

Sync Shiat

I only recently found out that I have an RGB setup after all with my DVDO Edge, so I took a closer look into getting the proper RGB cables.

Now of course even a total idiot knows that Euro SCART and JP-21 cables aren't compatible (and such a mismatch can instantly fry your XRGB-3), but I still get the multiple names confused.

Here they are from best to worst, in the order I most commonly hear them by:

1. Best:  csync, aka
• composite sync
• raw sync
• pure sync
• boosted sync
• SNES sync SCART (on your retro_console_accessories cable)
2. About as good: sync on luma, aka
• luma sync
• luma as sync
• luma for sync
3. Least best: sync on composite video, aka
• composite video as sync
• composite video for sync
• composite video + sync
• SNES SCART (on your retro_console_accessories cable)

TLDR: 

You want: csync 

When you have no choice: sync on composite

References:

RGB103 :: Demystifying RGB & Sync - MY LIFE IN GAMING

RGB SCART Sync Guide - https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/

New phone gets me playing Final Fantasy Tactics again

A while back I noticed my iPhone 5 battery pushing the screen out, but the phone was still functional. That is until I made the mistake of putting my phone in my pocket. Eventually the screen wouldn't turn on anymore, so I had to wait until I switched to T-Mobile for a new phone -- iPhone 6s. Not a 6s Plus, which is fine because I wanted the smaller phone... which is still bigger than the 5... but I'm not hating the newer, bigger size. And, heck, Touch ID is damned cool. But to even use the phone, I had to go online to disable two-factor authentication and then make new security questions.

So while I was re-adding my apps (apparently that's the one thing Restore doesn't restore), I decided to try the iOS version of Final Fantasy Tactics again. And it's still fun; it's based on the PSP War of the Lions version, but without the slowdown (kinda; they just sped up everything), without the PSP multiplayer functions, and with a soundtrack sounding more like the PS1 version (good) and touch controls (bad).

That just made me want to play the PSP version again, but there were two major annoyances with it:

1. The slowdown during actions. I knew there was a patch that eliminated it so I finally got around to installing it and it was easier than I thought. There is also an "unstretch" patch that shrinks the game back to 340x240 but that just made the text harder to read. Though to its credit that patch keeps the cutscenes in widescreen. 
2. No soft reset. The PS1 version had it, and you'll want to do it anytime a battle doesn't go your way or you get in an unwanted random battle. To get around this, use Game VSH Menu.

Both work on the latest 6.61 PRO firmware, which supposedly has less plugin support. But these (and RemoteJoy) are the only ones that matter, so I'm happy.

Links:

• Latest PSP official firmware
• Latest PSP custom firmware (link to 6.61)
• Game VSH Menu
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions PSP slowdown patch

Annoyingly, with a PSPgo running CFW, the Bluetooth pairing of a Dual Shock controller is lost during the XMB. It'll activate only when a game is running. There's no patch that adds the reverb effects for the music in the PSP version, so it still sounds little better than an SNES game. And there's no patch for adding back in the battle quotes, despite them still being in the Japanese version.

I'm still probably going to get the Japanese PSP version while it's on sale on the PS Store, but I've read the most advanced port is on Android devices because the graphics are redone -- at least a little bit. Perhaps I'll get an Android tablet just for FFT and the other Final Fantasy remakes. Looking online, I just missed a half-off sale so I'm not in any hurry to get the tablet.