Review: 32 GB Sony Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo (MS-HX32B) for PSP

Decided to give this a shot after not being entirely pleased with my PhotoFast adapter with two 32 GB micro SD cards.


What was wrong with the PhotoFast solution?

• Terrible XMB load times (as in, 10 seconds or more). Granted, there is a custom firmware solution that allows you to load games directly, even within other games, but if you don't feel like decrypting and renaming all your games, your games are still labeled as a bunch of nondescript letters and numbers.
• Some game music just doesn't load. To see what I mean, load Capcom Classics Collection Remixed, and play Street Fighter II (any version will do). With the PhotoFast, the little VS jingle for your second match will not play. It doesn't matter if you decrypt the file into an uncompressed ISO; this particular bit of music will never play on a PhotoFast. A game not playing music is a big deal!
• Very fragile. Once you put it in, expect it to break if you ever take it out.

Results with the MS-HX32B:

• Quick XMB loading.
• The Street Fighter II second VS screen jingle plays, though a bit later than expected. For comparison, there was absolutely no problem with a 2 GB memory stick.
• As sturdy as any other memory stick.

I've also tried it with official PSN PSP downloads (meaning heavily compressed), and the compression lag is still there. I tested this with WTF: Work Time Fun with minigames I know have consistent lag (namely Hand Bell Delight).


So would I recommend it? Absolutely. The price is still outrageously high compared to micro SD, but at least you don't have to worry about copying content from a PS3. While I'm certain B&H has a genuine listing (and there are fakes), I saved about $30 by searching for the same product number on Amazon. I bought mine from MemoryWhiz.

Words I hate (2017-12-19, again)

• quantative

Goddamn, another one in the same day? You mean "quantitative." Or maybe even "qualitative." 

Words I hate (2017-12-19)

• equivalate

Now that's a new one. What happened to "liken?"

OSSC and Line 5x

Thursday may have been Thanksgiving but it felt like Christmas. Turns out my DVDO Edge is capable of doing OSSC Line 5x with NES and SNES after all! Well, mostly.

I never had any trouble using Line 5x with my other consoles (Genesis, PS1) or with my supergun, but Line 5x with NES and SNES remained incompatible with my setup. I played around with sample options and timings, none of which I ever understood, and I never really got anywhere. Turns out, trying different cables even at this point still proved effective. Before I always used a cable like this. Then I tried another cable, which looked super-plain (so I doubt it was advertised as 4K-ready), and to my surprise, SNES Line 5x now worked with my PC monitor (remember, my chain is: source > DVDO Edge > Monoprice Item 5369 + 2029 > HDfury (VGA out) > monitor).

The "bad" cable according to its specifications has a "10.2Gbps data throughput." I don't know what the specs are of that first cable that worked, but as I was looking for other cables on Amazon, I found one of the cables that my brother had given me and the description of that one says "Supports the latest HDMI 2.0b Standard - 4K, UHD, 3D, Audio Return Channel (ARC), Category 2 Certified,18 Gbps / 600 MHz Refresh Rate, 2160p, 1080p, 48 Bit Deep Color, Ethernet and is backwards compatible with earlier versions."

Takeaways:

1. If SNES in Line 5x doesn't work, but most of your other consoles do, keep trying different cables anyway until you get SNES Line 5x to work. 
2. You want at least a high-speed cable. Apparently that's not just a marketing term; it actually means 18 Gbps. More than enough for standard 1080p, but the OSSC demands yet more. (By the way, ultra high speed cables are much more expensive at $30 for a 6-foot cable, but they boast 48 Gbps.)
3. No need to replace all of your cables (though it couldn't hurt). For this purpose, the only HDMI cable that really matters is the one going from the OSSC to the display (or in my case, the DVDO Edge).

I had less luck with NES in 5x mode with the OSSC going to the DVDO Edge hooked up to a 2009-ish Bravia. The dropouts, while not super-frequent, were still enough to make me switch back to Line 3x. SNES on the other hand was solid.

And for some reason, Tetris & Dr. Mario on the SNES didn't work with any of my setups at Line 5x. I suspect the game has a weird resolution; you can notice on the title screen that the overscan is different.


UPDATE: I found some new things and posted them at shmups. Long story short, to get NES and SNES Line 5x to work without drops, switch from Line5x format 1920x1080 to 1600x1200 and back to 1920x1080. I'd suggest leaving those settings for 5 to 10 seconds before switching.

Or better yet, just get the 48 Gbps ultra high speed cable. I haven't had any problems with it so far.

No more 32-bit apps on iOS 11... and that's OK?

Today I bought the remaining Cave game I didn't already have from the App Store at full price. And I can play it because I'm still on iOS 10.3.3.

Am I curious about iOS 11? Sure. But my iPhone 6s is pretty old now, and eventually my phone will be too old to run the latest iOS anyway. So why not stop at the latest iOS that allows you to run both 32-bit and 64-bit apps? Heck, I can even play Aka to Blue on my 6s as well. And I can listen to it all through my headphone jack, which now all smartphones are getting rid of.

If I'm really hard-up for 32-bit apps on a tablet, I'll just get an iPad with Retina display (iPad 4) which cannot run iOS 11, so I don't have to worry about "too-high" firmware when buying used.

Will I ever buy a new phone? Sure... in another 10 years or so. Then my iPhone 6s will be used like an iPod Touch.

Weird-ass dream (2017-11-18)

Had a dream where Subway had a deal for five subs for five dollars. That is a good deal!

Hatsune Miku: Future Tone DLC, bundles

[ORIGINAL POST]

Came dangerously close to buying redundant Hatsune Miku: Future Tone DLC! You just need the Future Tone Bundle, Season Pass, and Unlock Key.

I love calling things "dumb."

I think reading is good. I think books are great. But novels are just dumb.

If a novel is dumb, you'll have wasted weeks or months. If you stick to the end, it's a sure bet you had to struggle with dumb, boring sections that lasted a while.

But if a movie is dumb, you'll have only wasted a couple hours of your life, and chances are there was at least someone on screen to ogle.

So I think if someone asks me what my three favorite books are, or what the three latest books that I read were, the answer would probably be the same, and one of the books would probably be a textbook from school.

My review of the cheap, generic, ubiquitous SCART-to-HDMI scaler

As posted on phonedork's channel:

General Phonedork sir! I know it's been over two years, but I finally got that shitty generic HDMI scaler today. And you were right; it was just what I needed for capturing games that do the 240p/480i switching.

For $20 shipped, I'm pretty happy; I just set my Intensity Pro to capture at 720p60 (instead of 720p59.94 like most everything else) and it sees the shit scaler just fine. I was capturing things I thought I'd never be able to see outside of a CRT or my old s-video capture card... and even then, s-video capture cards are limited to 30 FPS. The Blackmagic Intensity capture cards are notoriously picky, but it didn't even blink with this scaler. It just works, quick & dirty.

Yes, the picture is just so, so shit, especially since I own an OSSC and have seen how good my captures look through that. Yes, the picture is stretched to 16:9, but that can easily be edited back to 4:3. But with superg's gscartsw_lite offering two SCART outputs, that means I can have one output dedicated to capturing with that shit scaler and have the other output going to my OSSC or fusionz916's Retrotek component converter to my CRT. In other words, I never actually have to look at what that shit scaler outputs while playing.

And, well, since the video quality is just so fucking shit (I mean... goddamn it is really shit), I won't feel bad not getting a 1080p60 capture card for anything I'd want to capture with the shit scaler.

I'll also add that the scaler's settings remain even after power down. I at first had to hook it up to my PC monitor just to get some picture. The scaler will provide an OSD so you know exactly what you're getting.

And really, is the video quality that bad? It's about s-video quality, but with extremely oversaturated colors. I've also measured the audio lag and it's 0.117 seconds behind, or 7 frames... which may or may not be related to input lag. That's harder to test.

How about new singer rules for America's Got Talent?

Last night's AGT was an embarrassment with most of the acts being singing acts, and more than half of the acts advancing to the next round were singers. Taking the variety out real quick. Bello Nock and Just Jerk should've stayed -- hell, I voted for them.

It just seems that if you're a singer, you could either perform decently or do really well (by which I mean show "heart" or "emotion"), and depending on the judge's mood you might even get a golden buzzer. Whereas if you do any other kind of act, you either do your trick or you blow it. They're the acts most fun to see, but they're not closing their eyes or making funny faces because they're not singing some dumb song.

Here are some rules I'm proposing that, while they won't ban singers outright, would give the other acts a chance:

1. Require that singers write and sing their own songs. They don't have to play an instrument. This should keep the acts from being a step away from karaoke night.
2. Only two singing acts can earn a golden buzzer that advances them to the live shows. Once in the initial auditions and once during Judge Cuts.
3. For the Judge Cuts, the next round should have all the singers battle it out in their own round. Call it "Battle of the Voices" or something. Considering there are three weeks of quarterfinals with 12 contestants each, and five advancing to the semifinals, I could definitely tolerate up to two singing acts per week in the quarterfinals. That means 20 singers in one Judge Cuts show, with up to six singers advancing. Seven with the golden buzzer.

Custom soundtracks for (almost) any game on (almost) any system!

EDIT: Probably should just get a Makerhart 5- channel loop mixer instead. Better and more fun!

--- 

Sort of a happy accident I discovered with a cheap audio splitter. I was able to get it to take two inputs and output both of those sources through my speakers at the same time! What you'll need:

1. Any HDfury product that lets you output analog audio from its 3.5mm port. (I'm using an older HDfury3)
2. Cable Matters White 5-Way Headphone Splitter with 5-Pack Audio Cables 
3. Koss VC20 Volume Control (you might want two or three of these)
4. 3 Pack 3.5mm Stereo Jack to 3.5mm Stereo Jack Adaptor Connectors, Female to Female
5. Any two 3.5mm headphone cables, preferably including one M to F cable
6. Any standard M to M VGA cable

With your HDMI consoles, just run it through your HDfury and have it output VGA to your TV or PC monitor. (I suppose at this point you could also use one of those VGA-to-HDMI converters for greater compatibility.) Use your 3.5mm cable to connect the audio output on the HDfury to your headphone splitter, connecting to the only male connector on the headphone splitter. Plug your speakers or headphones into any of the other ports in the splitter. Then connect your audio source (laptop, PSP, iPhone, whatever) to another port in the splitter.

Chances are the audio will probably be unbalanced, and you will probably want one source louder than the other anyway. This is where the Koss Volume Control products come in. Stick them in between the splitter and the cables.

When I say "almost" any game, obviously you'll want one where you can set the music volume all the way down to zero but still keep the sound effects. Like the Tekken games for example.

And when I say "almost" any system, that depends on your setup. For your pre-HD consoles, you should already have them outputting RGB or component and outputting them into an OSSC, then connecting the OSSC to something like a DVDO Edge. Then you connect that to your HDfury.

WipEout HD

(Will probably edit this post, but before I forget...)

WipEout HD

• Buying the WipEout 2048 DLC from the JP store does not also give you the PS3 versions of WipEout HD and the Fury DLC for free, unlike the US and EU versions. Perhaps the offer was only PS3-to-Vita and not bidirectional.
• Installing the Japanese WipEout HD does not ask you to overwrite your US download of the game, unlike the EU (well, UK) version. The JP version of the game will also not have Japanese text by default; your PS3's language settings must be set to it.
• If you're on your JP account and you've played through some of the US version of the game, when you play on the JP version of the game, your save data is not cross-compatible. However, you do share the trophy list, so you can't get two platinum trophies from playing through the US and JP versions of the game.

Weird-ass dream (2017-05-21)

In Japan with family, then I got lost. But then I met up with a friend from high school who seems to go there every year.

There was an arcade (or game centers, as they're known), but the games weren't any good.

And big-ol' anime-sized boobs on real people, so... yeah.

Words I hate (2017-04-01)

• can't

No, I'm not trying to be inspirational here, and this isn't an April Fools thing. I hate the fact that "can" and "can't" sound exactly the same when spoken aloud, and especially in recordings.

Words I hate (2017-02-23)

• origional (original)

I've seen this misspelling plenty of times, often in otherwise well-crafted sentences. "Origion" isn't even a word, but "origin" is!

It's OK to buy reproductions (fine, bootlegs) of Double Dragon Advance in 2017, isn't it?

I bought two nice-looking copies of the game on eBay (which in retrospect should've been a tell right there), and I received them yesterday. Looking closely at the lettering on the back confirms they're not authentic.

But I ain't even mad because verified legit copies of this game are hard to find and expensive as all hell. I place the blame squarely on Atlus for only making like 17 copies and not even making the game available for the Wii U Virtual Console.

In fact I don't even trust those boxed copies you'd see from time to time on eBay. And in the age of EverDrives, this is as far as I'm willing to go.

Anyone know what the authentic cartridge label looks like? I've seen two on eBay:

The code on my copies is AGB-BDDE-USA.

The other one I've seen on Google seems to have a different code, and it has Jimmy (from the box art) on the right of the label.