Frustrating Steam Deck issue fixed

 I noticed my cloud save wasn't syncing after exiting a game, and retrying didn't do the job. So I shut down and powered on again. The Steam Deck was stuck on the bootup logo for maybe 10 minutes, and then stuck on the Steam log-in screen for maybe 20 to 30 minutes. 

My Internet wasn't down on my PC, and it looked like I was connecting on Wi-Fi just fine. At this point it seemed the problem was on Steam's end, but this page told the real fix, specifically: 

Press the STEAM button, go to Settings → Internet, toggle Wi-Fi off, wait ten seconds, toggle it back on. If the network reconnects but still drops or runs slow, select the network, choose “Forget,” then re-enter the password. This clears a corrupted DHCP lease — the single most common cause of “connected but no internet” on Steam Deck, confirmed in dozens of SteamDeck subreddit threads.

Unavoidable HDMI recording audio glitches and their fix

Been noticing some unavoidable noise when capturing from a certain HDMI source. It always sounds like scrunching up a newspaper, happens about once per 20 minutes (if at all), and looks like this in Audacity:

And this:

I don't ever hear it watching live; it's just in the recording. I've found ripping the raw wav and loading it in Audacity is both the best way to find the glitch at all, as well as the only way to fix it. So at this point I recapture and get a clip of the audio without the glitch, and replace this audio. 

This is already zoomed in, but I like to zoom in even further, to the point where the thin lines of the waveform become thick again. Then I just line up the audio and mute out the bad portion. It's sort of touch-and-go at this point; it's not as easy as it should be. I try to find an identifiable peak on the main audio and split there, then on the clean audio make the same split, trim, then snap and move. Maybe mute where necessary and then Track > Mix > Mix and Render. 

In AviSynth, I load like this: 

rawfile1v=LWLibavVideoSource("Untitled 115.avi")
rawfile1a=LWLibavAudioSource("Untitled 115 fixed.wav")
AudioDubEx(rawfile1v, rawfile1a)
stream1=last
rawfile1=last

Another problem I had was Blackmagic Media Express not recognizing audio from certain sources, such as:

• RetroTINK-5X Pro into OSSC Pro (individually, both scalers would work fine)

• EZCOO 4K splitter with manual downscaling

• RetroTINK-4K Pro with HDMI input, e.g. PSTV + splitter (even if I would get audio from a component source into the RT4K just fine)

My solution was to run the HDMI output into an HDMI + Audio Converter box, connect that to an HDMI Audio Embedder using a S/PDIF optical cable, and then finally to the capture card. 
My equipment chain, for the curious. And might I add, Google Drawings was plenty enough for this. Just had to set the canvas to a reasonable size in File > Page Setup (I chose 4K resolution, or 3840 × 2160) and set the measurements to pixels instead of inches, and everything else was easy to understand. 

I can't believe I wasted time dabbling with Lucidchart which limited the number of shapes I could use and wanted me to pay per month... and they wanted me to pay more per month if I wanted to pay for a whole year! Got rid of that app's permission real fast. 

AutoHotkey mouse movement script for precise scrubbing:

/*
up: Y -
down: Y +
left: X -
right: X +
*/

/*

space::Lbutton
; Hold spacebar to simulate holding left mouse click

Up::
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseMove, 0, -1, 0, R
return
;move mouse one pixel up

Down::
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseMove, 0, 1, 0, R
return
;move mouse one pixel down

Left::
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseMove, -1, 0, 0, R
return
;move mouse one pixel left

Right::
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseMove, 1, 0, 0, R
return
;move mouse one pixel right 
*/

~Tab & NumpadEnter::
Send {Click}
return
;click

Got the official Steam Deck Dock!

And I am not happy!

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/11xbgfx/comment/n07o7os/

EDIT: 

Seems I have a lot more success if I have the TV input already set, and then connect the dock while it's already on. In other words, don't have the dock in standby mode when you connect the dock (with power and HDMI already connected) to the port on the top of the Steam Deck. 

This only applies to connecting the dock to an actual TV. I still needed to connect it to my DVDO Edge for capture and video monitors... or maybe the TESmart switcher doesn't like it. But even if the switcher was the problem, I'm not going to do anything about it now. 

EDIT 2: 

I'm convinced the Steam Deck just needs SOME kind of scaler if not hooked directly up to an actual TV. But I don't need to move furniture around just to connect it to my DVDO Edge either. The RetroTINK-4K Pro that I already have is more convenient and the picture looks fantastic! 

Making a Magic Memory Stick for PSP Jigkick in 2025

This was way harder than it needed to be because of all the outdated information out there. 

Starting with ARK4 and DC-ARK (aka ARK DC?), I kept getting an error on the PSP itself that pointed me to "Team C+D mspformat PC Tool" that apparently only runs on 32-bit Windows XP or some crap. You don't need that. And the ARK-4 readme points you to MagicMemoryCreator which requires Python and command prompts that I don't understand and you don't either. That's all unnecessary too. There was also Resizer Portable which was an "improved" method, but who knows when in the timeline that was, and it didn't work anyway. 

It took a video from one of the legends of the PSP scene to point me to the right direction. You just need a PSP utility called PSP Tool. 

Here's exactly what I did, even if some parts were redundant:

1. Run PSP Tool, format memory card. PSP restarts.
2. Copy over PSP Tool again and run it, and choose to create Magic Memory Stick. When it's done (takes several minutes), press Home to exit.
3. Copy over firmware 6.61 to the root of the Magic Memory Stick (and name it 661.PBP or 661GO.PBP for PSPgo), and run DC-ARK This also takes several minutes. 

When it's all done, you'll be back at the XMB. Shutdown and place that memory stick some place safe. 

Editing in AviSynth, then encoding in HandBrake

Why am I ditching MeGUI*?

While MeGUI does do x265, it's not the GPU-accelerated kind, so good quality (i.e. "Slowest" speed and 2000 kbps) on a 24-minute video takes literally about a day. As in 24 hours. Zero complaints on quality, but it's just impractical! And I have other videos to encode that are longer than that. No thank you. NVENC would only take 15 minutes to encode a 24-minute video. 

HandBrake does do GPU-accelerated encoding with H.265 NVENC, but it doesn't load AviSynth scripts directly. There's lots of outdated info out there, but I figured it out. Some links:

• The latest AviSynth+. The installer seems to install both 32-bit and 64-bit, and you have the option to install one or the other or both. Choose both anyway; it won't hurt. I ran into "cannot load 32-bit dll in 64-bit AviSynth" errors in my search for a solution but if you're on Windows 11, you're only really using 64-bit. You won't run into any problems with VirtualDub either if you use VirtualDub2 and stick with VirtualDub64.exe in the archive.
• AV FileSystem, aka AVFS. Apparently there are plenty of programs called "AVFS" and many sites refer you to the older version of the program which is no longer updated and will not solve the problem. Requires:
• Python 3.9.x
• VapourSynth Portable zip and drag AVFS.exe out of there.
• No need for some rando Pismo utility that VideoHelp points you to... but their procedure is otherwise correct. 

My entire D drive is raw captures and templates. so I put AVFS.exe there. To get started, I open Command Prompt. From here, I type D: to change directories (learn more here, or just right-click and then Open in Terminal), then avfs "template.avs" and hit Enter. The virtual avi is created almost instantly in C:\Volumes. Windows Explorer says the 24-minute virtual AVI is 336 GB, but it doesn't take up any space. And HandBrake will load it up no problem!

Still, the consensus is GPU encoding isn't as good as CPU encoding, even if the speed is amazing. But my counter to that is, remember what we had to do with the old x264 standard: 2-pass Very Slow encoding and 12000 kbps would be damn near lossless, but would also take forever to encode and they would be huge! So if I have to bump up the bit rate a bit, well then, okay. We're still already at over 50% savings in file reduction anyway. This other guy on reddit, has more faith in the quality of NVENC, and you know what? I'll take his side.

I started encoding just animation at 2500 kbps and it looked good; it's already a higher bit rate than those old One Piece rips with multiple languages, which I consider the gold standard. But then my live action captures looked good too at this setting so I guess I'm staying at 2500 kbps, with Encoder Preset at Slowest and rc-lookahead=32. I think 3000 kbps was the lowest I would go for x264 captures at 720p, so doing 2500 kbps for 1080p is a great savings. 

Also learned a neat term from all of this: JND (just-noticeable difference). 

Those One Piece settings, by the way, are: 

Format                         : Matroska
Format version                 : Version 4
File size                      : 235 MiB
Duration                       : 23 min 50 s
Overall bit rate               : 1 380 kb/s
Frame rate                     : 23.976 FPS
Encoded date                   : 2019-03-06 23:55:59 UTC
Writing application            : mkvmerge v9.2.0 ('Photograph') 64bit
Writing library                : libebml v1.3.3 + libmatroska v1.4.4
Attachments                    : OpenSans-Semibold.ttf
Video
ID                             : 1
Format                         : HEVC
Format/Info                    : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile                 : Main@L5.1@Main
Codec ID                       : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                       : 23 min 50 s
Bit rate                       : 1 278 kb/s
Width                          : 1 920 pixels
Height                         : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio           : 16:9
Frame rate mode                : Constant
Frame rate                     : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                    : YUV
Chroma subsampling             : 4:2:0
Bit depth                      : 8 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)             : 0.026
Stream size                    : 218 MiB (93%)
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No
Audio
ID                             : 2
Format                         : AAC LC
Format/Info                    : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID                       : A_AAC-2
Duration                       : 23 min 50 s
Bit rate                       : 96.0 kb/s
Channel(s)                     : 2 channels
Channel layout                 : L R
Sampling rate                  : 44.1 kHz
Frame rate                     : 43.066 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode               : Lossy
Delay relative to video        : 22 ms
Stream size                    : 16.7 MiB (7%)
Language                       : Japanese
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No
Text #1
ID                             : 3
Format                         : ASS
Codec ID                       : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info                  : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Duration                       : 23 min 31 s
Bit rate                       : 103 b/s
Frame rate                     : 0.209 FPS
Count of elements              : 295
Compression mode               : Lossless
Stream size                    : 17.9 KiB (0%)
Title                          : English
Language                       : English
Default                        : Yes
Forced                         : No
Menu
00:00:10.500                   : en:Opening Theme
00:02:40.660                   : en:Recap
00:03:11.942                   : en:Part A
00:16:17.186                   : en:Part B
00:23:15.687                   : en:Next Episode Preview

*I'm not completely ditching MeGUI because HandBrake crashes when I try to include chapter data. HandBrake has its own method, completely incompatible with the way I've done it for nearly two decades, which is a text file that MeGUI can accept even before encoding:

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=1 - Cold Open
CHAPTER02=00:01:16.977
CHAPTER02NAME=2 - Title Sequence
CHAPTER03=00:02:47.017
CHAPTER03NAME=3 - Sponsors A
CHAPTER04=00:02:59.429
CHAPTER04NAME=4 - Act 1
CHAPTER05=00:09:29.969
CHAPTER05NAME=5 - Eyecatch A
CHAPTER06=00:09:37.994
CHAPTER06NAME=6 - Eyecatch B
CHAPTER07=00:09:43.900
CHAPTER07NAME=7 - Act 2
CHAPTER08=00:21:27.153
CHAPTER08NAME=8 - Credits
CHAPTER09=00:22:58.377
CHAPTER09NAME=9 - Post-Credits
CHAPTER10=00:23:59.438
CHAPTER10NAME=10 - Preview
CHAPTER11=00:24:14.436
CHAPTER11NAME=11 - Sponsors B

So after I let HandBrake encode, I run it through MeGUI again (One-Click > Advanced Config > Don't encode video) and it'll only take seconds for a lossless copy to be created, this time with chapter selection.

EDIT: Seems you can get away with lower bit rates if you have lower frame rates, according to AI-generated answers searching "does lower frame rate mean lower bit rate" in DuckDuckGo. I thought I heard almost the exact opposite a decade ago, but looking at those One Piece rips, the significant reduction in file size can't all be from CPU encoding, especially when there are so many audio tracks. 

More Vita Troubleshooting

I can't install VPKs. (Error 0x80010002)

This is not a memory card issue or a motherboard issue. You just need to let your Vita or PSTV format the contents of a Vita memory card (ideally with not a lot of stuff on it) in Settings, then copy your entire memory card (ux0) via FTP, and then FTP it all back to your SD2Vita (ux0), choosing to overwrite in your FTP program when asked. 

Other than your FTP program, there is no longer any need for Windows and viewing hidden files! I believe this allowed me to format my SD card in VitaDeploy as well, skipping any formatting done on PC. (original Github thread) 

Sharkf00d keeps crashing.

The only reason you should bother with this is VitaDB Downloader, which as I understand is better than Vita Homebrew Browser. So instead of gambling with its extremely poor installation success rate, just download this guy's libshacccg.skprx and put it in ur0/data manually. I had to create the directory myself. 

Don't forget to download Autoplugin 2 for SharpScale, DolcePolce, and other must-have plugins. (original reddit thread)

I get a read-only message in Content Manager.

This just means QCMA on your PC isn't pointing to the right directories.  But even after you change them, you still have to click Refresh Database. Then you should be good to go!

PS Store and other sign-in methods immediately kick me out. 

Since official firmware doesn't seem to be updated anymore, I prefer to stay on the latest (3.74) and just use the browser hack (jailbreak.psp2.dev). As such, there was probably no need for iTLS-Enso which was a featured app within VitaDeploy. Once I got rid of it, I could sign in. 

EDIT: Actually, reVita, one of the more essential plugins for PSTV, doesn't work on newer firmwares, so back to 3.65 Enso it is. I was tired of Chovy-sign breaking all the time anyway. 

I enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) but it's still confusing.

I like to set this up on a browser. When you enable it, you're making unique passwords for unique devices, and when you log into those devices (e.g. PS3, Vita, or PSTV), you're using those unique passwords, not your "real" password as you would on your PS4 or PS5.

In fact, when jailbreaking my PSTV, I had formatted and deactivated plenty of times, but the unique password I had made specifically for that device a year ago still worked.

Downloads and Transfers always stop 

Seems like you can't rely on the Vita's memory card formatting after all. In my experience, a game stopped transferring, and when I tried outright downloading it, the download stalled at a similar point in the progress bar. I will try what this commenter said on a video:

Format your SD card on your PC as EXFat with 64 KB clusters; 128 KB clusters for 128GB cards and smaller. I use 1 TB cards in my Vita & they work great.

I do the whole zzblank / Win32DiskImager thing first, to be safe. 

EDIT: Seems you CAN properly format on just the Vita alone with UX0 to SD CloneTool Vita. But in my experience, you definitely want to install and enable YAMT first (Settings > Devices > Storage Devices , leave all defaults). 

I thought UX0 to SD CloneTool would just clone the contents of the memory card, but it mounted too, and I wanted YAMT to do that since YAMT is nicely integrated into the Settings menu. But on this particular Vita, I didn't have YAMT installed first. If you use UX0 to SD CloneTool first without YAMT, the app will mount, but then YAMT will be broken. What I did was run UX0 to SD CloneTool a third and final time with YAMT enabled and both YAMT options set to default. UX0 to SD CloneTool will give you a warning about exiting if your setup is working and that starting will reset, but this is what you want. When you do this, your system will restart. Then in the YAMT system settings, set ux0 to SD2Vita and uma0 to... well, I hope this doesn't actually matter, but I set it to Internal Storage because this Vita is a 2000 with the built-in memory.

Trying this again with a (more or less) fresh Vita TV, I got stuck in a bootloop with the UX0 to SD CloneTool after running it once and restarting, but holding the power button to go in safe mode and restore & delete, I tried the old way (download VitaDeploy, install YAMT lite, restart, go in Settings > Storage Devices, check Use YAMT, ux0: SD2Vita, uma0: Default)... and no freeze, so the SD2Vita card isn't broken. So maybe stick with the old ways after all, like Grandma always said!

Adrenaline Error: 80010087

Wrote about it here:

got this error when trying to play my own purchased stuff in their original EBOOT format, not ISO. Although converting to ISO would work, I remember reading that you have a limit of 100 ISOs, and EBOOTs have no such limitation. And I've never touched NPSBrowser.

I use AutoPlugin II, so what worked for me was:

PSP plugins > Install npdrm free plugin from qwikrazor87 > install the one "modified by lusid1"

FWIW I also have these relevant Vita plugins:

0syscall6 by SKGleba

Adrenaline by TheOfficialFloW (Fix double touch)

NoNpDrm by TheOfficialFloW

And because no one asked: Best encoding settings for video on the Vita

 Straight from the source:

https://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psvita/videos/filetypes.html

MPEG-4 Simple Profile Level 6, Maximum 1280 × 720 pixels, AAC

H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Baseline/Main/High Profile Level 4.0, Maximum 1080p, AAC

I encode all my videos with MeGUI now. If there was ever a reason to re-encode videos without losing too much quality (and for 1080p I don't settle for less than 12000 kbps at Very Slow speed), it would now be for the following reasons:

1. To insert chapter marks
2. To ensure they all play on the Vita and most everything else

I think I'll even try videos with multiple audio tracks since it seems to be available on the Vita:

https://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psvita/videos/vsettings.html

Of course, you'll need to use QCMA for this, not VitaShell.

https://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/psvita/cm/content_pc.html

Default directory example for... reasons:

C:\Users\justi\Videos

MiSTer FPGA setup, as I understand it

Purchasing:

If you want to build it yourself to save yourself some cash, get a DE10-Nano Kit which is the brains of this whole thing. Direct from the source is your least expensive (but still expensive) bet. 

For the MiSTer itself as well as enclosures, check out Ultimate Mister for your choice of either a compact but "squid" look (which is what you'll get once you actually connect stuff to it) or a bigger case that doesn't have wires coming out of its eyes, ears, and mouth. Retro Frog via Stone Age Gamer has some good stuff too, including an attached hard drive enclosure that works with his cases (more on that later). 

I went for a full JAMMIX kit from Ultimate Mister with a Jasen's Customs ITX case.

You're still gonna need stuff with your enclosure if you get the JAMMIX kit (check the Jasen's Customs link again). This includes being able to crimp Dupont connectors (I think they're 2.54mm). Get a cheap kit on eBay with the headers.

If you don't want a hard drive to store games, you're done. If you do (and this is the correct answer), also get a Pico power supply and power brick. I used these:

• OCESTORE 24Pin ATX Switch Pico PSU Car Auto Mini ITX High Power Supply Module DC 12V 160W ATX Power Switch Cable
• ALITOVE AC 100-240V to DC 12V 10A Power Supply Adapter Converter Transformer 12 Volt 10 Amp 120W with 5.5mm x 2.5mm 2.1mm DC Output Jack for 5050 3528 LED Strip Light CCTV Cameras 3D Printer

Update before doing anything else:

Plug in a USB keyboard into the MiSTer.

Make sure you have the Update All script which will give you everything you need. If you bought a pre-assembled MiSTer, you may already have it on your micro SD card. 

Might want to grab some of wizzomafizzo's scripts too. I particularly like the BGM script which lets you play whatever music you want from the menu.

Power on your MiSTer and run the script from the menu. The first time you run it from you, it'll take about 45 minutes to an hour. When you're done (should be back at the MiSTer main menu, I think), power off. 

As for navigating with a controller: 

• DualShock 4: Circle is "confirm" and X is "back."
• Saturn-style retro-bit: A is "confirm" and B is "back."

Storage:

Get a 128 GB micro SD at a minimum. 

I added an additional 1 TB SSD, which is best powered externally or your Pico power supply.

The JAMMIX kit provides mounting holes for 2.5" drives, and for Retro Frog cases, there is the MASE.

What do you actually want to put on the hard drive? Just games. After formatting to exFAT, create a folder on the root called "games" (in lower-case, as it's case-sensitive). Then just cut and paste whole folders from your SD card (in media/games) into the games folder on your hard drive, e.g. move the whole "GBA" folder. 

FTP: 

Enable FTP on the MiSTer with a script and plug in an ethernet cable.

User name: root Password: 1

Your micro SD is in media/fat.

Your external hard drive is in /media/usb0.

If you did what I did, the actual cores are still in /media/fat. 

PSX saves are in media/fat/saves/PSX and named after your game folder names in .sav format. These cards are entire memory cards with the one save file on them. Cards are in raw .mcd format according to the Github, and MiSTer can read your own .mcd files by going to PSX > Mount Memory Card and choosing the .mcd file.

This means to get saves from your real PlayStation memory card (or other sources), grab the save somehow with MemcardRex and do any conversion with this online save file converter. Note that MiSTer expects memory cards, not just saves; if you backup your PSX saves as single saves (which is the way to go, in my opinion), open up MemcardRex, right-click in the free slot area and choose Import Save. then click the Save icon to save as a memory card in .mcd format. Name the .mcd file the same as your game, FTP it over to media/fat/saves/PSX, and you should be good.

A fix for a specific problem with Internet Download Manager

We all know what Internet Download Manager is, right? I use it; love it. Worth every penny.

Here's a problem I just ran into: I was downloading a large batch and I decided to stop downloading, so I X'd out the program and removed the USB hard drive it was downloading to. Well, turns out clicking the X in the upper right didn't close it at all; it was still active in my tray, downloading away. And it downloaded several hundred files to 100%, but it wouldn't complete because the program expected to join/rename the temp files to the hard drive that I just removed. And restarting the download in IDM did just that: restart the download, from zero!

I obviously didn't want to do that. After trying a bunch of things like changing the save to folder and temp folder (Google was useless here!), I just double-clicked the .log file (should open in Notepad) and it'll tell you the real name the completed temp zip would've renamed itself to.

From then on, it's just using a looping AutoHotkey script to rename and move.

---

EDIT: Since AutoHotkey sometimes doesn't actually copy text, my auto-renaming looping script didn't work sometimes. No matter... I just moved folders 100 at a time to a new folder and searched for .zip. Here, I do my first check: looking for zips with the exact same name. If I open the zip, I'll be able to see if the contents inside match. After that, I copy, and if there are still same-name conflicts, I'll of course cancel the copying and check the contents of the zips again.

TESmart HDMI switcher quirks

 Back in October 2021 I purchased a TESmart 16 Port HDMI Switch 4K UHD 3840x2160@60Hz HDMI Switcher Box with RS232 LAN Port Support HDCP 2.2 × 1 straight from the manufacturer; as it was near Halloween I got a coupon, but at that point it was already cheaper than its listing on Amazon. How could I say no?

So I got it, and it does switch automatically. I'm still not sure if the switching works on a priority system like the DVDO Edge, and I'm still not exactly sure how to stop it from auto-switching and then turn the auto-switching back on. 

There were some quirks, so I'll just repost my findings from the shmups forum.

Jefferson wrote:

Just bought the TESmart 16x1 switch 4k60 switch. So far I really like it (after I disabled the beeping). I have tested the following:

N64Digital

DCDigital

PS1Digital

RetroTINK 5X Pro

All work fine, with the exception of CEC not working on my PS1Digital unless I power cycle the switch. CEC works fine for the N64Digital.

I got mine too the other day! Straight from the manufacture's website (ordered 10/23; arrived 11/10), and with a Halloween coupon code, about $50 cheaper than Amazon, and that's before Amazon taxes.

Seems great except for one major issue: no audio out of my PS4! The same PS4 settings give me audio when going from PS4 straight to the Dell monitor (it's not an actual TV, but I can't see why that would make a difference). PSVR doesn't seem to have anything to do with it. PS3, Xbox 360, and Switch work fine. :?

I tried the various YouTube folklore home remedies like unplugging the PS4 and monitor and waiting before trying again, and playing around with the audio settings; switching from HDMI Linear PCM to anything else just gave me two different flavors of loud and potentially speaker-damaging noise. The PS4 said it recognized 7.1 and gave me the option to check 5.1, but checked or unchecked, I'm still not getting audio.

Audio from the controller works as usual, and it's neat that I can choose to get all audio from that little port (not just chat), but since I work with headphones on, I kinda don't want to play with headphones on too.

Switching ports on the TESmart and swapping out my older HDMI 1.4 cables for my fancier HDMI 2.x cables didn't help either.

And although I do have an HDMI extractor that lets me do PS4 > PSVR > HDMI audio extractor (plus yet another power outlet used) > RCA to DVDO Edge (and setting the DVDO Edge to output Stereo instead of HDMI) > TESmart switch... I really don't want to do that every time, just for the PS4, especially when everything else is switched automatically.

Help?

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EDIT: I hooked up the full setup of PS4+PSVR > TESmart (with mClassic) to my older Dell monitor that only has VGA and DVI with the good ol' Tendak and that works, so there you go. Tried it again without the mClassic and the mClassic didn't affect compatibility.

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EDIT 2: Today I chained some HDMI cables to an actual TV (i.e. not a PC monitor) in another room and I get sound with the PS4! So I dunno why this TESmart scaler doesn't like to play nice with my Dell S2716DG.

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EDIT 3: Today's crazy chain combo that works on the troublesome Dell S2716DG (optional components in italics):

PS4+PSVR > TESmart > mClassic (requires USB power) > Tendak HDMI-to-VGA adapter > Toodles T-SLG (VGA scanline generator) > VGA-to-HDMI adapter (requires USB power)

Picture quality still looks good, and yay, I can have fake scanlines on 1080p sources again!

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EDIT 4: I get PS4 audio through the TESmart with my Genki ShadowCast!

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EDIT 5: I noticed I would occasionally get no audio playing certain consoles, and while I'm not sure if it's the TV or the TESmart, here's what I do now to absolutely got-dang-guarantee I get audio:

I try to make sure the console is the LAST thing I power on. I always set the TV input first, wait for the "no input detected" screen, then turn on my USB-powered stuff (RetroTinks, gscartsw and gcompsw, HDMI splitters and whatnot) along with the TESmart, wait for the RT5X blue screen, and finally turn on the console.

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EDIT 6: This gets me audio on a TV, although restarting after a firmware update made the audio glitchy until I put the PS4 to rest and then woke it up:

PS4+PSVR > TESmart > HDMI splitter > HDMI splitter

Although it's probably the case that only one HDMI splitter is necessary.

AutoHotkey ideas

AutoHotkey scripts using three keys (but the first one should be Shift): https://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/61408-hotkeys-composed-of-three-keys/

RAlt + Q, W, E, R, T, etc

LAlt + Y, U, I, O, P, etc

End + Q, W, E, R, T, etc (with End::Send {End} ; Make the release of End produce an End keystroke.)

Home & End::

Numbers for Genki Shadowcast and my new laptop

Lag testing

TV: Toshiba 43LF421U21 43-inch Smart HD 1080p TV - Fire TV, Released 2020

Monitor: Dell U2913WM

PC: Alienware 15 Notebook m15 R6

Nintendo Switch game with clock: Tetris 99

In-game clock displayed on TV: 00:00:56:65

In-game clock displayed on monitor (full screen while capturing): 00:00:56:58

I think I've determined that my TV in game mode has two frames of lag (need to find those pics). But the photo I took to test Shadowcast lag shows that even when I'm recording, the lag on the monitor is shorter than on the TV!

File sizes

1 hour and 20 minutes of raw 720p60 capture (default settings) by Genki Shadowcast (rounded down): 9.00 GB

Encoding with MeGUI

• 2000 kbps quick & cropped... barely passable quality (don't do this)
• 5000 kbps placebo... lossless, but takes forever (don't do this either)
• 2000 kbps / Advanced Settings: Encoding Mode: Automated 2pass, Bitrate 2000 kbps, Very Slow, Target Playback Device: PS3... very very good, damn near lossless, and although it takes a while, it won't be an overnight affair. This is the one to use, or if you're even more impatient, try the next-fastest preset at a higher bitrate. More info on presets here.

Comparing file sizes...

• 5 minutes, 39 seconds @ 720p60 capture (default settings)
• raw capture: 644 MB
• 2000 kbps... 97.0 MB (15% of original size)
• 5000 kbps... 218 MB (33% of original size)

Windows 11 annoyances, fixed

• Not getting the full 2560x1080 resolution of my ultrawide monitor (Dell U2913WM) through HDMI, from the laptop to the monitor? 
  
  At first I couldn't just select it from the menu; I had to open that little popup bubble on the right-corner that said, "This device could perform better" or something like that, where it took me to the NVIDIA settings and I was able to choose it.
  
  That was all well and good until I got my Dell D3100 dock and went back to my multi-monitor setup. Moving the HDMI from the back of my laptop to the dock, I couldn't get ultrawide no matter what, so I plugged the HDMI cable into the back of the laptop again and I got it.
  
  
• Can't change from the default Microsoft apps to view pictures and videos?
  
  The old trick of "right-click > Open With > Choose Another App > Always use this app" doesn't work anymore. Neither does the other way Microsoft wants us to use.
  
  Credit to Amdkt7 for this one. If you want to change your default app for images (e.g. IrfanView), Apps & features, scroll down to Microsoft Photos, scroll down and hit both the Repair and Reset functions, and then immediately do that old way of right-click and Open With to choose IrfanView. Similarly, if you want to use Media Player Classic for videos, you would go to Movies & TV and do the same thing.

Guspaz's pearls of wisdom

Just documenting them here before I lose them forever. More added as they come!

On Sabrent, Anker, and power adapters:

I've been quite happy with my Sabrent SSD, a field in which they've rapidly built themselves a good reputation, but when it comes to power adapters, I normally first look for Anker. If you need a 10-port charger, Anker has a 10-port charger that does 2.4A per port, shared for 12A total: https://us.anker.com/collections/chargers/products/a2133

It has PowerIQ so it should support full speed charging/power on anything you plug into it.

On high-speed HDMI cables and certification:

(NOTE: I'm going to use "HDMI 2.1" in this post, treat it as me saying "Ultra High Speed", meaning specifically 48 Gbps rated cables)

You can't use cat5e anything with HDMI 2.1, and there are no cheap yet effective solutions. The only way to do longer HDMI 2.1 runs is fiber optic, and those cables all cost a fortune.

I've been quite happy with Cable Matters' 15 meter (49.2 feet) HDMI 2.1 cable, which currently sells for $150 CAD.

HDMI 2.1 devices are very picky about cables, there are so many stories out there about people buying HDMI 2.1 cables and then not being able to do 4K120 over them because the cables aren't good enough. It's a major problem, especially for these fiber optic cables, and with HDMI 2.1, pretty much any cable longer than maybe 10-15 feet must be fiber optic to deliver the full 48 Gbps.

There are three things you should do when buying an HDMI 2.1 cable:

1) Only buy a cable that uses the specific wording "Ultra High Speed HDMI". Don't buy a cable that is labeled only as 4K or 8K or HDMI 2.1 or anything like that. If it doesn't specifically advertise "Ultra High Speed HDMI", ignore it.

2) Only buy certified Ultra High Speed cables. Make sure the cable is advertised as being certified. In the case of the Cable Matters ones, they both list "Certified" in the product entry, and advertise their certified status in the the marketing artwork on Amazon, and in the product description.

3) Once you get the cable, there will be an "Ultra High Speed" certification hologram and QR code on the box. Download the official "HDMI Cable Certification" app for your iPhone or Android phone and use it to validate the hologram. If the hologram is absent or does not pass verification, return the cable for a refund due to false advertising.

I think that if you follow these three steps, you can avoid the vast majority of issues with bad cables that fail to deliver actual 48 Gbps performance.

Bringing my Gefen Home Theater Scale out of retirement

So my DVDO Edge went up in smoke. Or rather, my first DVDO Edge went in smoke... and really, it was just the power supply, which I'm reading is a "common" occurrence (link 1, 2). Since I have a TESmart 16:1 HDMI switcher, the Edge was really downgraded to just deinterlacing and making the OSSC play nice with its more exotic modes: the PSP-specific sampling mode, Line 5x, and 480p/576p proc Line2x.

After waiting so long for the zooming/cropping modes of the RetroTINK-5X Pro, I found the OSSC's PSP-specific mode the superior one all along, and that meant an external scaler again. My long boxed-up Gefen Home Theater Scaler was perfect for this, and it did display the PSP-specific sampling mode just fine (will try 5x and 480p 2x later). 

The box-shaped remote was as crappy as I remembered, with buttons barely registering and making me question if I really needed a new battery. I tried programming a secondhand Chunghop remote and I had some success, although my programmed buttons for Up and Right didn't work. I did get a brand new controller for about $10 so I'll try again with programming.

Then for whatever reason I became interested getting a second Gefen HTS, and it was cheap enough, so I did: 

• Gefen Home Theater Scaler HDMI Untested: $41.36 shipped
• Gefen ITE Power Supply, GT-4201D-05, DC 5V 4.0A, Genuine: $20.46 shipped
• GEFEN RMT-SR-IR REMOTE: $21.90 shipped

Okay, so I should've stopped with just the second Gefen HTS itself. And wouldn't you know it: this second scaler came with its own set of problems:

• The remote didn't work, and without the remote, the second scaler was just a brick. So maybe "untested" really meant broken this time? Well, no. I remembered seeing dip switches under the battery cover, and I also remembered the "Remote" option in the scaler menu. Some searching led me to a PDF of another Gefen Remote, and while the dip switch settings weren't quite the same, I was able to figure it out for my scaler:
1. IR Channel 1: 1: down (off), 2: down (off)
2. IR Channel 2: 1: up (on), 2: down (off)
3. IR Channel 3: 1: down (off), 2: up (on)
4. IR Channel 4: 1: up (on), 2: up (on)
• Turns out this second scaler was stuck looking for Remote 2 and my square remote was set to Remote 1. That meant going through the different combinations of dip switches on the remote until it responded.
• Good news: The firmware of this new scaler was 4.8! Higher than my original one which was 2.2. The menu looked exactly the same (so no new features) except the cursor was highlighted in red.
• Bad news: I saw screen tearing! It went away after I hit Reset on the remote to return to the default settings. I hope that fixed it for good.
• I ordered the 2nd remote (now oval-shaped) before figuring out the whole IR Channel thing, but some good things came out of it:
• The battery was included!
• The buttons are much better; more tactile and responsive.
• The scaler, power supply, and remote complete the set. Or maybe I'll give the old Gefen HTS to my brother so he could enjoy 5x with the SNES or whatever.
• Update: the oval-shaped remote doesn't seem to actually work with the Gefen HTS, and I'm having even worse luck with the brand-new Chunghop remote. What am I doing wrong?
• More IR links for fun and profit:
• Replacing All My Infrared Remotes With Girder 6 and an Android Phone.
• Welcome to the USB-UIRT home page!
• Girder Automation Software
• Configuration of USB IR receiver program (Girder Ver. 3.29b)
• DVDO Documentation

All's well with the Genki Shadowcast... even on Windows

Been seeing a lot of criticism for the Genki Shadowcast, even after the update. All I can say now is, it works great.

The very first time I used it, it seemed to take up all my resources and lag and frame drops were common. Just the other day I tried it and it would crash shortly after launch. All I had to do was navigate to it through the Start Menu > G > Genki Arcade 1.5, right-click, More > App settings, enable all app permissions, scroll down, and click Reset.

Now everything's working as it's supposed to; no lag, no frame drops, and my laptop doesn't slow to a crawl! Honestly, I had no idea Shadowcast had its own capture program (I just backed it on a whim on Kickstarter), but since it captures a respectable 60.xx FPS at 720p, I don't think I'm in the market for a capture card anymore.

Just gotta make sure the source is Full RGB, not limited or automatic. Fine by me as my TESmart prefers Full RGB as well.

Downsides: there certainly is lag (just enough to make rhythm games unplayable if going by visuals alone), and the lag is, of course, worse when actually recording. And the codec doesn't seem to play nice with AviSynth even if the captures do scrub and seek fine in VirtualDub, so I always have to encode in highest XviD settings. Probably for the better; it looks like the frame rate is variable until the re-encode that locks it at a constant 60 FPS.

TiVo blanking problems fixed?

 A couple months ago the TiVo Mini in the living room didn't like the old HDMI 1.x cable was using, so I had to switch to one of those newer, fancier 2.x cables. Apparently that fixed it, so I switched back to the old cable just to see if the problem would come back... and it did, and the 2.x cable is still used for the TiVo Mini. (UPDATE: I see the TiVo Mini's resolution was set to "auto" after the update, which meant 4K; no wonder the old cable wasn't working. Pretty sure TiVo used to max out at 1080i.)

Back in my room, I would notice random blackouts every 10 minutes or so. At first I thought it was the Tendak HDMI-to-VGA adapter, but then I switched to a monitor that had native HDMI and it happened there too. So after Google yielded no useful results about intermittent blackouts/blanking/blinking, I tried switching the resolution from 1080p to 720p, and that seems to have fixed things.

USB and RJ45 wiring for Brook Universal Fight Board

I'm in a joystick-building mood again and I found out very quickly that anything other than a proper Neutrik RJ45 connection sucks.

The problem: The Brook Universal Fight Board uses a USB Type-B connection, which obviously isn't RJ45. But a Brook UFB with headers also has the headers for another type of USB connection if you so desire.

The solution: Order a bag of Cat 6 RJ45 ethernet cables, verify the colors, and learn how to crimp Dupont connectors using this crimp tool and this tutorial. (This tutorial is for putting on the Neutrik)

According to Toodles (assuming RJ45 clip on bottom):

RJ45 pin 1 = black - ground (USB) = orange/white stripe (T568B RJ45)

RJ45 pin 5 = white - D- (USB) = blue/white stripe (T568B RJ45)

RJ45 pin 6 = green - D+ (USB) = green (T568B RJ45)

RJ45 pin 8 = red - VCC (USB) = brown (T568B RJ45)

So left to right on a Brook UFB is this: 

1. G (orange/white stripe)
2. D+ (green)
3. D- (blue/white stripe)
4. VCC (brown)

This means the wires you can safely cut/eliminate are:

• green/white stripe
• brown/white stripe
• blue
• orange

The alternative is to actually use the USB connection, cut the end of the cable, and crimp on an RJ45 to that. You would only need to cut (and not even strip) four wires, and this is indeed how you would make cables for other systems with a multi-console board. But I think using an RJ45 cable in the first place is easier, not to mention cheaper.

For reference: USB pinouts and wire colors

Adding a new row in the middle of a Microsoft Word table was that easy??

Yesterday I spent stupid amounts of time trying to figure out how to add a row in between other rows in a table. I made some AutoHotkey script so that Ctrl+R did a right mouse click and navigated to adding a new row. But that didn't work cleanly and it kept moving the document around, and only after hitting Ctrl+Z twice did it look the way I originally wrote the script.

Thanks to Suzanne S. Barnhill, now I know all I had to do was click outside of the table, to the right of the cell that is above the area where I want the new row to be, and hit Enter.

Things to do immediately with a fresh install of Microsoft Word

• MS WORD How to disable Ctrl+PageDown/up going to next search result
• This way Ctrl+PageUp and Ctrl+PageDown will always neatly jump to each new page break. Useful if you have a monitor in portrait mode.
• How can I change text color via keyboard shortcut in MS word 2010
• I like using Alt+1 as black, Alt+2 as red, and Alt+3 as green.
• Disable smart quotes
• File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options  > AutoFormat As You Type > Replace as you type > uncheck all
• Disable keep ellipses as three dots instead of one character
• File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoCorrect tab > Replace text as you type > delete the entry (hit period three times)
• Disable double dashes turning back into one
• File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options > AutoCorrect tab > Replace text as you type > uncheck Hyphens (--) with dash (-)
• Disabling track changes completely
• More specifically, the keyboard shortcut to toggle track changes. Because this can really, really mess you up. 
• Disable paste option popup
• These annoying little bastards interfere with my AutoHotkey scripts and I've never, ever needed them.
• File > Options > Advanced > Cut, copy, and paste > uncheck: Show Paste Options button when content is pasted

Now if anyone can tell me how to hit the little X to close out the Ctrl+F search, that would be swell. Currently I have Ctrl+J as an AutoHotkey macro that moves and clicks, but that's not elegant...