Messages

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: November 20, 2024, 08:11:15 pm »

Echo - There are several aspects of this that stand toe-to-toe with the Netflix shows - the action, the overall street level storytelling, several characters.  It still has some Disney-fied aspects, botches the landing, and it feels disjointed at times (it's somehow both too short and too long), though.  I hope Alaqua Cox gets more work, because she's phenomenal.

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Classic Video Games / Re: Resident Evil vs Silent Hill vs Luigis Mansion vs TLOU (you can only keep one)

« on: November 20, 2024, 03:56:33 pm »

Another vote for Resident Evil.  For starters, there are just way more games in general.  Even if only a quarter of them were good that still 2-3 times as many games as Luigi's Mansion and TLOU total.  That's a ton of solid titles.  I've never played Silent Hill, but everything I've heard is that you are on a pretty downhill slope after 3 or 4.  RE did have that dip in quality around 5 and 6, but 7 and 8 are fantastic.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: November 18, 2024, 11:24:01 am »

Beat the remake of Dead Space this morning.  It feels the way I remember the original Dead Space playing, but other than the graphical overhaul, I don't think there was much of a reason for it to exist.  It's still nice and spooky, etc, but it didn't really change anything gameplaywise (that I recall) aside from the asteroid section and maybe a couple of puzzles.  It did make the story a bit more clear, giving Isaac a bit more agency (and actual lines!), but it's still a bit silly.  If you've never played the original, this is the way to experience it for sure, but it just didn't do quite enough to distinguish itself or justify its existence.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: November 17, 2024, 08:51:55 pm »

Season 6 of Line of Duty finally showed up on a streaming service I have.  Unlike most British cop showsthat flame out after 2-3 years, this one is still really solid. It has gotten a hair repetitive, but the overall quality has remained pretty consistent.

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Off Topic / Re: What TV/Netflix show are you currently watching? (Megathread)

« on: November 13, 2024, 07:21:13 pm »

Just finished the first season of Detroiters, and while I find it pretty funny I believe Tim Robinson's style of humor works better in smaller sketches like in I Think You Should Leave.

Second season of Detroiters worked a bit better for me than the first.  Episodes felt more cohesive, and the absurdity just hit in a way the first one didn't.

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Hardware and Tech / Re: Is there a way to connect a CRT TV to HDMI capture card to stream?

« on: November 12, 2024, 04:00:22 am »

Your question still doesn't quite make sense.  You don't stream from the TV.  You stream from the capture card.  The line goes: console -> capture card -> SPLIT out from the card -> to whatever TV you want AND ALSO the computer you are streaming from.

You can play on whatever TV you want and it will have no effect on your streaming.  Several retro streamers I watch play on CRTs, but you could never tell because the stream source is the capture card, not the TV.

How would you split from the capture card if it captures a digital signal? Wouldn't you split before the capture card and have one analog out go to the CRT and one into the converter/scaling device that's going into the capture device?

Just split your raw analog signal, have one output go into your CRT with zero lag (maybe a touch of noise due to splitting the analog signal) and have the other output go into the scaler device and into the HDMI device for stream or digital capture, probably the easiest way to do it. Why would you convert analog to digital then split said digital signal, then convert it back to analog? (If I'm understanding your idea correctly)

You're right.  I hadn't set-up an analog stream in a while and forgot that it was best to do the split before the capture.  I was thinking about digital capture cards that do the pass-through / "splitting" themselves.

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Hardware and Tech / Re: Is there a way to connect a CRT TV to HDMI capture card to stream?

« on: November 08, 2024, 07:33:38 pm »

No worries!  You'll need to buy an HDMI to RCA adapter.  You can get cheap ones, but they can be laggy sometimes.

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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!

« on: November 08, 2024, 07:14:17 pm »

80. Captain America and The Avengers - Iron Man

This was one of the games included in the X-Men arcade cabinet. I never finished it before. By my estimate, I would have spent about 10 dollars in quarters because enemies were everywhere. It was cool learning the names of some older Marvel heroes and villains.

I had the SNES version of this.  It was next to impossible.

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Hardware and Tech / Re: Can you stream from an old CRT TV?

« on: November 08, 2024, 07:10:33 pm »

Your question still doesn't quite make sense.  You don't stream from the TV.  You stream from the capture card.  The line goes: console -> capture card -> SPLIT out from the card -> to whatever TV you want AND ALSO the computer you are streaming from.

You can play on whatever TV you want and it will have no effect on your streaming.  Several retro streamers I watch play on CRTs, but you could never tell because the stream source is the capture card, not the TV.

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Off Topic / Re: Music thread

« on: November 07, 2024, 04:27:35 am »

Spineshank?  Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: November 03, 2024, 01:52:10 am »

Before Sunset - I liked Before Sunrise, but I loved Before Sunset. The wistful nostalgia of what could have been hit me so much more than the magic of a single night. More tightly constructed, even more realistic feeling conversations. Just a real sucker-punch of a film.

Ghost - Too many different movies rolled into one.  All of them are solid, but they are fighting against each other.  Whoopi is a powerhouse, though, and deserved that Oscar.

What We Do in the Shadows - Maybe the funniest movie of the '10s.  Every line is perfectly calibrated to make me smile.

More plane movies!

Women Talking - Just an absolute powerhouse of a film where the only qualms I have with it are the color grading and what is perhaps an unnecessary voiceover narration.

Good Will Hunting - First full watch in probably 25 years, and it hit me like a ton of bricks this time.  Robin and Matt are incredible of course, but the scene that really stuck out to me this time was the fight between Will and Skylar.  Minnie Driver just annihilated it.

Broken Arrow - Remarkably progressive for 1950, but still hamstrung by the fact the most noble of Apaches are just some white dudes.

The Good Dinosaur - Extremely pretty to look at, but not a ton going on for it otherwise, except for maybe those pterodactyls.

Marathon Man - Loved the slow build (and unexpectedly) espionage heavy front half, and once it hits the halfway point it really does just pickup and go like a marathon.  Great performances all around, with Scheider and Devane being my stand-outs.  It get a bit messy in the climax - like why does Hoffman choose that specific punishment, but it doesn't really hurt the overall package.

Gladiator - Top tier dad-fernoon fare.  Over-dramatic, bombastic, and decadent in all the right ways.  All-timer of Zimmer soundtrack as well.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: October 31, 2024, 02:51:05 am »

Psycho IV: The Beginning - It definitely looks like a basic cable movie made by Mich Garris in 1990.  The framing device sucks, and I don't think Henry Thomas is particularly good in it, but Olivia Hussey is legitimately great, and makes you completely understand why Norman killed his mom.  Last act is, terrible, too.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Looks great, legitimately funny, killer voice performances.  Still can't believe how good this is.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: October 28, 2024, 05:14:43 am »

Movies I watched in da airplane!

Fright Night - Really like this remake.  Colin Farrell is eating scenery and David Tenant is also having a ball (but he's not in it enough).  Rest of the cast is fun, too.

Top Gun: Maverick - Really wild just how much better than the original this is.

Young Woman and the Sea - It's a Horse Girl movie about swimming.  Light feel-good fare Disney used to do way more of.

The Martian - Comfort film and one if Ridley Scott's best.

Psycho - I've got two qualms with it; first is the obvious one, the overexplanation at the end, and second is that the movie cheats with the voice it uses for Mrs. Bates.

But otherwise, yeah, it's a masterpiece. Perkins is phenomenal, but what really got me this time was that I think the first 20 minutes of the movie, even before you get to Bates, might be the best part.

Psycho II - Way better than it really has any right to be. Hitchcock obviously wasn't involved, but Jerry Goldsmith, Dean Cundey, and Tom Holland are some pretty serious pedigree on their own. Don't love the final revelation, but the story is such a fascinating follow-up to the original.

Psycho III - Sleazy noir melodrama that borders on exploitation in places.  Far more in line with what I expected Psycho II to be.

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General / Re: VGCollect 2024 Secret Santa!

« on: October 25, 2024, 08:33:28 am »

Shoot I missed out this year! I didn't realize it was done so early in the year. I just missed the deadline. Oh well, I mark it on my calendar next year for October.

Just an FYI, this is pretty late for us.  It's generally been done in September in the past.

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Off Topic / Re: What Was The Last Movie/Anime You Watched?

« on: October 24, 2024, 09:20:31 pm »

The Town That Dreaded Sundown - Really like the faux documentary style, and the chase and killing setpieces are all really solid.  The dumbass goofy deputy plotline really drags the whole thing down.

The Brides of Dracula - I really liked the first act, but then it was pretty boring up until the last 10-15 minutes or so.  I do just adore the way Hammer flicks look, though.

Cursed - Not Craven's worst by a long shot.  It's super messy, but at least it is fun.  Judy Greer is having a blast.