VCF-SE 10.0 TI-99 livestream

[+OLD CS1]

I had some stumbles getting this going, including a bad composite distribution box (so I can't get the SuperSketch in the stream,) and not getting the stream actually connect!  It's not as exciting as being here, but you're welcome to check it out!

 

All three days available in my Rumble channel.

[+OLD CS1]

I just found out we are only running until 8pm these nights.  Disappointing.  But, I will be back in the morning!

[+OLD CS1]

Today was wracked with issues.  USB just died for no reason taking down cameras, taking down the HDMI capture, sound problems, a failed 8-way composite distributor, a 4-way distributor which does not jive with any of the monitors, a couple of cables short, a projection screen too close to the projector to focus...

 

But it is still a good time and the stream will start again at 10am EDT.

[+OLD CS1]

FP updated with today's stream.

[+OLD CS1]

 

[+OLD CS1]

I tried getting ambient audio, but Dragon's Lair echos.  I might turn the capture audio off and turn the ambient audio on.

[+OLD CS1]

Having some technical difficulties.  For some reason, rendering started lagging badly and dropping 100% of frames.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

That's a nice setup! 

[+Vorticon]

One day I'll make it to one of these...

[+OLD CS1]

2 hours ago, Vorticon said:

One day I'll make it to one of these...

My goal is to make next year's VCF-MW.

[+OLD CS1]

I think I figured out my hardware problem is this Logitech C920 camera on the SuperSketch. 

[+OLD CS1]

Updated FP with Sunday's stream.  We start closing down at 3pm to vacate the room by 4pm, so the stream will stop at 3pm.

[+OLD CS1]

Shout-out to @dphirschler for stopping by this weekend and dropping off one of his FR99 cases.  Great to put a face to the name.  Thanks!

[+Atari2600PAL]

Just noticed the old style tape box you are keeping carts in. I have a 6 draw one of those so will use that to store my carts instead of the plastic boxes I use now as it’ll hold more carts and make better use of my limited shelf space. Thanks for the pic. (Nice layout btw)

 

[+OLD CS1]

Some questions came up during the event:

 

• What are you using to convert to HDMI?

KanexPro composite/S-Video upscaler.  Some people like the RetroTink, and I have one, but I swear by this unit.  It is easy to select the output resolution (I currently use 720p as it gives the best balance for streaming bandwidth.)  There appear to be at least a couple of versions of this device.  I have one I picked up several years ago with a red power LED which periodically will show tearing in horizontal motion.  However, this unit has a white LED and I have not seen any such artifacts.

 

• Why stream on Rumble?

Rumble is a quickly growing "alternative technology" (or  "alt-tech") platform competing against YouTube.  I used to stream on Twitch but it takes me a very long time to get my videos cleaned up due to its copyright bot identifying some off-the-wall band and song in my stream.  YouTube is also very sensitive to copyright content, among other increasingly non-friendly practices.  One of the exhibitors at this year's show was playing commercial music, so I can only imagine the pain I would have had to endure with either of these mainstream platforms.

 

• Why do you have the computers mounted on the wooden boards?

Two-fold.  First, to show off the system's innards, as well as showcase the differences between the standard and QI consoles.  Second, to show that the Don't Mess with Texas megademo and Dragon's Lair are running on stock systems.

 

• Do you have cooling issues or overheating problems with the board-mounted configurations?

None, even when running for 10 hours straight.  Now, the QI's heatsink has not been removed from its VDP, and I am sure open air helps with the cooling.  Even so, a few years back I measured the temperature of the VDP running all day and it was not significantly hot, and that was with the constant shoveling of data Dragon's Lair imposes onto the VDP.

[+OLD CS1]

BTW, we have a couple of new people to welcome to the fold: Eli and his father, David.  Eli took to the 4A with gusto, and quickly found his favorite game to be Pinball99.  Dad, eager to cash in on the momentum, picked up a TI console at the show and quickly went to purchase an FG99 and a JediMatt 32k, and I suspect he will be looking for an F18A soon.  Mom, too, was very supportive of the endeavor.  They also went home with a set of TI Wired Remote Controllers, an RF modulator, a full SD for his FG99, and a Pinball99 cartridge to tide them over.  I was chuffed to see a new family joining our ranks, and I hope to welcome them to our forum sometime soon.

[Duewester]

I am kicking myself repeatedly. This was only a two hour drive for me and I didn't go.😢 I would love to have met @OLD CS1, Adrian Black and other retro/repair folks. I'd like to have shown off the Tang HDMI boards I've built and seen what others thought. 

Maybe next year.

[+acadiel]

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

BTW, we have a couple of new people to welcome to the fold: Eli and his father, David.  Eli took to the 4A with gusto, and quickly found his favorite game to be Pinball99.  Dad, eager to cash in on the momentum, picked up a TI console at the show and quickly went to purchase an FG99 and a JediMatt 32k, and I suspect he will be looking for an F18A soon.  Mom, too, was very supportive of the endeavor.  They also went home with a set of TI Wired Remote Controllers, an RF modulator, a full SD for his FG99, and a Pinball99 cartridge to tide them over.  I was chuffed to see a new family joining our ranks, and I hope to welcome them to our forum sometime soon.

That was pretty darn awesome, too.  So was the girl that completed Dragon's Lair!

 

 

[+OLD CS1]

14 minutes ago, acadiel said:

That was pretty darn awesome, too.  So was the girl that completed Dragon's Lair!

Oh, yeah.  About the little girl.  Her first go (I think it was Friday) I put the game on practice for her.  But she got the hang of it maybe half-way through and you could barely tell at all the scenes were pausing.  When she came by Saturday, not only was she really excited to play, again, but she did not want it on practice.  And she did really well!

 

I wish I had made a note of the time so I could find her in the videos.  I may try to find her gameplay at some point.

 

Oh, and Saturday's stream was not showing up in my channel, but should be there, now.  It has major problems, as Saturday was when I found out having the second camera on the SuperSketch was causing the system to lag.

[Tursi]

Oh, that's awesome to hear someone got good enough to beat it properly!

 

I wish more people would play on 'home' mode though. Arcade mode feels so cringy to me after seeing that layout of scenes. Arcade mode just wants your quarters.

 

Home mode has:

- much more logical scene ordering (you can see how one scene flows into the next one much more often)

- only forces you to play a scene twice (if you die twice, you advance anyway)

- does not force you to play both versions of flipped scenes

- lets you select the order of the lower castle scenes (it's based on which platform you jump off the second falling disc at)

- has a little more animation on certain scenes

- oh, and of course lets you play the drawbridge scene

 

It's based on upgrade ROMs that DLP did for the real arcade machine, and I'm a huge fan of the work they put into figuring it out.

 

Edited August 2 by Tursi

[+OLD CS1]

33 minutes ago, Tursi said:

I wish more people would play on 'home' mode though.

Next year in Atlanta.

[+acadiel]

I was right next to Alan.  Just so much to do there - next year, I think it'll be cut down to just two phones, the Tutor, and the TI-99/4 choo choo train.  If I cut down to two phones (two lines), I probably can get it on two tables, which is a bit more manageable than the four that I had this year.  A lot less stressful too.  (@Ksarul, I might want to borrow your sidecar p-code and video controllers next year if you're amenable... I lost count of the people asking me why I didn't have those to show if they made them... LOL)  @OLD CS1 traded me an external drive (without PSU) to see if I could get one external drive working for the stack.

 

Live and learn... kids love to interrupt the "dial up" connection between the TI Silent 700 thermal printers and put it in perpetual barber pole test print mode (wasting paper) somehow, you put a two trunks on four phones, you get people stepping on each other dialing, people were more interested in my beige IBM keyboards on the dumb VGA terminals than playing with the terminals, the TI-99/4 FinalGROM didn't work because it didn't recognize keypresses, people don't like hard video games on the Pyuuta, etc... and four tables is way too much for either the wife or I to keep up with.

 

Popularity?

 

#1 - Interactive Bell Western Electric Phone 1A2 exhibit (dial in/out) - by far

#2 - TI-99/4

#3 - Pyuuta

#4 - Thermal terminals

#5 - CC-40 and 99/2 (only one person was interested)

#6 - VGA interactive terminals

 

I'll likely be selling the Silent 700's for what I put into them (plus the materials) plus s/h since I won't be exhibiting them.  I have the 300 baud dialup one, and the 1200 baud version.  I also have a "dialup simulator" box by Viking to hook them together.  Both have a case - one is a TI case and one is a generic "terminal case" that is green.

 

[+OLD CS1]

5 hours ago, acadiel said:

Live and learn... kids love to interrupt the "dial up" connection between the TI Silent 700 thermal printers and put it in perpetual barber pole test print mode (wasting paper) somehow, you put a two trunks on four phones, you get people stepping on each other dialing, people were more interested in my beige IBM keyboards on the dumb VGA terminals than playing with the terminals, the TI-99/4 FinalGROM didn't work because it didn't recognize keypresses, people don't like hard video games on the Pyuuta, etc... and four tables is way too much for either the wife or I to keep up with.

The hard games on the Pyuuta is an interesting thought.  They are challenging, but people browsing through do not have time to engage the games and learn their secrets.  Games like Frogger, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, or anything universal I am sure would go over fine.  Some of the more challenging games may be something we would need to demonstrate by playing ourselves.

 

You might want to specialize like Mark did.  I miss his TI exhibit but I also love his Lynx setup.  Instead of such a wide swath every year, maybe bring it down to only two exhibits and rotate them every year.

 

This is how I struggle.  I would love to introduce things like my Commodore stuff -- a B128 and 4040, silver-badged C64, C64 Reloaded Mk2 and Ultimate 64, 64 Mini and Maxi -- or my Amiga stuff.  But I will not be able to manage all of that and the SuperSketch, Dragon's Lair, and the game playing station.

 

And I seriously thought Sam went by Flash.  I am not sure how that came to be and I feel like an idiot.

[+OLD CS1]

The manual pictures on the wall behind my exhibit are 12" x 12" metal prints with satin finish.

[+OLD CS1]

I am assuming the Waverly will be hosting SFGE next year.  A warning to anyone who books under the SFGE block: guest wireless is not included in the block.  I paid $13 a day additional to my reservation price.  I am quite aggravated by this, but at least they refunded my "premium" Internet charge as the portal website is very dubious.

 

Next year I will be sure to use my hot-spot.