Idolmaster 2 Let's Play

[chikorita157]

I have this in the planning stage for a while since I got the game (the PS3 version). Of course, I have the necessary equipment (an SD TV USB capture card (No HD, can't afford an HD PVR), EyeTV, audio recording program and of course, Adobe Premiere Pro) but the fears of the SOPA/PIPA act held things up. So, I have delayed it until March 10, when Spring Break starts for me.

Of course, this let's play will have commentary and will be published on my blog under Project iM@S (video will get uploaded to Blip.tv so I don't have to deal with Youtube's restrictions). Aside from that, here is what I have planned out right now:

Tentative Unit Name: 春美女の子
Tentative Unit Members: Miki (Leader), Chihaya, Yukiho
Tentative Song List: (any song over 150 BPM), Relations, 七彩ボタン,Do-Dai, (DLC Song? - 自分Rest@rt or Change!!)

Official Announcement. http://chikorita157.com/2012/02/11/the-idolmster-2-lets-play-plans/

[Melanpan]

I'm planning on getting a 1080/720 hdmi pci-e capture card at the end of this month, and I have a professional audio card so I can record audio with barely any noise (48khz spdif).
And a powerful PC (i7 2600k) that makes encoding less of a hassle.

Perhaps I can be of any help?

(I also own two condenser mics, but that's probably not going to be of much help XD)

[chikorita157]

I'm planning on getting a 1080/720 hdmi pci-e capture card at the end of this month, and I have a professional audio card so I can record audio with barely any noise (48khz spdif).
And a powerful PC (i7 2600k) that makes encoding less of a hassle.

Perhaps I can be of any help?

(I also own two condenser mics, but that's probably not going to be of much help XD)

I'm stuck with SD since I'm on a laptop and it's the only computer I do everything, although it has good specs (Intel Core i5 at 2.4 GHz, nVidia Geforce 320m and 8 GBs of RAM). I can record perfectly without much lag since I have a rather powerful computer, although being one years old. Even so, I'm planning to get an HD PVR since I want to record some Idolmaster SP footage in another let's play, but the PSP-2000 is only capable of Component output for gameplay... May as well upgrade my recording devices rather than buy another PSP just to play a few games.

Also, you have to keep in mind that the Playstation 3 enforces HDCP, thus you can't just plug the HDMI directly without a device to strip it out.

[nublet765]

Tentative Unit Members: Miki (Leader), Chihaya, Yukiho

May I suggest Chihaya take over leadership duties from Miki?   
jk, it's your Let's Play, so do what you wish!  I wish you luck and fun times in your Let's Play!

[Melanpan]

I'm stuck with SD since I'm on a laptop and it's the only computer I do everything, although it has good specs (Intel Core i5 at 2.4 GHz, nVidia Geforce 320m and 8 GBs of RAM). I can record perfectly without much lag since I have a rather powerful computer, although being one years old. Even so, I'm planning to get an HD PVR since I want to record some Idolmaster SP footage in another let's play, but the PSP-2000 is only capable of Component output for gameplay... May as well upgrade my recording devices rather than buy another PSP just to play a few games.

Also, you have to keep in mind that the Playstation 3 enforces HDCP, thus you can't just plug the HDMI directly without a device to strip it out.

Have you considered using RemoteJoyLite in combination with screen capture software? It displays the PSP's screen over usb (Though it's windows only). It works fine with Idolm@ster SP and a PSP-3004, same with the PSP-2000.

Thanks for telling me about HDCP, I hadn't though about that yet. However, the capture device I'm planning on getting also has component input. So if any I could just use that.

[chikorita157]

Have you considered using RemoteJoyLite in combination with screen capture software? It displays the PSP's screen over usb (Though it's windows only). It works fine with Idolm@ster SP and a PSP-3004, same with the PSP-2000.

Thanks for telling me about HDCP, I hadn't though about that yet. However, the capture device I'm planning on getting also has component input. So if any I could just use that.

Forgot to mention that I don't really want to hack the PSP since it's my sisters... even so, I would rather record through a capture device so I don't have to mess with other programs and have an editable file and we are going to get an HD PVR anyway since a new PSP would already cost that much. I probably get an EyeTV HD or Huppagge HD-PVR since those are compatible with my Macbook Pro and I can record directly to the computer.

[Melanpan]

Forgot to mention that I don't really want to hack the PSP since it's my sisters... even so, I would rather record through a capture device so I don't have to mess with other programs and have an editable file and we are going to get an HD PVR anyway since a new PSP would already cost that much. I probably get an EyeTV HD or Huppagge HD-PVR since those are compatible with my Macbook Pro and I can record directly to the computer.

Ah I understand, though getting the psp to run a CFW is just a matter of copying a few files and running one app on the psp itself.

So does that mean you can also do the let's play in 720p? I tried to record my ps3 over composite te other day, with a averTV TV capture card and Virtualdub. But I must say that it looks really bad, especially now almost everyone is used to HD xD.

By the way, have you heard about the ore no imouto PSP youtube translation project? Something like that might also be a intresting thing to do with im@s.

[chikorita157]

So does that mean you can also do the let's play in 720p? I tried to record my ps3 over composite te other day, with a averTV TV capture card and Virtualdub. But I must say that it looks really bad, especially now almost everyone is used to HD xD.

Yeah, it looks terrible, not because of the interlacing since deinterlacing can be done easily... it's mostly because of the dot crawl among other things making it look like crap, which is the reason I'm getting an S-Video adapter. It will look a bit better since it separates two of the color signals, thus making the picture a bit sharper and clearer... but still Component still beats it since it's digital.

Also, there is a translation for iM@S SP, but only for Perfect Sun... which I don't want to play since I can produce these characters on iM@S 2.

[Cael K.]

Yeah, it looks terrible, not because of the interlacing since deinterlacing can be done easily... it's mostly because of the dot crawl among other things making it look like crap, which is the reason I'm getting an S-Video adapter. It will look a bit better since it separates two of the color signals, thus making the picture a bit sharper and clearer... but still Component still beats it since it's digital.

Also, there is a translation for iM@S SP, but only for Perfect Sun... which I don't want to play since I can produce these characters on iM@S 2.

I thought Component was a three-way analog signal? I always preferred it and wanted it to win out over HDMI, if only because digital allows money-grubbers to do stupid stuff like HDCP. Alas, that was not to be.

[chikorita157]

I thought Component was a three-way analog signal? I always preferred it and wanted it to win out over HDMI, if only because digital allows money-grubbers to do stupid stuff like HDCP. Alas, that was not to be.

It is, but I was talking about S-Video since my TV Capture card only supports composite and S-Video... I wish I had component video, but yes... definitely better than the HDCP crap, although it doesn't support 1080p...

[chikorita157]

Tested everything over the weekend by recording some of the gameplay of 765Pro Project Fairy Run 1 (Hibiki as the leader) and everything work fine with no gamebreaking lag. With that over, I'll start recording the first quarter of the game tomorrow. It will contain approximately 15 weeks per episode (should end up with 4 episodes) and spread out throughout the four days. Won't be buying the PSN points and Catalog required until the second half of the Let's Play. As for the DLC song, I'm doing "Change!!!!"

Also, I'm wondering... should I cut out or speed up the lessons? I know most people will get bored of watching me do lessons like no tomorrow, but I'll keep the ones in the first few weeks or so.

Done the first part of the recording... It will come in two parts, but don't expect much commentary on the Lessons/Promotions since my Japanese still needs work.

So far, the song list is this:
- Ready
- Relations

The rest will be...
- 七彩ボタン
- Do-Dai
- Change!!!! (Yes, it's quite obvious what I'm getting at)...

Still figuring out a place to upload it, but I'm releasing one part each week. For now, I'll be recording up to Week 28 so I can catch up with the episodes (the recordings can get very long with the promotions and stuff). The second half will be recorded after Spring Semester is over and hopefully, I can obtain a HD PVR afterwards.

[chikorita157]

First video is now up... didn't realize that the video limit was 2GBs... but whatever. I'll be uploading the second part (which is the second week) soon, so tell me if there is anything wrong such as audio desyncling and such.
Part I
http://www.gamerstube.com/videos/lets-play-the-idolmster-2-part-i-23878&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr
Part II
http://www.gamerstube.com/videos/lets-play-the-idolmster-2-part-ii-23879

As for the program I used, it's Adobe Premiere Pro CS5. (I hope I don't get Retsupuraed...)

[Setsuna]

It is, but I was talking about S-Video since my TV Capture card only supports composite and S-Video... I wish I had component video, but yes... definitely better than the HDCP crap, although it doesn't support 1080p...

That last bit is in fact quite incorrect - Component DOES support 1080p 60.

Here's the ironic part - idolm@ster 2 PS3 doesn't.

(To be fair, neither do most capture cards, unless you're going to fork out the 1000 or so dollars or more to do it. Unfortunately, that'll be me in a month or two)

Yep, in a strange twist of fate, I've actually found out that the Xbox 360 version DOES support 1080p60 (In fact, so does Live for You, oddly enough) as a display output. It can lag very slightly in a few cases (I've personally seen Shiny Smile trip up a little in L4U as an example) but from a technical perspective, you can.

(To be REALLY technical, you can fire over a 3D 1080p60 Full HD, and a 2k signal over component, but the former requires specific TV types and something that'll actually send it in that format, and the latter doesn't have any consoles that support it)

[chikorita157]

That last bit is in fact quite incorrect - Component DOES support 1080p 60.

Here's the ironic part - idolm@ster 2 PS3 doesn't.

(To be fair, neither do most capture cards, unless you're going to fork out the 1000 or so dollars or more to do it. Unfortunately, that'll be me in a month or two)

Yep, in a strange twist of fate, I've actually found out that the Xbox 360 version DOES support 1080p60 (In fact, so does Live for You, oddly enough) as a display output. It can lag very slightly in a few cases (I've personally seen Shiny Smile trip up a little in L4U as an example) but from a technical perspective, you can.

(To be REALLY technical, you can fire over a 3D 1080p60 Full HD, and a 2k signal over component, but the former requires specific TV types and something that'll actually send it in that format, and the latter doesn't have any consoles that support it)

I have always thought they never supported it because of the movie industry wanting them to use HDCP crap. I guess I was proven wrong, although I think most TVs don't support it since it requires new hardware. But that wont help me much since the game only outputs in 720p...

But still, need to get my hands on a new capture card someday. Don't want to get forced into using standard definition forever.

[Setsuna]

I have always thought they never supported it because of the movie industry wanting them to use HDCP crap. I guess I was proven wrong, although I think most TVs don't support it since it requires new hardware. But that wont help me much since the game only outputs in 720p...

But still, need to get my hands on a new capture card someday. Don't want to get forced into using standard definition forever.

It's actually most TVs as well (They don't do it properly, and most barring a few (which ironically my Sony TV being one of them) will cap out  at 1080i.

As for suggestions to move to the HD realm, most people use a USB 2.0 solution, which is good enough (However any device that puts out to a USB 2.0 solution by the simple math must compress on the fly to send on the data), although I tend to play with things that are (or at least for a while, were. The Intensity Pro was a RRP of about 700 dollars when I bought in about 4 years ago, and it's now a 200~ card (Although it's damn good at that price point)) considered entry level commerical equipment.

What it really comes down to is 'What sort of fidelity do you want?' since if you want to be sure in squeezing every bit of quality out, you'd record the raw video first, then encode down to suit, but that's a SSD (at a minimum) or SAS setup, on top of a card that can support a raw capture.

If you don't care enough, then sure, a capture device that automatically encodes is your best bet actually.