Xerpi’s been working hard on improving his USB Streaming plugin for the PSVita and now, he’s managed to get pretty far! He’s just released version 4 of his streaming plugin which fixes the main issue with version 3 and brings about even more.
What is this USB Streaming plugin?
Xerpi’s USB streaming plugin is called “UDCD_UVC” and allows you to stream your PSVita’s screen over USB. While most may think of HDMI when game console streaming is mentioned, this wasn’t an option for the PSVita as Retail units don’t have an HDMI port. In light of this, Xerpi decided to delve deeper into PSVita modules and decided to start reverse engineering them in order to find an alternative streaming solution.
In version 3, LiveArea could be streamed but there was a lot of screen tearing. Most games, except OdinSphere crashed too!
Last October, Xerpi released version 1 of his USB streaming plugin which was extremely buggy and it couldn’t be used for much apart from grabbing a semi-garbled LiveArea screenshot. Then, Xerpi released version 2 of his plugin which reduced frametimes over USB to 124ms and added hardware encoding. Sadly, 124ms is still too high but on Monday, he released version 3 of his plugin which gave the project new hope.
Unfortunately, version 3 had a major bug of only working with a few games, namely OdinSphere, and system applications. However, version 4 addresses all that was wrong with version 3!
What got updated/added in version 4? How well does it work?
UDCD_UVC version 4 brought about the following:
- The major issues, such as screen tearing in LiveArea and crashing in many games were fixed!! These may have been caused with some webcam viewers using other formats, that have now been removed from the plugin.
- The slower video formats (MJPEG and YUY2) were removed
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Persona 4 being streamed to my PC via UDCD_UVC!
- This makes the code smaller, easier to maintain and prevents people from using the above modes which don’t work all too well.
- The video frame transfer function has been optimised to make it faster
- UDCD_UVC’s memory footprint has been reduced which allows RAM-hungry games to run
- Other improvements that make the plugin work better
- Unfortunately, version 4 didn’t bring a much needed name change for this plugin. This plugin seriously needs a better name that’s easier to write and pronounce! Even if it’s something simple like VitaStream, it’s better than the current name
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From my tests, I was able to elicit the following:
- Project Diva F 2nd, Persona 4 Golden and Age of Zombies work perfectly.
- Homebrew such as Tetromino: Touhou Edition (Lua Player Plus) and VitaQuake III work properly.
- The speed is pretty good with occasional stuttering in PD2 and Age of Zombies.
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The plugin worked so well that I could play Luka Luka Night Fever on Hard. The Project Diva series are time sensitive games that can’t afford high frame-times or frame skips.
- The plugin is working so well that I was able to play through a song on Hard on Project Diva F 2nd and managed to get ‘Standard’ (80% of notes pressed which is a pass).
- This means that the plugin is working well even in time sensitive games let alone slower paced ones!
- Load times seem to have increased a bit but not by much.
- I used OBS on Windows 7 SP1 64-bit and a PSVita running FW 3.60 with Enso to test this plugin out. OBS is recommended because it’s easy to set up and works flawlessly!
On another note, a Reddit user with the name ‘Subervielle’ demonstrated his PSVita being used a PSTV thanks to this plugin, a DS 4 controller and a laptop! He noted that there was minimal input lag with his setup while playing Metal Slug 3 but nothing that’s a deal breaker. Furthermore, MiniVitaTV could be used for local multiplayer with this.
Conclusion
To get this plugin, simply download the SKPRX file form the link below and install it in the *KERNEL section of your taiHEN config.txt. If you find any issues, report them to Xerpi in the thread below.
Yes, homebrew works as well!
PSVita USB Streaming Plugin Version 4 Reddit thread + download link: https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/comments/941bty/poc_v4_psvita_usb_streaming_uvc_usb_video_class/
The post PSVita USB Streaming Plugin Updated To Version 4 – Now, it actually works well with many games and lets you use your PSVita as a PSTV! appeared first on Wololo.net.