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The ironic part is we are using Quicktime not mplayer.

Using Perian to decode .mkv, I assume? I'll run some tests.

Unless one of the staffers went renegade and decided to use mplayer.

Could have sworn I saw the mplayer interface during one of the changeovers, but I'm sure I could be mistaken. They do look at least somewhat similar under OS X.

The CPUs are intel, It needs more ram, can't do much with the HD episodes on 1GB of ram.

I've played HD episodes on my Macbook with 1GB RAM before without running into this, so I'm fairly sure it is the processor. Decoding MKV in high resolution takes up quite a bit of CPU. :S

Right, but do you play them constantly for 4 days? Try that and get back to me ;-).

Honestly, if the length of time it's running makes a difference, I'd suspect a memory leak. I have seen mplayer do that - memory usage gradually goes up and it starts skipping after several episodes in a row. But restarting mplayer usually fixes it, and it's usually small sound sync problems rather than the massive image breakups that I saw this year. How often do those Minis get rebooted?

The CPUs are intel, It needs more ram, can't do much with the HD episodes on 1GB of ram.

I've played HD episodes on my Macbook with 1GB RAM before without running into this, so I'm fairly sure it is the processor. Decoding MKV in high resolution takes up quite a bit of CPU. :S

You could get more powerful computers, but it's also not too hard to re-encode episodes down to a lower resolution if they're not already available outside HD. I'd even volunteer to help out with that if you wanted. ;)

I'd have no problem doing this. ;) I don't live in the San Jose area, though, so I suspect it would be best if someone more local could help. Honestly though you probably don't need to - I think most groups release in HD (h264+MKV) and SD (avi) these days.

I found you in elementary school, I can find you today!

I saw this Waldo running by at top speed while I was in the registration line, with a couple of cosplayers in hot pursuit. Really made my wait a lot easier. ;)

I went to quite a few showings this year, and it was great. But there's a couple things I noticed that I'd like to point out. Maybe the viewing rooms can be even better next year.  :-\

1. Interrupted Shows
Pretty much everything I went to see got interrupted because of scheduling. It seems like shows had been scheduled quite often in slots that were shorter than their total running time. (For example, Glassy Ocean was interrupted about 2/3 of the way through so that K-ON could be put on.) It's really sad when something you're enjoying gets stopped unexpectedly! Could you try to budget enough time for the full scheduled number of episodes (plus a few minutes in case of technical difficulties), so people actually get to see what the schedule says will be playing?

2. Playback Problems
I only saw this happen with Macross Frontier, but it really ruined my enjoyment of the show. Basically, the Mac Minis you were using work great on DVD-quality shows, but the Macross Frontier episodes were in HD, and the Mac Mini just wasn't powerful enough to play them without stuttering and locking up. You have to be careful and try to make sure that the computers you set up for playback can handle the video files you have, or this is going to happen again. :S

You could get more powerful computers, but it's also not too hard to re-encode episodes down to a lower resolution if they're not already available outside HD. I'd even volunteer to help out with that if you wanted. ;)

Banzai Arcade was fantastic. Won two MadWorld posters thanks to my speed-reading skills, then gave them away.

where was melty blood??

Melty Blood Re-ACT Final Tuned was running periodically on the laptop setup next to IIDX...

To my knowledge, they were playing MBAC PC. I don't see why they'd be playing FT.

That was my copy of Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver. B 1.03, running off of a Flash drive that I'd brought with me. Next year I'll see if I can swing a laptop so we don't have to borrow the SWR players' laptop.

It seemed pretty popular when I set it up - maybe not enough for a tournament, but I'm pretty sure a station with MBAC running would be fun for a lot of people.

I'll also see if I can swing a copy of Melty Blood Actress Again for next year - either under PCSX2 (which would be nice for the stick and keyboard players) or running on a PS2 if that doesn't work out.

;)

As far as e-gaming in general goes, I didn't enter any tournaments but I really appreciated all the machines that were set up for "free play" - Ikaruga, TGM, the SWR laptop, Beatmania (which I sucked at), etc. Having more of that kind of thing would really be nice.

I'd suggest, though, that games which take a long time per game be discouraged - I know at one point people were playing Left 4 Dead on two of the Xboxes, and those games would go on for an hour or more with only 5-6 people getting turns at the controllers. There's a lot more players than machines and controllers, so games which everyone can take a crack at are great. ;)

Also, more chairs, for the love of God.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. (:

Debit is also all right as long as it falls in those categories. :D

Was mashing Refresh waiting for an answer for this. Many thanks! I'll feel a lot better not carrying $60 around in my wallet. :P

If I'm paying the full-weekend fee tomorrow, is registration able to take my debit card, or will I have to pay cash?

It's not a big hassle either way, but I don't like carrying cash around, so I'm hoping for Option A. ;)

Your opportunity to reg Thursday ended at the end of March. Beyond March 31st was early reg and you may only pick that up on Friday. Thursday night, I am certain that if you head down to the concourse there will be stuff to do. Stage Zero is starting programming early and look around for more stuff open to you. Check our schedule for more info.

Thank you.

Thanks. May I suggest that that be made larger and bolder next time? :P

In any case, is there still any chance of getting in on Thursday, or am I basically screwed and forced to sit in the hotel room while everyone else is at the events?

Hey.

I just went to the registration page since my paycheck arrived and I could finally afford to register.

Unfortunately it seems that online registrations are no longer accepted and I have to register on-site on Friday.

Now, normally I wouldn't be too annoyed about this, but I'm travelling with a group of friends who will be arriving on Thursday. I'm a bit annoyed that not only was there no clear date posted on the page for when online registration was closing (or if there was, it wasn't obvious when I looked at the page last week), and that there seems to be no way for me to be with my friends for the Thursday events.

So, when did online registration close, so I can avoid this for next time? And is there any way for me to still go to the Thursday events with the rest of my group instead of getting stuck by myself at the hotel?

MBAC was dropped then?

Edit: Nevermind, found the right thread.