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I want Pippa to stream Digimon Rumble Arena 2.
Ps2 emulation is still utter shit and I doubt her machine could run anything at a playable level while streaming. That means she'd either have to use a PS2 or a PS3.
No one wants to watch PS2 gameplay over composite video, so the best you're going to get is ypbpr component. Problem is, you'd be hard pressed to find a capture card that will take component input. You could try to use a component to hdmi converter, but I highly doubt you could find one without a shitload of added lag. If you CAN find one that doesn't add more than maybe a frame of lag, just go with a fat PS2 running FreeMCBoot playing the game off an internal drive, I have one sitting on the shelf behind me that I could give her no prob.
The next option then is a PS3. The only models of PS3 which are backwards compatible with PS2 (and PS1) games are the first few fat models. Earliest fat models used hardware backwards compatibility while the last backwards compatible models used software emulation, but let's just assume either will work fine for this. Software emulation models tend to be a lot cheaper, so let's assume she will get a CECHE01 PS3. I can get an acceptable one for probably about 80-100$.
PS3s suffer from similar problems to 360s, where shitty leadfree solder under the processors crack over time. This causes the RROD in 360s, and numerous problems in PS Triples. You can thank government bureaucracy, idiocy, and corruption for Sony and Microsoft being forced to use leadfree solder, but I digress. I bring this up because if I want Pippa to have a nice PS3 for playing her favourite PS2 games, I want it to be a system which lasts and doesn't break down in a matter of months. This requires a reballing of the CPU and GPU in the PS3 system. This is (in my opinion) a very difficult process which requires a skilled person using expensive tools and several hours of labor, but luckily, there are people who offer reballing services if I didn't feel confident doing it myself. Service would be about 130$
Let's now assume we have a fully working, reballed, backwards compatible ps3 on our hands capable of playing Digimon Rumble Arena 2. Great! Now there's just a matter of getting the game. A quick ebay search shows that it's quite rare and getting a complete copy in good condition could cost well over 100$, and there are probably a number of other games Pippa would want to play anyway, AND she probably wouldn't care much about not having the actual game disc, so the best way forward would be to mod this CECHE01 and load it with games. That's probably the easiest part of this entire process, and I could do it for only the cost of whatever storage drive upgrade I wanted to do, let's assume a 1TB SSD at 100$.
Finally, she needs a capture card. I don't know jack shit about these, I'm a vidya autist, not a capture card autist, so idk an elgato will prob work, 150$.
So, again, if a ypbpr-to-hdmi converter can be found that isn't dogshit and doesn't add a ton of lag can be found, I could just use a fat ps2, an IDE-SATA adapted HDD thing, and a 1TB hard drive I have sitting next to me I got cheap at a flea market. Say 15$ for the HDD adapter plus 150$ for the capture card, plus whatever the converter costs, say 30$. Let's round up and say 200$ for the PS2 route if it's doable. If not, the PS3 route will cost say 475$.
I should probably get a job first. Shit, man.
