My HDMI Gremlin
👋🏻
Since my last letter, I have been...derailed. I have had a major, seemingly infectious, HDMI capture issue. Ever since plugging in my Switch 2 to (what I have started calling during this whole process) The Apparatus™, I have been plagued by a blood red, dark tint over all my footage. It seems agnostic to computer platform, cable, and console. Trying to solve it as absorbed all my free time and I am at my wit's end.
I have filed the appropriate support tickets with AVerMedia and Elgato. I've posted to their sudreddits, their Discord servers, and at least one forum. I made my blog post. The only thing I haven't done is make a YouTube video and honestly, I feel too defeated to muster the gumption right now. My messages are in internet bottles and I just have to hope someone can help me at this point.
I described this saga to a friend last night as possibly being "the most demoralizing technical issue I have had since not saving before trying to perform the Mew glitch in Pokémon Blue as a child."
Back in the day, Mew wasn't handed out like candy. You had to go to an event at a mall or something. Or you could manipulate Pokémon Blue/Red's hex code by executing the (at the time) mythical Mew Glitch. Pushing the truck outside of the S.S. Anne didn't work, but I found this guide on Pokémon Elite 2000 that seemed promising. Elementary-school-aged me was so dedicated and excited to get a Mew. I followed all the instructions (didn't fight certain trainers and got HM02 - Fly).
The crux of the glitch relied on walking within sight of a certain trainer on Route 8 and pausing the game before they saw you. Being the child I was, I did not save my game beforehand.1 I failed to pause in time and effectively ruined my chances at getting a Mew. Yes, I could have just restarted the whole game and did it again. But in that moment, I was crushed. I felt like I had made an unrecoverable mistake. I broke down and sobbed.
I remember wanting my dad to console me. He worked at home during this time. He was busy. In my memory, he was too busy, but my mom nudged him to pause and comfort me. They both had no clue why I was a broken mess. I probably explained the whole thing between heavy sobs in that secret language only your elementary peers seem to understand. Somehow, in a way that parents do, I was consoled and encouraged to try again. You better believe I saved the next time.2
I feel like that little boy again, but this time I have no clue what I or the tools in my life did wrong. Some hidden HDMI gremlin is lurking in The Apparatus™ and I cannot evict it.
But these mornings and evenings of troubleshooting, while they can be fun in their methodical way, have completely robbed me of time and a quiet state of mind. I haven't played a game, which is the primary point of the whole thing in what feels like a week? Maybe more? I've barely even touched my Switch 2, determined to solve this problem first so I can capture gameplay. I haven't edited a killer episode of The Max Frequency Podcast because my free time has gone to this. I haven't written a first draft of this new essay. I have a backlog of articles from WWDC and other news I want to link to and read. I haven't written to you all in this very newsletter in two weeks(!). I've let this digitized disease rob me of so many other hobbies I enjoy.
So, I give up. I have sent out the appropriate messages. My signal is being broadcast (although, not my HDMI signal. Ho oh! Got myself.). I hope someone can help. I hope it gets resolved. In the mean time, I think I am going to actually play a game.
Until next time...
This letter is one block from the newsletter Memory Card by Max Roberts. Thoughts? Send me an email at max@maxfrequency.net.
Max is the writer and producer behind Max Frequency. cultivate and curate curiosity—both for himself and for others—by delighting in the details and growing greatness from small beginnings.
He's written a rich history and dive on the making of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II, celebrated the 15th anniversary of Super Smash Bros. Brawl with the voice behind its hype, and examined how Zelda "stole" Fortnite's best mechanic.
Memory Card is a real-ish time, raw, drip feed newsletter of his creative process for telling these stories. It’s how The Thing™ gets made.
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