With HENkaku now working on formware 3.68, the possibilities of what homebrew apps and plugins can do for the Vita community seem limitless. It also seems to be here to stay. Usually Sony is quick to patch homebrew exploits with firmware updates within a week from their release. But within the month since TheFloW released h-encore, we haven't heard a peep out of Sony. So for the time being, it seems we are still free to take advantage of what HENkaku has to offer.

For those of us simply wanting 100% Vita compatibility, many (myself included) hoped that h-encore would enable us to install FakeCamera and DSMotion to get around the compatibility issues of games like Tearaway and Uncharted Golden Abyss. However, at the time of my writing this update, I couldn't get these plugins to work. And for the life of me, I don't know why. I'm sure I followed the instructions correctly. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if they just don't work on firmware greater than 3.60. Fortunately, we now have the next best thing.

Awhile ago, a hacker by the name of Xperi released a plugin called "UDCD_UVC", which allows you to stream video from your Vita over USB to a PC or Mac running the streaming software OBS Studio, which you can download for free: https://obsproject.com/

Earlier releases of this plugin were very buggy. With issues like screen tearing and butchered framerates. However, with the release of UDCD_UVC version 4, all of these issues are rectified. You can now stream glorious, clean and stable video from your Vita at 60frames per second to your computer. And if that computer has a HDMI out, you can output your computer's display to a HDTV or capture card.

This plugin only seems to carry video over USB. So if you are trying to record the audio, you'll need to pull it from the Vita's headphone jack. If you want sound on TV, you'll need to a HDMI input with optional RCA audio inputs or a set of external speakers that you can send the Vita's sound to.

It's certainly not the most convenient solution. But for all intents and purposes, this exploit offers the exact same experience as the KatsuKitty mod for the Vita - with the added bonus that you need not pay over $300US for the video out installation.

If anyone is interested in installing this plugin, I offer you this link https://www.reddit.com/r/vitahacks/comments/948nk1/poc_v5_psvita_usb_streaming_uvc_usb_video_class/

Simply download the udcd_uvc.skprx file to your computer. Then using HENkaku and an FTP client like FileZilla, copy it the ux0/tai folder on your Vita. You'll then want to go into the ux0:/tai/config.txt file and underneath KERNEL write "ur0:tai/udcd_uvc.skprx". Save the changes you made to the config.txt file and then reboot the system.

When the Vita reboots, activate HENkaku and then connect the Vita to your computer running OBS Studio via USB. Under "Sources" select Video Capture Device, you should see an option called "PS Vita". Select that, and you should see the Vita's display on your computer screen. You can change the picture size and framerate settings as you please. You can even full screen it.

In my setup, I have OBS Studio downloaded on my Surface Pro, which outputs to my HDTV and Elgato Capture Card via HDMI. With the framerate set to 60Hz and the image full screened, the footage holds up quite well. It's not as good as a direct capture from the PSTV. But it still looks very good and for the purpose of getting around compatibility issues, it gets the job done.

It's not a huge difference in video quality. Kind of like comparing the minor difference in quality between a GameCube's component video output and a Wii's component output. In fact, while streaming my Vita's display to my Surface Pro and out to my television, I noticed that although the Vita's screen had sharper pixels, the colours were significantly more defined than on my Vita. In Uncharted, the sky was a beautiful blue on my HDTV while on my Vita's screen it was a little grayer. Then again, I'm using a Vita 2000 which lacks the OLED screen of its predecessor. This boost in colours really told me just how good this streaming is.

But still due to that slight drop in picture sharpness and quality, and the inconveniences with trying to display video and audio simultaneously, I wouldn't consider this a permanent alternative to the PSTV's Whitelist hack. Nonetheless, I can't recommend Xperi's USB streaming exploit enough to people who want to get around the compatibility issues of games that require the Vita's motion controls or camera. There are even a few PSP games that for whatever reason still don't work on the PSTV, even with the Whitelist hack. Such games as the PAL releases of Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars and the first four games in the Final Fantasy series.

So in conclusion, we now it seems we have the best of both worlds. For the vast majority of Vita, PSone and PSP games we can force them to load on the PSTV using the PSVimgTools Whitelist hack. While for those that still won't load or suffer from the lack of motion controls and the like, we can stream the Vita's display to a PC and output the PC's display to a HDTV - without paying well over $300US for a mod offering the same basic thing.

My salute goes out to Xperi for his UDCD_UVC plugin, providing the Vita community with yet another vital tool for being able to play all Vita games on a television.