The Rock Band Thread

[James]

This is how I got Rock Band to play perfectly on my tv, and it had nothing to do with the in-game setup. I've got no idea what kind of tv you're using so sorry if the advice is useless, but this is what worked for me-

In the tv's video setup area look to see if you've got a Game Mode, or something similar. Activate it and you're good to go. It will most likely screw with the scrolling text on the lyrics (once again this depends on the tv) but the audio sync should be perfect. The small hit in clarity is worth the perfect control.

James

[epmode]

We spent about 2 hours manually calibrating Rock Band 2 this morning. No matter what the fills are still not synced. The songs are synced perfectly now, like I can play with no audio or play without looking at the screen and it still works, but the fills... and the freestyle mode are still off by about 1/4 second. Its totally gamebreaking. Does anyone else have this problem? Is this just how it is?

If you're getting some kind of image conversion delay (which is what's happening with you now), the fills will will never play at the exact moment you hit the drum, no matter how much you screw around with the calibration. Look for some kind of game mode on your TV, as James mentioned. It'll reduce or eliminate the scaling delay.

Or use a CRT! No problems there.

[Josh]

So. James. when you go into drum training > freestyle the hits come out the exact moment you hit the drum with zero delay?

This is what I'm talking about. The hitbox, audio and video are all perfectly synced. but the fills and freestyle mode has about 1/4 second of delay. The game itself is synced.

[epmode]

Think of it this way: It's taking your television a quarter second to convert the signal from your 360 to the screen. You won't notice this with movies and TV since it requires no input. It ruins most timing-intensive games, though.

By calibrating Rock Band, you're essentially telling the game to check for your input a quarter second later than it would normally expect it. This doesn't actually remove the lag, it just masks it. This works fine for rhythm games since they usually aren't playing back exactly what you're doing on the instrument. If your timing is close, you'll hear the song as recorded.

Fills and freestyle are different. You're hearing exactly what you're playing on the drum. And since calibrating the game doesn't really remove that quarter second delay from the 360 to your screen, you'll notice the audio lag.

A game mode on your TV will disable some of the usual filtering/processing, resulting in a slightly worse image with much better response time. The fills would actually work.

[James]

That's exactly what I'm talking about, yes. It was driving me up the fucking wall and basically rendered the game unplayable, having the sound come out so de-synched from the action, and I spent hours trying to work out a solution. Finding it was a simple internal setting on the tv basically made my entire week.

James

[Josh]

I have an input with a "game mode" but its on the side of the TV, which is a fancy way of saying "not going to plug in there"

epmode: believe me, I understand the concept. I did the advanced calibration (found a video on youtube) and shit is perfect. I can play without looking at the screen OR play without the audio.
The hitbox, audio, and video are lined up to snooty "I'm an actual musician" standards. I notice the same fill problems all the videos online, so perhaps that is just how it is?

[Josh]

example:

[Josh]

another one:

[James]

On my set (a Sony) this is how I access that mode, but as I said it really depends on the model of tv you've got-

Hit the Home button to call up the menu
Go to Settings, then page down to Video Options and hit Enter
Page down to Game/Text Mode and enable it for the individual inputs

What kind of tv do you have? I take it you didn't find anything like that in your video settings?

James

[Josh]

I am sarching the inernet for information right now!

And those typos are so bitchin' that I will not fix them. Not for you, not for anyone.