Question on input lag and HD TVs

So if you have input lag on an HDTV that would be all one sided lag against yourself, correct? And thus in online play it would be more difficult to seize the advantage, or to evade certain moves off of reaction.

Second question.
I remember seeing on here or another site where they discussed how to test your HDTV, neone have a link?
I believe they said if you had guitar hero II or higher that it has an automatic test?
NE one know?

Okay guys,
thanks for any and all help on this. Much appreciated.

 

Yah there's a calibration tool that sorts out the lag in the Guiar Hero and Rock Band games but it won't do anything for other games.

 

I dont think the guitar hero lag test is going to be accurate, because it involves both audio lag and display lag.

Best way to test display lag on an hdtv is

1. video camera that records at 60fps or better, pointed at screen running vf5 dojo mode with input display turned on.

2. controller that has an led that lights when a button is pressed (some rapid fire controllers do this). Worst case scenario get a very clean profile view of your finger tapping the button.

3. play the video frame by frame and see how long it takes between when the led lights and when "p" or whatever shows up in the input display.

Compare that setup on an hdtv versus that setup on a computer crt.

 

From my experience, the testing doesn't seem that necessary... If your having HDTV lag on a game you've played a lot and have good feel for the "normal" timing, the difference should be clearly noticeable.

I saw it during my FIRST game on the set. I was playing Pinball FX and the TV was dropping frames of the ball moving fast. It was just obvious that something was wrong. I went into the 360's console settings and set the display to 720p... Never had another problem after that.

If you can't perceive the lag visually, I doubt it's going to really effect reaction time at all. I mean, if your brain literally can't tell the difference, how could it effect your timing in any substantial or meaningful way???

Just a thought...

 

I agree with gernsbergs in theory, except for alot of our reactions are subconscious and performed, eventually, intuitively. This will be thrown off. I know i don't feel like i notice lag online, yet when i play offline i put in all my inputs too soon!!! My moves then often don't come out. So one of the disadvantages of online play, having to make earlier inputs that many people complain about, is the way of life for me and the amount of time given to react offline becomes a problem, albeit one i would love to adjust too. Of course, it would probably ruin online play for me...

 

The way I tested input lag in last years wcg qual here in Finland, and later in Cologne as well, was testing crouchdash fuzzy after a -6 attack. I used Akiras sidekick and set CPU to counter with throw/mid. You'd think that this sort of instinctual and mechanical technique wouldnt tell anything about input lag, but it really was immediately obvious. The timing is so familiar to me. Normally I can see Akira dip his head slightly after I buffered df,df for successful Fuzzy, but on the laggy TV there was no way to do the fuzzy succesfully and at the same time see the visual cue. My Akira always crouched much longer and I got hit with the mid. I was like: "Akiras not dipping his head I must hold df longer" There was obvious discrepancy between my inputs and what happened on screen.

I dont know if anyone else has good techniques for this. Maybe hit checking serpent cannon/f+PK/swallow kick etc would do it for you? Something with familiar visual cue and requirement of accurate timing.

 

Thats why i wanted a way to test it Gern. The affecting my reaction time is probably all in my head. I mean my reaction time is what it is regardless of any lag, but my thought was that no matter how slow my reaction time if i have input lag it will just slow it up that much more. I seem to have trouble evading linear attacks at the beginning of rounds, and often times when i "feel" an attack coming and try to evade it, again i get hit before an evade is executed.

My concern is that if i have input lag, even if i don't recognize it, then it is still affecting every move and every reaction of my fight. if me and an opponent both press to do a 12f jab at the same time, instead of a double hit each damage, i simply lose by 1/2 a frame, even if i can't see it. And I have this nagging feeling that this is occuring, some things that used to be bread and butter are sketchy at best, some things that used to work seem to get killed now. Again, it coudl be all in my head, maybe my reaction time is slowing down due to aging and inactivity on the scene. But i have at least 1-2 things a round where i feel like i input something and should have gotten a result but didn't. Happens mainly with split second evades on anticipated attacks.

 

watch the youtube of my fights sean. You could see if the relationship in timing between the announcer "FIGHT" cue and the words on the screen ar the same, since the words would be lagged but not the audio!!!!!

 

the only way to test for input lag

 

Don't use HDMI for Vf5.

 

So my other question was this:

Would guitar hero be able to inform me (at least with some degree of accuracy, if i'm having input lag). I realize it won't be able to do anything to rectify the problem, but it would give me peice of mind, one way or the other.

And as for filming @ 60 fps, this is more technical and in depth than i'll be able to pull off /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif thus the questions on GHII

 

fixed.

use vga whenever possible and component if you can't use vga.

you mean the timecode method i linked to? it's really not that hard at all. you just need a crt tv, a laptop and a camera.

take lots of pictures and see how far off the hdtv is from the laptop.

 

whats a crt tv? (i told you this is beyond my technical retardation)

 

CRT = Cathode Ray Tube.

Old style tube TV.

 

This is weird. To my knowledge HDMI is the best option whenever applicable. VGA comes next. Component is absolute worst, unless youre using tube tv where anything goes.. Component for a tournament level setup with HD TVs is a no-no.. This with WCG in mind.

ps. I have tube tv at my home. No input lag. Thats one thing where it excels.

 

i think it's funny that plague included a picture. : )

 

For <u>quality</u> you have described the hierarchy: picture resolution, sharpness and sound.

I can't say what is best for response time.

 

I didn't want you to think that "old style" meant this...