Guitar Hero & projector lag

[Erwin]

Has anyone ever had a problem with lag on their digital projectors
while playing Guitar Hero 3? We had our first GH3 tourney last week,
but all the teens complained about a noticeable faction-of-a-second
lag while playing that they've never encountered before on standard TV
setups. We think it's the digital projector (relatively new Toshiba).
It threw them off somewhat because these teens were used to rapid-fire
accuracy while playing GH, but instead got this subtle discrepancy
between their playing and what was on the screen. Anyone else notice
this? Or are my teens just REALLY nitpicky? Maybe it's the Wii sensor
bar?

[Chad Haefele]

I've had this happen on my TV at home, a little bit of a lag. It's
minor and doesn't affect most games, but for something that requires
precise timing like guitar hero it can be a big deal. Thankfully, the
GH games added a calibration option to fix the issue. I'm not sure
exactly where, but look for it in the game's options menu. It'll ask
you to strum when a note lines up at a certain spot on the screen. Do
this for a while and it automatically calculates how to alter the
gameplay so players don't notice the lag.

-Chad

[Chris Pinner]

Additionally, Rock Band I know has some premade settings for various types of TVs and projectors that seem to help cut down on this lag as well.  I think GH3 might have these as well in the options menu.  Manual calibration tends to work best, however.  Be sure to have someone that plays the game often do it for maximum effectiveness.

[Erwin]

I did some research and found out that there is indeed a lag that
occurs on most projectors due to slow buffer times when processing the
video image. So far, I've found only one projector (Panasonic PT-
AX200U, $1300) that has a "game mode" which overcomes the lag and was
designed with gamers in mind. I suppose players can live with the lag
when it comes to Smash Bros or Wii Sports, but those used to the fast
response of a TV setup for Guitar Hero it's a problem.

[ron]

This is question is for the TC (topic creator). Did you try the
calibration on Guitar Hero 3's options? And did alleviate the lag
issues? We are going to run a GH3 tourney this July and we are
planning on using a projector. Actually there is no way around using
the projector.

[Erwin]

We did try the calibration option, and it didn't work.

UPDATE: We bought a new projector, the 3M X66, and it has absolutely
no lag! I did a recent GH3 tournament and my kids were so happy to see
the lag disappear. They had a much better time because of it! Not only
that, but the X66 is simply an awesome projector all around. I highly
recommend it. We bought it through Demco, but when I last checked they
were gone. Hopefully they've restocked.

My suggestion: have an experienced GH3 player try out your setup.
Hopefully there is no lag, but if there is, warn your participants so
they know what to expect. When I had the lag with our previous
projector, the kids were disappointed, but they worked with the
problem anyway.

> > response of a TV setup for Guitar Hero it's a problem.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Beth Gallaway]

What projector? I'd love to compile a list of projectors that work for gaming.

I started a list at http://gaming.ala.org/resources/index.php?title=Games_and_Gaming_Resources#Compatible_Digital_Projectors

Beth G

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