- Editor's note: This article could use a better guide. If anyone understands how these calibrations thoroughly work and can thoroughly explain it, please edit this article with a better guide.
Video Calibration and Audio Calibration are two features presented in the Guitar Hero series' game settings used to delay and adjust the latency of Guitar Hero game's video and audio with the user's monitor or television.
Most high-definition televisions (HDTVs), compared to playing on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) television, have significant audio/video latency. A wireless controller's latency may further delay inputs. The combined delay causes a disconnect between the notes lining up on the fretboard and the time the input needs to be played on the controller, making it difficult to play Guitar Hero video games. The audio delay not being synced to the visual delay may cause further dissonance and thus difficulty, because the fretboard notes are normally synchronized to the song itself. Calibration features would be included in newer titles to allow players to adjust their lag to the latency of their monitor's visual and audio output, in order to synchronize it all.
These features were not included in the first Guitar Hero, which made the first game nearly unplayable on many high-definition televisions.
Calibrate Video Lag[]
Calibrate Video Lag in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on Microsoft Windows.
Calibrate Video Lag was the first calibration feature introduced in Guitar Hero II found in the Video settings. This feature adjusted the gameplay's visual latency in milliseconds. This can automatically be adjusted by strumming notes on beat (a metronome plays in the background) but the player can also manually adjust this setting.
Calibrate Audio Lag[]
Calibrate Audio Lag in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on Microsoft Windows (feature not available in the PlayStation 2 version).
However, since Calibrate Video Lag was the only calibration setting in Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, the lack of an Audio Calibration still made these two games difficult to play on many HDTVs that had an audio output latency. Therefore, Calibrate Audio Lag was added in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock in addition to Video Calibration on next generation consoles with a game update. However, audio calibration is not available on the PlayStation 2 version of the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, but is available in Guitar Hero World Tour onwards.
I calibrated my instrument correctly, yet I'm still missing notes[]
- Editor's note: This section could use a better guide. If anyone understands how this works and can thoroughly explain it, please edit this section with a better guide.
Using a wireless instrumental controller may have input latency which may make audio/video calibration's automatic testing inaccurate. After doing an initial calibrating test, test an easy song to play and check how far notes pass the target line visually and adjust video calibration accordingly. Adjust audio calibrations accordingly to if needed.
For zero or very little input latency, it is recommended to use a wired (instrumental) controller if available.
