Missing a bunch of notes in your favorite music-based videogame? Don't fret (sorry, we couldn't resist...) — we can help explain why it might not be your fault, and how to fix it in both Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

What's going on?

There are likely two forces at play. One, you may simply suck at rhythm video games. The other is a video processing induced lag.

Flash back 10 years, before the days of flatscreen TVs. Most CRT-style TV sets simply took a signal that was sent either over the air, through coax cable, or directly connected through RCA and displayed it on the TV with accompanying sound. CRTs didn't process the signal to make it look better, nor did they fiddle around with the audio to make it sound better. As a result, there was no discernible lag between video and audio.

Now, as we enter the flatscreen TV days, believe it or not, the color accuracy and image quality actually took a step backward. But you're saying to yourself, "hey Randall, flat TVs are high definition, and CRTs are only standard definition!" You're right that almost all flat TVs are HD, but when it comes to things like color accuracy and black levels, CRT TVs that are HD actually have a better picture quality than your lovely, expensive flatscreen TV.

Plasma and LCD TVs work in a different way from regular CRTs. Without going into as much detail as we did on our LCD vs Plasma vs DLP feature, plasma and LCD TVs have a backlight that shines behind the active layer of pixels. That backlight makes it possible to see the colors of the TV. However, since there's always a persistent backlight shining through, and since each individual pixel can't completely block out the white light behind it, colors on a flatscreen TV can't be as rich, nor can the blacks be as deep as a CRT.

"But, they're so much more expensive than comparable CRT models!" Well, assuming you can even find a place that still sells CRT TVs, you'd be right, they are more expensive. However, with flat panel TVs, you're paying for the style and elegance of a flat TV versus one with a bit more depth. However, TV manufacturers wouldn't simply let people pay lots of extra cash and not at least try to fix the problem.

Most flatscreen TVs have some form of image processing that takes the signal and converts it into a displayable signal. Since all flat screen models are progressive scan instead of interlaced, flatscreen TVs already need to make it so that interlaced footage doesn't appear with extra lines. Since they were busy processing the image to get rid of interlacing artifacts, the manufacturers have started to throw in other extras like 120Hz modes, and algorithms to try to make colors appear the best they can. This processing is near instantaneous, and is typically imperceptible. However, this image processing can throw video gamers for a loop as it can knock the video and audio out of sync. We're not talking much sync though; about 40-50 milliseconds of sync typically. However, that 40-50 milliseconds is more than enough to cause a music game player to miss a note.

Rhythm games encourage players to feel the music rather than watch the screen perfectly. As a result, the out-of-sync audio and video can be jarring for players, since they're not exactly sure when to hit the note.

In the earlier part of the decade, as the switch from CRT to flatscreens was occuring, gamers playing games like Dance Dance Revolution were simply up the creek without a paddle. As flatscreen TVs started to gain in popularity, game manufacturers started to notice the issue and fixed it by adding options for players to adjust the audio / video sync.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band have a settings screen that will make the music start playing a bit earlier than it normally would, which means when you strum the guitar or hit the drum pad, the game will respond accurately, and you'll hit more of the notes.

How do I fix it?

Fortunately, the easiest way is in the actual games themselves. Simply head to the options screen.

With Rock Band, the game developers defined some presets for each individual TV type. CRT has no lag, while the others have differing degrees of lag to match up with the sync "gap".

Guitar Hero has the player first try to sync just the audio, and then syncs the video separately.

Both will make the game more playable, especially as the game gets more difficult or you play at a higher difficulty setting. Most of the songs in the beginning of the games won't require dead-on accuracy, but as gamers play through the game, the songs become more difficult, and require more accuracy.

Have another question you need answered? Let us know by leaving a comment on this post, and also let us know which game you prefer, and if you've ever had any trouble with staying synced up.

PS - Be proud, I went a whole article without using an *NSYNC pun.

[Images credits: Header image by Flickr user Nick Kulas. In story images CRT TV by Imrambi, Plasma by jeffisageek, Plasma on wall by jemsweb. Screencaps by Obsessable. Used under a Creative Commons license.]