"Perfect Sync Technology"

[trekker4747]

I've always had trouble with this system of keeping the Rifftrax in sync with the DVD not sure why. But I always press play when Mike suggest to and inevitably by the first Disembodio reading I'm off and then I try to sync the movie up but it just gets worse and worse.

So, why aren't there, say, chapter-stops with each Disembodio sync? Or better yet why have a seemingly random point to start the tracks? Which creates a pretty big human error in the process.

So why not just have the Rifftrak start with pressing the "Play Movie" button on the DVD menu? This. to me, would increase the likelyhood of being synced from the start. The Disembodio voice can still be there to ensure it. But having the Rifftrak start from the moment of pressing the "Play" button as it takes away the human error portion of it.

[Captain Hygiene]

I never expect it to line up with the first Disembaudio line anymore - I just mess around with it after he says the first one until it's close enough for me. The other problem I've noticed is that the times listed in the guide for each sync line are never right on the dvd player, and I have no idea why that is.
As for starting with pressing the "Play" button, that seems like a good idea. My only question is whether or not all dvd players take the same amount of time once you start. If there are differences, it seems like you should just be able to pause the movie immediately, once any rating information, etc., is out of the way. That should definitely be the same on any player, I would think.

[BathTub]

trekker4747 said:

I've always had trouble with this system of keeping the Rifftrax in sync with the DVD not sure why. But I always press play when Mike suggest to and inevitably by the first Disembodio reading I'm off and then I try to sync the movie up but it just gets worse and worse.

So, why aren't there, say, chapter-stops with each Disembodio sync? Or better yet why have a seemingly random point to start the tracks? Which creates a pretty big human error in the process.

So why not just have the Rifftrak start with pressing the "Play Movie" button on the DVD menu? This. to me, would increase the likelyhood of being synced from the start. The Disembodio voice can still be there to ensure it. But having the Rifftrak start from the moment of pressing the "Play" button as it takes away the human error portion of it.

All you are asking for is already given to you.

But a few things.

Theoretically the movie plays at a fixed rate. Pressing play on a dvd menu is not fixed or certain time at all. You could almost say every player is going to process the command at a slightly different rate. So now you have some random play time, combined with some other time for which ever method of rifftrax playback you are using.

In my playing around it seems that it's recorded such that you pause on the next beat, 1 <beat> 2 <beat> 3 <beat> <pause>.

But there is no reason you can't do the start from the beginning of the movie, it makes no practical difference if you want to do that yourself. You are given all the information you need.

I know because I compile some of it.

You are given the cue point where the the film and riffing go together, to get the point where the mp3 would start with the actual start of the film is a trivial regression.

You are also given the time that mp3 syncs with the start of every chapter.

[Captain Hygiene]

The problem I mentioned is that the times given in the instructions with each mp3 are not accurate for the dvd player's time. When I get to the disembaudio line on the mp3, the dvd player's time is often not very near what is listed in the instructions, so it is impossible to sync it that way for me. I just have to do it by ear.

[BathTub]

I know, hence the 'theoretically play' part for example, the layer change is a very obvious point where many players can pause. That's probably the best example of the dvd player introducing sync issues.

What do you guys use to play your rifftrax?

I make dvds up now, but before I did that I used sharecrow, which is good, but not much use if you don't watch your films on the computer.

[Captain Hygiene]

bathtub said:

I know, hence the 'theoretically play' part for example, the layer change is a very obvious point where many players can pause. That's probably the best example of the dvd player introducing sync issues.

I see...that makes sense.

[Trumpy's Magic Snout]

I don't have all the films on DVD. Some are on tape, either commercial release or like Roadhouse, Star Trek V and Fifth ELement taped off of the telly so the issue with DVD players being different gets worse if you also factor in VCRs. Also not all releases start the same, I think it's before the COcktail Rifftrax that Mike makes reference to the fact that there are different credit sequences at the start of different versions of the film so a point was chosen which is in all of them. The first synchup point is always off but you can time the riffs to by what's happening on screen and the drift is usually only a few seconds for me which is easily rectified with pausing one or the other.

[gammer]

If you don't re-author your DVD's. Then the next best thing is to use the exact version of dvd that RiffTrax used (they usually tell you in the forum).

If you use a different version or if you use a VHS copy, then you will more then likely have sync issues. VHS cause drifts and different DVD versions have different cuts, so you will fall out of sync big time.
Using movies taped of the TV is gives you both drift and edited versions, so your really asking for trouble there.

[Mod City]

Because I watch Rifftrax with a group of three, I burn them to CDs and play them on an MP3 boombox while the movie plays over the sound system on DVD. Because this boombox has a lousy control system, we only pause and fast-forward the DVD, a process we've gotten pretty good at. As long as you're watching the right version, it should be fairly easy to keep synched.

If you're using the wrong version, and I've done it a few times with both DVDs and VHS tapes, it can be a serious pain. I end up looking at it as a challenge to keep it timed up. But I try to look on the bright side of life

[FredC]

It's not all that tough when you view them on a computer. Unfortunately, the movie is always louder than the Rifftrax because when I turn the volume down on the DVD player, it turns the volume down on the rifftrax as well...

[BathTub]

Tried Sharecrow? it has individual volume controls.