How to test system lag, receiver HDMI?

[V4oLDbOY]

I am building a PC, ordered all the parts, got some now. But I will probably have the hdmi out of the pc go through my receiver. The mobo has optical audio so I can have that too. But how would i test system lag. The receiver has this feature and with my 360 and PS3 I just guessed.

But I am curious to how one can test this, is there some program where if you click it, it'll make a noise and an image on the screen at exactly the same time so I can then sync up the audio and video. My receiver usually sends the video a bit faster than audio since its just pass through. I pretty much adjusted the receiver during rock band instead of using the in game lag adjustment and got it pretty close through guessing.

 

[Godmachine]

Just playing a movie and seeing if the voice sync's up correctly with whats going on screen should give you an idea. Not sure of a type of program for this very feature.

 

[V4oLDbOY]

Just playing a movie and seeing if the voice sync's up correctly with whats going on screen should give you an idea. Not sure of a type of program for this very feature.

Thats the problem its so subjective. I just sort of want to see if I can get it technically right, it sounds fine to me but I dont know. I was just curious if there was some free way to do this, otherwise its not a big deal at all since it sounds fine to me.

 

[sethk]

If you have a CRT, put them side by side and use one of the stopwatch programs to take pictures. There's a more accurate input lag test with bars top to bottom as well.

Another option is to use a game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero to measure lag without needing a CRT. There are some slight issues with the Rock Band method, it can under-report lag.