VOICE COMMS are aweful !

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paulwilko10

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MrMouse10
Hiya

Hopefully there is a setting somewhere you can point me too, but I'm afraid there probably isnt !!

Last night we had 15 players in a private Lounge.
When you can be heard, the comms are great, but unfortunately, it seems there is some coding in the game which seems to restrict the amoutn of people who can talk and at what time.

There is never a time when all can talk if we wanted to !!

I am wired with 20mb download and 2mb upload, GT5 sees my connection as NAT Type 2 with "High Bandwidth"

Last night is tnot the first time this has happened, it happens everytime we have more that 6 or 7 players in a lounge whether I host or anybody else does !!

If I do an online lobby i know there is a setting for sound and race quality, however that just makes the actual comms sound aweful and does not allow more to talk.

Not sure what to do other than just live with it which is a shame when so many are online.

Any help would be great

Many thanks

Paul
 
I wonder if it has something to do with the BT mics. They pick up so much sound especially if you don't turn down your mic level. Maybe its to much info being jammed into the weak GT servers. Unfortunate. On the plus you sound like you getting some killer rooms going.
 
It helps to use radio 'slang' like 'copy that', 'roger', 'roger that' and 'over'

Hopefully no one is named Roger, over :)
 
I really don't care for mics and most of the time I just mute everyone.

I honestly don't need to hear you talking about which kid needs to go to bed first because they have school in the morning. Or hear you munching on some potato chips, or your crappy home made water bong bubbling, or every time you cough, sneeze, fart, or burp.
 
Ok, now we have got rid of the Useless answers, any chance of anything that may help the issue i have ?

I am talking about private racing, not online lobbies that you may join !!!!

Thx

Paul
 
Am I and my mates the only ones to suffer this ?
Has there been no mention from the Devs if there is a restriction of some kind ?

Thanks

Paul
 
Am I understanding this right? 15 people talking at the same time? I don't even think that would be a succes if you were sitting in the same room :)

Maybe if it is a big problem in-game you can start a voice chat in the XMB menu instead - Idk how well it works, but it's worth a shot I think. Then just mute everyone in the lounge so that you can avoid echo.
 
bombe32
Am I understanding this right? 15 people talking at the same time? I don't even think that would be a succes if you were sitting in the same room :)
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This is the answer. Simply put paul, voicecoms, in *ANY* game don't work very well if you have more than 6-8 people in the room. Some people may have their volume turned up too high and it causes an echo effect. Others my have insufficient bandwidth. But try a normal telephone conference call with more than 6 people. It's not very different.

I've gone through this same situation many times. And with various games. With that many people it will NEVER work properly. And even if you select the highest quality for voice chat when you open the lobby, and sacrifice that bandwidth which could better be used for racing, you'll still have problems.

As somebody who regularly hosts full lobbies, there's only one way to go. Use voice chat for chit-chat in the lobby before and after the race. But any important announcement should be made via TEXT. That way nobody misses it.
 
Thanks fo rthe replies

I understand 15 people talking at the same time may not be everybodies cup of tea, but for example, when I play a Free For All On COD, we can always hear each other perfectly.

Secondly, its not the issue that everyone talks at the same time, yes that would be loud, but my point is, that when we do talk, people can not be heard at certain times during the game, even as host I can not be heard by people all the time, how bad is that !!

If people want to talk, then they should be able to be heard, if they don;t then fair enough but somewhere in the game, there is something happening to prevent people, (more than 6 it would seem) talk. Even when it is quiet, and the Voice icon is not flashing, people still can not be heard.
This is the SAME in the Lobby aswell, not just whilst racing, its infuritating and remember, its a private lobby, hence why we all want to be able to be heard

I am trying to figure out if there is an issue or whther it is the game doing this ?

Thanks

Paul
 
I never played COD. But I can tell you that it was the same with Supercar Challenge, Ferrari Challenge, and considerably worse with NFS:Shift, SSV8 & SSV8:NC. And I know at least SCC used the same code used by Sony for XMB voice chat. So if it doesn't work there...
 
r0llinlacs
I really don't care for mics and most of the time I just mute everyone.

I honestly don't need to hear you talking about which kid needs to go to bed first because they have school in the morning. Or hear you munching on some potato chips, or your crappy home made water bong bubbling, or every time you cough, sneeze, fart, or burp.
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Some of us have friends we like to talk to mate and the OP is coming up with a legit point here. So just go back to your dungeon and finish your 10th straight 24 hour race! :yuck:
 
jjaisli
I never played COD. But I can tell you that it was the same with Supercar Challenge, Ferrari Challenge, and considerably worse with NFS:Shift, SSV8 & SSV8:NC. And I know at least SCC used the same code used by Sony for XMB voice chat. So if it doesn't work there...
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Oh Dear, doesnt sound too promising then :-(
Oh well

And thanks Bob, I really don't understand some people and their comments, but hey, we can't all be the same !!

Cheers

Paul
 
Had another full lobby last night and yet more voice comms woes !!

What I don't understand, is if the game is deciding who can talk and who can be heard, how does it do it.

You would think the host should always be heard so to make any announcements.

I was host last night and I have HIGH bandwidth according to the game (20mb DL 2mb UL)
yet i could not always be heard.

Any ideas how it decides who talks and who doesnt ?

Paul
 
I think you might be able to fix your problem by adjusting the sound quality for your races.

I don't know the exact numbers, but if you are using 'high quality' audio, the actual amount of data being sent might look like:

High Quality Audio
Sample Rate: 44,100Hz
Quantization: 16 bits per sample.
Data for one voice channel: 44,100 X 16 = 705,600 bits/s
Data for 7 voice channels: 705,600 X 7 = 4,939,200 bits/s = 4.71 Mbps
Neglecting framing and whatnot, that is a good chunk of your 20mb connection.

Try switching to low quality audio, again I don't know the exact numbers PD uses, but this is what an average telephone uses (to give you an idea of sound quality)

Low Quality Audio
Sample Rate: 8,000Hz
Quantization: 8 bits per sample.
Data for one voice channel: 8,000 X 8 = 64,000 bits/s
Data for 7 voice channels: 64,000 X 7 = 448,000 bits/s = 0.427 Mbps

This setting might make it easier on your network connection to get the performance you are looking for.
 
Thats an interestting answer and I wonder how close you are to the truth.

I would question it though how games like BLOPS and other FPS games can handle 16 players talkign at the same time in such game modes as Free for all.

We regularly play these games and modes with alot of varying ISP and UL/DL Speeds.

All very weird
 
The simplest answer would be that other games (like BLOPS) use a default low quality audio stream for voice chatting, designed to support 16 audio channels. I think GT5 is giving you the option for better quality at the cost of multiplayer performance (good for 3 people - bad for 6).

A more complex and unlikely possibility is the the game-server for BLOPS is performing audio - mixing functions?

I remember seeing a post a while ago regarding someone being confused about the race quality setting (OP thought it meant better racing?) and I think that setting is also a measure of how much bandwidth you are using.

Anyways, if you try out a lower 'quality' setting let me know how it works for you because now I am getting more curious.
 
Nik, thx for your help, but I have tried all settings in the past. The bottome setting is unuseable, at least the time i tried it, maybe worth another go.

The high setting is no different to the middle setting

I will let you know when i test it again though unless someone else has already tested it ?

Paul
 
Less yapping and more racing, if you want to chat phone a mate, to be honest you "chatters" just put me off talking nonsense in the middle of the race, shut up and drive!
 
mrkevans
Less yapping and more racing, if you want to chat phone a mate, to be honest you "chatters" just put me off talking nonsense in the middle of the race, shut up and drive!
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If I wanted the oppinion of a nobody, you would be the first person I would turn to !!

Anything constructive to add or just gonna be a prat all your life ?

If I wann talk to my mates when in a private room, I will, if I ever come across you in the wild, I will be sure to keep quiet :grumpy:
 
I'm afraid it's the GT5 servers. Doesn't matter what settings you use for your lounge, it still won't help.
 
paulwilko10
If I do an online lobby i know there is a setting for sound and race quality, however that just makes the actual comms sound aweful and does not allow more to talk.
Click to expand...

Since 1.06, you can change the settings for audio quality in a private lounge by having the user who owns the lounge change the settings under "My Lounge Settings". This will allow you to change the comm's settings like you would with a normal lobby. I would think that with higher quality, more people could talk and with lower quality, fewer people.

nik99
I think you might be able to fix your problem by adjusting the sound quality for your races.

I don't know the exact numbers, but if you are using 'high quality' audio, the actual amount of data being sent might look like:

High Quality Audio
Sample Rate: 44,100Hz
Quantization: 16 bits per sample.
Data for one voice channel: 44,100 X 16 = 705,600 bits/s
Data for 7 voice channels: 705,600 X 7 = 4,939,200 bits/s = 4.71 Mbps
Neglecting framing and whatnot, that is a good chunk of your 20mb connection.

Try switching to low quality audio, again I don't know the exact numbers PD uses, but this is what an average telephone uses (to give you an idea of sound quality)

Low Quality Audio
Sample Rate: 8,000Hz
Quantization: 8 bits per sample.
Data for one voice channel: 8,000 X 8 = 64,000 bits/s
Data for 7 voice channels: 64,000 X 7 = 448,000 bits/s = 0.427 Mbps

This setting might make it easier on your network connection to get the performance you are looking for.
Click to expand...
Those bandwidth numbers would only apply to uncompressed audio. They are likely using some form of compression which would change those figures greatly.
 
I think its all PD's servers. They are very slow, and PD is new to online gaming and probably dosn't know about the shortcuts, and workarounds that the devs of blops and halo know from so much experience. Maybe better in GT6, who knows.
 
odyss3y
I would think that with higher quality, more people could talk and with lower quality, fewer people.
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I was thinking the exact opposite of this; low quality would be better for more people talking!

1-2-3-4 I declare a flame war!

Just kidding, the verbage is a little vague, so people can interpret the settings to have the opposite configuration to what they want. (That, and my spelling and grammar won't withstand a full frontal assault.)

Those bandwidth numbers would only apply to uncompressed audio. They are likely using some form of compression which would change those figures greatly.
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True; the numbers I presented are overly simplistic, you could easily see a 50-60% data rate reduction with an average compression algorithm. You can easily add 20-35% for protocol overhead, depending on the stack, and double it if the audio is in stereo. There are many, many other things Sony/PD could be (and probably are) doing to reduce the audio bandwidth, I just hope the numbers I posted helped convey my idea that high quality audio can eat-up your bandwidth quickly.
 
mrkevans
Less yapping and more racing, if you want to chat phone a mate, to be honest you "chatters" just put me off talking nonsense in the middle of the race, shut up and drive!
Click to expand...

If you're running an organised lobby then voice comms are essential... I see your point but you're not really helping the OP....
 
The problem is bluetooth mics. I very often have 16 people in my racerooms with no issues with voice chat. But I require bluetooths to be muted while not in use, so there are never a bunch of mics hot at one time.
 
DMoss84
The problem is bluetooth mics. I very often have 16 people in my racerooms with no issues with voice chat. But I require bluetooths to be muted while not in use, so there are never a bunch of mics hot at one time.
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Thats an interesting point, so you get 16 players in and at anytime, anyone can speak and be heard ?
 
15 people with headsets is quite a lot. Considering your 2 mbps upload. Have you tried lowering the voice chat quality.

Also, you said it says that your bandwith is "High"? It doesn't say "Very high"?

EDIT. Sorry it was 15 people.
 
JIS87
15 people with headsets is quite a lot. Considering your 2 mbps upload. Have you tried lowering the voice chat quality.

Also, you said it says that your bandwith is "High"? It doesn't say "Very high"?

EDIT. Sorry it was 15 people.
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Ooh, not sure if its High or very high, i will check that

I know 15 at the same time is alot and who wants 15 people shouting at the time, not me, but the fact that we cant talk when we want to is a pain, almost as if the game decides who is allowed to talk at a particular time !!

We spend half the race saying "Can you hear me, can anyone hear me ?" Which is ridiculous

Paul
 

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