Input Lag
What is Input lag?
Input lag is a delay from the moment your output device (PC, Game console, DVD, etc.) sends an image to your TV to when it is finally displayed on your screen to see.
more info can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_lag
It is generally accepted that ALL display devices that are digitally based, LCD, Plasma, DLP, LCD projectors, anything thats not CRT based Have input lag, not to be confused with pixel lag which manufactures often advertise.
ONLY CRT displays due to their purely analog nature are Lag free analog signal goes in analog signal is displayed.
Digital Displays must convert any NON-digital signal (everything except HDMI and DVI are analog) into a digital signal to be processed and displayed, ALL LCD's even PC LCD's suffer from this delay. PC LCD's that are manufactured for gaming and general use primarily tend to be the fastest, offering near CRT speed of Display. many however can lag just as much if not even more than some HDTV LCD's. This is why using a CRT for these test is so important to insure that your baseline display is truly lag free. Using another LCD even a fast one can make a TV's input lag results appear to be LOWER (faster response) than it Really is. how much lower will depend on the LCD monitors lag (the fastest LCD's have been tested at 2-8 milliseconds with the average LCD monitor around 16ms witch is a whole frame delay, many LCD monitors can have lag in excess of 30ms (2+ frames delayed)
that being said, most LCD PC monitor have low input lag because they are cheap and cheap means they are TN based (Twisted Nematic) most TN monitors do not use RTC or Overdrive and if they do they are not a good display to use as a control for these tests unless you can disable this feature in its menus (most newer PC monitors will allow this so check for it if your monitor has Overdrive mode)
Does this lag Matter to me?
Input lag matters to many HDTV users, Mainly Gamers that like to play fast twitch FPS games, Fighting games (street fighter style), Music games (guitar hero/rock band) any game where timing is important. It can also effect Normal TV users that never play games and watch a lot of movies on their TV, depending on your setup. If you route all sound into your TV and do not have a surround receiver you are unlikely to see lip sync problems however, if you do use a Surround Receiver and it does not have HDMI or you are not using HDMI into the Receiver you may notice that the lip sync on your BD/DVD's is every so slightly off due to the sound output from your DVD player being plugged directly into the Receiver and is being played back when it is supposed to be played back. If you do see that happen in this type of situation it is likely you HDTV is DELAYING the video signal so much that you can notice it visually even in a movie
Generally most People cannot see or feel a difference of less than 30ms roughly 2 frames, some say they can but they are the rare few and likely younger people
3 frames delayed seems to be a Grey area where some people can notice it and others cannot, if you can notice this much delay you can often adapt to it and become used to it but it can very much still impact your gaming performance in games played online most notably FPS games due to the need for leading moving targets in the game etc.
4+ frames delayed is too much delay and should be readily noticeable to just about anyone if they took the time to notice it and is very detrimental to game play
For a visual example of how this effects your game play in FPS games here is a video of a guy playing counterstrike on a Sony EX5 (EX500 in the US)
The purpose of this thread is to Test your HDTV for Input lag VS a CRT display or a fast LCD monitor that has been tested by someone or yourself google for reviews and report back the results with pictures as proof of the results
These tests can never be more accurate than 1 Frame (16ms) and will never be completely accurate as there are many variables when doing these tests including but not limited to, your camera and its settings, your video card and its drivers/settings. LCD blur getting in the way of Clear readings etc. Due to this I will be posting summarized results in this Post of each TV tested and the Measurements will be in Frame Delay with one frame equaling 16ms.
How do I test my TV for input lag?
First you need a PC with a video card that has dual outputs
hook up the TV and CRT monitor to your PC's outputs
Set your video card to output in "Clone mode" so the same image is displayed on both screens at the same time
Get a Digital camera with a high ISO setting (ISO 800 is often the best setting) If it has a shutter delay option set it to 1/60 so they CRT and LCD will both be clear to see in every picture, if this is not set the CRT will have a rolling Horizontal Dark line as you can see in many pictures I've messed up for you below
![Image]()
if your testing with both displays being LCD you can rasie the shutter speed as high as your camera will allow to get clearer and more consitant results
last step is to go to the webpage in the link below in Rule #1 and scroll down till you find the Input lag timer and once you got everything setup the way you want it and camera ready to go, hit start and start snapping photos
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post the pictures here with a summery of results if you have time to figure that out (frame delay is more important than figuring MS differences)
rules are
#1
you must post Pictures of your results using the input lag timer here are a few free ones
Lagom.nl
FlatpanelsHD
I also have a more accurate timer called SMTT, i had to pay for it but they allow you to freely distribute it to people just not on a website so if you would like a copy PM me. I currently have copies of Win7/Vista x64 and WinXP 32bit that i can give out
if you wish to Purchase a copy of a different version of SMTT you can do so at their website, if you do buy another version of SMTT please contact me if you wish to give me a copy so i can distribute it to future people who wish to test their displays and are not running Vista/Win7 x64, the cost of the program is 5 Euro's
http://smtt.thomasthiemann.com/index_en.html
SMTT will provide you will much more accurate results because it uses DirectX and unlocks the V-Sync of your graphics card's outputs, allthough the timer's down the side of the screen appear to not be in sync they in fact are. all displays scan from top to bottom and as the update happens on your display the timer keeps on advancing and that is the reason for the added accuracy of SMTT provided that your PC has enough CPU power to exceed 1000 FPS for the given resolution your at (my Core 2 Duo E4500 that is oc'd to 3.4ghz clocks around 2000 fps at 1920 x 1080)
when using this program you always want to take the highest visible number on both displays to use to draw your input lag result and if you do this you will end up with very consistent results. its extremely accurate
#2
tell us what model TV(s) involved in the test and what their relevant settings are for each test (game mode, PC mode etc..)
#3
it is preferred that you have a CRT display as your baseline for the comparison but if you do not a fast PC LCD is ok or another TV that has been tested before by someone vs a CRT is ok BUT, please state that you did not use a CRT and what the average lag is of the display is that you used from another source tested vs CRT if possible, if not thats ok, but results should be taken as the difference between the 2 LCD's that have been tested in your photos and not as an accurate reading of the input lag of either display obviously
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#4
Make sure you also test your video cards outputs for delay by switching the display connections (ex, TV connected to #1 input Monitor on #2, take a handful of shots, then switch the monitor to #1 and the TV to #2 ) The reason for this is so far at least one user using a Geforce 260 has discovered that there is consistently a 1 frame delay from his primary connector to his secondary connector on his video card, all others so far have not experienced this including other Nvidia cards and ATI cards but it should always be checked so we can insure more accurate results
#5 to obtain the best possible results you need to have a control display that is capable of displaying your test subject's (TV) native resolution, for 1080p LCD TV's this is 1920 x 1080. CRT monitor rarely are able to display this resolution but many of them can if you force the resolution on them but you may/can damage your monitor if you do this so be aware. 1920 x 1080 native TN LCD monitors are ideal for these tests and many of them exist these days, if your monitor is lower resolution like 1680 x 1050 (very common for 22" TN monitors) this can work fairly good still at least with Nvidia card's because what happens is when you set clone mode for 1680 x 1050 Nvidia's by default recognize that your TV will not accept that resolution and automatically upscale it to 1920 x 1080. this does result in some inaccuracy of results but in my own tests the Nvidia scalier in my GF 8800 GT is very fast and only adds around 5ms of lag by doing this (i also have a CRT that will display 1920 x 1080 when its forced to do it)
Panel type and how much they lag typically
IPS = low input lag 0-16 ms(IPS-Pro made by IPS-Alpha (panasonics) S-IPS (made by LG LCD display)
xVA = 30+ ms input lag often in the 45-60ms range in game modes for most TV's that use this panel type(S-PVA, MVA type panels found in sony, samsung and many major brand TV's sold today. they are manufactured for the most part by S-LCD (sony/samsung owned company) AU Optronics and Chi Mei
TN = low input lag but not found in 95% of LCD TV's due to poor picture quality and not made in large sizes etc.
120hz sets often increase input lag. this does not necessarily mean that a 120hz set will always have high lag, there have been more than one 120hz sets that have very low input lag but it all depends on how they designed the TV to work. some models like the Samsung A650's and the Toshiba xv645u's actually disable 120hz completely when in a special mode made for PC's/gaming and then and only then they have low input lag.
the reason for VA's wide usage is simple. its cheaper to manufacture in large sizes and offers better static contrast ratios over IPS panels making for the best picture in LCD's. The problem is VA LCD panel type by its nature has a very poor pixel response speed in excess of 16ms natively with many G2G transitions so in order to fix this major flaw these panels must employ RTC short for Response Time Compensation or Pixel Overdrive as it was called by many LCD monitor manufactures when it first came out. The problem for gamers with RTC is in order for it to work the panel's TCON must buffer a few frames to analyze them for changes then tell the pixels to change state faster via over voltage the control transistors for the pixels by a certian amount depending on how much the change was
That being said there are VA displays that can produce good lag numbers at or under 30ms, samsung A series and toshiba 40xv645u are examples of this as well as sharp TV's with Vyper Drive (these sharp TV's use ASV panels and are a variation of VA tech) from what i've seen though these displays achieve low input lag by reducing how much RTC is used in the signal processing and it can create more pixel blur than is normal esp with dark images like moving a dark gray box over a black background will result in visible smear and ghosting yet more common transitions are still fast. this is a trade off us gamers will have to live with if we want TV's that perform good for gaming but can also produce great TV/movie picture quality
IPS panels naturally have a good response time and do not require the use of RTC to bring their response time down to the level that a person cannot see pixel smearing but they cannot even begin to compare to VA panels with black levels without resorting to backlight dimming tricks (panasonic calls it A.I. Picture) that being said it is not to be assumed that an IPS does not use RTC and is lag free, only Panasonic's with IPS-Pro panels (many of their 32/37 720/1080p panel's in the past few years have had these panels) have next to no input lag consistently, LG IPS TV's can vary from fast to ok or worse possibly and the 120hz+ models will likely be laggy unless they have a special mode that defeats the 120hz mode
here is some sample photos from LG Display comparing pixel response time of IPS and VA
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other factors can be involved in input lag though like the speed of a certian TV's internal scalier when its given a non-native resolution as well as video processing circuitry like noise reduction and most of all 120hz/motion enhancers though all of these things can be overcome by disabling them in most all TV's so this is often not the real problem for most gamers unless you plan on using older consoles/Wii's with your TV (720p scaling can be a concern for PS3 owners as well)
An easy method to see if an LCD is VA is to press on the screen when a black/dark image is on screen see photo below also from LG Display
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Test Results section
here i will divide the tested TV's into 3 sections as follows
GREEN TV's have no more than 2 frames delayed when in a certain mode that reduces lag
BLUE TV'S will be in the middle section, what i call the gray area, the TV's that end up in between 2 and 3 frames delayed and casual gamers will have no issues with most of these TV's
RED TV'S are for TV's with more than 3 frames delayed, some of the faster ones maybe ok to some gamers but overall these TV's will have very noticeable input lag to the majority of gamers out there today unless they only play games that are not sensitive to input lag but even then they just don't realize its there, ignorance is bliss as they say
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for results on Plasma TV's please visit Orta's Plasma Input lag thread
BEST gaming TV's tested so far
Samsung A650's '08 40" and bigger ONLY(results from 650 gamers lag thread ) S-PVA panel is likely for A series Samsungs, these are the only VA's that have achieved low input lag due to a special PC mode that hurts Picture Quality dramatically by owners accounts (it may very well be turning off RTC and is much of the cause of the PQ hit)
VGA mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
VGA mode / any PC resolution accepted by the 650. 480P and 720P will not work in VGA.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
HDMI2 PC mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
HDMI GAME mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 1-2 frame delay
HDMI Movie Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average lag: 3-4 frame delay
HDMI Standard Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average Lag: 3-4 frame delay
Component Standard Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average Lag: 4-6 frame delay
Component GAME mode / 480p.
Average lag: 1-2 frame delay
Notes: results are taken from Samsung 650 Input lag thread ; tests done on these displays in this thread have not been vs CRT's but PC LCD's some of the PC LCD's have been tested vs CRT's and have been shown to be near 0 lag say in the 2-8ms lag range, however most of the tests done have been on an untested Dell LCD monitor that I have yet to find any input lag info on, but appears to be a fast TN panel. Actual Input lag may be 10ms or so higher than they are shown here due to this ; the absolute fastest response on these displays are ONLY on HDMI 2 Labeled as PC and VGA input (any res. supported 1080P & normal PC resolutions NO 720P/480P on VGA) Go read that thread for more detailed results and info on these displays Including what modes disable what picture settings etc. the fastest modes disable many picture controls but not all of them
Panasonic 32" LZ800 HDMI 1080P IPS-Pro panel
1080P Standard mode
0-1 frame delay
1080P Game mode
0-1 frame delay
480i Game mode
1-2 frame delay (closer to 1 than 2 but definitely a bit more lag than 1080p)
notes: this is one the very fastest LCD TV's ever tested, would love to see what panasonic's current TV's test at, it should be around the same as these models. Tested by Mr Deap
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic TC-L32S1 IPS-Pro panel
1080P HDMI
0-1 frame delay in game mode or out does not matter
notes: was tested vs a CRT monitor with an average of 14ms delay of picture with many displaying 0 ms delay, one of the best gaming TV's today for sure, the smooth motion feature appears to just be a scanning backlight and does not impact input lag but appears to show some visible flicker. Tested by hidefLoans
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic TC-L37S1 IPS-Pro panel
1080P HDMI
0-1 frame delay just like its little brother
720p HDMI vs CRT
1 frame delay (13ms) very good result for a non native resolution
notes: this is my new main PC monitor, text is not perfect 100% of the time. these Panny TV's have a strange problem with displaying red and blue text ONLY on dark/black backgrounds, text otherwise is very good once you get the picture settings set right and running cleartype tuner in windows helps some more as well. optimal Sharpness on these Panasonic's is 0-10 at most, the sharpness setting adds edge enhancement at anything over 0. Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic 32" TC-L32X1 (720p) IPS-Pro panel
720p HDMI vs LCD monitor tested to have 2ms lag
0 input lag
notes: this is a very well done test using a good camera and can show how consistent your results can get once you have a good camera setup correctly for these tests. very good job Saiyanjin2. If you take a look at the you tube video in his post and you pause it you can see that the rotating frame ticker to the right of the counter is actually AHEAD of the TN pc monitor indicating that the panasonic is slightly faster than the TN in pixel response time! Tested by Saiyanjin2
LINK TO PHOTOS
Here's a youtube video of his tests
Toshiba 40xf550u likely to be a VA panel just like my Toshiba but is unknown
Game mode on via HDMI
1-2 Frame Delay
Game mode OFF via HDMI
3-4 Frame Delay
Notes: this set does let you make pq adjustments in game mode over hdmi/component. Results are vs a CRT display TV was not at native resolution but was not upscaling the picture so it does not matter as the scalier was not active. Tested by kumquatsrus
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sharp LC52E77U Sharp's ASV Panel a variation of VA tech only found in Sharp TV's
480i GAME MODE ON
AV Mode: Game
Fine Motion Enhanced: On
Active Contrast: On
Lag: 2 frames
1080p GAME MODE ON
AV Mode: Game
Fine Motion Enhanced: On
Active Contrast: On
Lag: less than 1 frame
results taken from this webpage , photos of the test are there as well ad more tests out of game mode and it appears he used a laptop LCD as his control but that should be very fast as they are normally TN panels, this model Sharp does not have their "Vyper Drive" game mode like some other model's so its probably safe to assume that the models with Vyper Drive will perform as good and maybe better with lower resolutions but i've yet to come across evidence that shows this so be aware
Panasonic 50X1 Plasma
1280 X 720
2 frames delayed
notes: TV is 1366 x 768 native, it will display this resolution over HDMI but unfortunately my CRT monitor would not display it so i had to use the lower resolution
35ms input lag, actual input lag could be lower at the panel's native resolution but as most 720p video games will be outputting 1280 x 720 it does not really matter
as usual with Panasonic TV's they do not reduce lag in game mode, it is simply another picture mode on the TV, test was done VS a CRT and performed by Myself
LINK TO PHOTO
NEC 3215 (32" LCD commercial display)pretty likely to be an IPS panel based on performance and its 178 degree rated viewing angles
1440 x 900 (native res is 1366x768)
1 frame delay
notes: tested vs an LCD monitor model Samsung 942B, This is not a mainstream TV set but rather a Commercial display/TV its 720p (fine for 32" unless you plan to use as a normal PC monitor) and it has no speakers and only a few inputs (VGA and DVI input i believe) tested by Zenith DTT900
LINK TO PHOTOS
Vizio 32L10A 720p LCD TV
720p HDMI 1 3 frames delayed
720p HDMI 2 & 3 2 frames delayed
notes: tested vs a CRT. HDMI 1 apparently has 1 frame more lag than 2 and 3, never seen this happen before on a TV but when your dealing with lower end brands you never know what kind of odd stuff comes up. tested by bahnzo
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG 37LH20 720p IPS panel
720p 2 frames delayed (25ms roughly)
480i 3 frames delayed (48ms)
notes: tested vs CRT's. lots more information on this TV is availible in the excelent report posted by wondras the link is below this line.
LINK TO PHOTOS
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
Blue area TV's may be ok for some people but not good enough for the most demanding gamers
Panasonic TC-L37U22 LG IPS panel
1080p 2-1/2 frames delayed (42ms)
notes: tested vs a CRT by igomadness. iamdanwilliamson has also tested this model vs an LCD and came up with 32ms, further evidence that Tests done with PC LCD monitors need 10ms added to them to be close to accurate
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG LH90 LGD IPS panel more than likely user did not state the size of his TV but it should not matter
1280x1024 not scaling the image
2 frames delayed
tested vs an LCD monitor so lag is likely to be 1/2-1 frame more than tested. his picture settings in the test were "ISF/Expert 1 with Local Dimming ON" , this TV should perform at least 1 frame better if he put it into game mode i would guess but he does not want to find out for us
![Image]()
thanks for the test result either way though rahzel
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LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 55C7000 S panel (SQ01) S-LCD S-PVA panel
1080p HDMI/DVI 1 labeled PC 9 frames delayed 156ms input lag!
1080p HDMI/DVI 1 labeled PC LED motion plus ON! (not AMP) 2 frames delayed! (31ms)
notes: does show potential for having very good input lag with the correct settings at 1080p, input lag is likely to be worse, possibly much worse if not in 1080p or not in the special samsung PC mode that only works on ONE HDMI input so be warned. for this reason and the lack of using a CRT for the test i'm sticking it in the blue section tested by DarkGSR
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony 32" XBR6 (205r fw) 1080p HDMI S-LCD made S-PVA panel confirmed by myself (its my TV!) i took the back cover off to check it
Photo mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
Video mode W/game mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
Video mode W/O game mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
VGA @ 1280 X 1024 (TV is not scaling the picture)
2-3 frames delay
720p via Component Game mode on
2-3 frames delay
480i Svideo game mode on
2-3 frames delay
Note: The Sony's WILL allow changing of more picture controls in game mode, only setting Photo mode will disable cinemotion/motionflow and noise reduction settings, VGA mode is the most limited input on the display but you can adjust backlight, brightness and contrast in VGA, this TV was tested vs a CRT monitor. Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 46" A550 720P HDMI VA panel of some sort it could be a S-PVA or a MVA due to samsungs use of 2 different brand panels in their TV's
Normal mode 720p
2-3 frame delay
Game mode 720p
2-3 frame delay
Normal-labeled as PC 720p
2-3 frame delay
Notes: display is 1080p native, user couldn't test vs CRT at 1080p due to CRT resolution incompatibility
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 46A550 1080P
1080P (game mode on? does not say in post)
2-3 frame delay
Tested by clicq
LINK TO PHOTOS
Toshiba 40xv645u HDMI 1080p in game mode took the back cover off my set to see what panel it had it is made by samsung (not S-LCD) and is made in china definitely a VA panel
Average lag 1-2 frames delayed (27ms averaged over 11 pictures 34/20 HIGH/LOW results) see notes for reason why its not in the green section
Game mode disables 120hz (duh) most picture controls are active still except NR stuff and Resolution+ and the nice thing is the TV will save separate picture mode settings for the same input making it easy and fast to switch from a movie mode to a game mode for PS3 owners/PC users wanting to have 120hz sometimes Text on this TV when used with a PC is some of the best i've ever seen very sharp and zero noise. In game/PC mode color gradient tests on all 3 primary colors show extreme color banding problems, color accuracy is definitely impaired greatly when in these modes on this TV making it OK for gaming but bad for PC use in these modes if you care about color accuracy furthermore having 120hz turned off this TV exhibits visible pixel smearing with dark images moving over an even darker background. interestingly enough i was only able to see this happen using a test designed to create smearing, in real world use I never saw this happen but if you play any games that are very dark I have no doubt you will see this happen if the set is in game mode/out of 120hz mode and for this reason i'm sticking in into the Gray area rather than the best section even though its input lag performance is good enough to be in the best section Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG LH30 AUO VA Panel
1080P
2-3 frames delayed (30-50ms lag)
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG used to put their own S-IPS panels in these TV's in models manufactured in the first half of 2009 but sometime in the middle of 2009 they stopped doing that and put AUO VA panels into them and the input lag went up to sony/samsung levels, if your lucky enough to find one with an LGD made IPS panel they have very low input lag like panasonic IPS TV's
here is proof of this from forum member Odysseus18
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
Vizio SV472XVT likely uses an LG 47" IPS panel because thats the only LCD made in that size AFAIK
VGA 1080p - min 54ms (3.25 frames), average 69ms (4 frames).
HDMI 1080p all advanced image processing options OFF - min 61ms (3.5-ish frames), average 67ms (4 frames).
HDMI 1080p all advanced image processing options ON and maxed out - min 59ms (3.5 frames), average 65ms (4 frames).
Composite 480i - I didn't test this with SMTT but using the Wii in this mode was almost unplayable. Horrible input lag. Avoid at all costs (use the component cable instead).
Component 480p - As soon as I switched the Wii to use a component cable and ran in 480p it felt just like the XBox 360 in 1080p (i.e. about 3-4 frames of input lag).
notes: Tested vs a CRT. it appears that even though these Vizio TV's use an LCD panel that has been shown to have low lag Vizio's poor implementation of the mainboard hardware/software is creating non-defeatable input lag because this panel when in LG and probably Toshiba TV's that use them as well have much less input lag and preform good. Tested by ninjapowered
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung LN52B630 tested vs a 17inch CRT monitor VA panel of some sort it could be a S-PVA or a MVA due to samsungs use of 2 different brand panels in their TV's
VGA input 1920 x 1080
3-4 frame delay
HDMI1 DVI game mode OFF
6 frames delayed
HDMI1 DVI game mode ON
3-4 frame delay
notes: "I was running my pc with a millisecond clock in clone mode. MSI 9400GT video card with HDMI,VGA,DVI. I was using a Canon A570Is camera. I found I had to use a 125 second exposure (ASA800) to get the picture. With a higher shutter speed (500) the CRT monitor displayed a moving black bar which usually covered the clock.
AMP set to Off,Dynamic Contrast set to Off"
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony 52EX701 Appears to use Sharp's new X-Gen LCD panel
VGA in at 1024 x 768
5 frames delayed
![Image]()
HDMI in at 1024 x 768
5 frames delayed
![Image]()
owner tested it vs a CRT monitor and for the moment at least only tested it at this low resolution so its part of the cause of the lag but it's still lagging too much to account for simple scalier lag that normally averages at 10-20ms input lag at most, hopefully he will attempt to test at a higher resolution soon so we can see if lower numbers are possible but i doubt it will get into the gamer friendly range at this point. Tested by MetalAlien
here's his youtube video of the test, he used a high speed capable camera for the test
link to the owners posts regarding this test
Samsung 32C450 720p CMO Panel
1360x768 HDMI
3-4 frames delayed (50-60ms lag)
was tested vs a 16" CRT monitor by Odysseus18
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony EX500 likely to be a VA panel either AUO or S-LCD
not sure what resolution was used 5.5 frames delayed, 94ms input lag
here's a youtube video showing how bad the input lag is on this TV
Insignia NS-32LCD-09 who cares what panel it had it was terrible
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Avoid at all costs, I owned this TV briefly before i Knew about input lag and how to test it but I can tell you that when i had it connected via VGA at 720P (its native res) it looked ok picture wise but input lag in windows with mouse movements were EXTREMELY apparent. If i had to guess it lags at least in the 80-100 MS range maybe even higher it was very bad !! not fit for gaming ever
It should pretty much go without saying that you should never buy a cheapo brand TV if you want a TV with low input lag, major players like sony and samsung cannot even get good lag numbers so its pretty unlikely that any cheap off brand or best buy house brand model TV is going to perform good input lag wise, Vizio may be the only exception to this rule but i've heard very mixed results on how they perform input lag wise ranging from good to terrible
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
What is Input lag?
Input lag is a delay from the moment your output device (PC, Game console, DVD, etc.) sends an image to your TV to when it is finally displayed on your screen to see.
more info can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Input_lag
It is generally accepted that ALL display devices that are digitally based, LCD, Plasma, DLP, LCD projectors, anything thats not CRT based Have input lag, not to be confused with pixel lag which manufactures often advertise.
ONLY CRT displays due to their purely analog nature are Lag free analog signal goes in analog signal is displayed.
Digital Displays must convert any NON-digital signal (everything except HDMI and DVI are analog) into a digital signal to be processed and displayed, ALL LCD's even PC LCD's suffer from this delay. PC LCD's that are manufactured for gaming and general use primarily tend to be the fastest, offering near CRT speed of Display. many however can lag just as much if not even more than some HDTV LCD's. This is why using a CRT for these test is so important to insure that your baseline display is truly lag free. Using another LCD even a fast one can make a TV's input lag results appear to be LOWER (faster response) than it Really is. how much lower will depend on the LCD monitors lag (the fastest LCD's have been tested at 2-8 milliseconds with the average LCD monitor around 16ms witch is a whole frame delay, many LCD monitors can have lag in excess of 30ms (2+ frames delayed)
that being said, most LCD PC monitor have low input lag because they are cheap and cheap means they are TN based (Twisted Nematic) most TN monitors do not use RTC or Overdrive and if they do they are not a good display to use as a control for these tests unless you can disable this feature in its menus (most newer PC monitors will allow this so check for it if your monitor has Overdrive mode)
Does this lag Matter to me?
Input lag matters to many HDTV users, Mainly Gamers that like to play fast twitch FPS games, Fighting games (street fighter style), Music games (guitar hero/rock band) any game where timing is important. It can also effect Normal TV users that never play games and watch a lot of movies on their TV, depending on your setup. If you route all sound into your TV and do not have a surround receiver you are unlikely to see lip sync problems however, if you do use a Surround Receiver and it does not have HDMI or you are not using HDMI into the Receiver you may notice that the lip sync on your BD/DVD's is every so slightly off due to the sound output from your DVD player being plugged directly into the Receiver and is being played back when it is supposed to be played back. If you do see that happen in this type of situation it is likely you HDTV is DELAYING the video signal so much that you can notice it visually even in a movie
Generally most People cannot see or feel a difference of less than 30ms roughly 2 frames, some say they can but they are the rare few and likely younger people
3 frames delayed seems to be a Grey area where some people can notice it and others cannot, if you can notice this much delay you can often adapt to it and become used to it but it can very much still impact your gaming performance in games played online most notably FPS games due to the need for leading moving targets in the game etc.
4+ frames delayed is too much delay and should be readily noticeable to just about anyone if they took the time to notice it and is very detrimental to game play
For a visual example of how this effects your game play in FPS games here is a video of a guy playing counterstrike on a Sony EX5 (EX500 in the US)
The purpose of this thread is to Test your HDTV for Input lag VS a CRT display or a fast LCD monitor that has been tested by someone or yourself google for reviews and report back the results with pictures as proof of the results
These tests can never be more accurate than 1 Frame (16ms) and will never be completely accurate as there are many variables when doing these tests including but not limited to, your camera and its settings, your video card and its drivers/settings. LCD blur getting in the way of Clear readings etc. Due to this I will be posting summarized results in this Post of each TV tested and the Measurements will be in Frame Delay with one frame equaling 16ms.
How do I test my TV for input lag?
First you need a PC with a video card that has dual outputs
hook up the TV and CRT monitor to your PC's outputs
Set your video card to output in "Clone mode" so the same image is displayed on both screens at the same time
Get a Digital camera with a high ISO setting (ISO 800 is often the best setting) If it has a shutter delay option set it to 1/60 so they CRT and LCD will both be clear to see in every picture, if this is not set the CRT will have a rolling Horizontal Dark line as you can see in many pictures I've messed up for you below
if your testing with both displays being LCD you can rasie the shutter speed as high as your camera will allow to get clearer and more consitant results
last step is to go to the webpage in the link below in Rule #1 and scroll down till you find the Input lag timer and once you got everything setup the way you want it and camera ready to go, hit start and start snapping photos
post the pictures here with a summery of results if you have time to figure that out (frame delay is more important than figuring MS differences)
rules are
#1
you must post Pictures of your results using the input lag timer here are a few free ones
Lagom.nl
FlatpanelsHD
I also have a more accurate timer called SMTT, i had to pay for it but they allow you to freely distribute it to people just not on a website so if you would like a copy PM me. I currently have copies of Win7/Vista x64 and WinXP 32bit that i can give out
if you wish to Purchase a copy of a different version of SMTT you can do so at their website, if you do buy another version of SMTT please contact me if you wish to give me a copy so i can distribute it to future people who wish to test their displays and are not running Vista/Win7 x64, the cost of the program is 5 Euro's
http://smtt.thomasthiemann.com/index_en.html
SMTT will provide you will much more accurate results because it uses DirectX and unlocks the V-Sync of your graphics card's outputs, allthough the timer's down the side of the screen appear to not be in sync they in fact are. all displays scan from top to bottom and as the update happens on your display the timer keeps on advancing and that is the reason for the added accuracy of SMTT provided that your PC has enough CPU power to exceed 1000 FPS for the given resolution your at (my Core 2 Duo E4500 that is oc'd to 3.4ghz clocks around 2000 fps at 1920 x 1080)
when using this program you always want to take the highest visible number on both displays to use to draw your input lag result and if you do this you will end up with very consistent results. its extremely accurate
#2
tell us what model TV(s) involved in the test and what their relevant settings are for each test (game mode, PC mode etc..)
#3
it is preferred that you have a CRT display as your baseline for the comparison but if you do not a fast PC LCD is ok or another TV that has been tested before by someone vs a CRT is ok BUT, please state that you did not use a CRT and what the average lag is of the display is that you used from another source tested vs CRT if possible, if not thats ok, but results should be taken as the difference between the 2 LCD's that have been tested in your photos and not as an accurate reading of the input lag of either display obviously
#4
Make sure you also test your video cards outputs for delay by switching the display connections (ex, TV connected to #1 input Monitor on #2, take a handful of shots, then switch the monitor to #1 and the TV to #2 ) The reason for this is so far at least one user using a Geforce 260 has discovered that there is consistently a 1 frame delay from his primary connector to his secondary connector on his video card, all others so far have not experienced this including other Nvidia cards and ATI cards but it should always be checked so we can insure more accurate results
#5 to obtain the best possible results you need to have a control display that is capable of displaying your test subject's (TV) native resolution, for 1080p LCD TV's this is 1920 x 1080. CRT monitor rarely are able to display this resolution but many of them can if you force the resolution on them but you may/can damage your monitor if you do this so be aware. 1920 x 1080 native TN LCD monitors are ideal for these tests and many of them exist these days, if your monitor is lower resolution like 1680 x 1050 (very common for 22" TN monitors) this can work fairly good still at least with Nvidia card's because what happens is when you set clone mode for 1680 x 1050 Nvidia's by default recognize that your TV will not accept that resolution and automatically upscale it to 1920 x 1080. this does result in some inaccuracy of results but in my own tests the Nvidia scalier in my GF 8800 GT is very fast and only adds around 5ms of lag by doing this (i also have a CRT that will display 1920 x 1080 when its forced to do it)
Panel type and how much they lag typically
IPS = low input lag 0-16 ms(IPS-Pro made by IPS-Alpha (panasonics) S-IPS (made by LG LCD display)
xVA = 30+ ms input lag often in the 45-60ms range in game modes for most TV's that use this panel type(S-PVA, MVA type panels found in sony, samsung and many major brand TV's sold today. they are manufactured for the most part by S-LCD (sony/samsung owned company) AU Optronics and Chi Mei
TN = low input lag but not found in 95% of LCD TV's due to poor picture quality and not made in large sizes etc.
120hz sets often increase input lag. this does not necessarily mean that a 120hz set will always have high lag, there have been more than one 120hz sets that have very low input lag but it all depends on how they designed the TV to work. some models like the Samsung A650's and the Toshiba xv645u's actually disable 120hz completely when in a special mode made for PC's/gaming and then and only then they have low input lag.
the reason for VA's wide usage is simple. its cheaper to manufacture in large sizes and offers better static contrast ratios over IPS panels making for the best picture in LCD's. The problem is VA LCD panel type by its nature has a very poor pixel response speed in excess of 16ms natively with many G2G transitions so in order to fix this major flaw these panels must employ RTC short for Response Time Compensation or Pixel Overdrive as it was called by many LCD monitor manufactures when it first came out. The problem for gamers with RTC is in order for it to work the panel's TCON must buffer a few frames to analyze them for changes then tell the pixels to change state faster via over voltage the control transistors for the pixels by a certian amount depending on how much the change was
That being said there are VA displays that can produce good lag numbers at or under 30ms, samsung A series and toshiba 40xv645u are examples of this as well as sharp TV's with Vyper Drive (these sharp TV's use ASV panels and are a variation of VA tech) from what i've seen though these displays achieve low input lag by reducing how much RTC is used in the signal processing and it can create more pixel blur than is normal esp with dark images like moving a dark gray box over a black background will result in visible smear and ghosting yet more common transitions are still fast. this is a trade off us gamers will have to live with if we want TV's that perform good for gaming but can also produce great TV/movie picture quality
IPS panels naturally have a good response time and do not require the use of RTC to bring their response time down to the level that a person cannot see pixel smearing but they cannot even begin to compare to VA panels with black levels without resorting to backlight dimming tricks (panasonic calls it A.I. Picture) that being said it is not to be assumed that an IPS does not use RTC and is lag free, only Panasonic's with IPS-Pro panels (many of their 32/37 720/1080p panel's in the past few years have had these panels) have next to no input lag consistently, LG IPS TV's can vary from fast to ok or worse possibly and the 120hz+ models will likely be laggy unless they have a special mode that defeats the 120hz mode
here is some sample photos from LG Display comparing pixel response time of IPS and VA
other factors can be involved in input lag though like the speed of a certian TV's internal scalier when its given a non-native resolution as well as video processing circuitry like noise reduction and most of all 120hz/motion enhancers though all of these things can be overcome by disabling them in most all TV's so this is often not the real problem for most gamers unless you plan on using older consoles/Wii's with your TV (720p scaling can be a concern for PS3 owners as well)
An easy method to see if an LCD is VA is to press on the screen when a black/dark image is on screen see photo below also from LG Display
Test Results section
here i will divide the tested TV's into 3 sections as follows
GREEN TV's have no more than 2 frames delayed when in a certain mode that reduces lag
BLUE TV'S will be in the middle section, what i call the gray area, the TV's that end up in between 2 and 3 frames delayed and casual gamers will have no issues with most of these TV's
RED TV'S are for TV's with more than 3 frames delayed, some of the faster ones maybe ok to some gamers but overall these TV's will have very noticeable input lag to the majority of gamers out there today unless they only play games that are not sensitive to input lag but even then they just don't realize its there, ignorance is bliss as they say
for results on Plasma TV's please visit Orta's Plasma Input lag thread
BEST gaming TV's tested so far
Samsung A650's '08 40" and bigger ONLY(results from 650 gamers lag thread ) S-PVA panel is likely for A series Samsungs, these are the only VA's that have achieved low input lag due to a special PC mode that hurts Picture Quality dramatically by owners accounts (it may very well be turning off RTC and is much of the cause of the PQ hit)
VGA mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
VGA mode / any PC resolution accepted by the 650. 480P and 720P will not work in VGA.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
HDMI2 PC mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 0-1 frame delay
HDMI GAME mode / 1080p.
Average lag: 1-2 frame delay
HDMI Movie Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average lag: 3-4 frame delay
HDMI Standard Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average Lag: 3-4 frame delay
Component Standard Mode / 1080p / No image enhancers activated.
Average Lag: 4-6 frame delay
Component GAME mode / 480p.
Average lag: 1-2 frame delay
Notes: results are taken from Samsung 650 Input lag thread ; tests done on these displays in this thread have not been vs CRT's but PC LCD's some of the PC LCD's have been tested vs CRT's and have been shown to be near 0 lag say in the 2-8ms lag range, however most of the tests done have been on an untested Dell LCD monitor that I have yet to find any input lag info on, but appears to be a fast TN panel. Actual Input lag may be 10ms or so higher than they are shown here due to this ; the absolute fastest response on these displays are ONLY on HDMI 2 Labeled as PC and VGA input (any res. supported 1080P & normal PC resolutions NO 720P/480P on VGA) Go read that thread for more detailed results and info on these displays Including what modes disable what picture settings etc. the fastest modes disable many picture controls but not all of them
Panasonic 32" LZ800 HDMI 1080P IPS-Pro panel
1080P Standard mode
0-1 frame delay
1080P Game mode
0-1 frame delay
480i Game mode
1-2 frame delay (closer to 1 than 2 but definitely a bit more lag than 1080p)
notes: this is one the very fastest LCD TV's ever tested, would love to see what panasonic's current TV's test at, it should be around the same as these models. Tested by Mr Deap
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic TC-L32S1 IPS-Pro panel
1080P HDMI
0-1 frame delay in game mode or out does not matter
notes: was tested vs a CRT monitor with an average of 14ms delay of picture with many displaying 0 ms delay, one of the best gaming TV's today for sure, the smooth motion feature appears to just be a scanning backlight and does not impact input lag but appears to show some visible flicker. Tested by hidefLoans
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic TC-L37S1 IPS-Pro panel
1080P HDMI
0-1 frame delay just like its little brother
720p HDMI vs CRT
1 frame delay (13ms) very good result for a non native resolution
notes: this is my new main PC monitor, text is not perfect 100% of the time. these Panny TV's have a strange problem with displaying red and blue text ONLY on dark/black backgrounds, text otherwise is very good once you get the picture settings set right and running cleartype tuner in windows helps some more as well. optimal Sharpness on these Panasonic's is 0-10 at most, the sharpness setting adds edge enhancement at anything over 0. Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
Panasonic 32" TC-L32X1 (720p) IPS-Pro panel
720p HDMI vs LCD monitor tested to have 2ms lag
0 input lag
notes: this is a very well done test using a good camera and can show how consistent your results can get once you have a good camera setup correctly for these tests. very good job Saiyanjin2. If you take a look at the you tube video in his post and you pause it you can see that the rotating frame ticker to the right of the counter is actually AHEAD of the TN pc monitor indicating that the panasonic is slightly faster than the TN in pixel response time! Tested by Saiyanjin2
LINK TO PHOTOS
Here's a youtube video of his tests
Toshiba 40xf550u likely to be a VA panel just like my Toshiba but is unknown
Game mode on via HDMI
1-2 Frame Delay
Game mode OFF via HDMI
3-4 Frame Delay
Notes: this set does let you make pq adjustments in game mode over hdmi/component. Results are vs a CRT display TV was not at native resolution but was not upscaling the picture so it does not matter as the scalier was not active. Tested by kumquatsrus
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sharp LC52E77U Sharp's ASV Panel a variation of VA tech only found in Sharp TV's
480i GAME MODE ON
AV Mode: Game
Fine Motion Enhanced: On
Active Contrast: On
Lag: 2 frames
1080p GAME MODE ON
AV Mode: Game
Fine Motion Enhanced: On
Active Contrast: On
Lag: less than 1 frame
results taken from this webpage , photos of the test are there as well ad more tests out of game mode and it appears he used a laptop LCD as his control but that should be very fast as they are normally TN panels, this model Sharp does not have their "Vyper Drive" game mode like some other model's so its probably safe to assume that the models with Vyper Drive will perform as good and maybe better with lower resolutions but i've yet to come across evidence that shows this so be aware
Panasonic 50X1 Plasma
1280 X 720
2 frames delayed
notes: TV is 1366 x 768 native, it will display this resolution over HDMI but unfortunately my CRT monitor would not display it so i had to use the lower resolution
35ms input lag, actual input lag could be lower at the panel's native resolution but as most 720p video games will be outputting 1280 x 720 it does not really matter
as usual with Panasonic TV's they do not reduce lag in game mode, it is simply another picture mode on the TV, test was done VS a CRT and performed by Myself
LINK TO PHOTO
NEC 3215 (32" LCD commercial display)pretty likely to be an IPS panel based on performance and its 178 degree rated viewing angles
1440 x 900 (native res is 1366x768)
1 frame delay
notes: tested vs an LCD monitor model Samsung 942B, This is not a mainstream TV set but rather a Commercial display/TV its 720p (fine for 32" unless you plan to use as a normal PC monitor) and it has no speakers and only a few inputs (VGA and DVI input i believe) tested by Zenith DTT900
LINK TO PHOTOS
Vizio 32L10A 720p LCD TV
720p HDMI 1 3 frames delayed
720p HDMI 2 & 3 2 frames delayed
notes: tested vs a CRT. HDMI 1 apparently has 1 frame more lag than 2 and 3, never seen this happen before on a TV but when your dealing with lower end brands you never know what kind of odd stuff comes up. tested by bahnzo
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG 37LH20 720p IPS panel
720p 2 frames delayed (25ms roughly)
480i 3 frames delayed (48ms)
notes: tested vs CRT's. lots more information on this TV is availible in the excelent report posted by wondras the link is below this line.
LINK TO PHOTOS
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
Blue area TV's may be ok for some people but not good enough for the most demanding gamers
Panasonic TC-L37U22 LG IPS panel
1080p 2-1/2 frames delayed (42ms)
notes: tested vs a CRT by igomadness. iamdanwilliamson has also tested this model vs an LCD and came up with 32ms, further evidence that Tests done with PC LCD monitors need 10ms added to them to be close to accurate
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG LH90 LGD IPS panel more than likely user did not state the size of his TV but it should not matter
1280x1024 not scaling the image
2 frames delayed
tested vs an LCD monitor so lag is likely to be 1/2-1 frame more than tested. his picture settings in the test were "ISF/Expert 1 with Local Dimming ON" , this TV should perform at least 1 frame better if he put it into game mode i would guess but he does not want to find out for us
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 55C7000 S panel (SQ01) S-LCD S-PVA panel
1080p HDMI/DVI 1 labeled PC 9 frames delayed 156ms input lag!
1080p HDMI/DVI 1 labeled PC LED motion plus ON! (not AMP) 2 frames delayed! (31ms)
notes: does show potential for having very good input lag with the correct settings at 1080p, input lag is likely to be worse, possibly much worse if not in 1080p or not in the special samsung PC mode that only works on ONE HDMI input so be warned. for this reason and the lack of using a CRT for the test i'm sticking it in the blue section tested by DarkGSR
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony 32" XBR6 (205r fw) 1080p HDMI S-LCD made S-PVA panel confirmed by myself (its my TV!) i took the back cover off to check it
Photo mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
Video mode W/game mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
Video mode W/O game mode 1080p
2-3 frames delay
VGA @ 1280 X 1024 (TV is not scaling the picture)
2-3 frames delay
720p via Component Game mode on
2-3 frames delay
480i Svideo game mode on
2-3 frames delay
Note: The Sony's WILL allow changing of more picture controls in game mode, only setting Photo mode will disable cinemotion/motionflow and noise reduction settings, VGA mode is the most limited input on the display but you can adjust backlight, brightness and contrast in VGA, this TV was tested vs a CRT monitor. Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 46" A550 720P HDMI VA panel of some sort it could be a S-PVA or a MVA due to samsungs use of 2 different brand panels in their TV's
Normal mode 720p
2-3 frame delay
Game mode 720p
2-3 frame delay
Normal-labeled as PC 720p
2-3 frame delay
Notes: display is 1080p native, user couldn't test vs CRT at 1080p due to CRT resolution incompatibility
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung 46A550 1080P
1080P (game mode on? does not say in post)
2-3 frame delay
Tested by clicq
LINK TO PHOTOS
Toshiba 40xv645u HDMI 1080p in game mode took the back cover off my set to see what panel it had it is made by samsung (not S-LCD) and is made in china definitely a VA panel
Average lag 1-2 frames delayed (27ms averaged over 11 pictures 34/20 HIGH/LOW results) see notes for reason why its not in the green section
Game mode disables 120hz (duh) most picture controls are active still except NR stuff and Resolution+ and the nice thing is the TV will save separate picture mode settings for the same input making it easy and fast to switch from a movie mode to a game mode for PS3 owners/PC users wanting to have 120hz sometimes Text on this TV when used with a PC is some of the best i've ever seen very sharp and zero noise. In game/PC mode color gradient tests on all 3 primary colors show extreme color banding problems, color accuracy is definitely impaired greatly when in these modes on this TV making it OK for gaming but bad for PC use in these modes if you care about color accuracy furthermore having 120hz turned off this TV exhibits visible pixel smearing with dark images moving over an even darker background. interestingly enough i was only able to see this happen using a test designed to create smearing, in real world use I never saw this happen but if you play any games that are very dark I have no doubt you will see this happen if the set is in game mode/out of 120hz mode and for this reason i'm sticking in into the Gray area rather than the best section even though its input lag performance is good enough to be in the best section Tested by Myself
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG LH30 AUO VA Panel
1080P
2-3 frames delayed (30-50ms lag)
LINK TO PHOTOS
LG used to put their own S-IPS panels in these TV's in models manufactured in the first half of 2009 but sometime in the middle of 2009 they stopped doing that and put AUO VA panels into them and the input lag went up to sony/samsung levels, if your lucky enough to find one with an LGD made IPS panel they have very low input lag like panasonic IPS TV's
here is proof of this from forum member Odysseus18
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
WORST Gaming TV's tested so far
Vizio SV472XVT likely uses an LG 47" IPS panel because thats the only LCD made in that size AFAIK
VGA 1080p - min 54ms (3.25 frames), average 69ms (4 frames).
HDMI 1080p all advanced image processing options OFF - min 61ms (3.5-ish frames), average 67ms (4 frames).
HDMI 1080p all advanced image processing options ON and maxed out - min 59ms (3.5 frames), average 65ms (4 frames).
Composite 480i - I didn't test this with SMTT but using the Wii in this mode was almost unplayable. Horrible input lag. Avoid at all costs (use the component cable instead).
Component 480p - As soon as I switched the Wii to use a component cable and ran in 480p it felt just like the XBox 360 in 1080p (i.e. about 3-4 frames of input lag).
notes: Tested vs a CRT. it appears that even though these Vizio TV's use an LCD panel that has been shown to have low lag Vizio's poor implementation of the mainboard hardware/software is creating non-defeatable input lag because this panel when in LG and probably Toshiba TV's that use them as well have much less input lag and preform good. Tested by ninjapowered
LINK TO PHOTOS
Samsung LN52B630 tested vs a 17inch CRT monitor VA panel of some sort it could be a S-PVA or a MVA due to samsungs use of 2 different brand panels in their TV's
VGA input 1920 x 1080
3-4 frame delay
HDMI1 DVI game mode OFF
6 frames delayed
HDMI1 DVI game mode ON
3-4 frame delay
notes: "I was running my pc with a millisecond clock in clone mode. MSI 9400GT video card with HDMI,VGA,DVI. I was using a Canon A570Is camera. I found I had to use a 125 second exposure (ASA800) to get the picture. With a higher shutter speed (500) the CRT monitor displayed a moving black bar which usually covered the clock.
AMP set to Off,Dynamic Contrast set to Off"
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony 52EX701 Appears to use Sharp's new X-Gen LCD panel
VGA in at 1024 x 768
5 frames delayed
HDMI in at 1024 x 768
5 frames delayed
owner tested it vs a CRT monitor and for the moment at least only tested it at this low resolution so its part of the cause of the lag but it's still lagging too much to account for simple scalier lag that normally averages at 10-20ms input lag at most, hopefully he will attempt to test at a higher resolution soon so we can see if lower numbers are possible but i doubt it will get into the gamer friendly range at this point. Tested by MetalAlien
here's his youtube video of the test, he used a high speed capable camera for the test
link to the owners posts regarding this test
Samsung 32C450 720p CMO Panel
1360x768 HDMI
3-4 frames delayed (50-60ms lag)
was tested vs a 16" CRT monitor by Odysseus18
LINK TO PHOTOS
Sony EX500 likely to be a VA panel either AUO or S-LCD
not sure what resolution was used 5.5 frames delayed, 94ms input lag
here's a youtube video showing how bad the input lag is on this TV
Insignia NS-32LCD-09 who cares what panel it had it was terrible
Avoid at all costs, I owned this TV briefly before i Knew about input lag and how to test it but I can tell you that when i had it connected via VGA at 720P (its native res) it looked ok picture wise but input lag in windows with mouse movements were EXTREMELY apparent. If i had to guess it lags at least in the 80-100 MS range maybe even higher it was very bad !! not fit for gaming ever
It should pretty much go without saying that you should never buy a cheapo brand TV if you want a TV with low input lag, major players like sony and samsung cannot even get good lag numbers so its pretty unlikely that any cheap off brand or best buy house brand model TV is going to perform good input lag wise, Vizio may be the only exception to this rule but i've heard very mixed results on how they perform input lag wise ranging from good to terrible
The following models are European TV's tested by an Italian review site
Lag numbers are listed in Standard mode then Game mode
Remember 1 frame= 16.6ms and they performed these tests on a laptop with an inaccurate timer program so +10ms input lag should be added for a more realistic number on these results
