MartinBrentnall
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- Feb 19, 2011
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I'm looking for a new TV, and since 95% of my TV use is games, the market seems to be a minefield of poor input lag.
Only Samsung and LG seem to be taking this seriously; the latter seemingly only due to the backlash caused by high input latencies on their earlier OLED's (e.g. the B6, which got an update to partially solve the issue). The Samsung KS8000 seemed ideal until I discovered its HDMI-CEC and ARC functions are severely broken and Samsung don't seem interested in fixing them, which resulted in me returning that set for a refund.
So in continuing my search, I've been evaluating 55" OLED options and the only viable option seems to be LG's C7. Here's what I found:
Why the hell aren't the TV manufacturers taking input lag seriously? If LG can do it with the C7 and Samsung can do it with the KS8000, why can't everyone else get their input lag down to a respectable figure? Gaming is financially the biggest entertainment industry there is right now, not to mention probably one of the best reasons (if not the best) to own a decent TV. It seems like a no-brainer that this should be one of the first and most fundamental requirements when designing a new TV today, yet most manufacturers still seem to be messing it up, even in products that they're asking multiple thousands of pounds/euros for.
And it's not like this problem hasn't already been known for years, so when are the TV makers going to finally get their act together and start designing products that actually work properly for playing games?
Only Samsung and LG seem to be taking this seriously; the latter seemingly only due to the backlash caused by high input latencies on their earlier OLED's (e.g. the B6, which got an update to partially solve the issue). The Samsung KS8000 seemed ideal until I discovered its HDMI-CEC and ARC functions are severely broken and Samsung don't seem interested in fixing them, which resulted in me returning that set for a refund.
So in continuing my search, I've been evaluating 55" OLED options and the only viable option seems to be LG's C7. Here's what I found:
- The Sony A1 looks stunning in the shop, but apparently has 40 ms input lag (come on Sony, you make games consoles, you of all companies should know better).
- Philips now offer an OLED display (the 901F), which I haven't seen in person, but it sounds amazing on paper: OLED screen, ambilight, Android-based, etc. I can't find specifics numbers, but the first review in my Google results has "Input lag slightly high" under "Cons" right at the top in the review summary. Big red flag right there.
- Another option I discovered in a small local store was a brand called Loewe that I've never heard before. These screens are expensive; the cheapest 55" OLED option was €3,000; surely input lag shouldn't be a problem at a price like that... right!? Wrong. The salesman in the store didn't have numbers, but assured me that "it was a great TV for games", but Loewe confirmed 40 ms after I contacted them directly, and more baffling still, 66 ms for 4K games. Really!?
- Panasonic is the only OLED option for which I couldn't find any information at all for regarding input lag (I haven't tried contacting them); there's no way I'm buying on faith given typical results I've seen from other manufacturers.
Why the hell aren't the TV manufacturers taking input lag seriously? If LG can do it with the C7 and Samsung can do it with the KS8000, why can't everyone else get their input lag down to a respectable figure? Gaming is financially the biggest entertainment industry there is right now, not to mention probably one of the best reasons (if not the best) to own a decent TV. It seems like a no-brainer that this should be one of the first and most fundamental requirements when designing a new TV today, yet most manufacturers still seem to be messing it up, even in products that they're asking multiple thousands of pounds/euros for.
And it's not like this problem hasn't already been known for years, so when are the TV makers going to finally get their act together and start designing products that actually work properly for playing games?