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Best way to measure input lag

Thrakier

Member
So what's the best way to measure input lag when you want to a) measure the input lag of a controller and b) measure the inplut lag of two displays in comparison.
 
I use the same algorithm i use for testing my internet connection: if I win my connection is good, when i lose my IP should burn in the flames of the hell!
 
This will tell you everything you need to know:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1131464

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)

If input lag is a problem for you I can suggest one fail-proof solution --- buy a Panasonic plasma.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
The display comparison is easy.

Hook up your computer to the display you want to test, and a CRT (lag-free). I don't know exactly how you do this, you might need a splitter or something.

Anyway, once that is done, download a stopwatch program. Turn on the stopwatch and take a picture while it is running with both displays in the frame. The time difference between the CRT and the input lag of the display.

Testing lag from other sources is much more difficult.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
In both cases, you need a baseline comparison.

In the cases of televisions, this means hooking up a television known to have no input lag (such as a CRT) and the television you want to measure on a PC with dual display outputs, and take a picture of a timer running on both computers. The difference in the timers will be the input lag on the display.

For controllers, this is significantly more difficult, since there's no good objective way of measuring how much time it took the TV to respond to your input.
 
The easiest way available to most of us to compare the input lag on two different TVs, would be Rock Band 2's wireless guitar.

The guitar has a light sensor built into the front of it. The game then flashes pulses of light on the screen, and it measures how long it took the guitar to see those flashes.

No, it's not perfectly scientific, but if you're comparing two TVs it certainly will give you a good comparison point.


In general most of today's 120hz or 240hz TVs have unacceptable input lag. Panasonic is the only company that seems to have figured it out.
 

Mr_eX

Member
For measuring input lag you need a stopwatch program on your pc that shows miliseconds. Hook the PC up to a monitor(crt is best) and the display your testing and output to both at the same time. Then get your camera and take photos of the stopwatch running on both displays side by side.

Edit
Beaten
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Something tells me this is related to the soccer game and no acceptable answer will be found in this thread.
 

Thrakier

Member
Something tells me this is related to the soccer game and no acceptable answer will be found in this thread.

Hm? No it's not. It's just in general about input lag. I don't own a CRT though. But I could use that method to compare my LCD and my Monitor. Though I don't own a camera with that setting...seems like I'm out of "luck".
 

onQ123

Member
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but with the test I've ran I'm not seeing any input lag on my Samsung S27B550V 27" LED backlit LCD monitor.


http://youtu.be/F0R6bM2XGi0



________________________________

Testing the input lag of the Samsung S27B550V 27" LED backlit LCD Monitor using a Mouse & Keyboard in the XMB of the PS3 & I actually didn't see any input lag when I slowed the video down & moved it frame by frame because as far as I can see the XMB moved in the same frame that the keys was pressed in, I was shocked by this even though this is my second test because I also did the stop clock test with my laptop hooked up to the LCD monitor & a CRT monitor & the pictures show the monitors with the same time on the ms clock.
___________________________________________________


Below are some Input Lag Test results using the input lag clock test Samsung S27B550V vs CRT & also vs my laptop screen,
Samsung S27B550V was hooked up through HDMI in all the test with the CRT being hooked up through VGA & for the most part they both showed the same time in the snapshots with a few times where the CRT would be ahead & even some times showing the LCD monitor being ahead which is strange since CRT monitors don't have any input lag that I know of so I'm guessing it was just a few hiccups that cause the Samsung S27B550V to be ahead of a CRT in a few shots , The Samsung S27B550V vs the Laptop screen mostly showed the S27B550V ahead with the same number being shown a few times.

DSC00151.JPG




DSC00123.JPG



DSC00110.JPG



DSC00065.JPG
 

Durante

Member
For displays:
- connect display & a CRT monitor to the same GPU
- enable clone mode
- start a high-speed timer application
- take a series of photos showing both screens and calculate the offset from the CRT

For the whole feedback loop of a game:
- get a high-speed camera, mount it so that it sees you presing keys on the gamepad as well as what happens on the display
- perform an action that is instantly recognizable in game
- count the number of frames between button press and action (again, repeat at least 5 times)
 

onQ123

Member

For displays:
- connect display & a CRT monitor to the same GPU
- enable clone mode
- start a high-speed timer application
- take a series of photos showing both screens and calculate the offset from the CRT

For the whole feedback loop of a game:
- get a high-speed camera, mount it so that it sees you presing keys on the gamepad as well as what happens on the display
- perform an action that is instantly recognizable in game
- count the number of frames between button press and action (again, repeat at least 5 times)

The Eurogamer article says that there is a 3 frame delay in the XMB of the PS3 but I'm not able to see even 3 frames of delay when testing my monitor in the XMB with a Mouse & Keyboard, maybe I'm starting my count in the wrong frame when I press the keys I start the frame count once the key is pressed all the way down is that the wrong way to go about it?
 

Rainy Dog

Member
So I've been um-ing and ah-ing for months about whether to get a new telly. My 2011 current set is still near top tier when it comes to picture quality (ISF calibrated full-array local dimming LED) but the biggest factor for me now is input lag as I probably game more than anything elese these days.

I've being curious about the lag of mine for a while so finally decided to do the camera and stopwatch test this morning. As I don't have a CRT display anymore, I duplicated my telly and LG IPS225 monitor and got a pretty much consistent 49ms difference between both. Switching between game mode and my calibrated custom settings made no difference, as didn't labelling the HDMI port as PC (which in turn enables 4:4:4 chroma).

So does that mean my TV has an inout lag of 49ms plus whatever lag my monitor has? Or is it 49ms minus the monitor lag? Unfortunately I can't find definite confirmation of my monitors measured lag... There's a review on Digital Versus that states 16ms but the displaylag.com site lists the LG IPS235, which the same but an inch bigger, as having 11ms.
 

Rainy Dog

Member
49ms + your monitor's input lag.

Thanks, thought so. My previous TV was a Sony SXRD rear projecttion set with next to no lag I believe, and I felt the difference when I transistioned from that a couple of years ago. Just never really concerned me until recently.

Will have a look into the W6-9 Sony's I think.
 
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