Thursday, October 25, 2007

Ask an Analyst: Gaming Lags on LCD TVs?

This question for Robert Heron, PC Magazine's HDTV lead analyst, comes from executive editor Jeremy Kaplan.
 
Robert, have you heard about any delays in LCD TVs? My friend's brother in law just bought a giant LCD, and he's complaining about the reaction time when gaming via his PS2. Just wondering if there was something obvious that he's got set wrong or connected wrong, or some known issue that you had heard about. Here's the IM thread that spawned this question:
 
[10:21] So he just scored a 52" HDTV. Yea, it was nice to watch. :)
[10:25] He said that with his PS2, however, it seems less responsive than it was with his old conventional TV, like there's a delay between pressing buttons and action. Since the PS2 has analog connections, perhaps some delay in the TV itself?
[10:25] Ever hear anything like that?
[10:26] What type of connection? RCA?
[10:26] I assume so -- your options with a PS2 are usually RCA or S-video.
[10:27] I believe that switching between inputs is generally a bit slower, since even if you're not using the HDMI, DVI, and other ports, the system still tries to detect a signal on 'em.
[10:29] It's not signal detection -- it's when he's actually playing that everything seems delayed.
[10:29] And I'm wondering if it's a known phenomenon, like a slow A/D conversion + upsampling to fit the big screen.
 
Robert's answer after the jump.

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