


Of course, some users are stuck with a laggy display and have no plans (or cash) to upgrade to a speedier model. First-person shooters, fighting games, and rhythm games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero are all heavily affected by it. Gamers might already have noticed input lag on their display the longer-than-usual delay between pressing a button and its corresponding effect on-screen makes performing complex maneuvers or combinations more difficult. Try it a few times, and if you notice a significant difference (30ms or so) between the results on different configurations, one of them is probably lagging.Ī laggy display can add as much as 68ms to your results in a reaction time test. Alternatively, you can use a Web-based reaction test like this one at, which tests your response to changing colors. One approach is to split the signal between a lagless CRT display and an LCD display (as demonstrated in this YouTube video). There are several ways to measure input lag. On the other hand, if you use your display for anything that requires accurate timing (such as video, audio, or gaming), you may want to consider testing your setup for input lag. If you use your display or HDTV for doing general work, browsing the Web, or watching TV or movies, the lag is rarely significant any delay is more likely to come from using a wireless keyboard and mouse and wireless Internet. Input lag generally occurs in flat-screen LCD and plasma displays because the screen takes time to process the image in order to improve its quality. HDTV and computer display manufacturers aren't shy about trumpeting their products' size, resolution, and contrast ratio, but they rarely report another spec: input lag-the time a monitor takes to catch up to your keyboard, mouse, or gamepad.
