How to greatly reduce input lag on the LG 42LW650T 3D TV
A while back when I was browsing the web and retail stores for a 3DTV, my main concern was the input (or display) lag of the TV – since I would be using the TV primarily for gaming. So it was essential for me (and will be for a lot of you gamers out there) to do a bit of research on the TV’s that are good for gaming and also the work-a-rounds to lowering the input lag so that you can game happily.
Input lag occurs in every LCD or HDTV and is the time difference between a signal input being pressed (i.e a button on your controller) and the time is takes that signal input to be displayed on the screen. For example, if your playing a racing game and are approaching a left hand turn, when you press left on your controller you want the car to turn left as soon as you push left, not a second later or you will crash, probably. The same in shooting games, when you pull the trigger you want the gun to fire immediately, not 2 seconds after you tapped the fire button. The good thing is, most TV’s come with either a gaming mode and there are a few things you can do to greatly reduce the input lag to a point where you cannot even notice it (at least with this TV you can). Thus, making gaming an absolute joy.
Before I purchased the TV, I read a few reviews specifically about the input lag on the LG 42LW650T model (the TV I ended up purchasing in the end) where some people managed to reduce the input lag of this model so that it was not visible to the human eye, and others complained they couldn’t do it at all and inevitably had to return the TV.
So, after unboxing the TV I touched nothing, no settings, no nothing and deliberately set up my Xbox 360 and PS3 right away so I could get an idea of how bad the input lag was. I could instantly see the input lag, to a point where I was like ”this is bad, like really bad” – when rotating the camera and trying to manoeuvre my character about the screen, there was a very annoying 1-2 second delay which caused it to be rather clunky and I always felt the TV was a second or two behind me whenever I hit a button on the controller.
Continue reading to find out how to greatly reduce the input lag of this tv…
Listed below is a step by step guide on how to greatly reduce the input lag on the LG 42LW650T TV:
TV Settings:
N.b – This test was carried out on TV firmware version: 04.00.18. I am aware there are updated versions of the firmware, however, I’m still very happy with 04.00.18
1). Connect your HDMI cable from your PC/console(s) into the HDMI 1 port of the TV. Don’t confuse this with the HDD/USB IN 1 (shown in the red circle) or with any of the other HDMI 2,3,4 ports. HDMI IN port 1 is shown in the green circle below:
Green: HMDI 1 Port
Red: This is a HDD or USB 1 port
2). Rename the HDMI 1 input to ”PC” – this can be done by first pressing the ‘‘input” button (situated at the very top of the TV’s remote control – see below)
Then move the cursor over HDMI 1 and press the green button (found at the bottom of the remote) to rename it to PC.
N.b – In the photo below you can see my HDMI 1 port has already been renamed to PC (As its showing a picture of a laptop and has ”PC” written in the top right corner). Before you rename it to PC, there shouldnt be a picture of the laptop there, it will show a HDMI port instead.
Hover over HDMI 1 and then press the green button on the remote control to rename the Input
After pressing the green button, this brings up another menu (below) and allows you to change the name of the input, scroll along and select ”PC”.
Renaming the HDMI input to ”PC”
3). Very important – once you have done this, press the ‘quick menu’ button (Q-menu) on the remote and make sure ”AV mode and Picture mode” are set to ‘Game’ mode (See photo below). Setting these both to ‘Game’ mode auto turns off the TrueMotion setting, which is what we want ! If you don’t set AV & Picture mode to Game then you probably wont see any improvements!
Change ”AV Mode” and ”Picture Mode” to ‘Game’ using the quick menu (Q-Menu) button on the remote control
Calibrate Display settings on consoles.
4). If your playing on an Xbox 360, go into Console Settings –> Display Settings and make sure 1080p is selected and 42” is put in as your screen size.
5). Similarly if your playing on a PS3, go into Settings –> Display settings –> video output settings, and make sure you set the TV output to 1080p and the screen size to 42 inches (see photo below).
N.b – Some games are made at 720p resolution, so setting your display settings to 720p instead of 1080p may also help !
Select HDMI (highlighted at the top) and press ”X”
Make sure you set 42 inches as the screen size then press ”X”
Done and Dusted: Once you get to this screen press ”X” and your done
Once you have done all of this, you will see for yourself how much the input lag has greatly reduced. On my TV I can’t notice it at all any more (obviously there is some there, however, its unnoticeable to the human eye as the delay is so small).
Results
**Input Lag Before**
Since I didn’t record any digital footage of the input lag (It’s stored only as horrible memories in my mind) before sorting the input lag out, just to give you an idea of how bad it was – have a look at the Battlefield 3 video below courtesy of ”Patricio1790”. Although his TV isn’t the LW650T, this is how bad my input lag was (camera was sluggish/unresponsive and made manoeuvring around a pain in the backside, guns wouldn’t fire immediately either).
I was aware BF3 had more intense input lag issues and a patch was released by DICE to clear it up, however, I had pretty much the same input lag issues with the following games: Gears of War, Forza, GT5, Call of Duty, Fear 2, Dead Space 2, Uncharted 2 and BF3 (to name a few). All of them were unplayable due to the severity of the lag.
**Input Lag After**
Finally got round to setting up a proper YouTube channel for iTech Online so our first upload was, yup you guessed it, the video below ! We also measured the input lag to be around 0.018-0.019 seconds (18-19ms) using a CRT monitor, this was done once the camera decided to run out of battery, so I may run it again and record it next time. As you can see in the video below, button presses are much much more responsive now and gaming is a lot more enjoyable.
Posted on September 22, 2012, in How-to-Guides, Uncategorized and tagged Gaming, HDTV, how to, How to reduce input lag, Input lag, Input Lag solution, LG, LG 3DTV, LG 42LW650T, Reducing input lag, Setup guide, TechTips. Bookmark the permalink. 46 Comments.
iTech Online 
I jus import this tv today from UK and you have save my life man, it working for games, excelente. Before when I try was not so good but now…wow man. Sorry for my english. Muchas gracias !!
Hey, really nice work, thanks a lot for the measure, too.
Thank you for your article! It seems that the method pretty good works on LG 42LM670S
OMG.
I buy 42lm620s, I think this works also with my tv. Thanks man!
Have you tried this rig with an actual -3d- game? Both my LG and my father’s vizio -remove- the “gaming” option when you switch to 3d mode. On both sets, the input lag is virtually non-existent in 2d but horrendous in 2d. If you could research reducing input lag in 3d mode, that would be awesome. I’d highly suggest zen pinball 2 as a 3d test game – its both highly susceptible to input lag, and just an incredible game in 3d.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your post!
Interesting, as I played through the whole of Uncharted 3 on the PS3 along with Killzone and have played a bit of GT5 in 3D with no input lag visible.
Similarly on the Xbox 360, I’ve went through the whole of Gears of war 3, Arkham city and Assassins creed 3, all in 3D, and no issues with input lag.
Perhaps some games run better in 3D than others. I’ll have a look into it though, for sure.
I found this article searching for lag on 3d gaming having bought the 42LM620T – in 2d it is fine but when I play COD BO2 in 3D it’s unplayable – I’ll try what you say above and see if that helps; if it does I will report back…
Hello James,
I’ve not tested Blops 2 on my TV as I don’t have it.
However, I have tested out the first Blops in 3D (and played through many other titles in 3D) and it was fine, my gun would fire as soon as I pressed the button on the controller and looking around, running and going into the prone position – all these actions were done as soon as I pressed the button on the controller. There was no delay present.
Your TV is a different model to mine but I would recommend checking out avforums for any tweaks they have put online for your specific model. I would also check out what firmware your TV is running, as LG might have released an update to patch some issues.
I know for the TV in this article LG released a 5.xx.xx update to improve 3D and a lot of other things, but I can honestly say I’m very pleased with how my TV runs on the 4.xx.xx firmware – especially when it comes to gaming (2D and 3D).
Have you tried this rig with an actual -3d- game? Both my LG and my father’s vizio -remove- the “gaming” option when you switch to 3d mode. On both sets, the input lag is virtually non-existent in 2d but horrendous in 3d. If you could research reducing input lag in 3d mode, that would be awesome. I’d highly suggest zen pinball 2 as a 3d test game – its both highly susceptible to input lag, and just an incredible game in 3d.
Mark see my previous post.
I’ve played through a lot of 3D games on this model of TV without any trouble, they might run a little slower than the 2D, but shouldn’t be noticeable (at least I haven’t noticed)
I managed to get a lend of Call of Duty Black Ops from a mate last night and this also runs perfect in 3D, theres no input lag at all.
I would recommend looking at what firmware version your TV is running. I know LG released a few firmware updates for their 3D TV’s in order to improve input lag times and also change/upgrade some the of TV’s 3D capabilities.
You should try avforums.com as there is a lot of detailed threads there that explain what each firmware release does and improves etc. Then perhaps update the firmware if needed?
I have the same model TV in 55″… does the lag increase with screen size or should this process work with all screen sizes… My LAG as of right now is terrible!!!
Bit of a grey area to be honest. On one side I’m thinking: Bigger screen = higher pixel density = increased number of pixels per inch = more pixels to refresh. However, I am more inclined to say that it all depends on the hardware etc inside the TV.
A friend of mine just bought a 60 inch LG (www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007K6HXXE) and he can’t notice any input lag on his compared to his old Sony (which was a nightmare apparently). I played Fifa 13 and Blops II on the 60 inch and it was spot on in game mode, gun fired as soon as the button was pressed and looking about, crouching, sprinting was very smooth. Same thing on Fifa, players would pass as soon as pass button was pushed etc.
The lag your seeing just now could also depend on which firmware you have running on the TV, how you’ve got the consoles connected to the TV and also how the display settings on the consoles are configured.
After changing my hdmi input tag to PC on my lg42lm6410, certain games on the xbox 360 won’t play and instead give me the “game doesn’t support 50hz, change your xbox display settings to pal 60” error. It’s funny because the tv info label for this hdmi input says it’s running at 60hz the entire time I’m on the dashboard or playing a game, and pal 60 is a format no longer available for manual selection on current tvs. I then tried changing the hdmi tag to “Game” and same problem. Any ideas?
I have had this error before with Hitman and also an XBL arcade game.
I managed to sort mine out eventually, but you will need the composite cable (the red, white, yellow… ones included with the console). You used to be able to select 60Hz or 50Hz in the Xbox 360 display settings, but if your using HDMI it wont show up there for obvious reasons. This is why you need the composite cables. If you don’t have the composite cables anymore, run a search on Amazon – as they are dirt cheap nowadays.
The steps below worked for me and a friend of mine (who had the same issue with Hitman), so you should give it a try:
* Turn off the 360, remove your HDMI cable and plug-in the Xbox 360 composite cable (make sure the switch is set to ”TV” – http://support.microsoft.com/library/images/support/kbgraphics/Public/EN-US/Xbox/HW/cables/HDTVcables.jpg) then connect these cables to your TV and turn your console back on.
* Go to the Xbox 360 display menu settings and change the display to 60Hz.
* Turn the 360 off, disconnect the cables, and set your console up to the TV with the HDMI connected.
Yes thanks for the reply. I found that solution after googling the problem later last night, and all the games do seem to have almost completely eliminated that split second of lag now. The only exceptions are Halo Anniversary’s and Black Ops’ 3d modes in which there are trace amounts of lag, but nothing that makes them unplayable during campaign.
I’m curious, is there anything to be gained from setting the sound to ‘game’? (It’s the default setting whenever you change ‘av mode’ to game in the q.menu). And are there any types of 3d used in games that might induce more lag than others?
You my friend, are a saviour. I got this TV 3 days ago and at first the input lag was bad – running on ver 3 firmware – updated to ver 4 and followed this guide, cant notice it any more. There used to be a noticeable delay when I pressed controller button and what happened on screen but quick scoping on call of duty is easy again. My gun fires when I press the button right away. Thank you. S
Interesting, I’m also running version 4. I know there are more up to date firmware versions but I’m a bit apprehensive updating, since my games run really well on 4. You would think logically that updating to version 5 would have it’s benefits, but I’m quite happy running on 4 for now. I know I’d punch myself if I updated to version 5 and it made the input lag more noticeable rather than reducing it – or keeping it almost non existent how it is on version 4.
I BOUGHT A HDTV LG TV (23 inch)and i notice a very small input lag.DO you think that this way will improve my tv’s input lag….sorry about my english 😕
Hi. I would certainly give it a try. I do not know what menu system or features your monitor has, but follow the guide through and see how you get on!
OMG!!! this works so perfect I never knew about the game setting that had to be chaged but now I do and thanks to you my gameplay on bf3 is just so much better
hi Smells like victory
I was wondering if you can play BF3 3D???
You can play full 3D on the PC version yes. If you are playing on the xbox 360 or ps3 however,you can only use the TV’s 2D to 3D coversion feature. Still good, but not as great as full 3D.
you bloody legend!!!! cant thank you enough
Dude you are beast!! Thank youu !!
Thank you soooooo much, I thought my internet had poooped out, tested it and then found this. Woooo CoD on my cool TV 🙂
Used this to fix the video lag when playing dvd’s. Simply use the quick menu to change the video mode to game. Great fix. Why is this not in an lg manual / FAQ ?
Why does naming HDMI to PC reduces the lag ?
Renaming it to PC turns off all the image processing settings that would normally be on under different named hdmi ports.
Hi. I have one question. Im running firewere 6 and something and when i play games like uncharted 3 there is none visible lag but you can feel it if your compering it with crt. Is this good or is there something wrong.
Hello, I’ve not had a chance to test the latest firmware but I’m glad to hear your not able to see any delay there. As you might know, all lcd’s have some degree of input lag when comparing to older analogue crt monitors. That’s just due to the two technologies being different.
Comparing the firmware I have on the TV alongside a crt, the delay was so little that you could not notice any difference what so ever.
Ok but if your playing at crt and hdtv at same time you can still feel that on crt is everything a litlle bit faster right. And i have lg 42Lw 659s but i think it just difrent name because im from slovenia
Dude, Thanks !!! i have a LG LG 42LM669S and i had framerate drops with GTA 5. Being a pc gamer, it was very noticeable. with your settings, it runs much smoother !!
Thaaaaaanks!!! Really works excellent!
LG 39″ 39LA620S 3D LED TV Full HD Smart…. i just bay this TV model. when I change the channels and for fraction the TV become black i notice a white shadow in the middle of the screen…????????when TV is off the white shadow disappear.
can you please help me…
SUPRISINGLY IT REALLY REALLY HELPED. THANKS DUDE
Hello from sweden. Im thinkin of bying LG 47LA613V (think its called LW in other countries)
Nevertheless, I always connect my xbox360, ps3 and ps4 thru my reciever And to my tv (console reciever TV all with hdmi) can the reciever interupt or something (my understanding is that recievers just channels the signal and dosn’t changes/alters it) right?
Using anothet LG 42″ atm and no visible lag (with these settings you mention)
I can label HDMI to “game” as well, is this better thah labeling it to “PC” (for lowest possible input lag)? I have the LG 50PN650T which has a little bit different interface.
Try it and see what works best. I found keeping it on PC worked the best it pretty much turns off all the picture processing options that causes lag.
This Method also worked for my 50 inch plasma! Thanks so much. Now all my movements are crisp and precise! Look out Noobs!
Thanks, you helped me out here.
Got a “new” LG 32LN5758 and tried revisiting Rhythm Heaven which, as you might have guessed, suffers terribly from even 100ms of lag. I searched the whole options menu, but the “AV-mode” ONLY appears in the quick menu. I thought I had everything set to ‘game’ already.
This worked for my LG 32” 120HZ TV thank you
IT WORKS !
Thank You 🙂
Thanks, tested on my I7 4470K CPU, GTX 670 GPU and 16GB Ram Steambox PC, plus a XBOX360. Both the PC/360 are connected to a Denon 3803ci AVR and the Receiver is plugged into HDMI 1 with the changes specified on my LG 55LW5700 3D HDTV. I tested 360 with Sega Rally and PC with Saints Row 3rd as Excellent on response times. I used Keyboard/Mouse on PC with no changes to settings (1080P was the default). However, changing the LG to PC Mode on HDMI 1 did prevent Windows 7 from over spanning the screen by a inch which was a awesome perk to this fix. I used a Logitech Wireless MX mouse and wired Keyboard which responded as good as my main PC LCD with 2ms response time @ 60Hz. This post made me feel like I got a new HDTV for gaming. Thanks again smellslikevictory
Thanks I was about to kill a lot of people.
Thanks a lot you’re genius