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…

New Gaming/AV Set-Up

Firstly, before I get started with the main post. I just want to say I hope you all had a very merry Christmas yesterday and I wish you all the best for 2012 when it arrives. It’s been a very busy month for me, with an increase in hours at work and trying to sort things out for Christmas, free-time has been very hard to find lately.  As a result of this, I have been a tad AWOL and I will try posting a lot of new stuff when I get the chance. Right, back on topic and please excuse my crappy Blackberry phone camera (it sucks !)…

After using a 22″ BenQ monitor for most of my gaming needs over the last 2-3 years, I have finally upgraded to something a little bigger and better. Due to working quite a lot this month and the fact I’ve been wanting to buy myself a nice flatscreen TV for a good while now, I took the plunge and upgraded my 22″ monitor to this…

LG 42LW650T: 42", Full HD 1080p, Cinema 3D, LEDplus TV

The LG 42LW650T: A 42″, full HD 1080p, cinema 3D, LEDplus TV (so glad there isn’t anymore D’s, B’s, P’s or HD’s involved in the description: ”Yeah I got a..wait for it… a 42 inch full 1080p, HD, 3D, LED, Freeview HD, MP3, USB, DVD, TV” – you get the idea).

But wait theres plenty more…