What is input lag?

champ222

champ222

champ222

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Joined
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Beds, UK
Morning all,

Just a quick question, what is input lag? now i assume that its a delay, due to processing or whatever, between a movement of the mouse and the movement of the cursor on the screen?

The reason i ask, is that when i was reading up on monitors a few years ago there was never any mention of input lag. Response time, Backlight bleed, Viewing angles and Panel Technology (TN, MVA etc) were all the topic of conversation.

So... Was input lag not a problem back then? or did we just not know about it?

Thanks

Andy
 
It's mainly an LCD affliction that's become especially pronounced among the "hardcore" gamer crowd looking to optimise their chances. As far as I can reckon, it's always been there, and for most panels usually averages at around 20-30ms, which accounts for 2 frames delay in a game. For desktop use, or anything else, input lag is rarely a bother.

It's not to be confused with response time, of course, which is a definitive measure of how quickly pixels can shift colour and tone in response to a signal. Input lag is inflicted before this, and pertains to the handling of that signal, between the monitor's DVI port and the front panel. As you mentioned, it's affected by the efficiency of the on-board processing, and the circuitry in general.

Try this:

http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mouselaggn6.swf

Move the scroll bar at the bottom, and then move your mouse within that white frame. It should vaguely simulate the relative affects of input lag.
 
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ahhhh, thats cleaned that up for me, thanks mate

i'll try that link out when i get home... 17" crappy dell CRT at work... looks like a goldfish bowl...
 
No worries. I'm just carrying around all this info, having spent so much time worrying about all these details myself a few weeka ago.

There are quite a few things to learn, especially given that it's essentially a one-off purchase. It's like buying a new car.
 
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yeah it was the same for me, when i bought my first lcd years ago, i learnt loads, and trawaled the forum. it paid off tho, as i dont regret the decision at all, i use 2x 19" samsung 971p monitors, that are fantastic... wouldnt mind a non tn 24" tho...
 
Last monitor i bought was 3-4 years ago, needless to say tech has moved on a bit since then.
 
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