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The best TV for gaming?


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I played black ops today on a friends LCD LED TV and the lag/reaction time to what I pressed and when it showed up on the screen was horrendous

 

I play on a crappy old tube TV which apparently has a much quicker reaction time.

 

Me and him live closeby and have the same internet provider. And my router is extremely old, so I'm fairly sure that was not the cause.

 

Anyway, has anyone else noticed this?

 

And since they don't make tube tvs anymore, what do you think is the best gaming TV to buy? Plasma > LED LCD?

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Go with a LED + most modern tvs now come with a game mode option, which reduces the amount of processing involved in producing the image, thus speeding up the image and reducing input lag which is important in high speed games such as cod.

 

 

 

See if your friend has this option on his tv and try it out.

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I play on a 42 inch plasma and will never own anything else. I switched from an LCD and the colors are so much different. Also, plasma has the highest refresh rate so screen lag is basically non-existent.

 

Obviously, the drawback is that it's the most expensive, but definitely worth it. Mine is only a 720p instead of 1080p, but my xbox is older and doesn't have an HDMI so I can only play 720p through component cables anyway. Even then, my HD cable and Blu-ray look amazing with HDMI, even better than most friends' whose LCDs are 1080p.

 

I don't know your budget, but I got my plasma around Christmas for $525. You could get a smaller one if your budget is tighter, but I think the 40 inch range is perfect. It's big enough to be a 'big-screen' but without being a monster. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't like a bigger one, but I would probably never go bigger than a 55 inch or so. Anything more than that and you are having to swivel your neck to look from one side of the screen to the other.

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I played black ops today on a friends LCD LED TV and the lag/reaction time to what I pressed and when it showed up on the screen was horrendous

 

I play on a crappy old tube TV which apparently has a much quicker reaction time.

 

Me and him live closeby and have the same internet provider. And my router is extremely old, so I'm fairly sure that was not the cause.

 

Anyway, has anyone else noticed this?

 

And since they don't make tube tvs anymore, what do you think is the best gaming TV to buy? Plasma > LED LCD?

 

pretty sure this isnt the right forum for this

 

but i enjoy my panasonic

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pretty sure this isnt the right forum for this

 

but i enjoy my panasonic

 

Well I'm kind of considering a new TV

 

And the primary use of it for me would be black ops.

 

And I was unaware until recently that apparently some new high tech TVs are completely unsuitable for fast paced FPS games.

 

What are the specs on your panasonic? Plasma/LCD? 1080? HZ?

 

I'm trying to figure out the most critical specs for a gaming TV and I'm finding that because of its high refresh rate, plasma TVs may be best.

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Most Panasonics (if not all) are plasma, that's who made my plasma. The refresh rate on mine is 600 hz, as opposed to a top of the line LCD which would probably only have a 120 hz refresh rate. Most LCD's only have a 60 hz refresh rate, meaning 1/10th of a normal plasma.

 

Don't get caught up in the 720 vs. 1080, I notice very little difference and 720 is still considered high-definition. As mentioned before, a good computer monitor would work well. I have a few friends that play on 24 inch monitors with absurdly high refresh rates and absurdly low response times. Couple that with a pair of good gaming headphones and you've fixed the speaker problem. This pair will run you less than a new TV if all you want it for is gaming.

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Most Panasonics (if not all) are plasma, that's who made my plasma. The refresh rate on mine is 600 hz, as opposed to a top of the line LCD which would probably only have a 120 hz refresh rate. Most LCD's only have a 60 hz refresh rate, meaning 1/10th of a normal plasma.

 

Don't get caught up in the 720 vs. 1080, I notice very little difference and 720 is still considered high-definition. As mentioned before, a good computer monitor would work well. I have a few friends that play on 24 inch monitors with absurdly high refresh rates and absurdly low response times. Couple that with a pair of good gaming headphones and you've fixed the speaker problem. This pair will run you less than a new TV if all you want it for is gaming.

Like I said with the monitor the big drawback is a lack of optical out. I would live to get a good monitor to play on with my Astros. Would be a lot cheaper than a 32" tv and much faster response with less lag

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i have a toshiba regza 1080p with 120hz refresh and it works perfectly ! i dont have lag/latency issue (not talking about internet connection here) ... ive tryed a 22 inch PC monitor and it doesnt make a difference !!!

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Most Panasonics (if not all) are plasma, that's who made my plasma. The refresh rate on mine is 600 hz, as opposed to a top of the line LCD which would probably only have a 120 hz refresh rate. Most LCD's only have a 60 hz refresh rate, meaning 1/10th of a normal plasma.

 

Don't get caught up in the 720 vs. 1080, I notice very little difference and 720 is still considered high-definition. As mentioned before, a good computer monitor would work well. I have a few friends that play on 24 inch monitors with absurdly high refresh rates and absurdly low response times. Couple that with a pair of good gaming headphones and you've fixed the speaker problem. This pair will run you less than a new TV if all you want it for is gaming.

 

Plasma refresh rates have nothing to do with LCD refresh rates. It's a numbers games that the Plasma companies started playing to make people think their 600hz TVs were better than 120/240hz LCDs, when in fact they have nothing to do with each other. I'm assuming an experienced Best Buy salesmen sold you your TV and explained that your TV would be way better than an LCD. LOL! As you said, don't get caught up in 720 VS 1080. Well, I'd recommend to everyone that you don't pay much attention to 120hz VS 240hz VS 600hz either. Plasma refresh rates VS LCD refresh rates have nothing to do with each other. Furthermore, a TV's refresh rate has nothing to do with how much "input lag" you experience when pushing a button on your controller.

 

That said, out of modern TVs, plasmas typically have the lowest input lag, followed by traditional CCFL LCD sets and lastly, LED LCD sets. This isn't always the case, but is a good rule of thumb.

 

Samsung LED LCD sets are usually horrendous when it comes to input lag, followed by SONY. I've read that almost all Sharp sets perform great for low input lag gaming.

 

My advice is to buy from a store that has a return policy and keep trying till you find a set you're satisfied with.

Edited by MrEastSide
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Plasma refresh rates have nothing to do with LCD refresh rates. It's a numbers games that the Plasma companies started playing to make people think their 600hz TVs were better than 120/240hz LCDs, when in fact they have nothing to do with each other. I'm assuming an experienced Best Buy salesmen sold you your TV and explained that your TV would be way better than an LCD. LOL! As you said, don't get caught up in 720 VS 1080. Well, I'd recommend to everyone that you don't pay much attention to 120hz VS 240hz VS 600hz either. Plasma refresh rates VS LCD refresh rates have nothing to do with each other. Furthermore, a TV's refresh rate has nothing to do with how much "input lag" you experience when pushing a button on your controller.

 

That said, out of modern TVs, plasmas typically have the lowest input lag, followed by traditional CCFL LCD sets and lastly, LED LCD sets. This isn't always the case, but is a good rule of thumb.

 

Samsung LED LCD sets are usually horrendous when it comes to input lag, followed by SONY. I've read that almost all Sharp sets perform great for low input lag gaming.

 

My advice is to buy from a store that has a return policy and keep trying till you find a set you're satisfied with.

 

I'm glad someone pointed out that the refresh rates advertised with TVs are basically an idiot tax.

 

The LED TV's we have at the minute are all just LCDs but with LED's providing a steady white light behind the screen; so the fact they're LED shouldn't (and I'll go as far as "doesn't") make any difference to anything relating to imput lag or whatever.

 

The problem with Plasmas and gaming (still) is burn in. It's much, MUCH better than it used to be but if you're the kind of person that'll play CoD for 6 hours straight then you'll find you have a HUD for quite a while after. This will fade but if you really, really push it you can cause permanent burn in. As I say Plasmas have improved a lot on this front but it is worth considering if you have no-lifergaming sessions like I do from time to time.

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Thanks everyone for the good input

 

Its my experience that like someone said, Plasma>LCD>LEDLCD as far as input lag.. Meaning plasma has the least.

 

I still don't quite understand why refresh rates are irrelevant like you all explained.

 

What spec on a TV causes input lag then??? What is it you're actually looking for in a gaming television?

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Thanks everyone for the good input

 

Its my experience that like someone said, Plasma>LCD>LEDLCD as far as input lag.. Meaning plasma has the least.

 

I still don't quite understand why refresh rates are irrelevant like you all explained.

 

What spec on a TV causes input lag then??? What is it you're actually looking for in a gaming television?

 

Refresh rates mean essentially nothing because the xbox only produces a signal at 50/60Hz, so the TV has to make up all the intermediate frames on the fly using a bunch of different methods. And they normlly get it wrong. You won't see it normally, unless you know what you're looking for. And when you do it's all you can see.

 

Input lag like you're worrying about is almost certainly due to the quality of the TV and not the type of screen. I have used LCD, Plasma and LED LCD TVs and none of them have appreciable input lag but they're all good qulity TV's. If you buy a TV with a rubbish processing engine (such as a large cheap TV would have) then you'll suffer this lag regardless of what technology they use to create the picture.

 

It's a similar thing to people that were looking at two 32 inch (for example) TV's that are the same price. One is 720p and one is 1080p. I'd always buy the 720p TV in this case because at those sizes the resolution makes no difference and to get the extra pixels they always cop out on black levels, response time or something else.

 

My advise is to buy a good quality TV with a good processing engine. This will ensure you have no input lag (or rather will allow you to minimise it) regardless of what type of screen it is. You might have to shave a few inches off your desired size but I always think it's worth it.

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Go for well recognised brands, samsung, sony, lg etc its the brands you generally have never heard of that will have bad processing engines.

 

 

Ontopic: I play on a black and white 1950's tv......sod all this new technology :p

 

lol

 

I've seen Samsungs with awful engines. My advice is to read reviews. A TV that handles motion well will handle games well. For a TV to get good reviews it needs to handle motion well and a bunch of other things like black levels/contrast ratios. So read reviews from trusted sites (Not things like Revoo or Amazon user reviews) like what hi-fi? or anywhere where professional reviewers who know what they're talking about and aren't working for commission write.

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1. choose which size it should have (mine is 40" and im fine with that)

2.you have to choose beetwen plasma and lcd. for that read the pros and cons on other sites and forums...

3 if you choose a lcd look for:

a) 1080p (anything without shouldnt be buyed)

b) reaction time. 8ms and more it its unplayable...

these are the important things BUT

!!!dont let you blend about the 200/100 hz stuff...it only increases the reaction time, so you shouldnt look for it (but is a nice extra for looking tv...)!!!

 

i have a sony 40ex400 (or something like that) and like it.

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1. choose which size it should have (mine is 40" and im fine with that)

2.you have to choose beetwen plasma and lcd. for that read the pros and cons on other sites and forums...

3 if you choose a lcd look for:

a) 1080p (anything without shouldnt be buyed)

b) reaction time. 8ms and more it its unplayable...

these are the important things BUT

!!!dont let you blend about the 200/100 hz stuff...it only increases the reaction time, so you shouldnt look for it (but is a nice extra for looking tv...)!!!

 

i have a sony 40ex400 (or something like that) and like it.

 

I disagree with almost all of that.

 

1) Size is one of the last things he should be looking for. He is concerned about the quality of the TV as evidenced by the entire thread so size is something that is secondary. Meet the quality requirements, then look for the size.

 

2) a) This is very much dependant on the size of the TV you buy an how far you sit from it. But these days you'll struggle to find a decent size TV (certainly anything above 37 inches) without 1080.

 

b) The idea that a RESPONSE time of above 8ms is unplayable is stupid.

 

Read reviews. There is nothing more difficult about displaying a game than displaying a movie in terms of what the screen has to do. A good TV will handle either without problem. And a good TV won't have input lag problems. Quality > Size every time. You can move closer, you can't do shit about low quality.

Edited by Hamburgerous
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There is nothing more difficult about displaying a game than displaying a movie in terms of what the screen has to do.

 

your right. this is a very important note.

 

i have said the first thing to choose is the size because if he wants a 20" or a 40" he should look at other stuff...if you see what i mean (not if you want a 37" or a 40"...)

 

"2) a) This is very much dependant on the size of the TV you buy an how far you sit from it. But these days you'll struggle to find a decent size TV (certainly anything above 37 inches) without 1080."...

 

thats right! but i have seen some cheap ones without 1080...i mean really cheap ones....

 

 

"b) The idea that a RESPONSE time of above 8ms is unplayable is stupid."

 

thats right again. you can play blue dragon with 40ms and no problem, BUT he wants play black ops and for doing decent 8 ms is the maximum (it can be 10 or 11 or 7....you know what i mean)...because i played one time with 25ms (it was a samsung) and it was horrible.try it out...

 

best advice "Read reviews."

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LCD LED, but only for cod

 

Thats very vague and a very generalized statement. My friends LCD LED is a piece of shit for playing COD

 

 

 

Has anyone here made a recent TV purchase and it works fine for COD? What kind of TVs are you guys using that are working well for your COD gaming? Ideally something that is still on the market!

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I've got a 55" Sony NX810 as well as a 60" NX810. It's an LED model, I didn't really care if it was LED or traditional CCFL lit, it just happened to be an LED model. Just pointing that out, cause I'm not pushing LED for any reason. The TV responds fine when playing CoD, for me. And I've played on some bad TVs.

 

Basically, it comes down to, any plasma model will respond and handle video games just fine. The problem with plasma is burn-in. If you play A LOT, like some of us do, you'll most likely, eventually damage your TV.

 

When it comes to LCD, most any model will look bright and have a sharp picture, but you'll never know for sure how it's gonna play with games until you try. I'd simply go into a Best Buy and ask them if you can hook up your XBox to a few display models before you buy. If you tell them you want to buy a TV from them, I don't think they'll have any problem letting you do that before you make a purchase. If they do, just buy, try and exchange, until you're satisfied.

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I've got a 55" Sony NX810 as well as a 60" NX810. It's an LED model, I didn't really care if it was LED or traditional CCFL lit, it just happened to be an LED model. Just pointing that out, cause I'm not pushing LED for any reason. The TV responds fine when playing CoD, for me. And I've played on some bad TVs.

 

Basically, it comes down to, any plasma model will respond and handle video games just fine. The problem with plasma is burn-in. If you play A LOT, like some of us do, you'll most likely, eventually damage your TV.

 

When it comes to LCD, most any model will look bright and have a sharp picture, but you'll never know for sure how it's gonna play with games until you try. I'd simply go into a Best Buy and ask them if you can hook up your XBox to a few display models before you buy. If you tell them you want to buy a TV from them, I don't think they'll have any problem letting you do that before you make a purchase. If they do, just buy, try and exchange, until you're satisfied.

 

I know I mentioned burn in, but it's really not that big an issue unless you play for hours and hours and do nothing but play the same game with the same HUD.

 

All plasma screens suffer temporary burn in. If you watch a 30 minute programme on say Comedy Central and go up to the screen you'll see the logo watermark still in the corner but unlike on old plasmas this is only temporary and will fade as those pixels get used to show different things. You only get permanent burn in if you have something bright on the screen motionless for a long time. The best example of this is the Sky+HD on screen "pause button" because it's dark blue and white so really does burn in badly if you leave it paused for a very long time (I've left it paused for about 40 minutes and it was pretty badly burned in, but it did fade so I really think you need to take the piss to permanently damage the screen).

 

But, the pause logo also highlights that burn in under normal circumastances isn't permanent. Since the pause logo is always the same colour, brightness and in the same position on the screen you would see it slowly become more burned in over time. This doesn't happen meaning; burn in is reversible unless you do something really, really dumb (not an insult, I've done it).

 

Tl;DR? Burn in isn't anything like as bad as it used to be and unless you play a game (Like a single game, I don't mean CoD for hours playing lots of different matches because the lobby screens will stop the burn in. I mean playing a game uninterrupted where the HUD is never off the screen) for stupidly long times you shouldn't have a problem.

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I've got a 55" Sony NX810 as well as a 60" NX810. It's an LED model, I didn't really care if it was LED or traditional CCFL lit, it just happened to be an LED model. Just pointing that out, cause I'm not pushing LED for any reason. The TV responds fine when playing CoD, for me. And I've played on some bad TVs.

 

Basically, it comes down to, any plasma model will respond and handle video games just fine. The problem with plasma is burn-in. If you play A LOT, like some of us do, you'll most likely, eventually damage your TV.

 

When it comes to LCD, most any model will look bright and have a sharp picture, but you'll never know for sure how it's gonna play with games until you try. I'd simply go into a Best Buy and ask them if you can hook up your XBox to a few display models before you buy. If you tell them you want to buy a TV from them, I don't think they'll have any problem letting you do that before you make a purchase. If they do, just buy, try and exchange, until you're satisfied.

 

Haha thats probably the best way to go. But I would feel weird bringing my xbox in and asking to hook it up.

 

I think were gonna go with the buy and try model with a store that has no restocking fee. So its simple to bring it home, hook it up and take it back.

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