If you're dead serious about first-person shooters and other games that demand millisecond-fine responses, the last thing you want to buy is a TV that introduces lots of input lag. Especially if you're buying one to go with an Xbox One or PlayStation 4.
If you're a serious enough gamer to thinking about buying a new TV along with a new Xbox One or PlayStation 4, or even if you're waiting, you should know about TV input lag.
That's the term for the delay, in milliseconds, between a TV receiving a signal and the results of that signal appearing on the screen. Those milliseconds are irrelevant for TV shows and movies, and they don't even matter for most games -- the majority of gamers probably wouldn't even notice if their TV was laggy. But if you're an attentive, skilled gamer, especially one who plays "twitch" games like Call of Duty, Halo, or fighting games, especially in online multiplayer environments, input lag can mean the difference between virtual life and death.
WE just started testing for input lag this year, and so far we've corralled a bunch of 2013 TVs. Here are the best five TV so far, plus one projector, in ascending order of lag in Game mode -- or the least laggy picture mode, if Game isn't an option. For reference, we grade under 40ms of lag as Good, 40 to 70 as Average, and more than 70 as Poor.
Update, November 11, 2013: Since we last updated this roundup, no TV has cracked the Top 5. In response to reader demand, however, I posted a table at the end of the article that gathers the lag scores of every TV and projector we've tested so far. It will be updated periodically.
Despite the full array of picture processing and Smarts, this LED LCD delivers the least lag we've tested, thanks to an ultra-aggressive Game mode.
The second-best so far is also a Sony, and while it costs a lot more than the 802A, this one does have a better picture.
Speaking of cheap, this Vizio is one of the least expensive on this list at $650 for the 50-inch size. The best gamers might notice a tiny bit more lag than the Sonys in a side-by-side comparison, but it is still extremely fast (as are the ones below).
Although it didn't score very well in our picture quality testing, the Toshiba has the distinction of being the least expensive TV on this list, beating even the Vizio by a few bucks. The Vizio is a much better all-around TV, however.
The highest-rated TV on this list -- and the only plasma -- the S60 is as gamer-friendly as they come. No, you don't need to worry about burn-in. And yes, if you want a Panasonic plasma you should buy one now.
Bonus: BenQ W1070: 33.7ms lag
Our favorite budget projector also happens to be the speediest we tested. If you can game on a 100-inch screen like this guy, why not?
Input lag measurements of all TVs Below you'll find a list of the input lag measurements of every 2013 TV and projector CNET has tested so far. The numbers reflect the lowest lag number the TV is capable of, typically achieved in Game mode. (One exception: The results for Samsung F8500 were achieved with the "trick" of renaming the input to "PC." See the video processing section of the review for details.)
| Television | Type | Input Lag (ms) |
|---|---|---|
| Sony KDL-55W802A | LED LCD | 16.9 |
| Sony KDL-55W900A | LED LCD | 19.7 |
| Vizio E50i-A1 | LED LCD | 32.6 |
| Toshiba 50L2300U | LED LCD | 33.4 |
| BenQ W1070 | DLP projector | 33.7 |
| Panasonic TC-P50S60 | plasma | 34.1 |
| Panasonic TC-L55DT60 | LED LCD | 34.4 |
| Panasonic TC-P65S64 | plasma | 35.3 |
| Panasonic TC-P65WT600 | LED LCD | 37.3 |
| Vizio M551d-A2R | LED LCD | 37.9 |
| Samsung UN40F5000 | LED LCD | 38.3 |
| Seiki SE50UY04 | LED LCD | 38.3 |
| Samsung PN51F5500 | plasma | 38.8 |
| Samsung UN55F7100 | LED LCD | 42.2 |
| Samsung UN55F6300 | LED LCD | 44.1 |
| LG 47LA6200 | LED LCD | 44.2 |
| Samsung UN55F6400 | LED LCD | 44.6 |
| Panasonic TC-P60ZT60 | plasma | 46.2 |
| Sony KDL-32R400A | LED LCD | 46.4 |
| Samsung UN55F8000 | LED LCD | 46.8 |
| Panasonic TC-P60VT60 | plasma | 47.9 |
| Panasonic TC-L50E60 | LED LCD | 48.3 |
| Mitsubishi HC7900DW | DLP projector | 48.5 |
| LG 55LA8600 | LED LCD | 51.3 |
| Samsung PN60F8500 | plasma | 53.1 |
| Samsung UN65F9000 | LED LCD | 56.5 |
| Sharp LC-60LE650 | LED LCD | 58.0 |
| Sharp LC-60LE757U | LED LCD | 58.1 |
| LG 60PH6700 | plasma | 72.7 |
| Panasonic TC-P55ST60 | plasma | 73.6 |
| JVC DLA-X35 | LCoS projector | 87.1 |
| Epson 3020 | LCD projector | 89.3 |
| Epson 5020UB | LCD projector | 95.1 |
| TCL LE58FHDE3010 | LED LCD | 129.8 |
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