So I've got this big TV...

[Joviwan]

a 50inch hi-def plasma, to be precise, sitting in the living room. I say 'I've', though it's really my mother's. Anyway, besides the point.

I noticed the other day that my gaming laptop has a DVI output. Alright, I've known this for a while now. I've also known for a while now that my TV had a pair of HDMI inputs. What I actually noticed is that there were DVI-HDMI cables, and I found this out at our local Sam's Club.

So, hey, what the hell. I've always wanted to play halflife on a 50 inch screen.

Plugged everything in, got my laptop to go 'hey, there's another screen here!' and start playing, just duplicating my screen with the same resolution (Both my laptop and the TV are the same aspect ratio, apparently. Who knew?). And, wow, it looks GREAT up on the TV. Awesome picture and fidelity, much better than I was expecting, and the picture was just so smooth.

The only problem is that there is a noticeable delay between what I do and what happens. Not on my actual laptop mind, but on the TV. It's just enough that I want to ignore it, but actively cannot, as most of my games are "AAAGH ADD ADRENALINE RUSH!", and playing with that kind of delay just throws my whole game off.

Now, I've heard of this kind of lag on HD screens, but I was under the impression that was only for analog, low def signals, not the digital signal I assume DVI-HDMI is composed of. I could be completely mistaken, of course. Does anyone know of what I'm talking about, and are there fixes? All the things I can turn up just say 'lol stop using low def', basically.

[Xisiqomelir]

Lag on HDTVs happens quite a lot, that's why the EVO organizers always make sure they have an ample stock of CRTs before they start tourneys every year.

Do you have the make and model of the TV?

[Joviwan]

Yeah, it's located hereish.

[raptor3x]

Most likely what is happening is that you are playing the game at some resolution that is not the monitor's native resolution. HDTV's usually come with really awful upscalers and so they take forever to convert the signal from whatever the input is to the native resolution. Since you're doing this from a PC you can just set the game to output at the HDTV's native resolution and that should take care of the lag. If there is still lag then maybe it's just a response time issue with the pixels.

[InnocentBystander]

I've played half-life and oblivion on my 56" DLP (720p) without lag (via component), maybe try setting the TV as the primary output device?

[Joviwan]

Well, I've tried the (near) exact native resolution, all the various multiples of the native resolution, both with every picture enhancement doohickey on AND off, messed with refresh rates (60MHz, or 30MHz interlaced) in all the combinations I could think of. At this point, I'm willing to say that I just can't get the lag out on the big TV: I guess it's not a really big deal. Setting it as the primary monitor did nothing except to make the picture terrible, strangely enough.

I guess the only upshot is that I know it looks cool, and keeps my mother entertained: She enjoys watching me play games, and the lag doesn't mean anything to her, except I might go "OH SHIT!" a whole 2 frames before it shows up.

Still. Irritating. I can only postulate that going form DVI-HDMI on this set is hindrancing me somehow, or, alternatively, it's just Philips' fault or something.

[Stark]

2 frames is what, 80ms? That's pretty average HD lag, because the TV is doing all kinds of post-processing to the image before it displays it (I imagine this is worse on a plasma, since they often look like shit). I'm not sure what you can do with this, unless the TV can turn off it's processing (unlikely) or your video drivers can compensate (unlikely). Just buy an adapter and use a non-HDMI input and you should be fine. The TV having to scale to the resolution won't help, and the only way 'nearly the same' res will not slow it down is if your TV is set to letterbox and not stretch. Hopefully your TV has a 'game mode' where it turns much of the post processing off, actually: my Samsung does.

IB, you should really have encountered this before, with games like Guitar Hero.

[Uraniun235]

messed with refresh rates (60MHz, or 30MHz interlaced)

you're off by about six orders of magnitude there

[Joviwan]

you're off by about six orders of magnitude there

Well, those are the options my video card gave me for the PHILIPS monitor that showed up under 'displays'.

Unfortunately, my TV does not have a game mode, and I never encountered lag in guitar hero on account of this wasn't my usual gaming screen. I've had a tube in my room for years, and before Dad moved to Utah, I had his 65 inch HD projection screen that NEVER gave me any issues, ever. I've since moved in with the Madre and her TV, and am having fun figuring out all it's wonderful foibles.

Do they sell cables/adapters to make a DVI or VGA port into a component RGB output?

[Stark]

Yes, yes they do. Different laptop manufacturers use different plug standards, so check around. And refresh rates are measured in hertz, not millions of hertz: redrawing the screen millions of times per second would be... odd.

[Uraniun235]

you're off by about six orders of magnitude there

Well, those are the options my video card gave me for the PHILIPS monitor that showed up under 'displays'.

callin' bullshit till i see some screenshots

Yes, yes they do.

I don't think most computers output YPbPr component (which TVs often support), but rather RGB component (which a lot of TVs don't support). Unless you're talking about a converter box of some kind.

[Stark]

Most laptops (parituclarly highend ones) usually have those special output sockets for TV stuff, don't they? Either a custom-wired S-video for a converter or a custom socket for TV-output?

[Uraniun235]

Oh, that. Yeah, a bunch of laptops often come with S-Video and Composite outputs. They won't look nearly as nice as DVI though.

[Joviwan]

Uraniun235
Actually, I can go ahead and put my foot in my mouth. My fingers went "he's typing an Hz! That's not big enough!" and stuck the M in for me, and then my conscious brain shut out any other thought about it. 60Hz, 30Hz, interlaced.

Also, i was confusing my inane acronyms. I meant to say VGA/DVI to YPbPr, not RGB.

Whoops.

Stark
My laptop's got S-video out (and an adapter to take it to a crappy bog standard yellow RCA), VGA out, and DVI out.

My TV's got HDMI in and YPbPr component inputs, with a standard RCA input on the side (but that's where the DVD player goes), so I'm trying to figure out the best method. I think this is where I run to Google and see what the webs provides.

[Executor32]

Did you try updating the TV's firmware? Also, disabling Pixel Plus, Active Control, and Dynamic Contrast is worth a shot, as those seem to be the main post-processing options for your TV.