What To Look For In A Gaming TV
Have you recently purchased one of the latest gaming consoles but feel like your old TV is not giving you the best possible performance? If so, you are likely looking into a new TV to make an upgrade. However, buying a gaming TV is a bit different than a typical television. You'll want to pay attention to the following things in the review when comparing models.
Low Input Lag
One crucial part of a gaming TV is going to be the input lag, with you looking for a TV that has as little lag as possible. This is because some TVs have a slight delay between when the signal goes into the TV and when it actually displays the picture. This is done to process the image so that it looks better on your TV, and the sound is delayed as well so that everything is in sync. However, this doesn't work so well for games where having a delayed reaction can be the difference between winning and losing.
While you are not going to find a TV that has no input lag, you want to find one that has no more than 50 milliseconds worth of lag in gaming mode. If the lag is over 100 milliseconds, you'll definitely start to notice it with a slight delay between when you press a button and when the action happens on screen.
High Frame Rate
Game consoles these days are capable of outputting images that can be up to 120 frames per second, giving you incredibly smooth motion when watching the game playback on your TV. However, your TV must be able to support those frame rates in order to take advantage of it. Pay attention to not only what frame rates are possible on the TV but also at what resolutions they can occur. Buying a TV that is capable of outputting a 4K HDR signal with a 120 FPS frame rate is going to ensure that you have the best possible TV for this current console generation.
Burn-In Susceptibility
Be aware that console games tend to have a lot of static images on the screen, which can make a TV susceptible to image retention, often referred to as burn-in. This happens when the information for an on-screen HUD is static on the TV for far too long, causing a ghost image to stay on the screen after you have switched to a new image on the screen.
While this was once a big problem with plasma TVs of the past and went away with the shift to LED TVs, it is now possible again with OLED TVs. Keep this in mind when buying a gaming TV since you can avoid an OLED TV if this is a concern for you.
To learn more, look up HD television reviews.
