Questions about gaming on a TV

Will be looking for a TV to game on in the living room. 60" LED. Will be connected via HDMI. A few questions for those who've gamed on TVs.

1. Input lag. Is this generally a problem? What specs should I look for here?

2. Resolution. I plan to game at 1080p. Would a 4k TV at 1080 resolution be blurry? If so, I'm totally cool going with a 1080 one.

3. Refresh rate. Would vsync work the same way it does with computer monitors? I have a non gsync 970m.

4. Any other considerations I should have?

Thanks!

 

I wouldn't recommend it in general.

The response times are generally pretty bad and make it not worth doing, at least for online games.

A 4k TV at 1080 would look better than a 1080 TV at 1080, at least in theory and usually in prpactice.

I don't use v-sync and I don't recommend it unless you want input lag.

 

Thanks. Currently looking at a Vizio D65, which has an input lag of 26.5ms according to http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-1080p-2016?uxtv=e0df

I believe the monitor I currently use has a 5ms response rate. I don't play competitively, closest would be quick match on Overwatch or HotS.

 

1 Input lag is not a spec that is widely available by the manufacturer. You need to research pages where there are tests about it. I've seen 20-60ms input lag for most TVs, but some have even worse. Gotta keep that in mind. 20-40ms is on the acceptable range even if slightly noticeable. More than 60 is just too noticeable in some games.

2. Resolution: As a small tip, depending on the TV, gaming at non native resolutions ends up putting up input lag. I have an LG 4K tv that has way noticeable input lag a 1080p, but almost none at 4K. So if you are using only 1080p, you might want to get a 1080p TV.

3 refresh rate: Most TVs are 60hz locked and only use higher refresh rate when using something like 3D etc. so those 120hz or more TVs won't necessairly show as options to you. Likewise most TVs with supposed 120hz refresh rate are actually using motion interpolation, so no actual extra refresh. Vsync works in my experience but you might need to set the TV as the only active display.

4 only get a 4K TV if you plan on using it for said content. Even if its a future investment. A decent quality TV can go a long way. Also now adays the "new" thing is HDR so you might want to look into HDR capable TVs.

 

13.5ms is great. Shouldn't have any issues with it.

 

I mistakenly was looking at the 4k version, not the 1080 which is 26.5ms. Edited my post.

 

I recently bought my first gaming laptop (MSI GS43VR) and I wanted a new television to go along with it so that I could game on the TV (I had an almost 9-year-old Vizio with 720p). I originally had the same concerns as you, wondering if I should just get a 1080p TV since I knew I was getting a notebook with a GPU (GTX 1060) that can't handle 4K well, and I was worried about upscaling.

The problem with 1080p TVs these days, though, is that they're actually decreasing in picture quality. TV manufacturers are now putting all the bells and whistles (better contrast, local dimming, etc.) on 4K televisions to get people to buy them.

To cut to the chase: I ended up buying a 4K TV a little over a month ago, and I love it - I've been gaming almost exclusively on it now, with my GS43VR plugged into it. I keep the resolution at 1080p, and there isn't any blurriness at all. Unlike the jump from 720p to 1080p, the jump from 1080p to 4K doesn't cause any noticeable upscaling issues for the most part because the number of pixels in a 4K screen is evenly divisible by the number of pixels in a 1080p screen (4K = 1080p x 4). That means a 4K screen displays 1080p content extremely well, as it basically just turns every 1 pixel of 1080p content into 4 pixels; there is no unnatural "stretching" or blurriness that occurs when, saying, upscaling 720p content to 1080p. So I wouldn't be discouraged from buying 4K televisions for fear of 1080p content looking blurry; it should actually look just about as good as it would if it were being shown on a 1080p television. And you'll get the benefits of better display technologies and a more "future proof" television (4K content is only going to continue to increase, after all).

As far as input lag goes, just be sure to buy a television with low input lag like @ryzeki said, and you should be fine. The Vizio D series has excellent input lag, as you noted from Rtings. I actually almost bought a 4K Vizio D myself. But I ended getting the 4K Samsung KU6300 instead. It has slightly higher input lag (19.8ms in Game Mode - not enough to make much of a difference), and it's a little more expensive, but it has better contrast ratio, and it upscales 720p-and-below content better than the Vizio D, and those two things are what sold me. Here's the Rtings review, in case you're interested: http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/samsung/ku6300?uxtv=e0df

And in answer to other you to your last question - Vsync works when gaming on the television. You'll probably end up buying a 60hz television, as that's the norm for TV refresh rates, despite the misleading advertising that says TVs have higher refresh rates - that's just because the manufactures use trickery, like interpolation, to make it look kinda-sorta like it has a higher refresh rate than it actually does. Just be sure to turn off the TV's interpolation features when gaming.

Overall I'm very pleased with my experience gaming on the MSI GS43VR + 4K Samsung KU6300, and if gaming on a television is your thing, I'd recommend buying a nice 4K TV to go along with your rig, plugging in your controller, and then having a blast

 

Thanks everyone for your input!

Due to my budget (under $600) I've narrowed it down to either

Vizio D 1080 60"
http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/vizio/d-series-1080p-2016?uxtv=e0df

or

Hisense 8C 4K 55"
http://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h8c?uxtv=e0df

Any experts want to weight in?

Again, this would be for PC gaming at 1080p from a couch in the living room.

 

Link for real world discussion on the hisense TV: couldn't find one on the lower level Vizio......

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/166-l...c-h3c-entry-level-series-28.html#post47970993

 

i game on a projector and the input lag is non existant also the response is either pretty low or i just cant tell lol.
im using this https://www.amazon.com/Optoma-HD141...ie=UTF8&qid=1478668696&sr=8-1&keywords=HD141X

there is the new model basically slightly better same thing
https://www.amazon.com/Optoma-HD142...ie=UTF8&qid=1478668696&sr=8-2&keywords=HD141X