Gadgetory

to terms that appear to describe the same thing but that actually don't okay then so what is the difference between input lag and response time welcome to minute science to be clear here asking the question what is the difference between input lag and response time is a bit like asking what the difference is between the senses of both touch and sight there are two completely different things but it's always nice to have both in check let's tackle input lag first input lag is defined as the delay between a user-defined stimulus and the display in question for instance consider a game or pressing a key on a keyboard the time it takes for the screen being used to respond to this keystroke is the degree of input lag involved typically measured in milliseconds as a rule of thumb input lag generally decreases with higher refresh rates so at 60 Hertz each image is flashed for roughly 17 milliseconds meaning that 17 milliseconds is the bare minimum input lag a user will experience when playing a game at 60 frames per second at 144 Hertz each preceding frame can be displayed after 7 milliseconds less than half the time required at 60 but there are obviously several other factors to consider here the use of a wireless controller or keyboard can increase input lag as good networking capabilities to an extent upscaling that is gaming in a non-native resolution could also dramatically increase input lag since this requires additional processing by the screen in question to ensure that this additional processing is avoided especially when gaming at native resolutions TVs and monitors will invoke gaming modes to reduce the overall apparent input lag so if input lag is the sense of touch in our analogy here essentially how a game feels then response time is the sense of sight predominantly how gaming looks on a display response time is defined as the time required for a single pixel on a display to change from one color to another for instance consider a car moving across a screen if a display features a relatively low response time somewhere in the realm of 5 milliseconds the car will look relatively uniform throughout its journey however if the response time is significantly higher the car will look as though it is blurred to an extent mimicking artificial motion blur instilled in some video games more on that right here so in general if a object is faster moving a lower response time is typically desired especially when it comes to first-person shooters you may have heard the term ghosting which refers to a displays tendency to produce more than one of any given object as a result of its relative movement and obviously the higher the response time of any monitor the more ghosting you will notice so you can see how having one of these in check without the other can still produce a very unenjoyable experience if the game doesn't feel or look right it won't play right and that's why your monitor or TV choice is an important one in general I look for a response time of roughly 5 milliseconds or lower it always ends up being higher when you actually test it yourself there is no industry standard for this thing although great degrade testing is very popular among enthusiasts and while input lag isn't something you'll find just stamped on the outside of a computer monitor or TV box typically any computer monitor made within the last two or three years should have the input like problem in check at least for the average gamer there are obviously gaming monitors available for the diehards and TVs for those more concerned with home theater gaming there's a list of TV input like x in this video's description but for the most part your average monitor advertising somewhere around a 5 millisecond response time should also have input lag in check it would be a disservice to the manufacturer in question to create and promote a monitor with terrible input lag but be cautious they are still out there refer to ratings and reviews before purchasing any product in which you intend to invest quite a large sum of money this is science studio did you think it in your head thanks for learning with us