Emulation input lag on a Samsung plasma screen.

polish.potato

I have aproblem with lag on my Samsung plasma screen. The screen has a game mode but I'm quite sure there is lag. I've compared it to Super Mario Bros. on the nes on my crt and there is lag.

Raspberry Pi 3
Retropie 4.3
Nes Controller with Retrousb usb and wireless Keyboard connected through usb
SanDisk Extreme 32GB microSDHC UHS-1 Card
Enokay Power Supply for Raspberry Pi 5V 2.5A
Followed this guide: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Input-Lag
The model of the TV is PN50A400C2D

I just want to hear some suggestions. What I could do. Thanks.

drake999

I'm just speculating here, as I have not encountered any noticeable lag with my setup ever. I run a Pi3 and a Samsung plasma screen as well. I do not use game mode (don't even think it is an option on my TV). Try different modes on your TV. If your TV is doing any kind of processing to an image before it displays it this might be the cause for the lag. I'm pretty sure game mode is supposed to eliminate lag, but could be wrong. I'm doubtful the lag is coming from your Pi3 and is most likely introduced by your TV. I recommend just playing with settings on your TV and see what results you get.

psyke83

@drake999's suggestion seems likely to me. Looking at your TV's manual, the native resolution appears to be 1360 x 768 @ 60Hz. Make sure that your Pi is using this resolution to minimize the chance of input lag due to the TV's internal video scaling. You can check the current mode via a terminal/SSH session using the tvstatus -scommand.

polish.potato

How do I change the resolution? How would I check this command? By quitting emulationstation?

The tv is 720 p is that an issue as well?

I also played with the modes and it did nothing for the lag. It even says in the game mode I selected in the options that game mode speeds it up for use for games on the tv.

mitu

@polish-potato You can use raspi-config to set the system's resolution, available from the RetroPie system in Emulationstation. As the others have suggested, try setting it to the native resolution of your TV, so no scaling has to be done by the TV itself.

polish.potato

I set it to 1280 x 720.. The input lag has been reduced with the method above but there still is a little bit of lag. Is there anything else you guys can suggest to fix the problem. Like the games are still playable but when you are playing platformers there is a tiny bit of lag.

polish.potato

Should I use one of these in the pc port to speed up the game? My pc seems to run full speed on my tv.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/HDMI-Female-to-VGA-Male-Converter-w-Audio-Adapter-Support-1080P-Signal-Output/222721392386?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=521576896142&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

mitu

@polish-potato said in Emulation input lag on a Samsung plasma screen.:

Should I use one of these in the pc port to speed up the game?

Which PC port ? Are you talking about the Raspberry PI or your PC ? What's the resolution of your PC when connected to the TV ?
You changed the resolution to 720p, but your TV's native resolution is not that. As the others suggested, configure RPI output resolution to 1360 x 768.

polish.potato

I was talking about my tv.

I have no clue how to set my native resolution to what you had said otherwise I would have done it by now. I just assumed it was a typo since I can't change it to that under rasp config. Could I have some more guidance please?

Thanks.

mitu

@polish-potato You can take a stab at configuring the resolution in the config.txt configuration file, present on the /boot partition. The file can be directly edited from Windows (when you insert the SD card in the PC), but use a sensible editor like Notepad++. Just remember to save a backup of the file just in case you need to start from zero.

The options available for video resolutions are described in detail at

From the docs, it looks you need something like:

hdmi_mode=39

added to your config.txt, but run

tvservice -d edid

to see a list of what the TV reports as supported modes to the Raspberry Pi.

Rion

@polish-potato If you really want to eliminate as much lag as possible you could consider getting a crt tv and a RetroTINK Ultimate or Pi2Scart.

polish.potato

how do I run that piece of code? Sorry noob here.

Also when I start up the raspberry pi it has a problem on my gaming hdmi it shows a blank screen and says mode not supported;. I 've had this problem with my pc saying this when the screen is not proportionate.

I am also involved in home renovations at the moment so I may take longer to respond.

polish.potato

Turns out my tv needs servicing. When I get around to it I will.

That crt option seems likely sometime in the future.
@Rion Doea the crt option cut out as much lag as hooking up a regular nes to a crt?

Rion

@polish-potato No not all lag but a lot more. There are still some input lag produced by the controller (if not wired, type of brand etc) and the emulator itself.

polish.potato

@rion I'm just curious with just hooking up with composite vs, hooking it up with composite with the RetroTINK. Is there any difference? I also have s-video and that was what I was going to use it for but it's a curiosity.

polish.potato

I can't seem to get my tv to work on a composite cable. Anyone have suggestions?

edmaul69

@polish-potato if you have a cheap cable then there is a good chance you need to swap the red and yellow cables.

edmaul69

@polish-potato also you need the hdmi cable disconnected to use composite.

edmaul69

@polish-potato one last thing. If those two things dont help, In the config.txt make sure their is a # in front of the force hdmi line.

Yuke

Maybe im wrong here but i came from a panasonic plasma tv (lowest input lag on the market) and switched to a CRT (Pi2Scart) and there IS a big difference between those two regarding lag. There is also a difference between Pi2Scart and Original Hardware (SNES for example) regarding lag.

I recently had to test much stuff out and have a pretty good inside regarding this.

So my pointless advice is that you should ignore people who try to tell you otherwise. If you wanna play it perfect get the original Hardware and a CRT.