Suggestion: Set edid_content_type=4 in config.txt for official image

kip

I would suggest adding the following config.txt option in the official RetroPie image:

edid_content_type=4

This will make newer TVs automatically utilize "Game Mode", which will reduce input lag.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/video.md

BuZz

@kip I'd prefer to leave that to the users.

kip

Why is that? Wouldn't you want the default for a gaming operating system to be gaming mode, and leave it up to users to change it if they don't want it?

hhromic

@kip setting a default for everyone is tricky.

For example, Game Mode brings less latency but also comes with less image quality depending on the TV. Maybe on your TV it still looks great but on others not so much. For instance, I used to have a TV with terrible Game Mode image quality. It did not even bring noticeable latency improvement to make it worth the sacrifice in quality.

What would be better to do is to document this functionality so users are aware that they can do this. A good place could be the official FAQ section where other tips and tricks are already given: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/FAQ/

Btw, thanks for sharing the existence of edid_content_type, it's an interesting option.

dankcushions

@hhromic what model tv? that’s a bizarre scenario. all game mode should is turn off additional image processing, but that should never degrade the image in a meaningful way.

quicksilver

I never noticed this setting either. I can understand not setting it by default, but would it be possible to add it as an option to toggle on/off from within the RetroPie setup menu? I imagine there are many people who might prefer this setting on and don't have the experience to manually edit the config.txt.

hhromic

@dankcushions it was a Samsung TV 32" (with a 1366x768 pixels native resolution panel like is very common for 720p-ony TVs to remain cheap).

The problem is that Game Mode only works in these TVs when the device (i.e. RPI) is sending a standard 720p or 1080p signal, not the native 1366x768 resolution of the panel. This means that the TV always has to fit 720p/1080p -> 1366x768 when using Game Mode and thus doesn't look very sharp. Of course this is not a problem in TVs for example with a 1080p native panel.

dankcushions

@hhromic interesting! i've added the info from this thread to the docs: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Docs/pull/15