Its been quite a while since our last update, but we managed to get several TVs tested just in time for Black Friday! A pleasant recurring theme this year is the abundance of low input lag TVs, giving gamers plenty of options to choose from for hardcore gaming sessions.

Samsung has produced quality low input lag TVs for several years now, and were the first manufacturer to really push FreeSync adoption into large screen TVs last year. They continue this trend with 2019 QLED models, allowing Xbox One and AMD PC users to experience stutter-free gaming with lower input lag than traditional V-SYNC. It’s very likely that both the PlayStation 5 and next Xbox console will support FreeSync as well, so this is a good feature to prepare for now.

The majority of displays tested were Samsung’s QLED models, ranging from several sizes from the Q60R, Q70R, Q80R, and Q90R series. We also managed to test a lone RU7100 unit, which happens to have the lowest input lag of the bunch! However, the difference is quite small, so the added features of the QLED series is highly advised if its within the budget.

All of the models below achieve input lag numbers that fall under our excellent rating, making them very comparable to the best 60hz gaming monitors. Most 60hz gaming monitors hover around 10ms input lag, so the slight input lag increase on these TVs will be imperceptible at 60hz for most users.

Samsung’s 2019 models can be quite confusing this year. After all, if they all have low input lag, why pay extra? There’s good reason to skip the RU7100 and Q60R if you’re going for HDR performance, as those models will not provide sufficient peak brightness for HDR content. The Q70R, Q80R, and Q90R all feature full-array local dimming, whereas the RU7100 and Q60R are edge-lit displays and feature no local dimming at all.

The key difference between the Q70R, Q80R, and Q90R lie in the peak brightness during HDR content. The Q70R goes up to around 800 nits of peak brightness, the Q80R goes up to 900 nits, and the Q90R tops out at around 1300 nits of peak brightness. There are also variances in viewing angles among the three models. The RU7100 by comparison features a paltry 300 nits of peak brightness, whereas the Q60R goes up to around 450 nits.

NOTE: Clicking the price link below will redirect you to the TV’s product page on Amazon. Purchasing the TV from this link provides us with a small commission, please use it if you’d like to support our work!

The following models were added to our input lag database:

The post Hey Gamers: Input Lag Tests for Samsung 2019 TVs (Q60R, Q70R, Q80R, Q90R, RU7100) appeared first on DisplayLag.

Following up on our Samsung input lag tests, we managed to get our hands on several of LG’s 2019 models, just in time for Black Friday sales! Over the last couple of years, LG has become a powerhouse TV brand, largely thanks to its fabulous OLED TVs.

LG struck gold with their OLED TVs for gaming back in 2017, when they released their LG B7 with 21ms of input lag. Combined with OLED’s perfect black levels, high contrast ratio and deep color reproduction, it resulted in a package that became very difficult to beat.

Fast forward to 2019, and LG continues to improve on their OLED line. Input lag numbers on the OLED lineup are extremely low at just 14ms, a substantial decrease from 2017. The OLED lineup fully supports HDMI 2.1 variable refresh rates (VRR), and have also been recently certified to be G-SYNC compatible with newer NVIDIA graphics cards. Keep in mind though that FreeSync is not supported on these TVs. You will have to go to Samsung if you’re looking for FreeSync compatibility.

Next to the OLED lineup, we also managed to test a few LED models: SM8600, SM9000, and SM9500. These models also feature similar input lag to their bigger OLED brothers, and some of them are also future-proofed with VRR support and HDMI 2.1 as well. Though if you can spring the cash for LG’s OLED line, you certainly won’t regret doing so!

NOTE: Clicking the price links below will redirect you to the TV’s product page on Amazon. Purchasing the TV from this link provides us with a small commission, please use it if you’d like to support our work!

The following models were added to our input lag database:

The post Input Lag Tests for LG 2019 OLED & LED TVs (B9, C9, SM) appeared first on DisplayLag.

Another year, another set of TVs to wade through to find the best one for gaming! It’s quite shocking to see how much TVs have improved since this website’s inception back in 2013. Back then, finding a TV that fell into our “Excellent” category was akin to a unicorn, with this category being dominated by cheap gaming monitors. You essentially had to choose between low input lag with a cruddy image, or something pleasant with unbearably high lag.

In 2019, it’s more difficult than ever to find a TV that actually has a lot of input lag. This is a remarkable achievement by TV manufacturers, and great for gamers too: you can finally start to focus on getting the best picture for your buck, without worrying too much about input lag ruining your purchase. This is where this guide comes in handy: we’ve checked out tons of TVs this year and will give you our top picks for 2019, within most budgets.

For those that don’t know, input lag is the amount of time it takes for a display to process a button input while gaming. If you value your gaming experience, you want to avoid displays that exhibit high input lag, as it makes your gameplay feel sluggish and unresponsive. Every display has input lag to some degree, however you want to stick to the displays we label as Excellent, as these displays provide the quickest response for serious gaming.

NOTE: There are links in this article that redirect you to Amazon’s store page for that specific TV model. This link also provides us a small commission if you purchase the TV with that link. Please feel free to use these links, as it helps support the site!

Best Overall Gaming TV:

LG C9 4K HDR OLED TV

Input Lag: 14ms – Excellent

Not surprised? Neither am I. For the third year in a row, LG takes our top spot again as the best gaming TV for most people. This category would normally be a shootout between a bunch of LED TVs, mainly because they were the only affordable ones within most budgets, back when OLED TVs were in their infancy. A lot has changed over the years, even within the last 3 years!

For starters, I bought my own 65″ LG B7 OLED in the fall of 2017. It had 21ms of input lag, and I had to jump through hoops to get a good deal on it. Matter of fact, I tracked it down for around $2000 after tax. Keep in mind that this wasn’t even the C7 model, it was their cheapest B7. In just two years, you can get the 65″ B9 for even less, with the 65″ C9 being a comparable price to what I paid a couple of years ago. Talk about bringing value to customers! Aside from price, LG have made tons of improvements to their 2019 OLED lineup across all areas that matter for gamers.

While the C8 was mostly considered an incremental upgrade last year, as it still sported 21ms of input lag, the B9 and C9 shatter this record convincingly, with both the OLED55B9 and OLED55C9 measuring at an extremely low 14ms of input lag. This is just 4ms shy of the very best 60hz gaming monitors you can find today, and it will provide an excellent high-level gaming experience for most users. It’s not just input lag that has improved this year, though.

New to 2019, LG’s entire OLED lineup features HDMI 2.1, an important spec that’s vital to gamers. While some TVs were able to add a few HDMI 2.1 features in HDMI 2.0, the core of HDMI 2.1 involves support for variable refresh rates, as well as more bandwidth to support 8K at 60hz, and 4K at 120hz. PC users have enjoyed VRR for many years now, as it eliminates stuttering caused by V-SYNC, while lowering input lag.

It’s a huge deal for serious gaming, and I highly recommend experiencing it if you haven’t already. The good news is that both the LG B9 and C9 are also certified by NVIDIA for G-SYNC compatibility, meaning you can enjoy these benefits as a NVIDIA user too! Even though NVIDIA officially supports LG’s 2019 OLED’s, the TV doesn’t have native FreeSync capabilities, so VRR support is limited to the Xbox One and NVIDIA GPUs. AMD FreeSync is not supported on LG’s 2019 OLEDs. While there aren’t any mainstream HDMI 2.1 sources yet, LG have confirmed that the C9 does support 4K 120hz from external sources. There isn’t official confirmation of the B9 supporting this, even though it is HDMI 2.1 compliant, so it’s a waiting game at this point.

In terms of image quality, OLED is a vast improvement over conventional LED TVs, and the difference can be seen side-by-side quite easily. OLED TVs are able to produce perfect black levels during dark scenes, deep contrast ratios as it can control the backlight of individual pixels, and also have the smoothest motion response for fast-paced gaming. If you already own a LG OLED from the last couple of years, you won’t see a huge improvement in image quality, however the abundance of new gaming features make the upgrade worth it, in my opinion.

So, why did I recommend the C9 over the cheaper B9, even though they’re largely the same TV? It’s mainly due to quality of life issues. The C9 comes with a sturdier casing, has better speakers, better processor, and may also have improved quality control when compared to the B9.

There are reports online of some B9 units suffering from color banding and other imperfections, which leads me to believe that LG sources their highest-quality OLED panels to the C9 and above. It should hopefully result in less panel lottery for you guys. The biggest difference however, is that the C9 comes with their latest Alpha 9 Gen 2 processor, which isn’t available on the B9. This doesn’t provide any real benefits as of this writing, but it may in the future.

If you don’t care about these differences, then feel free to spring to the B9 and save some cash. Assuming you got a good panel, there aren’t any noticeable differences between the two in terms of image quality. Both TVs provide an amazing gaming experience, and you’ll wonder where these TVs have been hiding your whole gaming life!

Best for Most Gamers:

Samsung Q70R QLED TV

Input Lag: 14ms – Excellent

Samsung has once again graced our recommended list for 2019. Their Q6FN TV was an excellent choice for 2018, mainly due to being the only major brand to support low input lag, as well as FreeSync capability. LG didn’t support any sort of VRR last year, and also had higher input lag, making Samsung an attractive option for the most serious gamers.

While Samsung doesn’t enjoy VRR exclusivity along with sub-20ms input lag anymore, they still provide excellent price-to-performance ratio, as their QLED lineup can be significantly cheaper than LG’s OLED offerings. It really boils down to what your price budget is, and whether or not you want to pay for the extra benefits that OLED provides.

Samsung has several QLED models this year, which include the Q50R, Q60R, Q70R, Q80R, and Q90R. That’s a lot of models, and it can be quite confusing to know what the differences are. Heck, it even confused me when I covered them back at CES 2019. However, these differences are the reason I think the Q70R is the best option for most people.

The first thing you need to know, is that their entire QLED lineup supports low input lag. We tested the Q60R all the way up to the Q90R, and they all sported approximately 14ms of input lag. This is very consistent with their TVs over the last couple of years, so rest assured that input lag is not a problem with any of them.

With that said, the Q60R has noticeable downsides. It has edge-lit backlighting instead of the full-array backlight offered by the Q70R and up. The Q60R also has no local dimming, which is vital to hide black bars during movies, and to boost contrast ratios. The Q60R also has a peak brightness during HDR content around 450 nits, which falls short of HDR’s recommended peak brightness levels.

The Q70R has a much higher HDR peak brightness around 800 nits, making it very comparable to LG’s OLED offerings in terms of peak brightness. While nowhere near as high as the top LED TVs, it becomes hard to justify spending more for higher peak brightness in LEDs, when you can use the same cash to buy an OLED TV instead.

Samsung continues to support FreeSync this year for the Xbox One and PCs equipped with AMD Radeon GPUs. However, do keep in mind that the Q70R does not feature HDMI 2.1, and is not officially certified by NVIDIA to be compatible with NVIDIA GPUs for VRR. You will have to stick to LG’s 2019 OLEDs to receive full HDMI 2.1 support.

There is a big reason to go with Samsung over LG’s OLED though. While the pricing is comparable between 55″ and 65″ Samsung QLEDs and LG OLEDs, Samsung wins hands-down when it comes to the larger-sized TV market.

If you’re a gamer that’s looking to get a 75-82″ TV, Samsung provides the most affordable option for serious gaming. Simply jumping from a 65″ LG C9 to a 77″ LG C9 dramatically raises the price to around $5,000. Samsung, by comparison, offers the 82″ Q70R for around $2,500. That’s huge savings if you’re looking for a larger screen size, while wanting to retain excellent low input lag.

If these downsides don’t apply to you, then the Q70R is a very balanced TV. The extremely low input lag and FreeSync support will satisfy most gamers. With the PlayStation 5 and next Xbox console sporting AMD chipsets, it’s very likely that FreeSync will be supported in both consoles once they release.

Lowest Input Lag for Gamers:

TCL 6 Series R625

Input Lag: 11ms – Excellent

TCL made great strides last year with their R617, as it provided excellent HDR performance and low input lag at a very affordable price. It set a new bar for what affordable gaming TVs should strive towards, and TCL largely continues that tradition with the R625.

The main difference with TCL’s 2019 R625 is the vastly improved full-array local dimming. Black uniformity and overall contrast ratio is much improved when compared to last year’s model, which will make dark scenes in both movies and gaming more pleasant to look at.

TCL has also made signifcant improvements to input lag. While last year’s model clocked in at approximately 19ms of input lag, TCL’s R625 features an astonishingly-low 11ms of input lag under game mode, making it our fastest TV tested this year! If raw input lag performance is what you’re after, then TCL’s R625 should be on your radar.

The main downside with the TCL R625 stems with lower motion performance when compared to last year’s R617. You may notice a bit more blur if you’re coming from last year’s model.

Best for Budget SDR Gamers:

Samsung RU7100 LED TV

Input Lag: 12ms – Excellent

I’m going to get straight to the point here. If you don’t care about HDMI 2.1, 4K 120hz, variable refresh rates, but want low input lag with 60hz sources, then the RU7100 is a strong challenger for your money. It’s a very affordable option when compared to the TVs listed above, selling for well under $550 at most retailers.

Like all of Samsung’s other offerings, the input lag is remarkable on the RU7100, tested at approximately 12ms of input lag. This low input lag number is just 2ms lower than the best 60hz gaming monitors, making it very difficult to feel the difference in technical gaming comparisons.

The main downside of this TV is the poor HDR performance, as it only tops out at around 300 nits in real-world usage. I do not recommend this TV for HDR content, as it won’t display the full benefits of HDR. Rather, you should get this TV if price is your biggest factor, and if you’re planning to use it mainly for SDR sources. Do keep in mind that unlike Samsung’s QLED series, this TV does not support FreeSync/VRR either.

This concludes our top picks for gaming TVs in 2019! Feel free to leave a comment below if you own any of these sets and share your experience with them. If these TVs don’t cut it for you, you can also visit our input lag database, with over 600 displays tested for input lag!

The post The Best Low Input Lag TVs for Gaming in 2019 appeared first on DisplayLag.

To catch the last bit of savings right after Black Friday, many great TVs and monitors are on still on sale for Cyber Monday! Don’t miss your chance to score some great deals on these displays before they’re gone.

First up, we have LG’s excellent OLED TVs that earned our top spot for the best gaming TVs of 2019. These TVs provide the best image quality and extremely low input lag performance around 14ms. Definitely jump on these deals if you can.

LG TV Deals:

If LG’s offerings are out of the budget, then Samsung has many excellent gaming TVs that also ranked among the best TVs as well. The Q70R in particular was our runner-up for the best gaming TV, second only to LG’s OLED TVs listed above.

The Q60R has similar input lag to the Q70R without full-array local dimming, however it offers better pricing. By stepping up to the Q80R, you gain higher peak brightness and better overall image quality, while retaining excellent input lag performance.

Additionally, for those looking to go big, Samsung’s 8K 75″ Q900R behemoth has a hefty discount as well, with 43% off retail. If you’re on a tight budget and only care about SDR gaming performance, the 55″ RU7100 is on sale too. It’s quite a steal with 12ms of input lag!

Samsung TV Deals:

Our final recommendation for TVs is TCL’s 6 Series R625, which is also on sale for Cyber Monday. This TV provides an excellent low 11ms input lag, while also offering decent HDR performance for its price tag. It also made our list of best gaming TVs in 2019:

TCL TV Deals:

Aside from TV deals, you can also find many Cyber Monday deals on monitors as well. Some of these may be listed in our gaming monitor database. They should provide low input lag for serious gaming needs:

Monitor Deals:

We will update this post throughout the day as we find more deals on good stuff, so be sure to check back!

The post Cyber Monday 2019: TV & Monitor Deals appeared first on DisplayLag.

ASUS unveiled a new brand of gaming monitors in 2019 to coincide with their established ROG brand of gaming monitors. Labeled under the new “TUF” name, the main benefit of this new line of monitors is the inclusion of ELMB (Extreme Low Motion Blur), as well as ELMB Sync.

Many gaming monitors over the last several years have implemented strobing-backlight tech to combat LCD motion blur, as its quite noticeable when compared to old-fashioned CRT displays. We listed several of these newer monitors within our new G-SYNC/FreeSync gaming monitor database, a tool to help you compare different gaming monitors.

Manufacturers have different names for their proprietary motion blur reduction tech, with ASUS labeling theirs under the ELMB acronym. The downside with most motion blur reduction tech is that it disables the use of VRR (such as G-SYNC or FreeSync). This would force the end-user to choose between lower motion blur, or having lower input lag + a stutter-free image.

ASUS changes that with ELMB Sync, a new implementation of motion blur reduction that allows you to enable VRR at the same time! Gamers can now have the best of both worlds within a single gaming monitor.

Keep in mind that they don’t all support ELMB Sync, with some of them only supporting vanilla ELMB. ELMB Sync is required to enable reduced motion blur along with variable refresh rates on these monitors.

You can use the table below to compare some of these monitors, though detailed specifications can be compared in our gaming monitor database. Be sure to check it out!

Visit our G-SYNC / FreeSync Gaming Monitor Database to compare these monitors!

The post ASUS TUF Gaming Monitors: VRR with Reduced Blur appeared first on DisplayLag.

Acer is no stranger to premium gaming monitors, with their highly successful Predator lineup constantly being updated with the latest specifications. While a majority of their older Predator monitors are still being sold at a healthy rate (and still have relevant specs), there are a few new additions to the lineup that diversify the spec sheet even further.

These new models are labeled as XB3, XN3, and CG7 through official marketing, however they have specific model numbers if you want to find out how to purchase them:

• XB3 = XB273K: 3840 x 2160 (4K) resolution + 120hz refresh rate (144hz OC)
• XN3 = XN253QX: 1920 x 1080 resolution + 240hz refresh rate
• CG7 = CG437K: 3840 x 2160 (4K) resolution + 120hz refresh rate (144hz OC)

Visit our G-SYNC / FreeSync Gaming Monitor Database to compare these monitors!

Acer Predator XB273K: 4K Resolution at 144hz

Acer has produced a few 4K monitors, however this is their first model that supports a higher refresh rate than 60hz. This monitor supports a native 120hz refresh rate, that can be overclocked to 144hz. Acer lists its response time as 1ms VRB, which stands for Visual Response Boost.

It’s Acer’s marketing term for 1ms MPRT, which many other manufacturers are adopting for their monitors under their own marketing terms as well. In this case, it allows the IPS display of this monitor to reach 1ms response time using a strobing backlight, as its native GTG response time is 4ms without it.

The panel does support HDR content, however its peak brightness is its core limiting factor: the native brightness is 350 nits, with the peak brightness hovering around 400 nits of max brightness. For HDR content, you typically want a display that can achieve around 800-1000 nits of peak brightness, to really make those highlights pop when they count. With that said, the main selling point of this monitor is the 144hz during 4K content.

Most graphics cards, including NVIDIA’s top of the line 2080 Ti, will be unable to reach this high refresh rate with maxed out settings, so this is something you want to pursue if you’re willing to dial down settings, or possibly SLI the card. This limitation should deteriorate over time as newer GPUs hit the market that are capable of reaching 144hz at 4K.

In terms of variable refresh rate, there are two versions of this model that serve different purposes:

• XB273KP – G-SYNC module + VRR range 1~144hz – Check Price on Amazon
• XB273KGP – G-SYNC compatible + VRR range 48~120hz – Check Price on Amazon

If you’re a NVIDIA user, you want to stick to the XB273KP as it will give you the best VRR performance when compared to the XB273K GP. However, if you’re someone that switches between AMD and NVIDIA GPUs based on raw performance per dollar, then the GP model will be better suited for your needs.

Acer Predator XN253QX: 1080p at 240hz

A lot of 240hz monitors have launched over the last couple of years, and they are the current favorite for esports competitors, for good reason: they offer the lowest input lag and clearest motion resolution when compared to 144hz monitors. Timing is everything when it comes to competing for big money.

If you already own a 240hz monitor, then there isn’t a real need to upgrade to Acer’s version, unless you’re chasing the small differences between panels. It still sports a 1080p resolution, which is the norm at 240hz, along with a TN panel that isn’t focused towards color accuracy. However, users of 144hz monitors will appreciate the reduced motion blur and lower input lag; it’s certainly noticeable if you’re conditioned to having instant response.

Being an esports focused monitor, the XN253QX sports a 1ms GTG response time, which is common for TN panels aimed towards serious gaming. Many 240hz monitors are 1ms GTG, however there are big differences in how its implemented among manufacturers. This monitor is also capable of reaching 0.4ms GTG response time when overdrive is fully engaged.

Before you consider purchasing this monitor, there is another monitor that shares a very similar model number to this one, and it has drastically different specs:

• XN253QP – 1080p @ 144hz – Check Price on Amazon
• XN253QX – 1080p @ 240hz – Check Price on Amazon

Both of these monitors include a G-SYNC module with a VRR range of 1~144hz and 1~240hz respectively. The X model is the newer version that supports 240hz refresh rate, so keep that in mind before you place the order!

Visit our G-SYNC / FreeSync Gaming Monitor Database to compare these monitors!

Acer Predator CG437K: Big Screen 43″ at 4K 120hz (or 144hz)

So here is Acer’s grand-daddy display that’s sure to put a dent on your wallet. The CG7 is Acer’s newest 4K monitor that supports 120hz refresh rate. This behemoth is carries a DisplayHDR certification with 1000 nits of peak brightness, three HDMI 2.0 ports, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, and 1ms VRB response time.

The 120hz refresh rate is actually overclockable to 144hz, though you will need to utilize two DisplayPort 1.4 connections to achieve it. It boasts a VA panel, which tends to reproduce deeper blacks than IPS and TN panels, though it may not be as accurate as IPS when it comes to color reproduction. Still, it’s a big improvement over TN across the board in terms of image quality.

The CG7 is a G-SYNC compatible display, meaning it doesn’t have a dedicated G-SYNC module. It does support adaptive-sync/FreeSync through it’s HDMI 2.0 ports as well, making it an ideal pairing for Xbox One consoles as well. Its VRR range is 48~120hz, so you’ll want to avoid dipping below 48 FPS in order to maintain its VRR benefits.

Its listed MSRP is around $1,499, though you might be able to find it cheaper on Amazon.

The post Acer Monitors in 2019: XB273K, XN253QX, CG437K appeared first on DisplayLag.