What is Input Lag and How to Reduce It in Monitors and TVs

For competitive and enthusiastic gamers, the difference between victory and defeat is often hidden in a tenth of a second. Input Lag is one of the greatest enemies of smooth gameplay, being a critical factor that affects player precision and reaction time. Understanding what it is and how to minimize it is essential for any gaming setup.

1. What is Input Lag and How Does It Differ from Response Time?

Input Lag is the total time elapsed from when the player performs an action (like pressing a button on the controller) until that action is displayed on the screen.

This is a concept often confused with Response Time:

Input Lag (Measured in milliseconds, ms): This is the total system delay time. It encompasses the controller, the console (Xbox, PS, PC), game processing, and the internal processing of the TV/monitor.
Response Time (Measured in milliseconds, ms): This is the time it takes for a single pixel on your screen to change from one color to another (typically gray-to-gray, or GtG). High Response Time causes "ghosting" or motion blur, but does not directly affect reaction time to the controller action.

2. Main Sources of Input Lag

Input lag can originate at various stages of the process:

The Input Device (Controller/Mouse): Wireless controllers can introduce a slight delay compared to wired connections.
Source Processing (Console/PC): The time it takes for the graphics card or console to render the image, especially when technologies like Ray Tracing are active.
Display Processing (TV/Monitor): This is the main source of lag, especially in modern TVs. TVs perform image processing (scaling, sharpness, motion smoothing) before displaying the frame.

3. Proven Methods to Reduce Input Lag

To achieve the lowest possible response time, you need to optimize the end-to-end ecosystem:

3.1. Enable Game Mode

Almost all modern TVs include a Game Mode. Its primary function is to bypass all the image processing the TV would normally do (noise reduction, color enhancement, motion interpolation), sending the source signal directly to the screen. This step is the most important and can reduce lag by tens of milliseconds.

3.2. Manually Disable Image Processing

If Game Mode is not available (or is insufficient), manually search for and disable the following functions in the TV's image menus:

Motion Control (Motion Smoothing/TruMotion)
Noise Reduction
Color and Sharpness Enhancements

3.3. Optimize Refresh Rate

The faster the screen updates the image, the less delay there will be per frame cycle. Monitors with high Refresh Rates (120Hz, 144Hz, or higher) inherently have less lag than 60Hz screens. Make sure your console or PC is configured to use the highest rate the screen supports.

3.4. Wired Connection (Whenever Possible)

Use cables to connect your console, PC, and controller. A physical connection (HDMI, DisplayPort) is always faster than a wireless connection (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth). If using a wireless controller, use it with the USB cable connected to ensure the most direct signal and reduce transmission delay.

In summary, low Input Lag is the result of having the minimum amount of processing between your finger and the final image. For most action games, the goal is to keep lag below 20ms.