Extreme lag between controller input and seeing results on screen with the RetroN5?
When trying to play a game on my RetroN5 (which is hooked up to an Insignia HDTV (that doesn't have "Game Mode") I have extreme latency between pushing a button on the controller and seeing the results on-screen.
Everything I have read suggests that the TV just isn't handling the video rendering and that I need to turn on "game mode". However, the TV doesn't have game mode, and I have zero issue with responsiveness when playing Xbox-360, PS2, or using the TV as a monitor for a laptop. It only occurs with the RetroN5.
This is acceptable for turn based games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, etc. but when you try to play anything that requires even a shred of timing, the game is virtually unplayable.
Best Answer
There are probably two things at play here:
1. Your TV's Preprocessing (Game Mode)
As you've mentioned, newer (digital) TVs are prone to input lag, because the TV does a lot of preprocessing of the image before displaying it. This preprocessing isn't noticeable when you're watching TV and is only really needed for such DTV signals - not for connected PCs or Game Consoles like the RetroN 5.
A lot of the better designed TVs will have settings to remove or reduce the amount of preprocessing that the screen does, either overall or on a per-input level. Most more modern TVs call this 'Game Mode', and it is just a setting that you turn on or off, usually in 'General Settings'.
If you're unsure or can't find 'Game Mode', it may be called something else or instead is a series of settings you need to tweak/disable - try searching online for your particular brand/model.
2. The Retron 5's Wireless controller
The default 'RetroN' controllers seem to suffer from what seems like ~10ms of input lag. It might not sound like much, but it is very noticeable especially on games where timing and perfect frames are everything.
This input lag doesn't occur using original-console controllers (Mega Drive, NES etc). My suggestion would be to get some OG controllers and relegate the wireless one to games where input lag does not matter too much (Pokemon etc)
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Why is there a delay between my controller and TV?
Input lag is what happens when the TV is doing so much image processing that a physical input from the player (on a video game controller) takes too long to register on screen. In other words, Mario jumps a few milliseconds after you tell him to jump by pressing a button on your controller.How do I fix input controller lag?
V-Sync allows games to sync with the frame rate and refresh rate of the display. Disabling this setting is going to unlock the FPS limit and decrease input lag.Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Eren Li, Eren Li, Dayvison de Oliveira Silva, cottonbro