Suggestions for an HD TV that's good for gaming and has no input lag?

[Twario]

Believe it or not, I'm one of the few people that still has an SD TV in his room. It's an 'esa' brand TV from the early 2000s, it's huge and it takes up a lot of space. Even though it's been great to me through the years, I think it's time to get a replacement.

But I'm trying to be really careful this time before buying one, since I've had a bad experience with an HD TV a long ago. So basically, years ago my parents bought me an HDTV, the picture looked good but it had horrible input lag whenever I played games on it. I wasn't having this so instead of returning it they put it in the living room which replaced the 'esa' TV which is the one I have now.

So what I want is suggestions for a good flatscreen TV that is best for gaming. What attributes of the TV do I have to look at to know if it'll have input lag or not? My budget is about $300-800 but I'm willing to go a little higher. Also, I don't want it to be too big, keep in mind that this TV will be in a bedroom that's kind of small.

 

[Twario]

yeah. i could've sworn i wrote something about stretching a 360p/480p source to 1080p up there. well, lucky you kept your old tv. alternatively getting the wii's component cables instead of using the composite cables you're using is an improvement, though minor.

Well it isn't bad to the point of being unbearable. But I did notice an option if you go into the Wii settings, it says "TV resolution". There's two options, one is "EDTV or HDTV (480p)" and the other is "Standard TV (480i)". I can only select the standard one, it won't let me pick the other option. Getting the component would unlock the other option right? Is the change in definition noticeable? Because if it is, I might get those cables eventually. I wanna play Metroid Prime in widescreen without it looking like ass.

 

[Hazle]

yes, you'd need a component cable to enable the option. it was an improvement from composite, though i went with some cheap third-party cables that suffered some corrosion, so there's some light static, real noticeable in brighter colors at times. others reported much better results in most cases regardless of brands.

 

[Twario]

I'll get the official one then. I hope it slightly reduces input lag on the Wii, because while it's very playable it could be a tiny bit better. Also the picture is way too dark at times with the old A/V cables from the Wii box. Hope it fixes that too.

 

[Twario]

Another update: while the game mode greatly reduced input lag, there still was a tiny bit left. However, turning off every post-processing feature of the TV fixed it. Now it feels nearly identical in response time to the old SD TV I had before.

EDIT: At least as far as I can tell, still testing it......

EDIT 2: Good enough. This is as good as it's gonna get. At least it's really responsive.