Some issues with lag

[Brian]

Hi everyone,

I seem to not be able to create a new topic, so I figured I’d post this under the beginners section for now…

First off, thanks to everyone for all your efforts on this project.  But, I am setting things up and having some issues with lag when playing these games, somewhere between me pressing the buttons on my USB controller (Logitech Wingman) and seeing the actual results on the screen (HDMI, Sony Internet TV).

For a few days I have been thinking that this is a general issue with slow USB input on the Pi.  In the Raspbian Wheezy desktop, I definitely see a lag just while moving the mouse cursor around, even when I have brought the resolution down to 1024 x 768.

But recently, someone brought up to me that maybe it is just a lag with my HDMI television?

So, I just wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on what the problem could be, or any ideas on what I should try next:

– USB HID input polling problem?  Should I use the GPIO based solution?

– the fact I’m using HDMI?

– lag in my TV itself?

– something else?

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

[petrockblog]

Hi Brian,

I hope it is ok that I split your post and made it a thread on its own!?

I have read about lagging USB game pads at the official RPi forum. But, unfortunately, I did not follow the discussions and cannot find the thread right now. Maybe someone else here can help!?

[Brian]

Yes, thanks for fixing the location of my post.

So – I did figure out that basically all of my lag was just due to my Sony Internet TV.  Even when I used the RCA video output from the Pi to the TV, I saw about the same lag.  (I also tried turning off things like “CineMotion”, noise reduction, etc., but it sounds like some digital TVs are just not meant for gaming.)

I rummaged up an old CRT TV, hooked up the RCA video and the audio, and the lag was gone!  Plus now it REALLY has that retro feel, being on a tube TV…

Anyway, thanks for the support – maybe someone else can benefit from what I’ve learned.

[Author]

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