How important is response time for LCD cabs?

[thebyter]

I'm planning out my first cab, and have decided on a slim LCD-based design for various reasons.  I know that large 4:3 LCD's are hard to come by, but I have an extra 19" Philips 190b monitor I'd settled on.

However, I've just been offered a 21.3" Syncmaster 213T for free from work.  It's in good shape and I'm happy about the larger size, but unfortunately it's response time is three times slower than the 19" monitor (25ms versus 8ms). 

So I'm wondering if the extra size is worth the slower performance?  When I do the math, I make it an extra 23% of screen area, so it's significant -- but I don't want to make the games unplayable.

If it matters, I think I'll mostly be playing "classic" MAME games, but I also have a Dreamcast I was planning on adding for occasional play.  Thanks for any opinions!

[SNAAKE]

response time has nothing to do with lag. more response time = jaggy/pixeled picture for fast motion scenes. its noticeable in movies and sports. 25 is pretty bad even for games. but its not a deal breaker.

just get this monitor instead. its the official evo tournament monitor with 0 lag and only 2ms response time which looks amazing for anything. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059&Tpk=VH236H

[lilshawn]

worry about viewing angle more than "lag"

lag is an excuse that lousy gamers use as an excuse for their suckyness.

[amendonz]

lag is very real, although you most likely won't notice a little bit if you play at a low level.

[lilshawn]

keep in mind that the response time listed on the box is nearly meaningless. It does not truly measure the response times of the monitor's colors. even though it's a measureable occurence, nothing is stated from what to what... often ridiculously low "2ms" monitors are measured from grey to grey, not blak to white or white to black or even black to color.... i mean WTF?! Technically 16ms would equal 60fps, but it is possible that monitors that list a response time of 8ms could have response times higher than 16ms.

10 yeaqrs ago ghosting was an issue with damn near 200ms response time but forget about it. my old LG1951 with a 12ms response time looks the same as my acer al2016w with a 8ms response time... not that i'm going to notice 4 milliseconds. makers of LCDs have turned this into a brilliant marketing strategy, offering increasingly sophisticated and enhanced motion processing and ever higher 120- and 240-Hz screen refresh rates to repeatedly oversell a solution to a problem that is no longer a problem.

I would be more worried the the monitor employs some sort of post processing to the image before displaying that is going to introduce an ACTUAL delay in displaying the image. (deinterlacing, motion interpolation etc)

[thebyter]

Awesome, thanks!  Yeah, I should have made it more clear, but I'm not too worried about "lag"; I'm not a good enough player that I'll notice the monitor being a few milliseconds behind the joysticks.  8-)  I'm more concerned about, I guess, "motion blur" (or whatever it's called) and having the image quality degraded too much.  It sort of sounds like that might not be too bad, at least for smallish sprites jumping around on a static background?

> just get this monitor instead

That looks like a nice monitor, but it's not 4:3, and it's not free -- both of which characterize the one I can get from the guy at my work.    Maybe I'll take him up on it and give it a try...

Thanks!

[Blanka]

Lag often compensates for response time. Many O-SO-FAST TN panels nowadays have LOTS-A-LAG. Then after all our brain has the power to predict what is going to happen where, so it can send our hands to the right position in advace. Without this power, lots of stuff we do would be impossible anyway. It can compensate for a little lag. So unless you want to beat Steve Mitchell ( ), then don't bother. Do bother about the angles though.

Get that 213T. Lovely display! Awesome blacks and angles.

[nordemoniac]

I agree, you won't get a problem with the response time. Go for it! Big is good, bigger is better! 

[thebyter]

Awesome, thanks!  You guys rock!  And, yes -- I'll take it if it's BIGGER!  I am American, after all. 

[lilshawn]

Awesome, thanks!  You guys rock!  And, yes -- I'll take it if it's BIGGER!  I am American, after all. 

I'm Canadian... bigger is still better, irrespective of your country of origin.