Samsung UE37c5100 LED TV: 50htz question

[Rupert H]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-UE37C51 ... B003DNSJ1S

I've seen this Samsung UE37c5100 LED TV and in terms of spec, it seems to tick every box -- great price, fast response time, amazing black levels, etc. The one fly in the ointment is that it's listed as 50htz only.

I would be using it for DVD/Blu-ray, PS3, 360 and Wii, most of which have software that is 60htz only (Super Street Fighter II HD Remix for example). How does the TV process 60htz sources? Does it assume the missing frames and give a horrible image like 100htz TVs do? Or is does it natively process them at 60htz and this just isn't listed in the spec sheet?

I'm sure somebody (Fudoh) will know the answer.

Cheers,
Rupert.

[Fudoh]

All the Samsungs TVs natively process 24, 50 and 60Hz, sources. No dropped frames. No worries

On the other hand, what about the input lag ? Seen any reviews on that ?

[Rupert H]

Yeah, I thought as much as that's been a standard for some years now. So before the cash is layed down, you're certain it will natively handle 60htz and not process it down to 50htz? Any idea why they would advertise the thing as 50htz? Every site I've seen it listed on states frequency is 50htz.

The response time is 5ms which is usually lower in game mode, right? I think that's acceptable for an HDTV.

[Fudoh]

100% sure, full 60Hz processing (120Hz) for NTSC sources..... No worries.

The response time is 5ms which is usually lower in game mode, right?

unfortunately the response time has NOTHING to do with the processing lag. And - again unfortunately - the lower the response time gets, the higher the input lags often gets. The TV's probably in the 40-50ms range for input/processing lag, which can be quite bad depending on the games you play.

[Rupert H]

I see, thanks for the low-down.

So I guess I completely misunderstood the difference between response time and processing lag. How do you work those numbers out and what is an acceptable range? I'll be playing lots of native 720p fighting games so lag is definitely an issue for me.

I was under the impression that lag was caused by the TV processing non-native signals up to 720p (or the TVs's native resolution). Is that not the case then?

[Fudoh]

I was under the impression that lag was caused by the TV processing non-native signals up to 720p (or the TVs's native resolution). Is that not the case then?

many TVs will exhibit more lag when fed with low res 15khz signals (240p or 480i), that's true. That doesn't mean that the lag is eliminated on native signals though. If you play fighting games (or shmups) you should look out for a TV set that has 1 to 1.5 frames of lag (meaning 17 to 25ms in gamemode). Many people choose Panasonic's current Plasma lineup for this reason. They're cheap, make an extremely good picture with all input resolutions and have a rather low input lag.

Many LED LCDs on the other hand, have processing delays up to 80ms (or even 100ms+ on Philips sets).

[Rupert H]

I see... Thanks Fudoh. You can always be trusted to cut through the numbers and offer practical answers.

[Skykid]

Have you just robbed a bank or something Rupe?

Seriously though, I might have to come around and see the thing in action.