PS3 input lag issue

SKILL_SHOT

Banned
Jul 11, 2012
3,659
1
NO LAG HERE! maybe ZEN runs 720p @ 60 fps and TPBA runs 1080p @ 60 fps? If its the TV is it a 60hz Vs. 120hz. refresh rate?
 

Supermans

New member
Jun 19, 2012
131
0
Hi Eric,

Have you re-downloaded the software from PSN? It's now version 2.00 (to check it you can select the "Pinball Arcade" icon, press the triangle and then "Information"). In the latest version the lag has been drastically reduced. It's not perfect but very playable and I finally completed the wizard goals on Black Hole.


The lag is still there for me with the new update. Zen still has no lag. I play it on the Ipad 3 which has 0 lag.
 

shutyertrap

Moderator
Staff member
Mar 14, 2012
7,334
0
I honestly don't notice any lag, but then I'm playing on a rear projection crt hdtv. I've also got my PS3 connected to my receiver, which then plugs into the TV. I know my receiver does a little lag processing, but I think that's mainly for sound purposes.

If you guys really wanna test some theories, take your PS3 to Best Buy or some other audio/video store and connect it to various TVs. My guess, your higher end better processing TVs will perform better than the cheaper but same size monitors. I'd also be interested in knowing if plasma vs led makes any difference.

But yeah, CRT = no lag for me. If it makes you feel any better though, my TV can't do 720p (only 1080i or 480p) which means ZEN gets not only downscaled to 480, but for some reason squeezes the image making it letterboxed! Yeah, fat pinball blows.
 

DooMStalK

New member
Jul 2, 2012
18
0
I've been reading this thread and besides I don't have the lag issue, I'm trying to figure out what may cause it.

I have some friends who experience lag in other games besides TPA, and all of them basically had the same cause, and are based on what shutyertrap said, the TV/wiring setup.

What happens is that the majority of people have their consoles connected with cheap HDMI/component/composite cables combined with LCD or LCD/LED (every "LED" TV is a LCD TV that just has LED backlight instead of CCFLs that "normal" LCD TVs have, but, all of them are essentially LCD screens). I know most of you know it, but many people believe it is a different technology, when it isn't.

That being said, LCD technology struggles with high refresh rate demanding content. Over the years, it has been improved though from 60Hz to 120Hz, 240Hz and 480Hz, but in "tricky" ways, the end result is that motion looks kitschy, plastic, cardboard cutout look that is very unappealing in most screens.

It all comes down to something called response time, just as a comparision, plasma response time is virtually instantaneous because plasma is fundamentally electronic. LCD response time is a serious issue and is not instantaneous because LCD switching is mechanical in nature - liquid crystal must physically bend for the color to change and this can never be instantaneous.

I'm not here trying to say go buy a plasma tv neither saying LCD/LED is inferior, just trying to give some insight from a technology point of view and what it matters in lag issues. Today most LCD/LED manufacturers got rid of most response time problems especially models from 240Hz and up, but not all of them unfortunatelly. When OLED and other new technologies for bigger screens become affordable, all this problems wil be gone.

So if you have a LCD/LED TV, there are good chances it suffers from response time, because most of them do. Cabling is also essential, especially HDMI were most cheap ones will introduce interferance or other problems ending with bad experience.

I have a Panasonic P50-VT20B Plasma TV connected with a Monster Cable M2000 HDMI 1.4 compliant cable to my PS3, and I have ZERO lag on the flippers.

As I said in the beginning, my friends who had lag in other games (FPS games at the time), they tested their consoles with my TV and all lag was gone, perhaps it might happen with TPA as well???

For people that have the lag issue, a quick way to compare would be, as shutyertrap said, plug it to a CRT TV (ok, it will look horrible because of low res) or to a Plasma TV and see how it performs.

Hope it helps,

Cheers!!
 

Ark Malmeida

New member
Apr 3, 2012
360
0
I have a 360 only so I'm a purely outside observer on this whole thing, but it seems that anyone that's pointed to the lag as being possible caused by the controller's blue tooth has seen the lag disappear once they went to a different/wired controller. I'm just curious to see if everyone that's still experiencing the lag has tried to use the controller wired (you can plug it in with the USB cable right?).
 

bavelb

New member
Apr 16, 2012
1,238
0
I have a 360 only so I'm a purely outside observer on this whole thing, but it seems that anyone that's pointed to the lag as being possible caused by the controller's blue tooth has seen the lag disappear once they went to a different/wired controller. I'm just curious to see if everyone that's still experiencing the lag has tried to use the controller wired (you can plug it in with the USB cable right?).
I did, didnt help
 

Supermans

New member
Jun 19, 2012
131
0
I have a 360 only so I'm a purely outside observer on this whole thing, but it seems that anyone that's pointed to the lag as being possible caused by the controller's blue tooth has seen the lag disappear once they went to a different/wired controller. I'm just curious to see if everyone that's still experiencing the lag has tried to use the controller wired (you can plug it in with the USB cable right?).

I own a PS3, Plugging on the controller does not change the lag. However when I use the Sega Virtua Stick USB, there is no lag. However Since we cannot map buttons to the controller within the pinball arcade, there is no plunger button as the joystick only has the left analog stick and not the right one. So I ask Farsight to allow changing the button configuration within the game. Then I can finally use my PS3 for pinball.
 

robx46

New member
Apr 5, 2012
31
0
This issue is frustrating. People still keep suggesting that the TV's being used might be at fault, but I'm about sick of reading that. I own TPA for the 360 as well & this lag isn't there. So... there goes that theory. Zen Pinball & Pinball FX are fine on both consoles too.
Enabling "game mode" can help a little but not completely. & even this is frustrating as I had my TV settings how I liked them. & I don't even have my 360 in "game mode" & yet it still plays TPA & FX2 just fine with no lag. So clearly there is an issue here, & "game mode" only helps to cover it up a little on PS3.

Even if trying a different port or plugging in the controller does fix the issue, hypothetically, then even so this is still a bug in the game as ppl shouldn't have to do this. Even a FS employee admitted this bug is there & it has been tough to find & fix. So please no more suggestions that our TV's are crap. TPA plays amazing on 360, now if only it looked as good as PS3 & had DLC, we'd be all set!
 

Mike

New member
Feb 24, 2012
128
0
I was frustrated too because to me, there was no reason PHoF Williams should run fine on the exact same tv and ps3. After the last update however, TPA is about the same as Williams now. I can't imagine what the issue is because I see people saying the lag is improved except on ToM. For me, ToM is fine now. I can't figure it out.
 

robx46

New member
Apr 5, 2012
31
0
When was the last update? Are you talking about the update that came with the last DLC? Cuz maybe there is an update I haven't tried yet, its been a few days since I played on PS3. But I assume I would be alerted if there was an update for the game.
 

Tabe

Member
Apr 12, 2012
833
0
It's not the TV - I had lag with my plasma and it went away with the DLC update. And it ain't "cheap" HDMI cables - there is no difference between Monster and generic $2 cables. So,yeah, once again, it's the software.

Tabe
 

plebc

New member
Jul 24, 2012
4
0
enabling game mode on my tv fixed the issue for me. before i did this the lag was intolerable. swapping to different hdmi inputs didn't seem to make any discernible difference.
 

BonzoGonzo

New member
Jun 12, 2012
458
0
I have a 360 only so I'm a purely outside observer on this whole thing, but it seems that anyone that's pointed to the lag as being possible caused by the controller's blue tooth has seen the lag disappear once they went to a different/wired controller. I'm just curious to see if everyone that's still experiencing the lag has tried to use the controller wired (you can plug it in with the USB cable right?).

i dont believe that plugging the ps3 with the usb cable is doing antyhing else besides charging the battery... u should try a wired controller, not pluggin in a wireless one
 

brakel

New member
Apr 27, 2012
2,305
1
One thing I can tell you with certainty. Don't waste your money on expensive HDMI cables. HDMI cables are digital. They either work or they don't. If they complete their handshake then they are capable of transmitting the data. Analog cables can pick up "artifacts" but digital cables can not.

My "flipper lag" issues are not related to any video problem. I don't have the problem in any other pinball game or golf game or any other game where timing is critical. The TPA flipper problem, or at least the one that I experience, I believe is caused by some kind of bad code in the handling of the wireless controller data. When we plug one of our "new" PS3 wireless controllers into the USB cable, the problem goes away. However, we don't have to plug it in to make it work in any other pinball game, golf game, etc.

TPA is somehow not processing this data correctly. I am still trying to write this up in some kind of scientific way to send to FarSight but I believe that if they were to fix this problem that they would probably fix half the lag problems out there today.
 

shutyertrap

Moderator
Staff member
Mar 14, 2012
7,334
0
It's not the TV - I had lag with my plasma and it went away with the DLC update. And it ain't "cheap" HDMI cables - there is no difference between Monster and generic $2 cables. So,yeah, once again, it's the software.

Tabe

monoprice.com, the best place for cheap cabling.
 

DooMStalK

New member
Jul 2, 2012
18
0
It's not the TV - I had lag with my plasma and it went away with the DLC update. And it ain't "cheap" HDMI cables - there is no difference between Monster and generic $2 cables. So,yeah, once again, it's the software.

Tabe

There are people reporting that changing TV to game mode fixed the issue (so here its clearly a video issue), some plugged the controller and lag went away while others have lag issues regardless, and your lag problem went away with the DLC update!

That's quite a lot of different forms for the same problem to appear.

I don't experience any lag as some people here too, so, I can't blame software and nothing else. And yes I have a monster cable connected to a plasma TV. It won't have nothing related to the problem, but this is my working setup.

About the cables, I don't know if monster cable makes any difference really, I bought it because I wanted a 100% certified 1.4 standard HDMI cable with all enhancements/protections possible. What I do know, for instance and just as a comparision, is that with networking cabling for example, if you take CAT 6 and CAT 6a standards, YOU WILL have performance/noise/losses issues in 10GBASE-T cenarios using CAT 6.

I believe the HDMI standards exists for a reason too, but, I can't testify if it makes any difference in practice using a generic cable from a 100% sure certified cable as many people claim it doesn't.

Anyway, looking at the previous posts, indeed looks like it is something else. I hope FarSight finds it and gets it fixed as soon as possible.
 

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