
One of the first things many people will question when picking up the Wii U GamePad for the first time is the quality of the streaming. With no wired connection between the console and controller, many make the assumption that the delay must be greater than when playing on a standard television.
However, Eurogamer has conducted some latency tests and discovered that the streaming tech Nintendo is using is so robust that the screen on the GamePad is actually more responsive than some LCD televisions - TVs which are known to use technology that suffers from a certain amount of processing latency.
You can read the full investigation here - as well as view video evidence - but we couldn't resist reproducing the section of the report that matters:
The GamePad's video streaming offers excellent, low latency results with rock-solid performance. Bearing in mind that many HDTVs operate with far higher levels of lag, this is a significant achievement. Indeed, for many people, using the GamePad screen will provide a marginally more responsive experience than playing on their regular display.
Have you been impressed by the GamePad's low latency streaming? Drop us a comment to share your thoughts.
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 22
impressive, but i 2 weeks ago or so i read an article saying the gamepad latency is slightly (very very slightly tiny little) higher than the latency on a tv
now i am confused
It took a lot of fiddling around, but eventually I got the picture on my Samsung HDTV to look nearly as good as on my Gamepad.
I can't say there are any latency issues at all though, HDMI is a very nice perk.
I've taken to playing rounds of New Super Mario Bros. U on just the GamePad whilst web browsing, like having a long YouTube video up, it's great!
That explains why I hear the sounds from "New Super Mario BrosU" a tiny few milliseconds before the sound comes on TV.
Does the lag on the LCD TV explain why there is a slight lag in Punch Out on the VC?
Very impressive! Another reason to love my Game Pad.
"the GamePad is actually more responsive than some LCD televisions"
@Damo - I believe that this phrase needs "more" in there. Otherwise, really cool article.
They picked a display that has very low latency for this test, so in reality it is even better than most HDTVs.
For people who are having lag issues, make sure that the input your console is connected to is set to 'Game' mode - on some TVs it makes a significant difference. Sorry if your granny already knows etc.
i've had 3 different HDTVs (and seen plenty more) and I seriously can't see the latency in any of them.
Is this generally regarded as a #firstworldproblem?
@Ideal_Hero I think 'more' should go before 'responsive.'
I have an CRT HDTV, so I don't see much of a difference.
The only problem i have found with my gamepad is that is better looking than the tv... Just kidding.. i don't have a Wii U yet.. bahhh
2nd paragrpah there is a typo. Should read "...is actually MORE responsive than blah blah blah Nintendo is the best."
@C-Olimar - Thanks for catching that. It looks like you corrected my correction. You earned a medal!
Nibelilt wrote:
I'm impressed. And I don't say that often.
It did freeze once, but this happened with both the Wii version and the first game so this was probably a one-off due to the game anyway.
Seriously, though, very impressive.
I think they should let you calibrate when stuff will happen on your GamePad. Like your can calibrate it in the Guitar Hero / Rock Band games. Especially Nintendo can not expect people to have the best HDTV's ever made.
That's darn impressive actually how a wireless connection like this can be quicker than a wired one in certain circumstances.
I'm glad I got a Panasonic plasma when I did mainly for issues such as this, so it doesn't affect me. And on top of it, classic games still look very nice on it as well.
Another reason to get da Wii U peoples, and i am quite impressed
My ancient (circa 2007) Philips plasma is right in sync; it could also do all resolutions over component so I've never experienced problems displaying VC content on my Wii. I guess even a budget plasma is superior to LCD...
That's good to hear. I've always had problems with input lag on our HDTV, which makes me really worry about playing a Wii U. It's hard to play a game (like NSMBU) that requires quick precision button pressing when there's always this REALLY annoying input lag. I've tried to fix it, but I can't. There's no "Game" mode to switch it to or anything. @anybody Just out of curiosity, does HDMI lower the amount of input lag, compared to, for example, the HD cords that you use for an Xbox 360?
That is not really true. On modern LCD TVs you can change the view mode to GAME and the latency is reduced to zero.
This old news, and just for those of you who doubt it, just go play your Wii U, and notice the lag of sound/visuals on the TV vs. the gamepad. It is possible to tell without a computer telling you... Maybe game mode on displays changes it, but Wii U is still going to be putting images/audio on the gamepad first vs. the TV no matter what. Wii U's controller needs to be in perfect sync with the console.
@WaveBoy Haha, I clicked this article just to see what you had to say about it
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