MiSTer Laggy Video Display Latency Tester

Description

MiSTer Laggy requires a MiSTer Analog I/O v6.1, Digital I/O v1.2, Ultimate MultiSystem or Ultimate Jammix I/O Rev.2 or newer board to work correctly.

Martin Donlon (wickerwaka) is the creator of this project, and the project’s GitHub contains all the information on configuration and basic operation. It operates on the same principle as the Time Sleuth but takes advantage of an existing platform to generate the video signal and capture the measurements.

Display latency is important for retro gaming because many retro games require precise timing and quick reactions, especially for genres like platformers, shooters, and fighting games. Display latency can affect the gameplay experience and make it harder to perform well. Modern displays, such as LCDs and OLEDs, often have higher display latency than older CRTs, which were the standard for retro consoles. This is because modern displays have more processing steps, such as scaling, deinterlacing, and motion smoothing, that can introduce delays.

The MiSTer Laggy works by flashing a test pattern on the screen and measuring the time it takes for that pattern to be seen by the sensor. The measured latency is displayed in the center of the screen, along with the average, minimum and maximum measurements. There are three areas on the test pattern where you can place the sensor, so you can measure latency at the top, middle and bottom of the screen.