Screen tearing solution for PC connected to TV via HDMI?

[Gabe Carroll]

Ok, so I recently built a gaming PC with a friend of mine and I have been using it connected to my TV via HDMI. It runs very smoothly and plays graphic-intensive games with ease but I have noticed some really distracting screen tearing when playing a select few games.

I do not know exactly what causes screen tearing but from my understanding it has to do with a sort of mismatch between the frames output by the PC and the refresh rate of the monitor (in this case my Vizio TV). My graphics card is an XFX R7850 Core Edition and I have only noticed the screen tearing when playing Metro: Last Light and Dark Souls II (both at max settings). I do not know the refresh rate of my TV.

Thus, I am looking for a long term solution to prevent screen tearing that is NOT v-sync because I do not want input lag. Would limiting frames solve the problem? And if so, how could I constantly limit frames for this graphics card?

If v-sync is truly the only option, is there a way to use it without lag?

Thank you so much!

 

[13thmonkey]

I'm not sure that vsynch causes input lag, why do you think it does.

 

[Gabe Carroll]

I'm not sure that vsynch causes input lag, why do you think it does.

Because I tried it with Metro Last Light and the game was running terribly slow with sluggish input lag, I have only tried it once though so perhaps this is isolated? However, from browsing these forums it seems lag is a known side-effect of v-sync.

 

[13thmonkey]

I've never had lag as a result of it, try adaptive v-sync on the nvidia control panel. below refresh rate it runs at whatever your card can supply, above it, it caps to 60, normal vsync was a bit different

 

[Gabe Carroll]

I've never had lag as a result of it, try adaptive v-sync on the nvidia control panel. below refresh rate it runs at whatever your card can supply, above it, it caps to 60, normal vsync was a bit different

This is an AMD graphics card so unfortunately I can't use the nvidia control panel, is there an equivalent for AMD hardware?

 

[Gabe Carroll]

Screen tearing in games can often be caused by low frame rates below the refresh rate of your monitor.

Since your TV is probably 60Hz, you are probably experiencing framerates lower than 60FPS. To solve, this you either need to get a faster video card (or a second one), lower the graphic settings in the game, or enable v-sync.
Note: it may also be an issue with the CPU. If you lower the graphics settings down to the lowest possible settings and the framerates are still low, then it may be the CPU instead.

But first, make sure it low frame rates that is causing it. You can use a program like this if you don't have an in-game framerate counter:
http://www.fraps.com/

Ok so I just tested this with FRAPS and Dark Souls II and it runs at an almost constant 60fps even with max settings, but there is still some strange screen tearing that happens occasionally. I lowered texture quality and the game remained at 60fps even more consistently (I'm assuming it is capped for some reason) yet still had the same amount of screen tearing.

My PC is using an AMD A10 quad core APU as opposed to a traditional CPU so I'm not sure if that could have anything to do with it.

Also, in all honesty my TVs refresh rate could be much lower than 60Hz, I have no idea what its actual refresh is.

Thank you so much for the response, any further help would be much appreciated!

 

[Kekoh]

Screen tearing happens when you are generating more frames than the display can refresh for. Your TV is probably 30Hz, and you are running the game at ~60fps. Is there a built in option to lower the max fps for the game you are playing? If so drop it to 29 or 30. If it doesn't have an in-game option, try googling for how to limit fps for your game.

 

[Gabe Carroll]

I think TVs are usually 60Hz, like most monitors.
However, maybe there is some other issue with the cable and/or TV settings. So..., might be worth trying a few things.

1. What is the exact model TV that you have? TVs usually require a lot of changes to the settings to work good for computer use ... although I don't know if any would be the cause of your "screen tearing" Still, it would be good to change the settings for computer use even though that is likely not the cause. Also, maybe I can look for any refresh rate settings and/or problems.

2. You are using an HDMI cable to connect to the TV, right? Do you have another cable you can try (like a different HDMI cable)?

3. After you installed your R7850, did you remove all the old AMD drivers, go to amd.com and download and install the latest drivers for your video card? If not, do try that.

4a. Go to "Display Settings". What is the resolution set at for the TV?
4b. What are the colors set to? 32bit?
4c. Click on the "Advanced Settings..." button in "Display Settings". Go to the "Monitor" tab. What is the refresh rate set to?


5. Do you have another monitor you can try? See if the problem also occurs on another monitor.

6. You also mentioned that is happens only rarely. Is it possible that when it happens your FPS drops below 60?

Ok so I finally was able to fix the problem.

I downloaded AMD Radeon Pro and tried locking the FPS to my monitor (TV) refresh rate. This set the FPS to 30 so apparently my TVs refresh rate is actually that low, however, there was still screen tearing.

Then I tried forcing v-sync, also using Radeon Pro, and turning on triple buffering as well. This finally eliminated the screen tearing and I am unable to notice any input lag!

To answer some of your questions, I updated my drivers a while back hoping that would solve the problem but it didn't, although it did make for much better graphics performance. The screen tearing was happening even at a constant 60fps and also even at a constant 30fps, why screen tearing would be happening at a constant 30fps does not make sense to me but V-sync and AMD Radeon Pro seem to have solved the problem without introducing the lag I was trying to avoid.

Thank you for your comprehensive response! I am glad to have finally solved this issue!

 

[13thmonkey]

screen tearing can occur when the card is ready to draw before the screen is ready effectively your card is overpowered for your screen, more power is likely to cause tearing.

Glad that vsync fixed it, and you are not noticing lag.

 

[n00bster_15]

Hi, I'm a bit late to this thread but I am experiencing the same issue running Dark Souls II through a Sony TV. I am getting screen tearing which is not being fixed when I enable V-sync in my AMD options. I have downloaded Radeon Pro but cannot find the option to lock my FPS. If anyone can help me set up my display options correctly that would be great. I am using a Sony KDL 32P2530. Thanks

 

[n00bster_15]

I've been researching this more and I've found that the native resolution of this TV is 1366x768 but it does support 1080i (but not 1080p). Does this mean that I should run at a max resolution of 1366x768 or am I ok to run at 1920x1080interlaced? I am currently running at 1080i and get really good picture when running games or video but get a very flickery, headache-inducing image when running anything else (fortunately this is a second monitor so I can do everything not gaming related on a proper monitor).
I have been unable to find the referesh rate of the TV.
If it makes any difference I am using a DVI cable from my PC through a DVI-HDMI adapter into the HDMI port on the TV.

Update - refresh rate = 50Hz

 

[Bonta-Kun]

After connecting the HDMI cable, set the TV as the primary screen (1, when clicking the identify button) and the computer as the secondary (2, when identifying). Do this either through Window's Display settings or through the CPU's display settings.

(Late reply because I had the same issue and this is what fixed it for me)