Gaming and Lag Times - BenQ vs Epson Projectors

Greetings gamers, etc. OK, I'm not the guy to write about gaming.  I've got two hard core gamers doing that - Pete and Scott.  But, Pete's just blogged on the Epson Home Cinema 5010 as a gaming projector and I just shipped him the W7000 (click for review) so that's next on his list. After speaking with Pete, I did some Lag tests.  As you gamers know, but many of my other readers may not, gamers need their displays to be fast, whether you are a console player - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, etc., or a PC gamer. As you can all imagine, if a game does something, and your screen doesn't show it for a a half second, you will be very dead, or some other bad thing, in most action games. Many folks discuss how fast a display should be. Zero lag time is ideal, and some projectors do measure that fast.  (Measuring is done by running a timer program on a computer (I use a MacBook Pro), and projecting it.  I photograph the projected image and the laptop screen at the same time.  The difference in time, is the lag.  Obviously you want to use a clock that goes down to thousandths of a second. Per my two hard core gamers, figure this lag times below 20 ms (milliseconds) is ideal  Once one gets in the 30 -50 range, most serious gamers I gather, are still pretty satisfied.  Generally hey'd like faster but the game plays well enough for serious competition.  Pushing much above 50, though, loses the serious gamers on first person shooters, and most other action games.  (Hey, if you are playing computer versions of Chess, or Monopoly, lag time isn't an issue!)  Well, it's Pete and Scott who throw out numbers, better you read their opinions. OK, here's the story on the BenQ W7000 and the Epson 5010 (which also means the 5010e and 6010). The BenQ's a pretty good gamer.  With my setup, as described, the W7000 measured 34-35 ms. The Epson's too slow for hard core gamers - or so my guys would tell me.  The Home Cinema 5010 measured 83 ms.   Now mind you, that's still less than 1/10th of a second, so that may be fine for the average gamer, even on some action games. Check out Pete's blogs for the real word on how each of these projectors figure as gaming projectors - from one of the "hard core!"  Pete just loves his "consoles" and he's been a projector owner for years, and he uses it for much of his gaming.   Fastest way to his blog is click!