Input lag of around 100-150ms (might be related to AppleTV, not Moonlight....)

[anuraagvaranasi]

Describe the bug
There's about 100-150ms extra input lag when running Moonlight on AppleTV.

The way I'm testing is a bit "dodgy" but seems to be a good enough proxy; I'm running moonlight on many clients and pressing a key button on my PC keyboard. I'm then timing the difference in the input sound between my host computer and client.

Note: TV is on game mode.

My findings are

• AppleTV ethernet: 200+ms (usually 230-260ms)
• lgOS ethernet: around 100ms
• macbook wifi connected to TV HDMI: around 100ms
• macbook wifi on screen: unable to record (so quick I can barely hear a delay)
• iPad wifi on screen: unable to record (so quick I can barely hear a delay)

Tetsting makes sense IMO; it's about 80ms extra input lag from TV, rest of latency is unable to be determined due to network. AppleTV latency is the only anomaly.

Sadly it might be an AppleTV specific issue though...I did the same test with the SteamLink app and found similar latency with Moonlight (i.e. 200+ms)

Steps to reproduce
N/A always on appleTV

Affected games
List the games you've tried that exhibit the issue. To see if the issue is game-specific, try streaming Steam Big Picture with Moonlight and see if the issue persists there.

Other Moonlight clients

• Does the issue occur when using Moonlight on PC or Android?
  No

Moonlight settings (please complete the following information)

• Have any settings been adjusted from defaults?
  No
• Does the problem still occur after reverting settings back to default?
  Yes

Device details (please complete the following information)

• iOS/tvOS version: AppleTV with tvOS 17.5.1

Server PC details (please complete the following information)

• OS: [e.g. Windows 10 1809] Windows 11 22621.2361
• GeForce Experience version: [e.g. 3.16.0.140] 3.28.0.417
• Nvidia GPU driver: [e.g. 417.35] 556.12
• Antivirus and firewall software: [e.g. Windows Defender and Windows Firewall] Windows defender + windows firewall

[rgov]

Possibly related: There is some discussion about latency in #535, which hasn't been touched since 2022. @felipejfc measured 25-50ms of additional latency when streaming to an Apple TV 4K versus other devices.

[1Humza]

Same issue here. Statistics overlay doesn't catch the added latency either

[1Humza]

Maybe it's related to input. The latency disappears with hardwired peripherals connected to host PC while viewing stream on ATV. With Bluetooth peripherals I can feel the added delay. 🤔

[moi952]

Maybe it's related to input. The latency disappears with hardwired peripherals connected to host PC while viewing stream on ATV. With Bluetooth peripherals I can feel the added delay. 🤔

Yes it is unfortunately linked to the input, on apple tv the input is sent to each image instead of being sent directly, so you directly take 16ms of delay in addition.
Ideally, you should use the Apple TV with a controller connected to the PC, or via a virtualHere (USB over IP)

[rgov]

Maybe so, but the input latency doesn't apply in my case. I was using a Bluetooth Xbox controller paired to the PC, with only the video and audio streaming to the Apple TV. I'm not especially sensitive to latency but the video lag made it impossible to aim in a FPS.