A $1,200 Roku TV just out-gamed a $3,400 Samsung flagship on the one metric competitive gamers actually care about: input lag.
PCMag's TV reviewer, who says they've tested hundreds of sets, measured the Roku Pro Series OLED posting the lowest input lag they've ever recorded. That put it ahead of a Samsung flagship priced nearly three times as high, a result the reviewer called unexpected going in.
Input lag is the delay between a controller press and the action showing on screen. It's the number that separates a TV built for casual viewing from one that won't get you killed in a shooter. A budget-tier set beating a premium one here suggests gaming performance is becoming decoupled from overall price, and that panel tech and processing pedigree don't always track sticker price.
The usual assumption is that flagship pricing buys flagship gaming specs. This result argues that's marketing, not physics - worth remembering before paying a premium for a name on the bezel.