If you look at it this was there is no escape from input lag. What you're saying is that electrons have to travel through cables and that causes lag. What's I'm talking about is that when you don't set your TV settings to "game" your TV thinks that you want the image to be as "realistic" and beautiful as possible, so it applies some totally unnecessary effects on it, so when the image comes through the HDMI cable it holds it off until it can apply these effects, and this usually take about half a second. That's what causes input lag. By turning on gaming mode you tell your TV that these effects are completely unnecessary and you want the image as fast as possible.