LG CX & C9 Unlikely to Get Fix for VRR Gamma Issue Caused by OLED Panel 

Bae: "I bet he's thinking about other girls." Guys: Watches videos like this

Damn, that Manchester United burn at the end of the video was sick! 😂😂😂

Please don’t compare LG incompetence to my sexual inadequacies. The difference is I’m paying LG to perform 😒

If you're going to do a 9 minute video on a visual display problem could you demonstrate it so that I can decide if it is worth reconsidering my buying decisions.

Vincent, I guarantee you that if you release a video with "ASMR" in the title and you just ramble for 30min-1hour with either your usual voice or just a softer tone you will get SO many views because of how soothing your voice is.

Thanks for the news Vincent. Love the 2 minute analogy, your always a riot and very knowledgeable. Sorry to hear people got mad at the messenger. Been using my CX 10 on console and PC, using Vrr and can’t say I’ve noticed any issues. Hoping I got lucky or its hardly noticeable as some folks on here are saying. Thanks again , love your videos!

Every single TV released this year seems to have issues of some sort with HDMI 2.1 based features... Samsung have needed to release multiple firmware updates to address problems and even now their implementation has problems . Sony's 120hz firmware came with a slight reduction in resolution and still no VRR until later LG has these Gamma issues. Buying a 2020 TV is basically beta testing at this point.

I would like to thank you for making this video Vincent. Thank you🙏🏽

That hairdresser story possibly the most savage thing I've heard all week. And it's election week here in America

Thanks for every video. Dont stop creating those videos cause of some people getting angry because of the information they get about their product. Always appreciate your videos.

Vincent's delivery of jokes is so next level. This guy is awesome.

That’s unfortunate :( I was really hoping they could fix that...

Them coming forward with a response sends the right message.

Last minute made me spit my coffee ahahhah

Thank you for keeping up on this subject. Much appreciated!

Is that possible to see a sample of this VRR gamma problem in youtube ? I would like to see the difference on/off and estimate if this a major or minor problem. Thanks at all

Thanks for the update. Vincent, do you think you can do a video detailing the optimum picture settings, etc for the LGCX?

Thanks for this video. A visual demonstration of the flickering issue would be really beneficial to many.

B9?, does this TV even exist in Vincent's world? Why is it ignored? The B9 was arguably the best value oled TV for the features and price, especially after it gained g-sync functionality.

You set such unrealistic expectations - as if most of us can last 2 minutes!

The no nonsense honesty, the breakdown, the tech support, and the subtle jokes. Thank you for being you Vincent, you're the best ex professional TV calibrator of all time.

Thanks to this vid, I will wait for the 2021 generation. You guy just saved me 4000 CHF👍🏻

I love Vincent and the fact that he reports EVERYTHING. But, between me and all fellow gamers here.. do NOT let this detour you from buying a C9 or CX. This is still the best way to play games and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Your Integrity is intact Vincent, Theirs is unravelling!, Keep up the excellent work.

I don't really notice this issue with my Rtx3080 setup but one thing to note, this is still the best TV for gaming and movies. Until next year.

I always appreciate your bluntness, it is unusual on social media. Thank you for the information!

8:23 SHOTS FIRED!

I have an official response from LG Thank you for your email. I hope you are keeping well. I have taken a look into this for you and this is not a fault with the TV itself, HDMI 2.1 has enabled many new technologies and LG has been leading the adoption of features and benefits brought by this new standard. As with any new technology, especially involving interoperability with different devices, there have been teething issues related to HDMI 2.1 and gaming. LG has already rapidly released updates to 2019 and 2020 models around the world addressing the majority of issues found by PC and console gamers. We remain committed to work on mitigating the remaining known issues and would like to clarify where we stand on that progress. For issues with any dropped frames and black screen issues with VRR, a firmware update was issued in mid-October which fixed this issue. Please check to ensure the s/w version being used is 03.11.25 (CX, GX) or 03.11.20 (BX) and 05.00.03 (C9, E9) or 05.00.02 (B9) For any stuttering issues, LG is also working on a firmware update to address the cases of stutter which can occur at certain resolutions with VRR on LG OLED TVs. This firmware is currently in development and estimated to be released by the end of the year. This update will allow both PC and Console gamers to have smooth VRR playback at all available resolutions and frame rates. For raised black and flickering, there have been some reports of raised shadow detail in certain usage cases when using VRR with LG OLED TVs which would result in these shadow regions appearing brighter than when VRR is off. However, this does not typically affect game play because the effect is most prominent at low frame rates and when the frame rate varies rapidly between low and high. This characteristic is not unique to OLED TVs and similar issues can occur with LCD TVs. They may look more visible on an OLED than they do on an LCD panel because of OLED’s deeper black. We are investigating software solutions to mitigate this issue. I hope this helps reassure you that all issues are being looked into and being solved as quickly as possible. However, if you are wanting to get a refund, you will need to contact the retailer you purchased the TV from as LG is just the retailer so cannot provide this for you, only the retailer you purchased the TV from can do this. Let us know if you have any further questions.

Yes, the gamma shift is real. No, it does not hurt the picture quality of the CX in any significant way. The picture quality is still light years ahead of any LCD TV or monitor I have seen thus far.

Hi Vincent, the problem is that they sell it as 4k vrr allm 120hz earc tv, and it doesn't cost the price of a hair cut... Also when you watch a soccer or any sport, you know before that you can't be sure of anything, and that's why it's cool. If today we can't make a tv with all this features together, so just don't sell with fake selling points.

2:40 - 2:47...Ding!

I was sad to hear about the fault, having just bought one, but you cheered me up with your hairdresser story 😂

Does the LG C1 will have the same problem?

I'm definitely waiting for the 2021 models. The 2020's are just not fully optimized for the new consoles and the new round of GPU's for PC. The 2020's are really good, but i.m.o. not worth buying now when you KNOW they will be much better for next gen gaming hardware next year. 2021 CES is coming soon so we should know what LG is doing in January. You can bet they will fix these issues. I'm setting up a new gaming rig and have been eyeing these TVs because they have gsync. I bet the 2021's will be significantly superior with updated hardware/panels and better software. I think the 20s are kind of the first beta round of TVs that double as legit gaming monitors at 120hz. They will be improved for 21 no doubt. Look for new panel design to mitigate the gamma issue and higher refresh rates to match the new GPU's. Definitely NOT the time to buy a 2020 right now when 2021 CES is right around the corner. Caveat Emptor on buying a 2020 LG! Thank you for making this video. This is the kind of no nonsense, straight to the meat, video that is so lacking these days on youtube. Technical enough to clearly explain the situation without being obnoxious. Subscribed.

You think there will be a fix for the XH90 blury 4k 120Hz image? I am so disappointed with that. I have been waiting ages for it. No idea what TV to buy now! 🙄 Does this issue affect PS5 or just PC? HDTVtest

You know, my gut reaction was to be upset with LG. But i'm actually holding Nvidia responsible for this one. G-Sync is a brand and it is supposed to mean that Nvidia " validates that the monitor does not show blanking, pulsing, flickering, ghosting or other artifacts during VRR gaming. They also validate that the monitor can operate in VRR at any game frame rate by supporting a VRR range of at least 2.4:1 (e.g. 60Hz-144Hz), and offer the gamer a seamless experience by enabling VRR by default." That is a direct quote from Nvidia. If they're allowing LG to slap their logo right on the box, they should have tested this display for these issues.

I've never noticed it, hopefully I never will.

LG has to fix it. Rather it’s via firmware or hardware replacement. They can’t just leave people hanging. Or a class action law suit will happen. This is a manufacturer defect through and through. LG is on the hook with this one.

Always appreciate the homor Vincent, but having just bought a CX specifically for PC gaming I just can't laugh.

That’s unfortunate for PC players but I’ll still get the CX for my PS5/SeriesX. Zero blooming with OLED... I hate blooming. Ruins everything.

Honestly it's not a big deal at all. it's barely noticeable most of the time. With that said... I *thought* i had that issue, but it turned out that it was the good old "limited vs full" issue on PC games that was rising my black levels. This is still, by far the best display for games.

That Man U dig was hilarious. Arsenal fan here.

It really isn't good enough, if LG advertise VRR and don't support the feature properly, LG should provide a fix or refund.

Vincent is constantly educating the tech community with facts that is valuable information. This man is a treasure and deeply appreciated. I've learned a great deal of information and made the ladies laugh emulating his quick wit and dry humor. 😄 When we find out pluses and minuses about our televisions he always has the most important message. "Enjoy your beautiful televisions." I own 2 C9s and a CX. These are phenomenal TV's. Movies and games are breathtaking to watch. 👍🏼 If you are a C9 or C10 owner, do not argue who has the better TV. Be happy that we are blessed to own such high quality products and enjoy them. 😎

As LG currently provide the hardware for all OLED TV panels, wouldn't this issue be the same for all OLED TVs with 4K at 120hz, not just LG?

I love watching you and your honesty. You are helping me so much with choosing my next TV. Thanks oh and I love how you say mate lol

Hey Vince can you explain how the CX is supposed to have Freesync Premium Pro and if that can be considered accurate? What’s the benefits of Freesync vs using VRR and how the tone mapping will benefit. Perhaps what you would set the Series X and PS5 to as optimal for the CX. Or the CX for them as well. Great job as always. 👍🏼

I would love to see an animated gamme curve that tracks from 40 to 120Hz. That would make it much easier to get a feel for the problem before buying a TV. I realize of course that this would be tedious as hell to produce :D

My heart just sank, I’ve put a lot of month savings into that cx .. I feel bad right now and down a bit. But I don’t know what to say thanks vincent I really love your videos. Keep educating us with your non-biased videos♥️

The only bright side is this, the new consoles are highly unlikely to actually game at full 4K and 120hz. If the new next gen games already struggle to run at 4k 60fps (Miles Morales does 1700p 60fps), there is no way games will have both 4K and 120Hz for graphically demanding games. The BAD news, is that if they do use upscaling techniques in the future to get upscaled 4K at 120hz, it will suck. Again, i believe most games will do 120hz at 1080p, or max 1440p for DEMANDING games.

Do monitors have this same issue? Perhaps the problem is even less noticeable than an LED TV since monitors tend to have very poor black levels.

I was considering of getting CX but I'm in no hurry. I might wait and see what we'll get in 2021.

What about b9, bx? You never mention them Vincent!

Lessons learned! Never bought any "Future-proofing " product. I got a Denon X4700H AVR "HDMI 2.1". Boom! Doesn't work 4K@120Hz. I got the LG C9 "HDMI 2.1"Boom! Gamma issue when the VRR is enabled!.

Thanks for the hard work you put in Vincent!

Just called LG they said in about 2-3 weeks they will fix this problem with a Software update. They said the beta test was sucessfull. Thanks for this video! 👌

This is so depressing. My TV can do 4K120 VRR, my AVR can do 4K120VRR and the Series X can do it. Doesn't matter if the Games don't support it, it's still giving lower Input Lag. Now, VRR on the CX doesn't work properly, my AVR apparently won't Passthrough 4K120 and my TV doesn't Passthrough DTS:X...so...what does work?

This man is going to hit a million Subscriber.

Can someone advise if this will be an issue on Ps5 or xbox series X? Or is this more when using the TV as a monitor?

I had decided to skip 2020 upgrade for PS5 and wait for 2021 releases, both LG/Sony OLED and AV Receiver (Denon/Yamaha). Correct decision and in view of latest news on various compatibilities, maybe will even wait for 2022 releases ... let's see.

Gamers can avoid this issue by optimizing their in game settings and capping their fps to avoid any fluctuations. This is pretty standard procedure as variable fps is mostly undesirable even with G-Sync. If you have a 3080 for example, you should be able to set most games at high or ultra and cap the fps at 90. This along with G-Sync should be more than acceptable on a TV like the LG C9/CX

False advertisement on LG's behalf. Time for a petition. Fix or refund. They can't keep getting away with this shit. These are extremely expensive TVs. Not good enough LG.

Could you please show an example of this phenomenon? Kind of useless to not show it

C3 owner here. I tried playing Lies of P on series X and the panel still has the issue. Any updates from LG on this?

Oh Vincent 2:40 🤣🤣🤣

What is VRR in a nutshell?

TBF, Vincent made this video last 9 minutes.

I just contacted LG regarding their VRR issue. And they DENIED THE ISSUE ALTOGETHER!! My question was : I was looking to buy the LG CX 55 inch model but found out that it is having some MAJOR VRR Issues. So, I wanted to ask that what LG is doing to solve that issue, and will that issue be resolved by any future update, or will LG release a new model to address the issue? LG's reply : Dear Mr./Muhammad ., Thank you for contacting LG Electronics Email support. Regarding your inquiry we would like to inform you that We didn't receive any complaints about this model If you have any questions or assistance, please contact us again Thank you LG customer service.

Would you still consider this one of the best gaming TVs of 2020? Just ordered one as well. Thanks

I have VRR flashing pixel and flickering even when i play with 60hz option. Regardless what option VRR struggles on my CX.

Probably better to wait for 2021 tvs. Hopefully alot of these issues are resolved. Plus we should have a lot more options of HDMI 2.1 tvs. Not to mention all ports with HDMI and full bandwidth.

What about b9?

I wouldn’t interpret LG’s statement as a confirmation that software fix isn’t possible, they are literally saying that they’re going to investigate potential solutions.

I have a CX. I'll say I'm disappointed but it's not an "I'll never trust LG ever again" sort of deal breaker. I might just rely on old fashioned V-sync or turn it all off entirely if I can run the game "fast enough". Tearing at 110 fps is way less noticeable than at like 35 for instance. Still can't find a damn GPU in stock. Also, as more of a computer monitor guy than TV guy, the monitor industry is still struggling with combining dynamic overdrive values with VRR. Asus being the only company currently offering a solution, and the solution doesn't work that well. We still have pretty huge overshoot and inverse ghosting issues in the PC monitor space with the highest overdrive settings.

Great... so i invested in a panel susceptible to burn in, only to learn that it doesn't support the only feature i was interested in. Good work LG, it's my first and last hardware from you.

I told all my pals to WAIT until 2021. HDMI2.1 brought so many features it was bound to have issues. The people that care about HDMI2.1 are GAMERS. Their the bunch getting screwed. Not just in TV bugs but receivers too.

If someone needs an easier explanation of the issue: These OLED panels support adaptive refresh rate (freesync) BUT they do not support adaptive overdrive (something that native gsync modules in a gaming monitor can only do). Since it’s an OLED panel - with infinite contrast ratio and near instant response times - overshooting of pixels when playing a game where the frame rate fluctuates a lot is particularly noticeable and distracting, versus a traditional freesync LCD monitor I personally don’t think it’s a deal breaker. Freesync is a last resort feature for games with bad performance. As long as your frame rate is steady or capped, OLED is still worth the image quality versus LCD

Dilemma! I have a 13 year old HD TV and have an xbox series X that I really want to make the most of ASAP. So anything will be an upgrade. Question is do I wait another 6 or so months to upgrade?!

So basically for HDMI 2.1 enthusiasts, it makes more sense to wait for next year for proper implementation of hdmi 2.1

Never heard of VRR gamma, not do I care. Back to enjoying my GX.

Vincent always trusting your expertise. Just one question . If panels are optimized for 120hz for the gamma curves and the problem rises when using VRR with framerate lower or fluctuating than that, when we are just using the TV for movies or broadcasting (e.g. 23,97hz or 50hz) why we do not have the same issue with black crushing or near black gamma ?

Am I eligible for a return through these issues since they were advertising it and it was the reason for buying it?

Thank you for the explanation Vincent.

My LG CX is amazing 👌🏽👍🏼

What would really be great is when you do videos talking about issues or anything really, to show exactly what it is that is the problem. I have no idea how this even looks but it's about gamma when we're talking near black. So how would this realyl affect anyones experience? Dark scenes are suddenly not as dark when using VRR? Or the other way around? Is it another one of those "You can't even notice it but complain anyway cause it doesn't check all the boxes"? It's hard to know the extent of this. I know you Vincent are a respectable and knowledgeable person and I basically watch only your info regarding screens (a bit of rtings.com readup as well to refresh ones memory on stuff). The problem is that this taken out of context is basically "There's an issue and LG won't fix it, don't buy their TV!"-level of arguing for other people to use when they want someone to not buy something. Just like the "The XBOX gets really hot!" craze. Yes it does, at the VENT. That's how it's suposed to work, yet people clickbait it a lot. Again, I know this isn't your intent, to clickbait, but it can sadly be used as such unless the issue is also shown (and depending on how serious the issue is, that's how seriously this problem should weigh in on a purchase decision). Love your videos but I really would appreciate examples of whatever is talked about. This goes for anything but I know some videos where you do show the issues as well. I also know youtube won't be the best place to look at it, but it gives an idea of what to expect. Just like to add for anyone wondering, I found this: www.reddit.com/r/OLED/comments/hmzggz/for_those_of_you_experiencing_gsyncvrr_nearblack/ OP shows the issue, but further down another user shows it not flickering at all. At least it's shown what can happen and what this is about.

I LITERALLY just bought the 55" CX this morning after hesitating for months cause of the price. but im absolutely in awe of the picture quality compared to my CCFL LCD from 2007 haha. this isn't news I wanted to hear but oh well.

Isn't this TV Nvidia gsync certified and if so how did the TV pass certification? 🤔

What happens while using 4K 120 mode in X90H series currently? Since the VRR update has not yet arrived, then will gaming at 4K and > 60fps work?

I know my comment is coming too late after airing this video but I want to let you know that I’m loving LG with their firmware updates. As an owner of B9, I have received an update that enables manual adjustment of gamma for game mode. After seeing this video I was quite saddened that my TV wouldn’t get the update but in the end it did! I’m so happy for LG adding new features even after some time has passed. Personally I don’t know any other TV brand that releases newer functions or fixing software for older models. So my next TV surely is going to be another LG.

This is to be expected with first generation hardware. It's the price we pay for being early adopters! Still make love to my CX everyday!

So the main reason and features I baught this tv is broken (not working properly) - 120 Hz and vrr. Thank you lg. Last time I baught new tech as early adopter.

Who else dislikes QUANTUM TV???

Has this been fixed in the G4 or C4 models?

What does this mean for ps5 gaming?

So... what's Samsung's excuse? Their VRR gamma issue is much worse than LG's and well... they don't use an OLED panel...

So that means I need to wait for an other TV gen without Gamma Issue and 48Gbit HDMI...

I have a C9 and appreciate your info

I just got a CX last week and the screen is mind blowing, especially when playing FF xv Hdr on at 4k with a rtx 3080.

So what tv would you recommend getting. I had the LG CX as my first choice for a tv upgrade after watching your’s & other channel reviews but now with the issue arising also of it being limited to 40Gbps & 10 bit colour at 120hz 4k instead of 48Gbps & 12 bit colour. I’ve considered the Panasonic hz1000(2000 too pricey) & then Sony A8, all at 55 inch. I enjoy movies so the CX was to double up as gaming & movie tv. We’re upgrading from an old Samsung 3D 7 series so any new tv will be an improvement for movies so I was willing to choose the CX over the Panasonic & Sony. Love the dry humour by the way;)

Awesome, I just spent almost $2000 for this tv. WoW