LG OLED Dynamic Tone-Mapping On or Off vs HGIG: Which is Best for PS5/ Xbox Series X Gaming? 

Waiting soooo long for someone explain exactly this!!! Great Video!:)

Wow this is the content I need right now I was just asking about this in the other vid I own the series x and ps5 and was confused by the settings on my LG cx especially regarding this hgig dynamic tone mapping that you for furthering the explanation on this vince

Always nice to see you do videos and explain things more in detail, even if I never question your decisions unless you yourself are unsure. I had set my PS5 up with your Xbox setup first, then I realized I should have clipped the test images, not let them sit at "barely visible" which is a bad choice of words for the settings. Anyway, it's looking great with my E9 so I'm happy. Not a calibrated TV but then again it's good enough (Don't have Vincent here to actually calibrate and I wouldn't trust anyone else!)

This is great. Thank you for helping make sense of this new technology. All of your videos have been extremely helpful.

I like that you are listening to your fans. Sometimes we have our own opinions. But this is awesome

LG‘s terminology with Dynamic Tone Mapping „Off“ is really confusing. Essentially the TV is not dynamically tone mapping but it is still statically tone mapping to that curve that always tries to restore highlights at up to almost 4000 nits. I think they should rename the section as just „Tone Mapping“ and offer the choices of „Dynamic“, „Static“ and „Native/HGiG“ so people actually understand what they are getting. I didn‘t know that myself and now it finally makes sense that I always have to set peak luminance in games to over 3000 nits on B7 that has no tone mapping in game mode.

Thank you for taking our input seriously and creating content that reflects our needs, Vincent. Keep up the excellent work.

This was a sorely needed video. Well done, Vincent. Thank you!

I love this. So glad you made this video. Very well explained. Thank you!

"Pointless as the p in pneumonia" - hilarious 😂😂😂

Vincent - "Trying not to get banged from behind" *Bing sound* XD

Thanks Vincent, this was an awesome explanation. I'm honestly surprised by the results of having DTM turned off. That was unexpected. I'll be leaving DTM set as HGIG from here on in.

Vincent with this video you finally raised yourself to the olymp! ❤ thx a lot

Good stuff. I had noticed that in Valhalla I was getting the best HDR picture by using HGIG even though the game doesn't support it. Dynamic Tonemapping made the game look flat even though the overall brightness was higher, especially if the scene was mostly made up of midtones.

Thank you. It’s great to have some direction here. It’s also nice to constantly fiddle, but the direction is great.

You’ve just saved me so many more countless Saturdays starting up a movie or game, realizing the image looks crappy, fiddling with calibration for hours, and eventually forgetting what I initially planned on doing in the first place.

Great explanation, answered some more questions I was thinking about.

Great video, how about a lesson in the other settings like paper white, brightness and contrast? 👍

Awesome. i asked exactly this topic under the last video and here is the answer. Love it

Amazing job! Just what we needed! Thanks Vincent for sharing your knowledge with us! Most useful channel on RU-vid! I wish they had a patreon.

Why is everything so complicated now with TVs and games? used to love putting a game on, looked great and just played it now I’m constantly adjusting to get the picture to look right.

That pneumonia joke took my breath away!

Thanks for making this for clarification👍🏻

Truly a wonderful video, thank you so much there's so much disinformation about this and you've done a great job not just explaining but showing the concepts as well.

This Legend deserves a special place in the Olympus of internet.

in watch dogs legion there are two hdr options, including the paper white, so what should we set for the cx? and bf5 also has a similar settings in numbers

Since I am a noob I consider this tv tuning for dummies. Great explanation love it and your using the xbox just want I needed. Perfect! Thank you

Great as usual. Destiny 2 gets its graphics update for the new consoles (4K 60fps) on the 8th of December. I would love you to do an LG CX best settings video please if think people will watch it.

Vincent is da GOAT 💪🏾💯

Some games I find benefit more than others. REVillage so far seems to benefit greatly from HGIG, but other games like Destiny 2 and Elden Ring I find are so much nicer with tone mapping. It all depends on preference I suppose, and also let's face it, some game devs really don't put as much effort into HDR

Awesome! been waiting for this one

Thanks for doing this Vincent - you really listened to the comments and responded!! 😀💪 Thank you so much - love your vids!! Keep the epic jokes coming 😄👍

Man fuck the clouds. I want to see the enemies in the dark!

HGiG is the way to go as long as it works correctly. In some games picture is too dark and it crashes blacks. So for daylight gaming and games that doesn't benefit from HGiG I would just stick to the tone mapping.

congratulations , your video was featured on the PS5 review video on linus tech tips

Thank god (yes, you!)! Question finally answered, that i had for over a year now! Everyone said, that you should enable DTM on, because there are not enough games that support HGIG. Well, the fact that you can mess everything up even with "DTM off" is just crazy. The example with Dirt 5 was perfect. I will adjust everything tonight, thank you! Plz keep this up, your professional knowledge combined with this tools is just awesome. Noone on youtube comes close.

So I tried HGIG with my PS5, I really did try to like it. But the picture is like 50% darker than with dynamic tone mapping on and simply too dark for daytime playing. I know there can be variability with panels, maybe it comes down to that. Dynamic tone mapping might not be "accurate" per-se but it looks FAR better to my eyes in bright games like Spiderman in daytime.

His voice is therapeutic and also comedic all in one

Thanks for the great explanation. It helped me a lot!

Most helpful video I've watched in a long time

i saw MS and Sony came up (or helped) with HGIG...so why does Bravia TVs not have HGIG tone mapping option!!

I've gone back and forth and it really is a tough choice. You're right that HGIG makes the calibration screen more accurate but I feel like it's too dark when actually playing the game.

Excellent explanation of tweaking Displays... I do this w/ 7q gen 4k Samsung Tv's when it comes to Dynamic contrast+HDMI black levels+ ST or BT gamma tweaks... vs HDR lol... (the HDR of that TV is older and less quality) so I found these broad conclusions 100% accurate! well done sir.

CX - Destiny 2 HDR HGIG PS4 Pro: When the HDR have been calibrated with HGIG enabled (a couple of times to make sure, values for dark/light can change a bit adjusting accordingly, to one or the other) take a look at the moon in the sky (not the Traveler) when you are at the Tower. It might depend on day or nighttime, if it's there. But with HGIG it will show lots of detail. With dynamic tonemapping, it's like a small lightbulb robbed of detail

One looks better in dark areas and the other in light area's. Both are good depending on if you're in a light or dark place in the game.

So If a game isn’t compatible with HGIG, should I set the dynamic tone mapping to on or off for a greater game experience when using LG CX?

What a video, love the detail this guy goes into.

Very good Videos. Please more from this LG cx and next gen consol!!👍🏻

Switched between DTM and HGIG playing Demon’s souls quite a few times. It was just a bit too dim with HGIG enabled.

For me the right setting is the one you enjoy most. Playing ghost of Tsushima and Miles Morales, I switched back and forth a a bunch of times from dynamic tone mapping to HGiG and I settled on DTM. I prefer the vibrancy of DTM but appreciate the video. If I change my mind in future and want the accurate creators intent I now know what to do.

Vincent always comes out with the video we all need.

Nice video Vincent very informative thanks.

I appreciate your video and all technical details you talked about very much, but for me HGIG is too dark and in some places you can't see anything to recognize the difference in details! Changing the HDR calibration from the PS5 settings is not sufficient at all, and changing it for each game is not convenient since some of them don't support that

Dynamic Tone Mapping On actually makes Horizon Zero Dawn's sun/clouds not blow out compared to HGiG/Off. This video is nice but it is NOT a catch-all for all games. I think Dynamic Tone Mapping should be on for one-size-fits-all where you don't have to fucking worry about every single game looking absolutely perfect, because the HDR implementations right now are impossible to get accurate.

Keep up the great work! Best channel!

When running games in HDR on my PS4 i set to HGIG and use the ingame settings to adjust down the contrast a notch or 2, so that the dark scenes wont appear too dark and still can make out the shadow details. Looks like new games now has HDR brightness.

Using HGiG, I'm setting my whitepoint in games to 800 nits for my 48 CX. This seems to be the maximum peak brightness for small areas like a sunrise appearing.

Vincent, can you make a short video, why it is important to leave oled light and kontrast at 100 for HDR content? Many people don't understand the difference between SDR and HDR and oled light

Muchas gracias por esta información. I have learned so much from your extensive knowledge in this matters.

Great advice and easily understood! What about TM when watching a movie on or off?

In the next video can you explain how technically VRR works on TVs?

What about in the older OLEDS like B8 and the ps5.....I always leave Dynamic tone mapping off and its recommened as well in this video, but how about Dynamic contrast??? Any downside to engaging that on Low or Medium for games??? Or just leave it off like tone mapping?

It really depends on how you see the grading in overall lighting as a colorist. Many colorists have different ideas on HDR grades. On an 800 nits TV you have severe limitations on the upper end. And then working with older SDR material, you have to make a lot of choices if you are regrading to HDR. If you just regrade only bright areas, then the game might only differ very little from the SDR implementation. And if you do not grade specifically for an 800 nits TV, things obviously won't be perfect either. A set like a C1 can honestly look too dim on HGiG in some games that do not have HDR calibration. This is due to luminance levels not quite reflecting reality or taste levels. The skies in say Uncharted 4 might not quite have enough luminance for the game to work with just HGiG and a maxed C1. DTM sometimes can look better in games like this. Horizon is another where HGiG just doesn't look all that great IMO. Too dim and nothing to change for settings. You are stuck with a basic SDR grade for the majority of the image that just plain looks worse. This is because it does not have a proper grade in the HDR universe. Or the colorist is not optimizing luminance levels for the bright areas. Many issues can occur in color grading. Many of these issues are just DUE TO TASTE. People have to make decisions in color grading, and not everyone will agree on these decisions. Just like color saturation, it's all up to taste. What somebody feels is natural may be too saturated or flat for another. I wish Vincent would actually start to understand some of these things when it comes to settings like this. Destiny 2 has a nits slider. HGiG there too does not look right, with realistic luminance levels, when appropriate nits are matched to TV at around 700-900. Try 1300 nits and maybe it looks better, but overall I just prefer the grade on 800 nits and DTM with Destiny 2. It looks richer and nicer overall, and no real issues are had with midrange loss. It's just the look. In snowy areas like Europa the difference is huge. HGiG is simply too dull and dim otherwise. Snow is clearly not bright enough. Flipping between the modes and you can kind of see how the differences in HDR grades are basically all up to the colorist. OFF completely looks terrible and flat. DTM makes snow look quite realistic and bright. HGiG goes from looking too dim to better than DTM if you manipulate the nits slider to around 1300 or so. In SDR you really didn't need to adjust all that much. With HDR white and black crush become a much bigger deal and also something that is left up to taste. For fantasy worlds like this there is no certain realistic designation. We aren't following a guide. People need to realize there is no correct setting for HDR grades. HGiG is correct to a specified set of parameters, but this has nothing to do with how HDR can be graded. We see this all over film and games. HDR grades are wildly different everywhere. It just depends on what you want from the material. DTM loses some midtones, and HGiG sometimes doesn't quite extend luminance levels to make the world look realistic in HDR. Overall, across loads of games, I simply prefer DTM right now on my C1. That's how I would color most games I see, with maybe a touch here and there more balance.

Hi Vincent, great and informative vid as always. I have a panny GZ2000, which doesn’t support HGIG. I know the GZ2000 starts hard clipping around 900 nits, so I would appreciate it if you could tell me how many clicks on both the PS5 and Series X HDR peak brightness test pattern it takes to hit the 900 nits mark? As I’m assuming, when trying to set the peak brightness on both consoles using the HGIG test pattern, my GZ2000 will behave much like the LG CX with Dynamic tone mapping set to off, and try to preserve detail up to 4000 nits?

I would like to see this same video for the sony TVs.

Can you do HDR for Samsung TVs ? I have a Q9FN and can’t decide on what’s best.

LG improved the dynamic tone mapping algorithm few months ago with the latest update of the firmware on the BX now these problems are mostly solved. What i did : 1. Calibrate my LG oled BX 2020 in game hdr mode with calman and xrite pro keeping dynamic tone mapping off 2. Changing my screen to dynamic tone mapping on 3. Calibrating my ps5 hdr (where the sun is barely visible) don't go far away until the sun disappears just leave it as it is barely visible. After all that ps5 games just pop up without loosing any detail. Dynamic tone detail is the way to go until the games implementes a better way to use HGiG.

Thank you. I still am unsure of this one thing on the PS5 with certain games... Hope you could put this to rest?: A PS5 calibrated in "Adjust HDR" with HGIG (as you suggested) + game no in-game nits adjustments that is clipping whites while using HGIG (Demon's Souls, for example, Gates of Boletaria clouds). Recalibrating to have the sun be more visible made no difference, but setting the TV to C9 DTM Off did. Does this mean these games aren't taking into account the PS5 calibration values we had just set in "Adjust HDR" (as recalibrating made no difference)? In this case I would think one can simply set "DTM Off", without actually doing the "Adjust HDR" all over again with "DTM Off". Am I correct in assuming this?

I am eagerly waiting for your LOTR trilogy HDR review!!!

DTM on doesn't always brighten the image by the way. sometimes it will do the opposite...for example, if you point your camera towards the sun in a dusk setting in a game, or if you go to a level where there's a ton of burning stuff at nighttime (a burning village for example), DTM will dim the entire screen a TON in order to make the fire/sun pop out more, since OLEDs can't mantain high peak brightness on the picture as a whole. because gaming is very dynamic and youre constantly moving the camera everywhere, opening menus, maybe collecting items that have a shiny effect on them, etc, putting DTM ON will result in the average brightness of your TV keep jumping up and down to a ridiculous degree. it's similar to having a dude sitting behind you constantly adjusting the "OLED light" setting as you play. once you realise this it becomes super intrusive, and you might never be able to have it turned on anymore.

Great content. Vincent which TV would you buy today if you are not a gamer? Is the best TV the Sony A9G?

Hello love your content would you recommend setting the peak brightness in games that have the setting to 800 to match my OLED C9 like I did in Forza 4

Vincent, thank you. Great video as always. If a game isn't HGIG compliant and doesn't provide its own HDR calibration sliders, then would setting DTM to Off provide the best image? I would love to see a video exploring this.

Interesting point: Gears 5 was built using Unreal Engine 4 - that engine uses ACES (Academy Color Encoding System).

Thanks for this video. Will this apply to other HGiG TVs such as Samsungs Q90T? If not any chance of making some videos with them?

I've been using HGIG for so long since I watched this video, now I turn to DTM and boy, it feels way better to my eyes.

Does Dynamic Tone Mapping affect the input lag?

the hdr calibration visibility points are exactly the same with dtm on and off for the ps5, dtm makes them slightly more defined but the point that the images disappear is exactly the same. so that means dtm on is not changing the maximum visible detail level, just how visible it is in comparison to to full black or full white. if you calibrate with dtm on or off it doesn't look extremely blown out like it does when you calibrate with hgig on and then turn dtm on, which is what was happening here. yea, dtm on is still brightening the whole image, but i find dtm calibrated with tv brightness at 49 or 48 gets rid of the washed out effect while slightly stretching the low low blacks, making shadow detail just a little more visible while still keeping the 0 black inky. obviously something isnt right with hgig and lg when you have to calibrate outside of the instructed method to make it accurate to machine standards and then also have to change in-game settings to incorrect values to get a correct output. hgig may be officially correct, but it seems pretty clear that the ps5 and lg arent doing the right secret handshake for hgig to work exactly correct if you have to tweak stuff outside of spec to make it actually correct. i think it has something to do with an improper gamma curve or something like that please do a comparison of assassin's creed valhalla hgig calibrated, and dtm calibrated with brightness lowered, i just cant believe the creator's intent was to make the exquisitely detailed game as dark as it is with hgig. i'd imagine they want people to see the dark details that are lost with hgig rather than a couple extra wisps of light grey in their terribly pixellated 15fps voluminous clouds actually, the only real way to settle this is get ahold of the actual artists of the games and see what they actually use

Great Video…thx… Does HGiG affect the Input lag of the TV? Or does Tone Mapping affect it in general?

I was devastated when the B8/B9 came out and the tone mapping was profoundly improved, some HDR content on my B7 is almost unwatchable it's so dim

Thanks for clearing this up. I like hgig ALOT better than dtm. This is much more how i thought hdr was supposed to look. I always thought it looked too overly bright before now i know why

Thanks for the informative video. I just linked it to a friend who was arguing with me about how dynamic tone mapping would give a more accurate image on the CX. How could they think something would be more accurate if it's "dynamically" changing the images on screen?

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CHANEL

Very helpful I haven't upgraded from an OLED C8 yet so I will use dynamic tone mapping off for my PC until LG or somebody can get me a brighter outlet motion is great but I also want a better picture if I'm going to buy another display

Questions: 1. Don't you need to re-calibrate the PS5 HDR after changing the dynamic tone mapping? I'm wondering if the comparisons are invalid by just toggling it without re-calibration. 2. How does HGiG affect playing movies with the built-in Blu-ray player? Do I need to switch back to Dynamic Tone Mapping On every time I play a movie?

For those wondering how to find the right peak brightness setting if no HGIG option is available, I think ignoring the instructions and raising the value until the increases in brightness becomes noticeably smaller is a good way of finding the true non-tone mapped max luminance and I think it looks the best. So for my TV, after 6 or so clicks right (equivalent to about 700 nits), clicking once more to the right has a much smaller effect on the brightness, so I leave it at 6 clicks. I think the smaller difference is a result of the tone mapping algorithm trying to make a brightness level that shouldn’t be perceivable on your TV noticeable against the 10,000 nit test blocks. Hope this helps others.

Thanks for your video perfect 👌

Just what i needed dear

Vinny, with all this DTM talk, I'd like for you to assess Sony's undefeatable DTM on their A8H and A9G. In reviews for those TVs, you've mentioned you prefer watching with Dolby Vision "off" and relaying on DTM. I have UB9000 and use HDR Optimizer to limit peak luminance to 1000 nits, and rely on DTM. Your detailed assessment would be greatly appreciated.

Love my 55 CX!

Vencent, how does all of this to PC gamers? Can you make a video for PC users as well? Would be interested what the best settings are on the CX, in Windows 10 and inside games. I'm struggling with this.

“On” on my pc and 3080 destiny 2 looks the best to me. Dims the brightest highlights and brings out much more detail in brights. Especially on Europa in the snow during the day. Off is a bit worse and HCGC or whatever is blown out super white too bright. Glad we have options! I don’t see any dif with super res. Not sure it does anything at 4k. Thanks for the vid. I think these results would turn out better looking at one screenshot filling the screen at a time. And using typically brighter scenes and dimmer ones. Most games are inside or out. So I’d look at it that way. Thanks🍻

can you please help with the c9 pc mode? there's so much split opinion on it, i just wanna know if pc mode is beneficial if i am just playing 4k60. there is also mixed info regarding banding in pc mode on the c9. :((

Can you please cover the new update of the Sony xh90, and it's compatibility with the new generation consoles

Hey Vincent What do you think about AI-Brightnes for HDR Content if u r in a Room with variable light conditions over the day?

Would it be possible to do a video for PS5 settings on a Sony X900H? I’m planning on buying one of those TV’s soon.

So where do you set the HDR Brightness slider in games, all the way to the right? Max out the setting? Can some explain this to me in simple terms.

The lg e8 doesn’t have hgig so is tone mapping ok to use ?

I set 1000 nits mastering peak in the secret menu and on ps5 the difference in calibration of HDR compared Dynamic Tone-Mapping On to HGIG was 16 clicks vs 14 until it disappears completely, or 15 clicks with a tiny circle visibility vs 14 clicks with a disappears completely. I propose to conduct tests on this matter. (Dynamic on _vs_hgig)

Vincent - Do you recommend setting the PS5 input to PC mode on LG CX? It limits the Dynamic Tone Mapping to “On” or “Off” instead of “HGIG” which is supposed to be more accurate. If that’s the case, is PC mode worthwhile for color accuracy sake if gaming only?