For those wondering where all the settings are at 16:01 (note: Settings = Main TV Settings menu, not the Game Optimiser menu) Energy Saver Step (Settings > General > OLED Care > Device Self Care > Energy Saving) [Do this first to unlock other options] Mode (Settings > Picture > Select Mode) OLED Pixel Brightness (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness) Contrast (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness) Gamma (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness) Sharpness (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Clarity) Black Level (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness) Color Depth (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color) AI Settings (Settings > General > AI Service) Prevent Input Delay (Settings > Game Optimiser > Game Tab > Prevent Input Delay (Input Lag)) Color Temperature (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance) White Balance (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance) Color Gamut (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color) HDMI Deep Color (Settings > General > Devices > HDMI Settings > HDMI Deep Color)
I’m confused, as I just purchased this unit.. not had the chance to unbox or set up, are these settings above going to make it better overall or will I be fine without having need to touch any setting? I mainly use to watch movies and gaming here and there I do plan to get a ps5 down the road till more games come out for it until then ps4.thanks
You'll get used to it quickly. I upgraded from and AlienWare 32" UltraWide and I was EXTREMELY close to returning my 48" C1 and I'm grateful that I did not. MOST games these days are designed for consoles being played on large-screen televisions. The amount of immersion I didn't realize I was missing is hard to overstate. The scale of everything in games like "God Of War" are just on an entirely new level.
@@erikhendrickson59 on game supporting ultrawide (and most do natively or by fix) you don’t loose anything tho. The screen will be bigger, making everything bigger obviously on your 42. But you’ll see more things on the ultrawide, that’s the whole point of those screen.
C2 is 799 right now at bestbuy! I picked one up last night. It's absolutely gorgeous... Don't hesitate! Plenty of people been gaming on these for years now without burn in. I'd just get the thing and enjoy it to the max for a few years and then replace it with the next best thing. Absolutely superb review, and product, and time to be alive.
If it was 144hz+ and a little smaller it would be perfect... but I think I'm still gonna end up going with it because it's gonna save me around $600 compared to the aw3423dw while still being in the ballpark of similar performance.
@@johnspanos3862 aw3423dw is $1199 for the GSYNC version and $1099 for the FreeSync version. This is a tough call. I'm using a LG C2 42" now but I really don't like that it's a TV and I have to use a remote. Picture is amazing though, just wow.
I’m in the market for this and knowing it’s been $799 before, I’m not getting it until it goes to that price again lol. We have the CX 65 For our main TV and we love it.
I couldn't wait for the review and bought it the other month, it's brilliant. You missed mentioning one feature though!! You can enable ultra wide aspect ratios right in the TV to trick you computer into thinking it's a native ultra wide. Might have some utility for some people.
Considering the significant latency increase (who knows why?), it seems it would make more sense to use the GPU control panel to center a lower resolution within the native resolution.
I just use nvidia custom resolution to create two ultra wide resolutions with the same horizontal pixel count so it does not cause blurring its still native because there is no blending between pixels to make it fit the screen and better yet no latency penalty as there is no scalling done as the pixels are still displayed natively 3840x1600 3840x1440 Im using a 2019 ru7400 49in
@@diomedes7971 It is, it's a shame LG hasn't worked with Windows/Google to enable some simple protective settings for OLED (hide taskbar, screen saver, hide browser navigation). My 2017 Samsung S8 phone still has very little burn-in (slight reddish hue from buttons in reddit dark mode if you know where to look). It shows that with the right precautions OLED can last in every day usage for a reasonable amount of time. I'm an owner of LG CX 55 and I love OLED, but I'm still not convinced about it for desktop use until burn-in countermeasures or price improve. Also smaller size.
I can answer about burn in. I have used my LG CX 48" as a desktop monitor for 2 years with about 8h+ usage during workdays and personal use on top of that. There is so far no burn in on the display and it continues to deliver as my living room TV now. I had the CX calibrated for 120 nits brightness and hid the taskbar/dock/topbar in regular use and used dark modes where available. Automatic static brightness limiter was disabled from the service menu. So with some mitigation tactics in use, you can easily expect LG OLEDs to give you several years of enjoyment, but I still would not recommend them if your goal is to keep the display for 6-10 years.
@@raisedbyaspaceinvader it can be aggressive for desktop use. Sometimes scrolling a website or typing on a document isn't enough to change the screen enough to prevent the static image limiter from kicking in, so it can get annoying. Also somewhat useless if you just have a screensaver set to kick in in a couple minutes of non-usage.
Had my C2 42" for about 6 weeks now. The best thing I've brought for my PC gaming so far I think. Also at 4k 42" the PPI is about the same is 1440p @ 27" so it's a really crisp picture. Highly recommend it.
@@SlowReflexes. Buy it from best buy test run it during the return window and if you like it keep it, if not easily return it. I've been loving mine and also bought geek squad warranty for 5 years, so no worries for me. I strictly game on my setup with a 6900 xt was debating on getting the Alienware but I wanted native resolution instead of ultra wide setup. Followed HDTVTEST settings recommendations for the LG C2. Another benefit if I want to watch late night movies with headphones so I don't wake up the family, I have setup with my dac/amp connected optical cable to TV is awesome!
@@MasterGunZ This is a good idea. I'm about to send back the Samsung Neo G7 I got to try. I currently have a 6800 XT, and I'm getting a mixed bag of performance results on various games... some I get just over 60fps, others in the 35-45 fps range. The prospect of the AW3423DW allowing me to play at a slightly less resolution than 4k is what I'm excited about... my bad eyes can't see the difference from 2k to 4k, and i get the performance boost to boot. That said, I think I'll head over to Best Buy this weekend and snag up a c2 to try out in my office.
@@SlowReflexes. Nice! I have my setup on my desk as well but I'm tall 6'3 and used a stand on my desk to bring the middle of the TV to eye level for me. Make sure to turn on VRR and AMD premium sync or you'll get weird screen tearing
@@SlowReflexes. My desk is 29 1/2 inch deep and I'm tall with long arms. So my head playing distance is about 34 to 36 inches away from the TV. Doesn't bother me for gaming and good thing the TV isn't that heavy for its size
I bought a 48" C1 5 months ago to use as a PC monitor and I love it!!! I jumped into PC gaming a year ago but was never completely satisfied with it despite having a really nice 27" 1440p 165hz gaming monitor. After getting the C1 I moved both my PS5 and Switch dock from the TV room to my desk, so now I do all my gaming in one location. I am so happy the C1 did not come in a 42" or I most likely would have bought that instead of the 48" screen. I love the size and amazing picture quality of the 48" C1.
@@drunkhusband6257 Maybe you need to try superultrawide resolutions. 32:9 is one of the best but 16:9 can't simulate them in the best way because of its native resolution.
@@drunkhusband6257 TV is TV, 32:9 is 32:9, G9 is meant for PC multitasking or cinematic movies and PC cinematic games. 16:9 can be watched on 32:9, don't enlarge videos, if you meant that.
@@drunkhusband6257 You indicated 3840x1600 (21:9), not 3840x1080 and then you were talking about 32:9. 3840x1080 isn't great in any case and the width isn't enough to be more immersive. It is also blurry.
@@drunkhusband6257 You mean something different from what I meant but I agree with you. 3840x1080 and 3840x1600 are both more blurry than 5120x1440. We compare G9 and 4K OLED.
Got my C2 42" a month ago, set up with a portrait mounted 27" 1440p IPS display on the side, and I think this setup is perfect for me. It replaced a triple monitor setup including an LG 27GN950-b. Having a big center screen is so versatile; I can fill the whole screen for immersive games/videos, or I can go either ultrawide or 1440p with black bars for better performance, while still having great clarity at a decent size. Tons of screen real estate for normal desktop use as well, not to mention the amazing contrast and motion performance. Loving it so far!
I'm kind of stuck in the same boat. I'm still utilizing my triple monitor set up, but my middle monitor went out, so I'm using the Gigabyte IPS M32Q for my main, with two 27"1080p monitors. Are you saying you're still able to run surround mode with the different size monitors with the OLED in the middle?
@@VRGamingTherapy I've actually ditched the triples setup, I'm using just two displays now. Portrait monitor on the left, TV in the middle. My triples were two 27" 1080p monitors with the 27" 4k panel in the middle. The 27" 1440p I'm using now used to be my center panel before I got the 27" 4k. I decided to go back to using it since the pixel density was similar to the TV. I actually have a lot of experience trying triple monitor gaming with mismatched resolutions. At one point, I even had a quad monitor setup working for ATS, using all of my 27" monitors together. Nvidia surround is very limited when it comes to mismatched displays, I had to use workarounds to get what I wanted. It was just a pain to set up, and once I experienced VR, I was content to leave the triples behind. I'm sure it's possible to set up the TV to be part of a surround setup, but I'm personally not going to bother. I'm kind of over multi-monitor gaming at this point, haha. If you want help setting up surround for your own setup though, let me know, I'd be glad to help.
1440p with black bars? Why not just use resolution scaling and run fullscreen? We're not in 2004 anymore, where we were scaling 1024x768 up to 1280x1024 with Window XP's shitty scaler. We're now 2022 with all sorts of amazing upscaling tech like DLSS, FSR 2, TAAU in UE4, and other perfectly fine scalers in game engines. Hell, when we're talking about pixel densities as high as 4k, even the basic bilinear upscale through the driver is fine.
@@lulkLogan I do use resolution scaling for many games, but on rare occasions, I either don't want the game to take up the whole screen, or I want that crisp, pixel perfect look. 1440p with black bars is basically just a 27" 1440p display anyways. Also, I dislike how DLSS looks in the games I've seen it in so far. There's too much ghosting and smearing in moving objects for my liking. I also avoid TAA for that reason. I hope FSR 2 is better, but I'll have to wait and see.
@@a1337cookie Gotcha. I feel you on ditching the triple monitor setup. I have too primarily stopped gaming on it since my main focus is on VR now. I have been playing a few titles here & there lately though & a lot of modern games just either don't support it or is just a hassle to set up (I'm sure you know what I mean)... My main concern with having the OLED is the obvious burn in. I spend most of my days editing VR videos & don't game "normally" anymore. But after not playing on triple monitors & coming back to it again for a bit (when it works) brings back a novelty that kind of has it's own special experience. I feel like it's a dying niche. But it's still cool to have three monitors span across my desk. lol.
Great review as usual, Tim. I absolutely love my LG C1 48" as a gaming monitor. Love the in-built TV features as having quick/easy access to TH-cam/Netflix is great. QD OLED may be better colour-wise, but the matte screen is off-putting - much prefer the glossy finish for the colours/blacks - constantly wowed by games on it. Also heaps cheaper than most high-end gaming monitors once the sales around Black Friday start
@@softluxuryone2169 You're right, at least for that one it doesn't seem to be a glossy vs matte screen that's the issue, it's also the weird anti-reflective coating they seem to be using on the QD-OLEDs that makes them appear grey in ambient light, which kinda defeats a large part of the benefit of OLED as you lose the perfect blacks. It's a sad time because I would love the increased colour saturation of the quantum dots
Same I've had the 48" since around when they did a video on it lol. When I can get the 42" for under a grand I will probably get it I think a little smaller would still be better. But these screens are amazing as monitors.
Quick hack for the Pixel Shift feature on desktop - I created a custom resolution of 3820 x 2140 (minus 20 pixels in each dimension) then turned off image scaling in nvidia control panel so that it would simply center the image instead of stretching it. Now pixel shift doesnt cut off any information, most of the games I play have supported this custom resolution, and I still get 120 Hz and VRR while running it. And I definitely dont notice the lost of 20 pixels in each dimension at all.
bought my C2 at release, never felt like it was too big. It's absolutely perfect and the image quality is astounding. and HDR experience with OLED is just mindblowing, especially as a flight simmer like me.
I don't get the constant "it's too big" comments. Most games don't have critical info in the corners, just stuff like HP and ammo that you don't focus on. It's not hard to flick your eyes to the corner. But what is _does_ give you can't be replicated on small overpriced monitors: eyesight filling immersion.
@@FallenAngelofRebellion recently sold mine and switched to a triple monitor setup. But i had no burn in issues at all and i always had it at max brightness with static elements
For anyone interested in these, i use the C2 77" as a monitor (i sit far back) and my main problems are: Glossy screens are never good, especially for monitor use. No matter how dark the room is, you'll always see reflections on this TV. Even in a pitch black room the light from the TV alone is enough to cause reflections on darker areas of the screen. RGB keyboards/mice have blatantly obvious reflections. The better contrast gained by glossy coatings is ruined by reflections, so you don't actually gain anything. Blacks are never as dark as they can be because there's always reflections on them, and i mean literally *always.* Using Game Optimiser mode lowers brightness by 20% or more, and obviously this mode is needed to reduce latency so you're stuck with it. That's why the C2 is darker than the C1 in some tests. It affects both SDR and HDR, but SDR the most. A C1/CX with the 'OLED Pixel Brightness' set to 75 will roughly match the C2 on 100 when in Game Optimiser mode and displaying SDR. In any other mode the C2 will go brighter than all previous LG OLEDs. But this problem can be eradicated with SDR... The settings at 16:00 are good, but if you slightly reduce contrast from 85 to 80 it will significantly reduce the ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter). You'll now be able to hit or exceed 200 nits with the test shown at 16:37. Colours will be effected by changing contrast, so you'll need to slightly increase Colour Depth by roughly 4 steps for colours to remain accurate. The C2 already has less annoying ABL than the C1, but by making these small changes it will pretty much entirely remove the ABL in SDR, even with full screen pure white. And if you're looking to get the C1, only the C2 has the newer 'OLED EX' panel, which should be more resistant to burn-in and generally last longer (it uses deuterium, a more durable material). But not all 42" C2's use EX panels. It's a lottery. Eventually all the 42" panels should use EX later in the year. For now, the 48/55/65/77" sizes seem to all use EX. EX panels also have more vibrant colours at higher HDR brightness levels, and it's looking like these panels suffer less from DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) compared to older panels. On OLED this is usually in the form of dark vertical banding/streaks running down the screen, which are most visible on full screen dark greys. My panel shows an extremely small amount of this (they all do to some extent) but it's great overall and vastly cleaner than any LCD i've ever seen. Text isn't quite as good looking as a typical LCD monitor due to the WRGB subpixel layout. It's a very minor difference though. Barely bothers me. It's nowhere near as bad as QD-OLED which is completely unusable as a _monitor_ far as i'm concerned. And a warning - Some OLED owners complain of burn-in after using dark modes and they don't understand how they got it. Sometimes they've used light modes for years, then switched to dark mode and got burn-in. This is because dark modes cause the TV to not dim as much and makes the TV's burn-in mitigation features less effective in general. Logos/icons/text will some times remain brighter than if you were using a light mode. This obviously increases the risk of burn-in. So if you use dark modes then literally everything static needs to be darker. So always hide the taskbar and use a browser extension like 'Desaturate favicons' to remove the colours from browser tabs. Hide any browser extensions in the bar as well. Use your brain basically. But if you don't want to do all this then you're likely just better off with light modes. Btw, some C1/C2 tips: Press the green button on the remote 7 times to show the refresh rate in the corner (useful for showing a games frame rate when VRR is enabled. Not always 100% reliable though). Press the mute button 3 times quickly for a menu that lets you disable the LG logo which appears when turning off the TV. Overall the C2 is an excellent monitor, easily the best i've owned and i've had tons of them. I'd honestly say the reflections are the biggest problem.
LG is still shipping the 42" C2 with last generation panels because they are actually made from leftovers from the 77" C1. Until they run out of the older meterials which is assumed to be by fall 2022, you're paying a huge premium for older technology.
@@bheypuor They do now. But the stock from Q1 2022 was all last gen panels. All the 42" C2's manufactured back then were from 77" meterials. So if you order one check the manufacturers date to make sure you didn't get old stock.
you are talking about the WBC and WBE panels right? I read somewhere that based on the item number on the TV, if the fourth letter is P or W, then you have the newest. Q or Y is the oldest panel
In the future there probably wont be a distinction between monitors and TVs. But yeah, I really like seeing smart TV reviews from the perspective of PC usage since I expect it to become much more common going forward.
I just got this model as well. Using it now on my games ang movies I just realized how much I've been missing all this time. That black levels are totally insane and the contrast was nothing like I've experienced before from normal IPS and VAs or my cheapo QLED monitor and I thought I couldn't get any better than that looking back then. I was right in my decision to forego my plans to get another GPU upgrade and get this LG OLED TV instead and I got a real good deal on it too.
On the 42in having lower brightness, that’s because of a smaller aperture ratio. LG reps were surprisingly upfront about the sub 55in models having lower brightness than their bigger siblings. As the pixels get packed in closer less light makes it through. It is likely they would have to make changes to release sub 40in models, such as lowering the resolution to 1440p. As for the 120hz BFI being missing, that appears to have been a decision made by LG Display (the panel maker) for so far unknown reasons. LG Electronics, Sony and Panasonic WRGB OLED 2022 tvs all have the feature missing.
I fail to see how varying the Hold length of the Sample has anything to do with the OLED array itself. It should be purely a matter of the control circuitry/firmware. It's not like it's a "feature", it's just powering the pixels for a shorter duration than normal.
@@captainkirk3000 Current smartphone OLED panels are primarily made by Samsung Display and LG Display, but they are different type of OLED panels from the QD-OLED and WRGB type they make. In some ways better, in others not. But unfortunately they don’t seem to scale up to monitor sizes, just like the tv OLED tech struggles to scale down. 20-30in class monitors are unfortunately in a bit of a no man’s land at the moment.
I bought the LG C2 OLED specifically to use as my primary display for Flight Simulator 2020. With my MSI Gaming X Trio 4090 card, the visuals are just amazing in 4K HDR on the C2. No regrets here!
Had my 42" C2 since launch as part of my PC setup and it's hands down the best gaming display, no high "gaming monitor" comes close and I owned a few over the years. I've been waiting for a 42" at least, since my 55" CX. Thought I might still be too big but it's perfect and the simplistic aesthetics and feet are great. Best thing is I can still enjoy Ultrawide gaming too with amazing colors/HDR and response times, 120FPS is pleasantly snappy for me too. I did initially want the *ASUS* variant but after a few weeks of no news I went with LG and have no regrets. The only annoyance is ASBL but it can be turned off...
@@bricaaron3978 Yes in the service menu, but your risk of burn in will go up unless you run a relatively low light level like 35 or less which is enough for a dark room.
Still enjoy Ultra-wide, that means you are running in non native resolutions where the effect of interpolation comes in causing a softer image, hard pass.
@@Battleneter not sure what you mean. so what's the diffrence between 3840x1600 on this and 3840x1600 on an ultrawide where the number of pixels is that same? i honestly don't look into it that far and enjoy having choice.
Something that was overlooked and should be mentioned for PC players is the C2's VRR flicker issue. In dark games with highly variable refresh rates, flicker can be an issue. Otherwise, excellent review.
Its not just on the c2, i have it on the c1... more importantly its not an LG oled issue specifically, i find it happens on most freesync displays, ive also had it on a MSI mpg341cqr display aswell which is ofcourse just a standard freesync ultrawide display. i have however only been using nvidia graphics cards, the only time ive ever solved VRR flicker in the dark is when using a native GSYNC display. So i think its work they need to do with freesync because as has always been the case its never been as rock solid as gsync.
@@jinx20001 Yeah, it can happen with many displays that are merely "compatible" with a VRR technology like Gsync. However, those displays that are certified and have the Gsync module are usually free of flicker.
@@steadychaosproductions3376 my aw3423dw with g-sync module still do flicker in vrr mode it's an issue with oled not the display having a native g-sync module or not
For additional detail on OLED colour accuracy, you may wish to use perceptual match to D65 with an AWP, vs using D65 directly (which will result in metameric failure). AWP for true perceptual match is (0.308, 0.313). This will match true CRT whitepoint of (0.313, 0.329), which is your true D65. I hope this helps.
Hopefully you helped others, but I understood none of that besides "OLED, colour accuracy, and CRT whitepoint" lol D65? AWP? Metameric? What do those numbers mean? Where would you even manipulate these settings? Care to help a fella out who isn't a certified TV technician? I'm debating between a C1 and C2 but here they need some pretty serious calibration to reach their full potential.
@@amphibeingmcshpongletron5026 these are all white point calibration settings. Mostly left to calibrators using a professional software. I am not sure if there is a way to program them directly anywhere. LG settings for pre calibrated mode are already using an AWP. This is if people wish to calibrate game mode to similar white point as well. HCFR and AutoCal allow for AWP to be used. Basically, what our eyes see, and what a colorimeter sees on OLED are two different things. This white point allows colorimeter to match based on what human eye would see.
Note that the C2 42" in particular was produced using the old LG OLED panels until the end of Q2, whereas the C2 48" exclusively uses the new 2022 LG OLED.EX panels. In terms of comparison to the C1, you might have actually been comparing the same panel technology in this case. For a representative comparison, I would liked to have seen a 48" vs 48" comparison. SDR and HDR brightness might be affected by this, as well as power consumption. Also, would liked to have seen a follow-up with LG on the removal of 120Hz BFI. For FPS gamers, this could be the deal-breaker that would have them settle on a C1, if the C2 will not get the feature in a FW update.
Just bought a 48" C1 for 450 used! I am loving it! I was using a alienware aw2721d 1440p 240hz. The hdr was a joke on the alienware and dark games were unplayable. The lg oled is awesome. I did have to fix my desk so I was further from the screen but so worth it!
I've been using my 42 C2 since it came out. No issues with burn-in so far. FWIW, I run brightness about 75% and find it plenty bright. Disabling ClearType correction in Windows results in the best text clarity with no visible fringing. I'm very happy with it.
I've just seen a really good deal on a C2 and decided to buy it. I used to own a C1 but only used it as a TV. My C2 is coming on Thursday and it will be used for gaming. I'm so excited!!!
Great video! I bought a C3 recently with a 2080 TI, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to handle 4k 120HZ, but it does run at 2k 120HZ, that's what I'm running it in the meantime as I save up for a new GPU, and it honestly looks great! It is also appropriate since the 2080 ti can't really run 4k games at 120 hz, and you can still enjoy all the nice features except for the higher resolution, but it is hard to notice anyways imo.
I've set mine up in the same quite bright room Ive previously used a 27 inch LCD. Not sure if it's the sheer size of the tv, but in broad daylight it doesn't seem as impacted to the point I don't bother closing my curtains. My LCD monitor is fairly mid range though
Yep, OLED just destroyed all screens. Its boring now. No reason to buy anything about OLED, so when QD oled 27/24 inch screens comes in a cheaper prices...Yep, game over, no other choice until Samsung micro led or whatever its called.
@@oldtimergaming9514 Yes. I don't want to have to hide taskbars and such to avoid burn-in. I buy a monitor to use for 5-8 years. No way I'm taking that chance.
@@oldtimergaming9514 We'll, I assume alienware with its 3 year warranty (right?) are pretty confident. I can only say, even my cheap LG A1 oled TV is just awesome. Watching proper shows like now Better call Saul...its so good looking. Honestly, if prices comes down on oled for PC monitors there is no other option imo. I mean my TV was bought end of last year for like 750 dollars...A 55 inch TV. Im sure its gonna happen soon. But I agree, OLED is maybe a bit scary. I use my TV hooked to my laptop for a HTPC setup to stream with (Dont like smart apps / cant pirat), and I do hide my taskbar, black out all I can etc.
@@Djuntas still too large, no ergonomics, not bright enough imo and when using it for work, burn in is a given. so the image quality IS the best, but that doesn't make it the best choice for all needs. Maybe in a couple of years it will be, but right now it certainly isn't
I own this monitor and the older C1 48 inch. Probably the best "gaming monitors" I've owned for single player fps/rpg/simulator games. Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Star Citizen and even the old Witcher 3 just came to live playing on an oled. Even used them for more static games like World of Warcraft and Civilisation 6 as well. They surpasses any previous monitors I've had/own. Added plus that their unparalleled for Youtubing and binging series. I've been careful (use my G9 and other monitors now and then as well for more fast paced fps multiplayer shooters - mainly for reduced size) and don't have any burn in so far.
I've used the 48" C1 on hdmi 2.0b with my 2080 until now. I was able to get 3840x1600 (to make it a 21:9 monitor) and I find it real comfortable now. It gets 85hz through with vrr support but no HDR. after a year there are absolutely no regrets from changing my 1440p 144hz monitor to this and will patiently wait for a decent adapter or new gpu to rediscover the capabilities of this panel
Yeah I have same screen. The only issue I've had with limited HDMI2.1 support under Linux (for AMD). Might get a 4080... will have to see how they compare to 7800xt
@@PRiMETECHAU LG C2 does not have DP. I was just mentioning a difft setting that OP can use with his 2080 with LG OLED to get proper HDR till he gets a better card that supports HDMI 2.1. Same boat as me.
Don't have an OLED and don't want one due to burn-in woes, but for those of you who do -> Wallpaper Engine (steam,paid software,very cheap and free updates) with a dynamic background. Looks better than a purely black background :P. Use the start menu icons instead of desktop icons, hide the taskbar. For games, consider using reshade and a noise shader. Should help reduce burn-in from static elements like HP bars,text etc.
Hey guys, love your reviews!!! Do you think you would also be able to review the 42 inch A90K by Sony? Same panel as the C2, but different anti-reflective coating and a different algorithm for dimming and brightness. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of information on it yet
Just ordered one of these from JB HiFi (australia) for $1090AUD, absolute bargain for oled, plus $400 cheaper that the Aorus 48", which based on your reviews, i think this will be better unit. cheers guys these were the best reviews i could find, definitely helped me in deciding
@@VALV3RD3 I don't personally use my screen for that purpose, more YT, gaming etc. It can get quite dim when viewing predominantly white, I use my display in a darker room so it doesn't bother me that much. If your main use is office work, get something else. For gaming and content consumption? You can't go wrong with it...
I bought my first PC in 06 from Best Buy with a 22" monitor and I thought it was huge. A year later I bought a new 32" flat panel TV (still a good 8" thick in the back) and thought it was amazing. Now close to 20 years later we are talking about 32" being a standard in monitor size and 42-48" being a feasible option....
@@Shane-un8pe *looks awkwardly toward my 55" OLED that fills the whole damn desk To be fair though, one benefit to being a giant screen is that I can sit it right at the back of my desk (which is rather deep) and because of the distance I don't need glasses any more
LG's new monitor lg gq950b review pls. It's a 4k 32 inch 144hz monitor. I want to see a comparison with the aorus fi32u it terms of like ghosting performance, ufo motion blur test and all. Please do the review if you can... 👍🏻🙏🏻
Totally getting this, going to be both a nice tv for watching movies from bed and great monitor both for work and gaming. I always use everything in dark mode, and not using much for work. This thing is unreal.
I would really like a C3 or a C4 at 36'' and if they could increase the frequency a bit, maybe 144hz or even 175/180hz with a displayport, then this tv would be near perfect for me.
I wouldn't expect them to get smaller than 42 since it's meant to be a TV. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of the C and G series screens are overclockable. LG just released a 48" OLED monitor that can be overclocked to 138hz, and with Samsung's latest OLED smart TVs being overclockable to 144hz, I would expect LG to also make their smart TVs oveclockable to at 138hz or more. Also it should be noted that I am able to overclock the refresh rate on my C1 to 124hz. It's not much but it is something. The fact that it is possible also makes me think we'll see better with later tests.
@@Oz-gv5fz idk. 32” 4k TVs are still getting made. I think they’re mostly smart monitors. There aren’t really OLEDs in that size class tho (not yet anyway)
If we're comparing the C2 to the AW3423DW in terms of the risk of burn in, I think Dell's 3 year warranty coverage deserves a mention (and the inherent advantage of QD-OLED being more efficient). Dealing with an RMA may be a pain, but their confidence seems to indicate the majority of users won't have to.
QdOled durability claims mean nothing to me. Just because Samsung Display says it’s more durable is meaningless. Why would they talk down their own product? We’ll have to wait a few years to get real confirmation on the durability.
@@chasecrappel9480 It's not exactly news that decreasing the amount of power running through the diodes decreases the rate of burn in, that's the basic reason the phenomenon exists at all. What we don't yet know is exactly how much of a difference it'll make, but that's where the warranty part comes in.
Nothing beats 5 years warranty with costco lol. Even if they don't necessarily cover burn in they will cover things like bad pixels and my 48CX got 50 bad pixels from less than two years of use. I took that opportunity to file a claim and am getting a new 42 C2 to replace.
@@Malinkadink does Costco actually check the pixels that were affected or is it just a claim and do they send over the c2 or give you a store credit to go inside and buy it
@@Verzula I had to send them a few pictures, they offered two options exchange at local store or return for full refund. I opted for the latter as that way I get to pick exactly the model i want and it also means i get a new warranty with that purchase plus a few hundred $ back since the C2 42 is cheaper than what i paid for my 48CX at the time.
Been using one for about a month for app developement/gaming and I cant imagine going back to an LCD monitor. I had tried the 48" CX a couple years ago and it was just too large.. 42" is still bigger than I'd prefer, but its much much more manageable
I'd like to see a review on the VIZIO MQX 4K 120hz QLED HDR with AMD Freesync releasing at the end of this month. As I sit a fair distance from my display I've often opted for larger 4k TVs over small expensive monitors. I watch movies and TV on it as well as having a console hooked up. Once you get used to leaning back in your chair it's hard to go back to hunching over a relatively small monitor for more money. Plus the pure real estate is far cheaper than multiple monitors for web and desktop use. I know quite a few people that utilize TVs as monitors today, so I'm sure I'm not the only one prefers a TV for pure size. Seems the comments here agree with me. TVs simply offer more value if you care about size. I've been interested in the LGs but don't trust burn in when I have a habit of leaving my PC on unattended for extended amounts of time.
Anything over about 115-120 nits hurts my eyes. The C1 at 40% brightness is just perfect (with service menu ABL turned off). I really wouldn't want higher.
Nice shoutout to rtings, always check everything on rtings before buying. But I've seen a lot of instances where there's a big variance in your testing and their's. Specially in input lag testing
Amazingly informative videos guys! I really wish you would also do similar reviews for other popular va panel or mini led tvs like the sony x85j / x90j / x95j / x95k or the hisense u8g, ya know, for more budget options... I know rtings has reviews for these already but I would really love to hear your takes on those specifically compared to other monitors for gaming
After using the 48c1 for almost 2 years, I got the 42c2 just now. The 48c1 is now relegated to strictly watching the shows and movies in my office/gaming room. 42c2 will now be my main monitor. Picked it up for around $750.
Wow, that's an amazing deal! It goes for what's an equivalent of ~$1300 here were I live... Could you by any chance tell me if it's possible to adjust White Balance with 22 or 10 Point precision in the Game Optimizer picture mode, or is it limited to 2 Point adjustment?
19:20 What a huge mistake, this was the slippery slope that many make. Even Linus corrected himself in his "burn-in" video, it was image retention that can 99.9% be fixed with pixel-refresh.
They have heatsink layers they can use now but as usual it's reserved for there highest model and will be drip feed to there lower models over time. That's what I'm waiting on so we know for sure burn will be almost impossible in long gaming sessions with the right use
The size of your display matters and affects your PPI. PPI determines how crisp the display will look to you at a given resolution. The reason 1440p/4k monitor's look so nice today is because of the higher average PPI of monitors using panels that support those resolutions compared to older monitors we used to use. Pixels Per Inch (PPI) 3840 x 2160 @ 83" = 53.08 PPI 3840 x 2160 @ 77" = 57.22 PPI 3840 x 2160 @ 65" = 67.78 PPI 3840 x 2160 @ 55" = 80.11 PPI 3840 x 2160 @ 48" = 91.79 PPI 3820 x 2160 @ 42" = 104.90 PPI ( The best you can do with this TV. A decent compromise considering the performance of the display in other areas ) 3820 x 2160 @ 41" = 107.46 PPI 3840 x2160 @ 40" = 110.15 PPI ( Max size you should go for clean crisp 4K ) 3840 x 2160 @ 32" = 137.68 PPI 3840 x 2160 @ 27" = 163.18 PPI 2560 x 1440 @ 42" = 69.93 PPI 2560 x 1440 @ 32" = 91.79 PPI 2560 x 1440 @ 27" = 108.79 PPI ( The standard for 1440p ) 1920 x 1080 @ 42" =52.45 PPI 1920 x 1080 @ 27" = 81.59 PPI 1920 x 1080 @ 24" = 91.79 PPI ( The average from older, more commonly used, 1080p displays ) 1920 x 1080 @ 23" = 95.78 PPI 1920 x 1080 @ 21.5" = 102.46 PPI 1920 x 1080 @ 20" = 110.15 PPI ( Where you should be for clean and crisp 1080p ) 1920 x 1080 @ 17" = 129.58 PPI 1920 x 1080 @ 15.6" = 141.21 PPI 1280 x 720 @ 42" =34.97 PPI ( This is why Nintendo Switch Games Looks like garbage on 4K TVs, the really low PPI ) 1280 x 720 @ 27" = 54.39 PPI 1280 x 720 @ 17" = 86.39 PPI 1280x720 @ 15.6" = 94.14 PPI 1280x720 @ 14" = 104.90 PPI 1280x720 @ 13.3" = 110.24 PPI ( Where you should be for clean and crisp 720p ) If you are using an integrated graphics card such as an AMD APU, I recommend gaming on a smaller 13.3" monitor and 720p resolutions to not overwhelm memory bandwidth limits from such a setup. == Don't get a monitor that uses 4k resolution larger than 40" for the best 4k experience with a nice clean and crisp picture.
I pre-ordered the Alienware QD-OLED 3 months ago and there’s still no ETA, Dell Germany has no idea when they’re gonna have more panels, so you might aswell consider that one non-existent.
Yup. Had the same problem in Canada with their other monitors. They manufacture once they reach a determined number rather than produce the monitors and keep in stock. It's BS.
ABL and burn in are the same problem. The reason ABL is there is to mitigate burn in. That's the real problem with these monitors. The burn in mitigation strategies are almost as bad as burn in itself.
Burn in increases the hotter the panel gets, thats why OLED controls total brightness, that's why 100% screen brightness is so low, if they allowed the panel to run 800 nits at 100% screen, the panel would go over 100 degrees
Still on my LG CX with > 10K hours as a monitor. Used for gaming, movies, web browsing, programming and game development. Still not seeing any burn, only disabled taskbar, forced dark mode on all applications and have a screensaver set to 1 min. Worth noting that Linus's display did not “burn in”, it had temporary image retention that was easily rectified. Considering the way he regularly treats hardware, probably left it on a static window for hours.
i got the c2 and its fantastic. only thing that bugs me is that brightness in full whitescreen is probably the only reason id upgrade if another oled down the line (or mini led with a ton of zones) with higher sustained peak brightness and that is a huge nitpick on my end. but other than that is pretty much the perfect display
100% I've been intent on getting this since it was announced, still have no reservations about it. Just waiting for it to drop down around 1000-1100usd since that's what I've got set aside. Thank you for the fantastic review!
I really hate how OLED panels have removed there 120hz BFI. It was good on the C1 and with brightness improvements to new iterations it would of been great
Have this and use it on my 32” desk and it sits all the way back. The size is fully utilized in this way and I can’t go back to ultra wide. The extra real estate is truly nice. Like going from 60hz to 120hz it’s tough to go back
I think the sturdier design is very well to use it as monitor as you often move it around more often then a tv. its a great candidate for a computer monitor also ita have the best built in features for calibration. 3D Lut is great for SDR. i’m still in love with my 55 CX. 2 Years of gaming sweetness
Using a LG c9 65in for over 3 years now as my main PC monitor for work and gaming (with a 2080Ti at first then a 3090 that unlocked the 120hz with hmdi 2.1). I hooked it up the wall and backed up my desk around 1ft from it, the bottom of the screen at the same level as the desk. I never turned it off, I use Windows settings combined with LG settings to manage the screen saver and sleep: zero burning. I bought a 82in C2 a few months ago for my main gaming PC in the living room. I will never go back, this is the best PC investment I've ever made.
Hey boys, great review! I was wondering if you were planning on reviewing the 2 new Corsair monitors? I'm particularly interested in their 32QHD240 model, and right now reviews are scarce. I'd love to see what you guys think of it!
As for the refresh rate being "low", yes 144,168, 240 is higher, but honestly even 120 vs 240 is only a difference between 8.33 ms and 4.16ms between frames. And seeing how most common "older" competitive games top at about 180'sh fps in 4k with current Halo GPU's, i think the 120hz is just fine for most users. the 240 fps is kinda insane anyway since the human eye is unable to see any flicker over 80-100hz, so 120 should be more than enough. Its about the same as with sound. most people won't hear noticeable latency under 5 ms.
There seems to be a point of diminished returns as framerates go up. For example, the difference between 30fps and 60fps is night and day. From 60fps and 120fps is very obvious, but the difference between 120fps and 180fps is less obvious despite it being the same number of frames higher. The difference between 120fps and 240fps is much less noticeable than the difference from 30-60 and 60-120 even though in each case the rate is doubling. I've never seen higher than 240 because the highest refresh monitor I've had is a 240hz. So with that in mind I'd rather have a monitor with a max 120hz refresh rate with the best picture quality and response rather than a monitor with a higher refresh rate, but lower quality picture. I also don't play competitive online games, so high refresh and framerate isn't as much of a priority for me.
I have the C1 48" and i really love it, but i had to buy a stand for create some distance from my eyes to the TV because... 48" as monitor is really big for a regular desktop but now is a pleasure gaming on it, the pictures are amazing, full details and immersive.
I have this monitor/TV, and use it for content creation (3d/VFX), and it is great... now I know that burn-in is a risk, but that is what extended warranties that cover burn-in are for. Plus... if you make a living doing this kind of work, you accept the risk. The color performance is out of this world... and using expert bright (OLED brightness at 35-38 will give you very good sRGB emulation. The suggestion to use dark mode and auto-hide the taskbar in this video are very good suggestions.
I really want to see a comparison between this C2 and the ROG SWIFT PG42UQ when the Asus monitor finally comes out. I think it will have the same LG panel as the C2, but it claims to have an integrated cooling system to reduce the risk of burn-in
just my 5 cent about the burn-in "issue". I've been using the C1 48 for almost a year now. I'm a software developer so is being used for productivity. Zero burn-in. Taskbar always visible, no screensavers, etc, etc. The only thing I have active is the pixel shifting which sometimes I notice. You only need to keep the brightness relatively low at 10-20% and you are good to go. I always did that even with my lcd's for productivity anyway. My eyes get less tired and is more than bright enough for the task. I crank up the brightness for gaming only. I hope this helps. PS: waiting on a sale for the 42 to make the change :-P I agree the 48 is a little bit too big.
I have never felt the need to crank up the brightness on my 48C1 for desktop usage. I'm only using OLED-light 20 / contrast 85. If I want to open my windows/curtains for some natural light I simply disable the dark mode and it's fine and everything is still perfectly readable. IMO most people are just used to overly bright settings.
WOW, nice x-mas gift from costco. I bought my 77"c1 from costco 89 days from last night when I saw they had the c2 on sale for the same price. called them up. "sure, just do the return and order the new one, we'll deliver and pickup same day!"
Hello! Thank you for the review. I was wondering, has the tv had any run in time? I remember Vincent from HDTV test mentioning that his panel needed several compensation cycles to get the picture to get more accurate (which still isn't great in factory calibration). I'm asking because (as i understand it) the panel changes the output image after it's been running for a while and the optimal OSD settings may need tweaking. It may a minor thing, but I figured I'd try to ask. Thanks again!
Got C1 EVO 48" panel for $799 USD + Tax with $100 Xbox credit and 5 year warranty at costco. I would recommend to wait another 9-12 months to get good sale price.
Burn-in is still a deal breaker to me, even if I lust after that image quality and HDR quality and speed. If this was a $200 screen, I could roll the dice. Not on a $500+ one, and absolutely not on a $1000+ one. Monitors and TV are supposed to last a long long time, well over a decade.
Then buy the Best Buy warranty let it die from your daily gaming and get a replacement in 5 years. Nothing competes with these in terms of the quality they deliver.
@@drunkhusband6257 Sharpness has nothing to do with anything, LOL. Also on many screens the brightness level is a separate parameter from LED light level. Regardless, they built them better a few years ago. Additionally, your singular point of data does not alter the overall failure rate across an industry.
Love my LG OLED C1 at 65' to use it with PC from sofa at the living room. I don't miss anything at gaming or whatching movies. Still can recommend the C1 or CS over the C2 because of the same benefits for lower price! The peak brightness you won't even notice in dark rooms.
I don't really get the fuss about brightness. I keep my monitor at around 50% so my eyes don't burn out at night. I often find myself wishing my 77" LG C1 was dimmer at night. I've never once wished my monitor was brighter in the past 20 years.
there are tons of budget monitors in the 200-300 nits range which is in my view the absolute minimum when you have a brightly lit room and still want to work. it's definitely not a problem playing at night.
@@-........ I guess if you didn't own curtains ît might matter. First thing I've done every place I've lived is get curtains if the place doesn't have them. Now I own, all my rooms have blackout curtains so light control is a non-issue.
I've bought Samsung Odyssey s28g70 at the beginning of the year and I returned it soon after. I was dissapointed with poor blacks, unusable HDR and horrific ips glow. 2 months ago I've bought C2 42 inch and I'm still blown away. Its epic. One thing to note is that this tv works suprisingly good with 1440p resolution. 4k looks best, 1440p looks slightly worse but it's much better than full hd. I've read somewhare that because of the different scaling 1440p looks bad on 4k display but that's not true.
I've found 1080p content horrendous. Like muddy as all heck. I've only tried compressed TH-cam, but it looks significantly less sharp than my much larger old 1080p plasma tv when viewing the same content
Have an 48” LG CX OLED from a few years back that I use as a desktop display (mounted on the wall behind my desk) and it is phenomenal! It is super responsive and the colors are gorgeous. Have not looked back!
@@01BSBH no, but I am relatively careful. I have the screen saver come up after 5 mins without input to ensure that nothing stays static for too long. I work and game on the TV and it has been great.
I just picked one up for $899 from LG. It will be delivered by this coming monday. Since I will be mostly gaming and watching content this will be as close to perfect as today's technology will allow.
I’ve had ALOT of tv’s in my life and I am a graphics snob. I’m one of those people that has to have max graphical PC settings at 4K at the highest FPS possible at all times. The best of my current lineup in-house right now is a 65” Samsung q90A, 32” Dell 4K 144hz g3223q, 75” Samsung q80A. I’ve still got an LG 60” 1080P plasma (incredible black levels) as well, etc etc. the 55” c2 is by far the best tv I’ve ever owned, seen, used, etc etc. in gaming, there is absolutely nothing that compares to the black levels combined with motion, incredible HDR, response time, literally zero bloom, viewing angles, clarity, etc etc the list goes on and on. The color combined with the virtually infinite black levels is honestly unbelievable. The new Evo panel combined with OLED tech is currently unmatched as a result of the c2. There’s nothing close. If you are a gamer and are worried about the brightness of the c2, the HDR 100% takes care of that alleged issue. It is insanely bright with HDR on. It is plenty bright enough without HDR as well. Get one. You will never regret it.
For those wondering where all the settings are at 16:01 (note: Settings = Main TV Settings menu, not the Game Optimiser menu)
Energy Saver Step (Settings > General > OLED Care > Device Self Care > Energy Saving) [Do this first to unlock other options]
Mode (Settings > Picture > Select Mode)
OLED Pixel Brightness (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness)
Contrast (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness)
Gamma (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness)
Sharpness (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Clarity)
Black Level (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Brightness)
Color Depth (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color)
AI Settings (Settings > General > AI Service)
Prevent Input Delay (Settings > Game Optimiser > Game Tab > Prevent Input Delay (Input Lag))
Color Temperature (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance)
White Balance (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color > White Balance)
Color Gamut (Settings > Picture > Advanced Settings > Color)
HDMI Deep Color (Settings > General > Devices > HDMI Settings > HDMI Deep Color)
Thank you :)
Are these settings for both HDR and SDR?
@@sythes123it's written at the top: SDR mode
I’m confused, as I just purchased this unit.. not had the chance to unbox or set up, are these settings above going to make it better overall or will I be fine without having need to touch any setting? I mainly use to watch movies and gaming here and there I do plan to get a ps5 down the road till more games come out for it until then ps4.thanks
Thanks a lot man. Will be very useful for my new C3 arriving next week :)
Received my C2 42” last week and am absolutely loving it. 32” would have been better but the size is not as off putting as I thought it would be.
38 is probably the sweet spot for 4k/not ultrawide but they don't make em like that sadly
Well let's hope we are not going to need huge glasses also.
You'll get used to it quickly. I upgraded from and AlienWare 32" UltraWide and I was EXTREMELY close to returning my 48" C1 and I'm grateful that I did not. MOST games these days are designed for consoles being played on large-screen televisions. The amount of immersion I didn't realize I was missing is hard to overstate. The scale of everything in games like "God Of War" are just on an entirely new level.
@@erikhendrickson59 on game supporting ultrawide (and most do natively or by fix) you don’t loose anything tho. The screen will be bigger, making everything bigger obviously on your 42. But you’ll see more things on the ultrawide, that’s the whole point of those screen.
I could do a 38 maybe but 42 is just too big for me, I did look into clamp vesa mounts because maybe in a year or 2 they'll make a smaller size.
C2 is 799 right now at bestbuy! I picked one up last night. It's absolutely gorgeous... Don't hesitate! Plenty of people been gaming on these for years now without burn in. I'd just get the thing and enjoy it to the max for a few years and then replace it with the next best thing. Absolutely superb review, and product, and time to be alive.
If it was 144hz+ and a little smaller it would be perfect... but I think I'm still gonna end up going with it because it's gonna save me around $600 compared to the aw3423dw while still being in the ballpark of similar performance.
@@hoolahooop it only saves you about 400$ compared to the dw I think? I think Dell has 10% off right now
@@johnspanos3862 aw3423dw is $1199 for the GSYNC version and $1099 for the FreeSync version. This is a tough call. I'm using a LG C2 42" now but I really don't like that it's a TV and I have to use a remote. Picture is amazing though, just wow.
I’m in the market for this and knowing it’s been $799 before, I’m not getting it until it goes to that price again lol. We have the CX 65 For our main TV and we love it.
How’s the brightness?
I couldn't wait for the review and bought it the other month, it's brilliant.
You missed mentioning one feature though!! You can enable ultra wide aspect ratios right in the TV to trick you computer into thinking it's a native ultra wide. Might have some utility for some people.
This was what I was most excited to hear about. Can you tell me if you can change the position of the viewable screen area when in 21:9 mode?
Considering the significant latency increase (who knows why?), it seems it would make more sense to use the GPU control panel to center a lower resolution within the native resolution.
I just use nvidia custom resolution to create two ultra wide resolutions with the same horizontal pixel count so it does not cause blurring its still native because there is no blending between pixels to make it fit the screen and better yet no latency penalty as there is no scalling done as the pixels are still displayed natively
3840x1600
3840x1440
Im using a 2019 ru7400 49in
@@diomedes7971 It is, it's a shame LG hasn't worked with Windows/Google to enable some simple protective settings for OLED (hide taskbar, screen saver, hide browser navigation). My 2017 Samsung S8 phone still has very little burn-in (slight reddish hue from buttons in reddit dark mode if you know where to look). It shows that with the right precautions OLED can last in every day usage for a reasonable amount of time.
I'm an owner of LG CX 55 and I love OLED, but I'm still not convinced about it for desktop use until burn-in countermeasures or price improve. Also smaller size.
well its really disappointing because of the bad resolution.
I can answer about burn in. I have used my LG CX 48" as a desktop monitor for 2 years with about 8h+ usage during workdays and personal use on top of that. There is so far no burn in on the display and it continues to deliver as my living room TV now.
I had the CX calibrated for 120 nits brightness and hid the taskbar/dock/topbar in regular use and used dark modes where available. Automatic static brightness limiter was disabled from the service menu. So with some mitigation tactics in use, you can easily expect LG OLEDs to give you several years of enjoyment, but I still would not recommend them if your goal is to keep the display for 6-10 years.
120 nits is too dim for day to day usage. Around 250-300 nits would be OK.
@@socialreport2836 It is actually the standard used for photo work.
@@kirjuri7189 Yeah, very good conditions doing it.
Out of interest, why did you disable "automatic static brightness limiter"? Sounds like a protective function.
@@raisedbyaspaceinvader it can be aggressive for desktop use. Sometimes scrolling a website or typing on a document isn't enough to change the screen enough to prevent the static image limiter from kicking in, so it can get annoying. Also somewhat useless if you just have a screensaver set to kick in in a couple minutes of non-usage.
Had my C2 42" for about 6 weeks now. The best thing I've brought for my PC gaming so far I think. Also at 4k 42" the PPI is about the same is 1440p @ 27" so it's a really crisp picture.
Highly recommend it.
@@SlowReflexes. 34' is a pretty good size honestly you will prolly be fine with it.
@@SlowReflexes. Buy it from best buy test run it during the return window and if you like it keep it, if not easily return it. I've been loving mine and also bought geek squad warranty for 5 years, so no worries for me. I strictly game on my setup with a 6900 xt was debating on getting the Alienware but I wanted native resolution instead of ultra wide setup. Followed HDTVTEST settings recommendations for the LG C2. Another benefit if I want to watch late night movies with headphones so I don't wake up the family, I have setup with my dac/amp connected optical cable to TV is awesome!
@@MasterGunZ This is a good idea. I'm about to send back the Samsung Neo G7 I got to try. I currently have a 6800 XT, and I'm getting a mixed bag of performance results on various games... some I get just over 60fps, others in the 35-45 fps range. The prospect of the AW3423DW allowing me to play at a slightly less resolution than 4k is what I'm excited about... my bad eyes can't see the difference from 2k to 4k, and i get the performance boost to boot. That said, I think I'll head over to Best Buy this weekend and snag up a c2 to try out in my office.
@@SlowReflexes. Nice! I have my setup on my desk as well but I'm tall 6'3 and used a stand on my desk to bring the middle of the TV to eye level for me. Make sure to turn on VRR and AMD premium sync or you'll get weird screen tearing
@@SlowReflexes. My desk is 29 1/2 inch deep and I'm tall with long arms. So my head playing distance is about 34 to 36 inches away from the TV. Doesn't bother me for gaming and good thing the TV isn't that heavy for its size
I bought a 48" C1 5 months ago to use as a PC monitor and I love it!!!
I jumped into PC gaming a year ago but was never completely satisfied with it despite having a really nice 27" 1440p 165hz gaming monitor.
After getting the C1 I moved both my PS5 and Switch dock from the TV room to my desk, so now I do all my gaming in one location.
I am so happy the C1 did not come in a 42" or I most likely would have bought that instead of the 48" screen.
I love the size and amazing picture quality of the 48" C1.
@@drunkhusband6257 Maybe you need to try superultrawide resolutions. 32:9 is one of the best but 16:9 can't simulate them in the best way because of its native resolution.
@@drunkhusband6257 TV is TV, 32:9 is 32:9, G9 is meant for PC multitasking or cinematic movies and PC cinematic games. 16:9 can be watched on 32:9, don't enlarge videos, if you meant that.
@@drunkhusband6257 OK. Yes, 4K TV set 3840x2160 can't simulate the width resolution 5120. It becomes blurry I imagine.
@@drunkhusband6257 You indicated 3840x1600 (21:9), not 3840x1080 and then you were talking about 32:9. 3840x1080 isn't great in any case and the width isn't enough to be more immersive. It is also blurry.
@@drunkhusband6257 You mean something different from what I meant but I agree with you. 3840x1080 and 3840x1600 are both more blurry than 5120x1440. We compare G9 and 4K OLED.
Got my C2 42" a month ago, set up with a portrait mounted 27" 1440p IPS display on the side, and I think this setup is perfect for me. It replaced a triple monitor setup including an LG 27GN950-b. Having a big center screen is so versatile; I can fill the whole screen for immersive games/videos, or I can go either ultrawide or 1440p with black bars for better performance, while still having great clarity at a decent size. Tons of screen real estate for normal desktop use as well, not to mention the amazing contrast and motion performance. Loving it so far!
I'm kind of stuck in the same boat. I'm still utilizing my triple monitor set up, but my middle monitor went out, so I'm using the Gigabyte IPS M32Q for my main, with two 27"1080p monitors. Are you saying you're still able to run surround mode with the different size monitors with the OLED in the middle?
@@VRGamingTherapy I've actually ditched the triples setup, I'm using just two displays now. Portrait monitor on the left, TV in the middle. My triples were two 27" 1080p monitors with the 27" 4k panel in the middle. The 27" 1440p I'm using now used to be my center panel before I got the 27" 4k. I decided to go back to using it since the pixel density was similar to the TV.
I actually have a lot of experience trying triple monitor gaming with mismatched resolutions. At one point, I even had a quad monitor setup working for ATS, using all of my 27" monitors together. Nvidia surround is very limited when it comes to mismatched displays, I had to use workarounds to get what I wanted. It was just a pain to set up, and once I experienced VR, I was content to leave the triples behind.
I'm sure it's possible to set up the TV to be part of a surround setup, but I'm personally not going to bother. I'm kind of over multi-monitor gaming at this point, haha. If you want help setting up surround for your own setup though, let me know, I'd be glad to help.
1440p with black bars? Why not just use resolution scaling and run fullscreen? We're not in 2004 anymore, where we were scaling 1024x768 up to 1280x1024 with Window XP's shitty scaler.
We're now 2022 with all sorts of amazing upscaling tech like DLSS, FSR 2, TAAU in UE4, and other perfectly fine scalers in game engines. Hell, when we're talking about pixel densities as high as 4k, even the basic bilinear upscale through the driver is fine.
@@lulkLogan I do use resolution scaling for many games, but on rare occasions, I either don't want the game to take up the whole screen, or I want that crisp, pixel perfect look. 1440p with black bars is basically just a 27" 1440p display anyways.
Also, I dislike how DLSS looks in the games I've seen it in so far. There's too much ghosting and smearing in moving objects for my liking. I also avoid TAA for that reason. I hope FSR 2 is better, but I'll have to wait and see.
@@a1337cookie Gotcha. I feel you on ditching the triple monitor setup. I have too primarily stopped gaming on it since my main focus is on VR now. I have been playing a few titles here & there lately though & a lot of modern games just either don't support it or is just a hassle to set up (I'm sure you know what I mean)...
My main concern with having the OLED is the obvious burn in. I spend most of my days editing VR videos & don't game "normally" anymore. But after not playing on triple monitors & coming back to it again for a bit (when it works) brings back a novelty that kind of has it's own special experience. I feel like it's a dying niche.
But it's still cool to have three monitors span across my desk. lol.
Great review as usual, Tim. I absolutely love my LG C1 48" as a gaming monitor. Love the in-built TV features as having quick/easy access to TH-cam/Netflix is great. QD OLED may be better colour-wise, but the matte screen is off-putting - much prefer the glossy finish for the colours/blacks - constantly wowed by games on it. Also heaps cheaper than most high-end gaming monitors once the sales around Black Friday start
I've got the C1 48" also. It's awesome.
I too have a c1 and couldn’t agree with you more
*"...high-end gaming monitors..."*
Tee-hee. I believe you mean _top-dollar_ gaming monitors. I wouldn't exactly call them high-end.
What matte screen are you talking about? The AW3423DW has a glossy screen. I have it.
@@softluxuryone2169 You're right, at least for that one it doesn't seem to be a glossy vs matte screen that's the issue, it's also the weird anti-reflective coating they seem to be using on the QD-OLEDs that makes them appear grey in ambient light, which kinda defeats a large part of the benefit of OLED as you lose the perfect blacks. It's a sad time because I would love the increased colour saturation of the quantum dots
I've really been enjoying my C1 48". Took a week or so to get used to he size, but man is it a good gaming experience!
Same I've had the 48" since around when they did a video on it lol. When I can get the 42" for under a grand I will probably get it I think a little smaller would still be better. But these screens are amazing as monitors.
Quick hack for the Pixel Shift feature on desktop - I created a custom resolution of 3820 x 2140 (minus 20 pixels in each dimension) then turned off image scaling in nvidia control panel so that it would simply center the image instead of stretching it. Now pixel shift doesnt cut off any information, most of the games I play have supported this custom resolution, and I still get 120 Hz and VRR while running it. And I definitely dont notice the lost of 20 pixels in each dimension at all.
Where did you create the new resolution in?
@@opjoter nvidia control panel makes it easy, but if you're on AMD/iGPU use a utility called CRU (Custom Resolution Utility)
@@uhbleach3855 also in amd driver there is custom resolutions in the screen tab
Nice hint.
bought my C2 at release, never felt like it was too big.
It's absolutely perfect and the image quality is astounding.
and HDR experience with OLED is just mindblowing, especially as a flight simmer like me.
I don't get the constant "it's too big" comments. Most games don't have critical info in the corners, just stuff like HP and ammo that you don't focus on. It's not hard to flick your eyes to the corner. But what is _does_ give you can't be replicated on small overpriced monitors: eyesight filling immersion.
How is it now? Experienced any burn ins?
@@FallenAngelofRebellion recently sold mine and switched to a triple monitor setup.
But i had no burn in issues at all and i always had it at max brightness with static elements
@@FinalLightNL Thanks for the reply!
For anyone interested in these, i use the C2 77" as a monitor (i sit far back) and my main problems are:
Glossy screens are never good, especially for monitor use. No matter how dark the room is, you'll always see reflections on this TV. Even in a pitch black room the light from the TV alone is enough to cause reflections on darker areas of the screen. RGB keyboards/mice have blatantly obvious reflections. The better contrast gained by glossy coatings is ruined by reflections, so you don't actually gain anything. Blacks are never as dark as they can be because there's always reflections on them, and i mean literally *always.*
Using Game Optimiser mode lowers brightness by 20% or more, and obviously this mode is needed to reduce latency so you're stuck with it. That's why the C2 is darker than the C1 in some tests. It affects both SDR and HDR, but SDR the most. A C1/CX with the 'OLED Pixel Brightness' set to 75 will roughly match the C2 on 100 when in Game Optimiser mode and displaying SDR. In any other mode the C2 will go brighter than all previous LG OLEDs.
But this problem can be eradicated with SDR... The settings at 16:00 are good, but if you slightly reduce contrast from 85 to 80 it will significantly reduce the ABL (Automatic Brightness Limiter). You'll now be able to hit or exceed 200 nits with the test shown at 16:37. Colours will be effected by changing contrast, so you'll need to slightly increase Colour Depth by roughly 4 steps for colours to remain accurate. The C2 already has less annoying ABL than the C1, but by making these small changes it will pretty much entirely remove the ABL in SDR, even with full screen pure white.
And if you're looking to get the C1, only the C2 has the newer 'OLED EX' panel, which should be more resistant to burn-in and generally last longer (it uses deuterium, a more durable material). But not all 42" C2's use EX panels. It's a lottery. Eventually all the 42" panels should use EX later in the year. For now, the 48/55/65/77" sizes seem to all use EX. EX panels also have more vibrant colours at higher HDR brightness levels, and it's looking like these panels suffer less from DSE (Dirty Screen Effect) compared to older panels. On OLED this is usually in the form of dark vertical banding/streaks running down the screen, which are most visible on full screen dark greys. My panel shows an extremely small amount of this (they all do to some extent) but it's great overall and vastly cleaner than any LCD i've ever seen.
Text isn't quite as good looking as a typical LCD monitor due to the WRGB subpixel layout. It's a very minor difference though. Barely bothers me. It's nowhere near as bad as QD-OLED which is completely unusable as a _monitor_ far as i'm concerned.
And a warning - Some OLED owners complain of burn-in after using dark modes and they don't understand how they got it. Sometimes they've used light modes for years, then switched to dark mode and got burn-in. This is because dark modes cause the TV to not dim as much and makes the TV's burn-in mitigation features less effective in general. Logos/icons/text will some times remain brighter than if you were using a light mode. This obviously increases the risk of burn-in. So if you use dark modes then literally everything static needs to be darker. So always hide the taskbar and use a browser extension like 'Desaturate favicons' to remove the colours from browser tabs. Hide any browser extensions in the bar as well. Use your brain basically. But if you don't want to do all this then you're likely just better off with light modes.
Btw, some C1/C2 tips: Press the green button on the remote 7 times to show the refresh rate in the corner (useful for showing a games frame rate when VRR is enabled. Not always 100% reliable though).
Press the mute button 3 times quickly for a menu that lets you disable the LG logo which appears when turning off the TV.
Overall the C2 is an excellent monitor, easily the best i've owned and i've had tons of them. I'd honestly say the reflections are the biggest problem.
Gold
Bookmarked
I took the 42C2 as monitor because it IS glossy. I can't stand the dull colors on matte monitors.
LG is still shipping the 42" C2 with last generation panels because they are actually made from leftovers from the 77" C1. Until they run out of the older meterials which is assumed to be by fall 2022, you're paying a huge premium for older technology.
No wonder they have c2 and c2x models in some countries
77” c1 oled uses the evo panel
@@bheypuor They do now. But the stock from Q1 2022 was all last gen panels. All the 42" C2's manufactured back then were from 77" meterials. So if you order one check the manufacturers date to make sure you didn't get old stock.
you are talking about the WBC and WBE panels right? I read somewhere that based on the item number on the TV, if the fourth letter is P or W, then you have the newest. Q or Y is the oldest panel
I've heard in some instances the old panels work better, HDTVTEST to back up the claims
In the future there probably wont be a distinction between monitors and TVs. But yeah, I really like seeing smart TV reviews from the perspective of PC usage since I expect it to become much more common going forward.
Hands down the most important and thorough monitor reviews, thanks Tim!
I just got this model as well. Using it now on my games ang movies I just realized how much I've been missing all this time. That black levels are totally insane and the contrast was nothing like I've experienced before from normal IPS and VAs or my cheapo QLED monitor and I thought I couldn't get any better than that looking back then. I was right in my decision to forego my plans to get another GPU upgrade and get this LG OLED TV instead and I got a real good deal on it too.
On the 42in having lower brightness, that’s because of a smaller aperture ratio. LG reps were surprisingly upfront about the sub 55in models having lower brightness than their bigger siblings. As the pixels get packed in closer less light makes it through. It is likely they would have to make changes to release sub 40in models, such as lowering the resolution to 1440p.
As for the 120hz BFI being missing, that appears to have been a decision made by LG Display (the panel maker) for so far unknown reasons. LG Electronics, Sony and Panasonic WRGB OLED 2022 tvs all have the feature missing.
I fail to see how varying the Hold length of the Sample has anything to do with the OLED array itself. It should be purely a matter of the control circuitry/firmware. It's not like it's a "feature", it's just powering the pixels for a shorter duration than normal.
None of this shit makes sense to me currently because smartphones have extraordinarily bright displays
@@captainkirk3000 Current smartphone OLED panels are primarily made by Samsung Display and LG Display, but they are different type of OLED panels from the QD-OLED and WRGB type they make. In some ways better, in others not. But unfortunately they don’t seem to scale up to monitor sizes, just like the tv OLED tech struggles to scale down. 20-30in class monitors are unfortunately in a bit of a no man’s land at the moment.
@@captainkirk3000 phones don’t have 4K displays
@@sonnieslim5973 except than one particular phone from Japan
I decided to go with the G2 this time. A bit higher brightness. And I got the 77”. Put my gaming PC in the living room. It’s pretty outstanding.
Have you got a couch desk?
The G2 is awesome, great choice 👍
I bought the LG C2 OLED specifically to use as my primary display for Flight Simulator 2020. With my MSI Gaming X Trio 4090 card, the visuals are just amazing in 4K HDR on the C2. No regrets here!
Thanks! I am getting the 4090 as well and am planning to buy this for for my desktop monitor for the same game while also playing racing games.
Come on LG Make a 32" already
QD-OLED please!!!! 😬
No way they would make a 32 inch tv
@@smackaroy2235 they have no reason to do that yea. They sell like hot cakes already.
Do it, LG
@@james.telfer QD OLED is a Samsung made panel so I don't think you'll ever see a QD OLED LG TV/Monitor 😔
Had my 42" C2 since launch as part of my PC setup and it's hands down the best gaming display, no high "gaming monitor" comes close and I owned a few over the years. I've been waiting for a 42" at least, since my 55" CX. Thought I might still be too big but it's perfect and the simplistic aesthetics and feet are great. Best thing is I can still enjoy Ultrawide gaming too with amazing colors/HDR and response times, 120FPS is pleasantly snappy for me too. I did initially want the *ASUS* variant but after a few weeks of no news I went with LG and have no regrets. The only annoyance is ASBL but it can be turned off...
Automatic brightness fluctuation can be completely disabled?
@@bricaaron3978 Yes in the service menu, but your risk of burn in will go up unless you run a relatively low light level like 35 or less which is enough for a dark room.
Still enjoy Ultra-wide, that means you are running in non native resolutions where the effect of interpolation comes in causing a softer image, hard pass.
@@Battleneter false
@@Battleneter not sure what you mean. so what's the diffrence between 3840x1600 on this and 3840x1600 on an ultrawide where the number of pixels is that same? i honestly don't look into it that far and enjoy having choice.
Something that was overlooked and should be mentioned for PC players is the C2's VRR flicker issue. In dark games with highly variable refresh rates, flicker can be an issue.
Otherwise, excellent review.
Its not just on the c2, i have it on the c1... more importantly its not an LG oled issue specifically, i find it happens on most freesync displays, ive also had it on a MSI mpg341cqr display aswell which is ofcourse just a standard freesync ultrawide display. i have however only been using nvidia graphics cards, the only time ive ever solved VRR flicker in the dark is when using a native GSYNC display. So i think its work they need to do with freesync because as has always been the case its never been as rock solid as gsync.
@@jinx20001 Yeah, it can happen with many displays that are merely "compatible" with a VRR technology like Gsync. However, those displays that are certified and have the Gsync module are usually free of flicker.
I have a C1 and in my case it is very discreet, i only see it in static screens such as loading screens.
Yeah it’s not just oled. I get it on the 1300gbp Neo G8. Sending it back now.
@@steadychaosproductions3376 my aw3423dw with g-sync module still do flicker in vrr mode it's an issue with oled not the display having a native g-sync module or not
For additional detail on OLED colour accuracy, you may wish to use perceptual match to D65 with an AWP, vs using D65 directly (which will result in metameric failure). AWP for true perceptual match is (0.308, 0.313). This will match true CRT whitepoint of (0.313, 0.329), which is your true D65.
I hope this helps.
Hopefully you helped others, but I understood none of that besides "OLED, colour accuracy, and CRT whitepoint" lol
D65? AWP? Metameric? What do those numbers mean? Where would you even manipulate these settings? Care to help a fella out who isn't a certified TV technician? I'm debating between a C1 and C2 but here they need some pretty serious calibration to reach their full potential.
@@amphibeingmcshpongletron5026 these are all white point calibration settings. Mostly left to calibrators using a professional software. I am not sure if there is a way to program them directly anywhere.
LG settings for pre calibrated mode are already using an AWP. This is if people wish to calibrate game mode to similar white point as well.
HCFR and AutoCal allow for AWP to be used.
Basically, what our eyes see, and what a colorimeter sees on OLED are two different things. This white point allows colorimeter to match based on what human eye would see.
Note that the C2 42" in particular was produced using the old LG OLED panels until the end of Q2, whereas the C2 48" exclusively uses the new 2022 LG OLED.EX panels. In terms of comparison to the C1, you might have actually been comparing the same panel technology in this case. For a representative comparison, I would liked to have seen a 48" vs 48" comparison. SDR and HDR brightness might be affected by this, as well as power consumption.
Also, would liked to have seen a follow-up with LG on the removal of 120Hz BFI. For FPS gamers, this could be the deal-breaker that would have them settle on a C1, if the C2 will not get the feature in a FW update.
How you know that 48" variant is exclusively using the OLED.EX panels. I have been trying hard to check this. Maybe you can share a source/link etc.
Can't wait for your LG C3 review!
never happended LMAO
Just bought a 48" C1 for 450 used! I am loving it! I was using a alienware aw2721d 1440p 240hz. The hdr was a joke on the alienware and dark games were unplayable. The lg oled is awesome. I did have to fix my desk so I was further from the screen but so worth it!
I've been using my 42 C2 since it came out. No issues with burn-in so far. FWIW, I run brightness about 75% and find it plenty bright. Disabling ClearType correction in Windows results in the best text clarity with no visible fringing. I'm very happy with it.
Did I understand correctly that you turned off ClearType in Win10/11?
I've just seen a really good deal on a C2 and decided to buy it. I used to own a C1 but only used it as a TV. My C2 is coming on Thursday and it will be used for gaming. I'm so excited!!!
Cant wait for more monitors to catch up to TVs like these. 42" is just too large to use on a PC for me
Great video! I bought a C3 recently with a 2080 TI, knowing full well I wouldn't be able to handle 4k 120HZ, but it does run at 2k 120HZ, that's what I'm running it in the meantime as I save up for a new GPU, and it honestly looks great! It is also appropriate since the 2080 ti can't really run 4k games at 120 hz, and you can still enjoy all the nice features except for the higher resolution, but it is hard to notice anyways imo.
how does the built in upscaling the c2 has look when gaming at 1080 or 1440p ?
The glossy screen is amazing. You'll have sharper reflections sure but the reflections aren't diffused across the screen like with matte screens.
I've set mine up in the same quite bright room Ive previously used a 27 inch LCD. Not sure if it's the sheer size of the tv, but in broad daylight it doesn't seem as impacted to the point I don't bother closing my curtains. My LCD monitor is fairly mid range though
8793 hours on my CX, used primarily as a PC monitor. 0 burn, looks fantastic.
Holy smokes. Amazing display. I just upgraded to a Gigabyte IPS M32Q & am blown away. Couldn't imagine sitting in front of this thing.
Yep, OLED just destroyed all screens. Its boring now. No reason to buy anything about OLED, so when QD oled 27/24 inch screens comes in a cheaper prices...Yep, game over, no other choice until Samsung micro led or whatever its called.
@@Djuntas There is a reason to not buy OLED and that is burn-in. But you do you.
@@oldtimergaming9514 Yes. I don't want to have to hide taskbars and such to avoid burn-in. I buy a monitor to use for 5-8 years. No way I'm taking that chance.
@@oldtimergaming9514 We'll, I assume alienware with its 3 year warranty (right?) are pretty confident. I can only say, even my cheap LG A1 oled TV is just awesome. Watching proper shows like now Better call Saul...its so good looking. Honestly, if prices comes down on oled for PC monitors there is no other option imo. I mean my TV was bought end of last year for like 750 dollars...A 55 inch TV. Im sure its gonna happen soon.
But I agree, OLED is maybe a bit scary. I use my TV hooked to my laptop for a HTPC setup to stream with (Dont like smart apps / cant pirat), and I do hide my taskbar, black out all I can etc.
@@Djuntas still too large, no ergonomics, not bright enough imo and when using it for work, burn in is a given. so the image quality IS the best, but that doesn't make it the best choice for all needs. Maybe in a couple of years it will be, but right now it certainly isn't
I own this monitor and the older C1 48 inch. Probably the best "gaming monitors" I've owned for single player fps/rpg/simulator games. Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, Star Citizen and even the old Witcher 3 just came to live playing on an oled. Even used them for more static games like World of Warcraft and Civilisation 6 as well. They surpasses any previous monitors I've had/own. Added plus that their unparalleled for Youtubing and binging series. I've been careful (use my G9 and other monitors now and then as well for more fast paced fps multiplayer shooters - mainly for reduced size) and don't have any burn in so far.
I've used the 48" C1 on hdmi 2.0b with my 2080 until now. I was able to get 3840x1600 (to make it a 21:9 monitor) and I find it real comfortable now. It gets 85hz through with vrr support but no HDR. after a year there are absolutely no regrets from changing my 1440p 144hz monitor to this and will patiently wait for a decent adapter or new gpu to rediscover the capabilities of this panel
Yeah I have same screen. The only issue I've had with limited HDMI2.1 support under Linux (for AMD).
Might get a 4080... will have to see how they compare to 7800xt
You can use 10bit color setting with ycbcr422 from Nvidia Control panel for HDR with 2000 series GPU. Lock frames at 60hz.
@@abhishekab1 with dp1.4? that is a pretty terrible compromise!
@@PRiMETECHAU LG C2 does not have DP. I was just mentioning a difft setting that OP can use with his 2080 with LG OLED to get proper HDR till he gets a better card that supports HDMI 2.1. Same boat as me.
@@Alexxandru09 I ordered a different solution today, using the 2080's USB C output. Supposedly less problematic than club3d's solution
Don't have an OLED and don't want one due to burn-in woes, but for those of you who do -> Wallpaper Engine (steam,paid software,very cheap and free updates) with a dynamic background. Looks better than a purely black background :P. Use the start menu icons instead of desktop icons, hide the taskbar. For games, consider using reshade and a noise shader. Should help reduce burn-in from static elements like HP bars,text etc.
Hey guys, love your reviews!!!
Do you think you would also be able to review the 42 inch A90K by Sony? Same panel as the C2, but different anti-reflective coating and a different algorithm for dimming and brightness.
Unfortunately there’s not a lot of information on it yet
Just ordered one of these from JB HiFi (australia) for $1090AUD, absolute bargain for oled, plus $400 cheaper that the Aorus 48", which based on your reviews, i think this will be better unit. cheers guys these were the best reviews i could find, definitely helped me in deciding
Been using a 42" C2 as a monitor for a month now... zero regrets.
Hey my friend. Do you use for desktop jobs with text, like Microsoft Word or Excel Sheets? I'm worried about the Auto Dimming issue.
@@VALV3RD3 I don't personally use my screen for that purpose, more YT, gaming etc. It can get quite dim when viewing predominantly white, I use my display in a darker room so it doesn't bother me that much.
If your main use is office work, get something else. For gaming and content consumption? You can't go wrong with it...
Graphic card?
@@renzoarana3018 6900XT
Hands down the best, most thorough review i've seen by far of the c2
I bought my first PC in 06 from Best Buy with a 22" monitor and I thought it was huge. A year later I bought a new 32" flat panel TV (still a good 8" thick in the back) and thought it was amazing. Now close to 20 years later we are talking about 32" being a standard in monitor size and 42-48" being a feasible option....
i can't imagine having a monitor larger than 27 inches. These TV's and shit people are using are insane.
@@Shane-un8pe *looks awkwardly toward my 55" OLED that fills the whole damn desk
To be fair though, one benefit to being a giant screen is that I can sit it right at the back of my desk (which is rather deep) and because of the distance I don't need glasses any more
I've really enjoyed my C1. After actually using it the size ended up being fine.
LG's new monitor lg gq950b review pls. It's a 4k 32 inch 144hz monitor. I want to see a comparison with the aorus fi32u it terms of like ghosting performance, ufo motion blur test and all. Please do the review if you can... 👍🏻🙏🏻
Totally getting this, going to be both a nice tv for watching movies from bed and great monitor both for work and gaming.
I always use everything in dark mode, and not using much for work. This thing is unreal.
I would really like a C3 or a C4 at 36'' and if they could increase the frequency a bit, maybe 144hz or even 175/180hz with a displayport, then this tv would be near perfect for me.
No one buy 36" TV nowaday 🤔
Just too small
I wouldn't expect them to get smaller than 42 since it's meant to be a TV. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the next generation of the C and G series screens are overclockable. LG just released a 48" OLED monitor that can be overclocked to 138hz, and with Samsung's latest OLED smart TVs being overclockable to 144hz, I would expect LG to also make their smart TVs oveclockable to at 138hz or more. Also it should be noted that I am able to overclock the refresh rate on my C1 to 124hz. It's not much but it is something. The fact that it is possible also makes me think we'll see better with later tests.
@@Oz-gv5fz idk. 32” 4k TVs are still getting made. I think they’re mostly smart monitors. There aren’t really OLEDs in that size class tho (not yet anyway)
Samsung's Odyssey Neo G8 is a 4K 240Hz... it's a VA panel, now I'd like a 36" OLED 4K 240Hz that would be just perfect :)
@G Money If I'm paying more than a 1000$ for a tv/monitor, you can bet I demand as much frequency and the best response times possible.
Just bought a C2. Thankyou so much for getting calibrated numbers. Thank you.
If we're comparing the C2 to the AW3423DW in terms of the risk of burn in, I think Dell's 3 year warranty coverage deserves a mention (and the inherent advantage of QD-OLED being more efficient). Dealing with an RMA may be a pain, but their confidence seems to indicate the majority of users won't have to.
QdOled durability claims mean nothing to me. Just because Samsung Display says it’s more durable is meaningless. Why would they talk down their own product? We’ll have to wait a few years to get real confirmation on the durability.
@@chasecrappel9480 It's not exactly news that decreasing the amount of power running through the diodes decreases the rate of burn in, that's the basic reason the phenomenon exists at all. What we don't yet know is exactly how much of a difference it'll make, but that's where the warranty part comes in.
Nothing beats 5 years warranty with costco lol. Even if they don't necessarily cover burn in they will cover things like bad pixels and my 48CX got 50 bad pixels from less than two years of use. I took that opportunity to file a claim and am getting a new 42 C2 to replace.
@@Malinkadink does Costco actually check the pixels that were affected or is it just a claim and do they send over the c2 or give you a store credit to go inside and buy it
@@Verzula I had to send them a few pictures, they offered two options exchange at local store or return for full refund. I opted for the latter as that way I get to pick exactly the model i want and it also means i get a new warranty with that purchase plus a few hundred $ back since the C2 42 is cheaper than what i paid for my 48CX at the time.
Got the C2 and I'm excited to use it as my primary monitor.
Been using one for about a month for app developement/gaming and I cant imagine going back to an LCD monitor.
I had tried the 48" CX a couple years ago and it was just too large.. 42" is still bigger than I'd prefer, but its much much more manageable
I'd like to see a review on the VIZIO MQX 4K 120hz QLED HDR with AMD Freesync releasing at the end of this month. As I sit a fair distance from my display I've often opted for larger 4k TVs over small expensive monitors. I watch movies and TV on it as well as having a console hooked up. Once you get used to leaning back in your chair it's hard to go back to hunching over a relatively small monitor for more money. Plus the pure real estate is far cheaper than multiple monitors for web and desktop use. I know quite a few people that utilize TVs as monitors today, so I'm sure I'm not the only one prefers a TV for pure size. Seems the comments here agree with me. TVs simply offer more value if you care about size.
I've been interested in the LGs but don't trust burn in when I have a habit of leaving my PC on unattended for extended amounts of time.
I got the C2 last week. To be honest, I find it plenty bright for SDR and too bright for HDR. I did get a WBE panel and my room is darkish.
Where can i check the Panel?
Lol too bright he says.
@@gucky4717 Service Menu, you need Service remote or some PC software shit
@@branchprediction9923 Yep, I use it at 38 brightness for desktop usage
Anything over about 115-120 nits hurts my eyes. The C1 at 40% brightness is just perfect (with service menu ABL turned off). I really wouldn't want higher.
Nice shoutout to rtings, always check everything on rtings before buying.
But I've seen a lot of instances where there's a big variance in your testing and their's.
Specially in input lag testing
Amazingly informative videos guys! I really wish you would also do similar reviews for other popular va panel or mini led tvs like the sony x85j / x90j / x95j / x95k or the hisense u8g, ya know, for more budget options... I know rtings has reviews for these already but I would really love to hear your takes on those specifically compared to other monitors for gaming
After using the 48c1 for almost 2 years, I got the 42c2 just now. The 48c1 is now relegated to strictly watching the shows and movies in my office/gaming room. 42c2 will now be my main monitor. Picked it up for around $750.
Wow, that's an amazing deal! It goes for what's an equivalent of ~$1300 here were I live...
Could you by any chance tell me if it's possible to adjust White Balance with 22 or 10 Point precision in the Game Optimizer picture mode, or is it limited to 2 Point adjustment?
@@juanblanco7898sorry but won't be able to do that as I upgraded to a Samsung S90c 55" almost a month ago. Lol
19:20 What a huge mistake, this was the slippery slope that many make.
Even Linus corrected himself in his "burn-in" video, it was image retention that can 99.9% be fixed with pixel-refresh.
They have heatsink layers they can use now but as usual it's reserved for there highest model and will be drip feed to there lower models over time. That's what I'm waiting on so we know for sure burn will be almost impossible in long gaming sessions with the right use
currently watching on my C1 48inch. (got it on a sale before christmas for $1500AUD) best screen I've ever had. once you go OLED you can't go back
The size of your display matters and affects your PPI.
PPI determines how crisp the display will look to you at a given resolution. The reason 1440p/4k monitor's look so nice today is because of the higher average PPI of monitors using panels that support those resolutions compared to older monitors we used to use.
Pixels Per Inch (PPI)
3840 x 2160 @ 83" = 53.08 PPI
3840 x 2160 @ 77" = 57.22 PPI
3840 x 2160 @ 65" = 67.78 PPI
3840 x 2160 @ 55" = 80.11 PPI
3840 x 2160 @ 48" = 91.79 PPI
3820 x 2160 @ 42" = 104.90 PPI ( The best you can do with this TV. A decent compromise considering the performance of the display in other areas )
3820 x 2160 @ 41" = 107.46 PPI
3840 x2160 @ 40" = 110.15 PPI ( Max size you should go for clean crisp 4K )
3840 x 2160 @ 32" = 137.68 PPI
3840 x 2160 @ 27" = 163.18 PPI
2560 x 1440 @ 42" = 69.93 PPI
2560 x 1440 @ 32" = 91.79 PPI
2560 x 1440 @ 27" = 108.79 PPI ( The standard for 1440p )
1920 x 1080 @ 42" =52.45 PPI
1920 x 1080 @ 27" = 81.59 PPI
1920 x 1080 @ 24" = 91.79 PPI ( The average from older, more commonly used, 1080p displays )
1920 x 1080 @ 23" = 95.78 PPI
1920 x 1080 @ 21.5" = 102.46 PPI
1920 x 1080 @ 20" = 110.15 PPI ( Where you should be for clean and crisp 1080p )
1920 x 1080 @ 17" = 129.58 PPI
1920 x 1080 @ 15.6" = 141.21 PPI
1280 x 720 @ 42" =34.97 PPI ( This is why Nintendo Switch Games Looks like garbage on 4K TVs, the really low PPI )
1280 x 720 @ 27" = 54.39 PPI
1280 x 720 @ 17" = 86.39 PPI
1280x720 @ 15.6" = 94.14 PPI
1280x720 @ 14" = 104.90 PPI
1280x720 @ 13.3" = 110.24 PPI ( Where you should be for clean and crisp 720p )
If you are using an integrated graphics card such as an AMD APU, I recommend gaming on a smaller 13.3" monitor and 720p resolutions to not overwhelm memory bandwidth limits from such a setup.
==
Don't get a monitor that uses 4k resolution larger than 40" for the best 4k experience with a nice clean and crisp picture.
I pre-ordered the Alienware QD-OLED 3 months ago and there’s still no ETA, Dell Germany has no idea when they’re gonna have more panels, so you might aswell consider that one non-existent.
Yup. Had the same problem in Canada with their other monitors. They manufacture once they reach a determined number rather than produce the monitors and keep in stock. It's BS.
Same in Czech Republic - I’ve been waiting for months and now they say October. No news on Asus PG42UQ either.. ugh
Crushing it Tim on all your reviews, Legend
ABL and burn in are the same problem. The reason ABL is there is to mitigate burn in. That's the real problem with these monitors. The burn in mitigation strategies are almost as bad as burn in itself.
Burn in increases the hotter the panel gets, thats why OLED controls total brightness, that's why 100% screen brightness is so low, if they allowed the panel to run 800 nits at 100% screen, the panel would go over 100 degrees
Still on my LG CX with > 10K hours as a monitor. Used for gaming, movies, web browsing, programming and game development. Still not seeing any burn, only disabled taskbar, forced dark mode on all applications and have a screensaver set to 1 min.
Worth noting that Linus's display did not “burn in”, it had temporary image retention that was easily rectified. Considering the way he regularly treats hardware, probably left it on a static window for hours.
i got the c2 and its fantastic. only thing that bugs me is that brightness in full whitescreen is probably the only reason id upgrade if another oled down the line (or mini led with a ton of zones) with higher sustained peak brightness and that is a huge nitpick on my end. but other than that is pretty much the perfect display
I think there's a way to stop that brightness setting but you need a special lg remote to do a demo mode.
100% I've been intent on getting this since it was announced, still have no reservations about it. Just waiting for it to drop down around 1000-1100usd since that's what I've got set aside. Thank you for the fantastic review!
I really hate how OLED panels have removed there 120hz BFI. It was good on the C1 and with brightness improvements to new iterations it would of been great
Agreed I used BFI on my 48" CX and it was amazingly good
@@TheTick20001 it improved a lot on the c1 from comparisons I watched. That's just one generation
@@Hybred That's impressive, very strange decision not to have it working on 120Hz on the C2 then.
*I
Do *not care
not "do care"
Have this and use it on my 32” desk and it sits all the way back. The size is fully utilized in this way and I can’t go back to ultra wide. The extra real estate is truly nice. Like going from 60hz to 120hz it’s tough to go back
I think the sturdier design is very well to use it as monitor as you often move it around more often then a tv. its a great candidate for a computer monitor also ita have the best built in features for calibration. 3D Lut is great for SDR. i’m still in love with my 55 CX. 2 Years of gaming sweetness
Using a LG c9 65in for over 3 years now as my main PC monitor for work and gaming (with a 2080Ti at first then a 3090 that unlocked the 120hz with hmdi 2.1). I hooked it up the wall and backed up my desk around 1ft from it, the bottom of the screen at the same level as the desk. I never turned it off, I use Windows settings combined with LG settings to manage the screen saver and sleep: zero burning. I bought a 82in C2 a few months ago for my main gaming PC in the living room.
I will never go back, this is the best PC investment I've ever made.
Great review! I was wondering if you guys were interested at looking at the OLED 240hz panel on the MSI GE76 HX laptop?
I have 42 OLED c2 and this is the best thing I bought in years
Hey boys, great review! I was wondering if you were planning on reviewing the 2 new Corsair monitors? I'm particularly interested in their 32QHD240 model, and right now reviews are scarce. I'd love to see what you guys think of it!
Just bought mine yesterday. Man its friggin incredible!
As for the refresh rate being "low", yes 144,168, 240 is higher, but honestly even 120 vs 240 is only a difference between 8.33 ms and 4.16ms between frames. And seeing how most common "older" competitive games top at about 180'sh fps in 4k with current Halo GPU's, i think the 120hz is just fine for most users. the 240 fps is kinda insane anyway since the human eye is unable to see any flicker over 80-100hz, so 120 should be more than enough. Its about the same as with sound. most people won't hear noticeable latency under 5 ms.
Which older competitive games? I’m getting 250-400 FPS with CSGO in 4k with a 3080 (all settings maxed)
There seems to be a point of diminished returns as framerates go up. For example, the difference between 30fps and 60fps is night and day. From 60fps and 120fps is very obvious, but the difference between 120fps and 180fps is less obvious despite it being the same number of frames higher. The difference between 120fps and 240fps is much less noticeable than the difference from 30-60 and 60-120 even though in each case the rate is doubling. I've never seen higher than 240 because the highest refresh monitor I've had is a 240hz. So with that in mind I'd rather have a monitor with a max 120hz refresh rate with the best picture quality and response rather than a monitor with a higher refresh rate, but lower quality picture. I also don't play competitive online games, so high refresh and framerate isn't as much of a priority for me.
I have the C1 48" and i really love it, but i had to buy a stand for create some distance from my eyes to the TV because... 48" as monitor is really big for a regular desktop but now is a pleasure gaming on it, the pictures are amazing, full details and immersive.
42" is still 10" larger than I'd want it to be.
It wouldn't even fit where I currently have my TV
I have this monitor/TV, and use it for content creation (3d/VFX), and it is great... now I know that burn-in is a risk, but that is what extended warranties that cover burn-in are for. Plus... if you make a living doing this kind of work, you accept the risk. The color performance is out of this world... and using expert bright (OLED brightness at 35-38 will give you very good sRGB emulation. The suggestion to use dark mode and auto-hide the taskbar in this video are very good suggestions.
I really want to see a comparison between this C2 and the ROG SWIFT PG42UQ when the Asus monitor finally comes out.
I think it will have the same LG panel as the C2, but it claims to have an integrated cooling system to reduce the risk of burn-in
I'm waiting to see if the PG42UQ will have BFI at 120hz.
Great job HU ! Maybe an A90K 42" gaming review coming in the near future ? That would be neat too !
How can OLED panel support HDR if it has such low peak brightness?
just my 5 cent about the burn-in "issue". I've been using the C1 48 for almost a year now. I'm a software developer so is being used for productivity. Zero burn-in. Taskbar always visible, no screensavers, etc, etc. The only thing I have active is the pixel shifting which sometimes I notice. You only need to keep the brightness relatively low at 10-20% and you are good to go. I always did that even with my lcd's for productivity anyway. My eyes get less tired and is more than bright enough for the task. I crank up the brightness for gaming only. I hope this helps. PS: waiting on a sale for the 42 to make the change :-P I agree the 48 is a little bit too big.
I have never felt the need to crank up the brightness on my 48C1 for desktop usage. I'm only using OLED-light 20 / contrast 85. If I want to open my windows/curtains for some natural light I simply disable the dark mode and it's fine and everything is still perfectly readable. IMO most people are just used to overly bright settings.
We need smaller OLED panels for monitors. All OLED "monitors" are 40+ inch panels made for TVs that are HUGE for most desks.
He covers this in his review. " The C2 isn't a great monitor for desktop use."
38" 16:9 curved oled with higher refresh would be nice
Yeah, for now you’ll only get ultra large OLED “monitors” and ultra small OLED monitor for laptops.
WOW, nice x-mas gift from costco. I bought my 77"c1 from costco 89 days from last night when I saw they had the c2 on sale for the same price. called them up. "sure, just do the return and order the new one, we'll deliver and pickup same day!"
Hello! Thank you for the review. I was wondering, has the tv had any run in time? I remember Vincent from HDTV test mentioning that his panel needed several compensation cycles to get the picture to get more accurate (which still isn't great in factory calibration). I'm asking because (as i understand it) the panel changes the output image after it's been running for a while and the optimal OSD settings may need tweaking. It may a minor thing, but I figured I'd try to ask. Thanks again!
Got C1 EVO 48" panel for $799 USD + Tax with $100 Xbox credit and 5 year warranty at costco. I would recommend to wait another 9-12 months to get good sale price.
Burn-in is still a deal breaker to me, even if I lust after that image quality and HDR quality and speed. If this was a $200 screen, I could roll the dice. Not on a $500+ one, and absolutely not on a $1000+ one. Monitors and TV are supposed to last a long long time, well over a decade.
I've had my CX 48 Oled on for about 16 hours almost every day for well over a year now. Zero burn in.
Not many modern displays are actually going to last a decade.
Cranking up LEDs to hype peak brightness is killing a lot of displays prematurely.
Then buy the Best Buy warranty let it die from your daily gaming and get a replacement in 5 years. Nothing competes with these in terms of the quality they deliver.
@@drunkhusband6257 Sharpness has nothing to do with anything, LOL.
Also on many screens the brightness level is a separate parameter from LED light level.
Regardless, they built them better a few years ago.
Additionally, your singular point of data does not alter the overall failure rate across an industry.
Over a decade?. That's back in the day. No screen will last you over a decade this days
I have an LG C9 and I use it for gaming and have used it for gaming for over 2 years. It does not have burn in.
review for lg c3 pls
Love my LG OLED C1 at 65' to use it with PC from sofa at the living room. I don't miss anything at gaming or whatching movies. Still can recommend the C1 or CS over the C2 because of the same benefits for lower price! The peak brightness you won't even notice in dark rooms.
I don't really get the fuss about brightness.
I keep my monitor at around 50% so my eyes don't burn out at night.
I often find myself wishing my 77" LG C1 was dimmer at night.
I've never once wished my monitor was brighter in the past 20 years.
there are tons of budget monitors in the 200-300 nits range which is in my view the absolute minimum when you have a brightly lit room and still want to work. it's definitely not a problem playing at night.
@@-........ I guess if you didn't own curtains ît might matter.
First thing I've done every place I've lived is get curtains if the place doesn't have them.
Now I own, all my rooms have blackout curtains so light control is a non-issue.
I've bought Samsung Odyssey s28g70 at the beginning of the year and I returned it soon after. I was dissapointed with poor blacks, unusable HDR and horrific ips glow. 2 months ago I've bought C2 42 inch and I'm still blown away. Its epic. One thing to note is that this tv works suprisingly good with 1440p resolution. 4k looks best, 1440p looks slightly worse but it's much better than full hd. I've read somewhare that because of the different scaling 1440p looks bad on 4k display but that's not true.
I've found 1080p content horrendous. Like muddy as all heck. I've only tried compressed TH-cam, but it looks significantly less sharp than my much larger old 1080p plasma tv when viewing the same content
I’m doing the same thing. I’m returning my s28 because I’m sick and tired of ips glow
We need 32" OLED! 🤓
We have one for $4k.
Have a 77" C1 and love it for PC gaming! Still the best TV I've ever seen!
pineapple on pizza is the best!
No god please no
no is an understatement
Heretic
Nah, banana.
@@desertfish74 I find its just to soft
Loving my LG C2 42". 🥰
Just an fyi, with the correct settings full screen white can reach over 200 nits in SDR. Same with the C1.
Have an 48” LG CX OLED from a few years back that I use as a desktop display (mounted on the wall behind my desk) and it is phenomenal! It is super responsive and the colors are gorgeous. Have not looked back!
Have you suffered with any burn in at all?
@@01BSBH no, but I am relatively careful. I have the screen saver come up after 5 mins without input to ensure that nothing stays static for too long. I work and game on the TV and it has been great.
I just picked one up for $899 from LG. It will be delivered by this coming monday. Since I will be mostly gaming and watching content this will be as close to perfect as today's technology will allow.
I’ve had ALOT of tv’s in my life and I am a graphics snob. I’m one of those people that has to have max graphical PC settings at 4K at the highest FPS possible at all times. The best of my current lineup in-house right now is a 65” Samsung q90A, 32” Dell 4K 144hz g3223q, 75” Samsung q80A. I’ve still got an LG 60” 1080P plasma (incredible black levels) as well, etc etc. the 55” c2 is by far the best tv I’ve ever owned, seen, used, etc etc. in gaming, there is absolutely nothing that compares to the black levels combined with motion, incredible HDR, response time, literally zero bloom, viewing angles, clarity, etc etc the list goes on and on. The color combined with the virtually infinite black levels is honestly unbelievable. The new Evo panel combined with OLED tech is currently unmatched as a result of the c2. There’s nothing close. If you are a gamer and are worried about the brightness of the c2, the HDR 100% takes care of that alleged issue. It is insanely bright with HDR on. It is plenty bright enough without HDR as well. Get one. You will never regret it.
I am so hyped for OLED monitors that will come out in the next year(s).
:D
I'm definitely leaning towards an OLED display, but I'll wait for the review of the LG Ultragear 48GQ900.