LG isn’t just limited to this year’s C1 and G1 OLED TVs for enabling 4k and 120Hz in conjunction with Dolby Vision. The manufacturer says that this solution will also come to other OLED models from this and last year via firmware updates.
Tech editor John Archer, among others, reports about this on Forbes. However, he has not heard from LG which specific models are involved. According to him, LG cannot yet confirm the specific models. LG has also communicated this to the FlatpanelsHD website, with the company indicating that it will hopefully make such firmware available in beta for some other 2021 models within a month. It therefore concerns other 2021 models than the C1 and G1, but it is still unknown which models are involved and whether the firmware will ever come to all 2021 models.
LG is also working on making the combination of 4k120 and Dolby Vision possible for owners of OLED TVs from 2020. At first it was unclear whether these televisions would also qualify for a solution for this issue. LG now says the Dolby Vision firmware update is coming to multiple 2020 models, starting with the CX and GX. Those are the predecessors of the C1 and G1 respectively. The manufacturer expects this update for the 2020 models to be available in beta before the first Dolby Vision games actually come out.
The Dolby Vision solution was previously available on LG’s website in select countries and will become more widely available in the 03.15.27 update, which will be phased out from Wednesday. That update will therefore enable Dolby Vision with 120Hz and 4k for the C1 and G1, along with a number of other improvements and adjustments, such as new color options for the Game Optimizer menu and a new Game Dashboard menu. Also, C1 and G1 owners no longer have to choose between AMD FreeSync and Dolby Vision; users then no longer have to manually switch between the standards and can use both at the same time with 03.15.27.
LG says it is looking at the possibility of enabling Dolby Vision, 4k and 120Hz for owners of 2019 TVs like the C9. For the time being, however, it will remain a question mark whether this support will also come to these two-year-old televisions. A number of 2020 models will therefore also receive the update for Dolby Vision in combination with 4k and 120Hz, but most or all of the features from update 03.15.27 will not be available for last year’s models, such as the points regarding the Game Optimizer and the Game Dashboard.
It is still unclear when exactly Dolby Vision will be available. Certain beta testers of the Xbox Series X consoles have been able to use this HDR standard with dynamic metadata for some time. For them, all HDR content is forced to be displayed in Dolby Vision, while it would normally be in HDR10. This applies not only to games that support HDR10, but also to games that are provided with HDR via the Auto HDR function. This support for Dolby Vision does not yet work without problems, although it is not yet available outside the test group. There are also no games that support Dolby Vision yet.
This only applies to the Xbox Series consoles, because Sony does not yet support Dolby Vision with the PS5 and has not yet announced plans to do so. The issue only applies to televisions with HDMI 2.1, because it specifically concerns the combination of 4k, 120Hz and Dolby Vision. The use of this HDR standard went smoothly at 4k and 60Hz, which remains within the bandwidth of HDMI 2.0. Only with an increase to 120Hz does the Xbox checklist give an error. This problem also occurs with HDMI 2.1 televisions from other manufacturers, such as Panasonic and Sony. Unlike LG, Panasonic and Sony do not seem willing or able to solve this for their televisions for the time being.
LG OLED55CX9LA