How distracting is auto-dimming on modern OLEDs?

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

DiscoDave

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Preamble: I do not want to disable this feature in the service menu due to warranty concerns. When I got my C7 panel replaced, the person did check the service menu at the time.

I'm looking to get a C1 65" and I've seen videos/posts mentioning the auto-dimming feature when viewing HDR content.

Just how distracting is it? I've watched the video on HDTV test and it seems pretty extreme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5qXj-vpX5Q&t=50s

If this was a realistic representative of typical viewing I would expect there to be much more of an uproar about it.

To clarify - I'll be using it in a dark room with mixed tv/games/movies. No PC monitor usage at all.

Thanks
 
I'll probably get flamed for this, but I've not actually noticed it kick in. The caveat is that I watch sci-fi stuff like star wars where you've got a relatively bright spot but only on small areas (think light sabers and blaster fire). I've not noticed it in games, however most games I've played are modern and do the whole exposure thing when going from dark to light so that might mask it. I've not watched ozark, but ive heard its noticeable on that (I'm sure someone posted about it on here).
 
Hardly notice it tbh. You need to have a very specific scenario I'd imagine.

For example I watched 2hrs of Ant man and the Wasp 4K HDR at full brightness with peak brightness on and dynamic tone mapping on. No issues with limiters/dinming at all.

I do notice that on dark scenes the whole screen dims then shoots up on a bright scene with a short delay. Almost like an energy saving feature. My ES is turned off though.
 
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Have not even noticed any dimming on my Panasonic OLED i think Panasonic do handle this better than say LG for instance.

I think all OLED tv's should have a built in heatsink as std to keep dimming to a minimum just looks how bad the Samsung S95B dims compared to the Sony A95K with it's built in heatsink.

youtu.be

Sony A95K QD-OLED Review - The TV to Beat in 2022!

We review the Sony A95K Master Series OLED TV which features a QD-OLED panel.0:00 Why dimmer than Samsung S95B?1:57 Downside #13:42 Advantage #1 vs A90J4:02 ...
youtu.be youtu.be
 
I have an LG CX OLED and haven't noticed it.

You have a C7 OLED which is worse for Auto Dimming. Has it bothered you yet?
 
Like others said, in actual dynamic content not at all really noticeable. As you say would be an uproar if it was happening often in most content which is not the case outside of very specific scenarios. I have the C9, C2 and G2 and fine on all of them. Like you also said, you have the C7 which you did not even notice the feature and the newer ones are similar if not better in most regards there.

As a PC monitor my 42" C2 it is noticeable, but that is due to static content which is not obviously an issue for yourself with your use case's mentioned.
 
To my knowledge it's less noticeable on newer models. Happens fairly frequently during dark scenes on my LG B7, rather annoying too at times and often requires a press of the options button to get the OSD to come on and the screen to brighten up again.
 
I haven’t noticed it on my C1, it must be fairly subtle. If you’re HDTV test or RTings or someone and have another TV without the feature right next to it then it may be obvious but in your living room it’s hard to tell.
 
My B7 and C9 both do it occasionally, usually on a slow dim scene, for example watching The Terminal List last night in HDR on Amazon episode 3 has a scene with a guy strapped to a chair naked it's a slow moving low light scene auto dimming kicked in until the image caught something a little brighter in the background then pop back to full brightness gotten used to it now.

Wait until you start noticing near black chrominance overshoot (caused by the W in WRGB) and motion pixelation (little black blocks on fast moving edges) not sure if there is a proper term for that last one. Easily spotable on scenes with campfires illuminating actor faces. Again both my B7 and C9 do it and my C9 had a screen replacement last year and still does it.
 
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Is Your OLED TV Showing These Weird Anomalies? Here's How to Fix Them.​



WARNING: This Sneaky TV Setting Will RUIN Your Picture Quality if You Don't​


Edit: Doah just realised you posted the link to the video.

OLEDS are great but like any display technology they all have their advantages and disadvantages, basically find what you can live with on a daily basis and that doesn't annoy you or easily noticeable by you. Dimming is something I notice and can disturb my viewing but again some people don't notice it. Also my use an OLED would end up with image retention or burn in and that would annoy me more and I had plasmas and OLEDS and they have all ended up with some form of image retention in the end but never had full burn in and that's me babying the sets, so in the end I got fed up of that and went FALD LED and higher HDR levels that helps in a bright room threw the day.

Honestly best thing to do is go see the sets in a store that allows you to turn the lights down or off where the set is to test and then with lights on etc and test the sets you like and pick the one you can live with. Take some content with you that you know well and can then compare. Also make sure the place you buy it from allows you to return it if you don't like it at home and replace it for something else. Best advice when you get it home don't bin the box it came in till you are 100% happy with it in case you want to return it for another set.
 
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DiscoDave said:
To clarify - I'll be using it in a dark room with mixed tv/games/movies. No PC monitor usage at all.

Thanks
Click to expand...
LG CX....annoying as hell as I use it as a monitor, don't even try web browsing without a video running.

I don't get that hdtv test, it must have been the exact repetitive test video, any kind of motion on mine and the brightness doesn't move.

edit: don't be precious about your tv. Ultimately the OLED picture is so good, I'd rather bin mine every year than get anything else. 13 months later, I have zero burn in and I abuse the hell out of mine with static game images up to 16 hours a day.
 
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