Hello,
It seems all 2024 WOLED and QD-OLED panels are affected with some kind of PWM-like flickering dithering that degrades the picture quality.
Please look at the following pictures :
LG CX(gray test image, red subpixel is off because it wasn't set to the same picture mode)
LG G4(same test image!!!)
QD-OLED has similar flickering, but instead of pixels being turned on and off in a checkerboard pattern, it is flickering with a vertical pattern of brighter and dimmer pixel columns :
(note: this is a 3rd gen QD-OLED monitor rather than a TV)
In the case of WOLED, the pattern looks like diagonal lines, is visible when tracking moving objects and for static objects it is briefly visible when the eye blinks or moves to focus on another object. It is particularly bad in night scenes or scenes that contain vegetation under the shadow but in general ANY color that will make the panel dimly lit one or more subpixel(s) is affected. The threshold appears to be approximatively RGB 50 with full brightness, the threshold becomes higher as the brightness goes lower and i speculate the reason the threshold is so high is partly because of MLA so perhaps the C4's PWM flicker threshold is lower?
As for QD-OLED, i see it when a dark object moves laterally, it looks like a scissor pattern. The threshold seems to be approximatively RGB 20, but the pattern is very difficult to capture as it isn't ON/OFF like LG so it may actually be higher.
The patterns are very sharply visible(the pattern does not seem to move or change) when the eye tracks an object that moves at the same speed(in pixels per second) as the number of times the flickering occurs, but it is ever present even if the image is static and as mentioned above can still be seen in static images.
It persists in the integrated image test and WebOS interface, and i have been unable to find any way of eliminating this processing, only worsening it by reducing the brightness, so i suppose it is related to the end pixel illumination value rather than the input image.
It is not limited to LG or Samsung, i can confirm that at least Philips's equivalent of the G4 has the same issue.
I made this thread to spread awareness of this major downgrade, as this ruins the picture quality for people who are using these TVs are monitors(people are doing this since the C9 gen at least) and it may still be seen as an unnatural(not present in the source image) grain effect from afar. It may also cause eye strain.
Please reply if you are affected by the issue or know anything really, videos and pictures of the flickering in action are appreciated too. All i ask is that you don't post LG support-tier replies such as insisting that it is dirty screen effect or copy pastes of what a user said with "it's normal" or other corporate speak.
edit: Forgot to mention LG's official marketing names this "Detail Enhancer", Samsung doesn't have an official name as far as i know but LG does make completely false statements in their marketing material however, they state it is used to fight banding but it is believed to be a low quality mitigation against overshoot, the quality leaves a lot to be desired considering it's always there even in static images and video that are unlikely to provoke banding or overshoot artifacts.
Also, adding a 120FPS video of the flickering where it can be seen that even RGB 255,255,255(full strength white) flickers the red and blue subpixels : flickering.mp4 (120fps playback should work within the browser, else download the video first)
It seems all 2024 WOLED and QD-OLED panels are affected with some kind of PWM-like flickering dithering that degrades the picture quality.
Please look at the following pictures :
LG CX(gray test image, red subpixel is off because it wasn't set to the same picture mode)
LG G4(same test image!!!)
QD-OLED has similar flickering, but instead of pixels being turned on and off in a checkerboard pattern, it is flickering with a vertical pattern of brighter and dimmer pixel columns :
(note: this is a 3rd gen QD-OLED monitor rather than a TV)
In the case of WOLED, the pattern looks like diagonal lines, is visible when tracking moving objects and for static objects it is briefly visible when the eye blinks or moves to focus on another object. It is particularly bad in night scenes or scenes that contain vegetation under the shadow but in general ANY color that will make the panel dimly lit one or more subpixel(s) is affected. The threshold appears to be approximatively RGB 50 with full brightness, the threshold becomes higher as the brightness goes lower and i speculate the reason the threshold is so high is partly because of MLA so perhaps the C4's PWM flicker threshold is lower?
As for QD-OLED, i see it when a dark object moves laterally, it looks like a scissor pattern. The threshold seems to be approximatively RGB 20, but the pattern is very difficult to capture as it isn't ON/OFF like LG so it may actually be higher.
The patterns are very sharply visible(the pattern does not seem to move or change) when the eye tracks an object that moves at the same speed(in pixels per second) as the number of times the flickering occurs, but it is ever present even if the image is static and as mentioned above can still be seen in static images.
It persists in the integrated image test and WebOS interface, and i have been unable to find any way of eliminating this processing, only worsening it by reducing the brightness, so i suppose it is related to the end pixel illumination value rather than the input image.
It is not limited to LG or Samsung, i can confirm that at least Philips's equivalent of the G4 has the same issue.
I made this thread to spread awareness of this major downgrade, as this ruins the picture quality for people who are using these TVs are monitors(people are doing this since the C9 gen at least) and it may still be seen as an unnatural(not present in the source image) grain effect from afar. It may also cause eye strain.
Please reply if you are affected by the issue or know anything really, videos and pictures of the flickering in action are appreciated too. All i ask is that you don't post LG support-tier replies such as insisting that it is dirty screen effect or copy pastes of what a user said with "it's normal" or other corporate speak.
edit: Forgot to mention LG's official marketing names this "Detail Enhancer", Samsung doesn't have an official name as far as i know but LG does make completely false statements in their marketing material however, they state it is used to fight banding but it is believed to be a low quality mitigation against overshoot, the quality leaves a lot to be desired considering it's always there even in static images and video that are unlikely to provoke banding or overshoot artifacts.
Also, adding a 120FPS video of the flickering where it can be seen that even RGB 255,255,255(full strength white) flickers the red and blue subpixels : flickering.mp4 (120fps playback should work within the browser, else download the video first)