Questions for C9 OLED guys

[elvn]

I wish you could run ultrawide resolution of 3840x1440 8bit at 1:1 with black bars on top and bottom at 100hz on a C9. It's within hdmi 2.0b's bandwidth limit but I've been unable to find anyone that will confirm if it will work or not.

Those were all at 98Hz 8bit according to a site calculator I checked.
HDMI 2.0b is theoretically 18Gbps with proper 18Gbps cables but that might be pushing it.

3840x1440 ..100Hz 8bit ~16.59 Gbps
3840x1440 ..105Hz 8bit ~17.42Gbps
3840x1440 ..108Hz 8bit ~17.92 Gbps.
3840x1440 .. 110Hz 8bit ~18.25 Gbps

3840x1500 .. 98Hz 8bit ~17.50 Gbps
3840x1550 .. 100Hz 8bit ~17.86 Gbps
3840x1600 .. 98Hz 8bit ~18.06 Gbps



That doesn't mean that the C9 OLED TV's would accept and display the signals properly and with VRR or that games would support some of the non standard resolutions - but it would be cool if a C9 could do a 8bit x1400 or x1600 UW rez at close to 100hz for now.

 

[Armenius]

Those were all at 98Hz 8bit according to a site calculator I checked.
HDMI 2.0b is theoretically 18Gbps with proper 18Gbps cables but that might be pushing it.

3840x1440 ..100Hz 8bit ~16.59 Gbps
3840x1440 ..105Hz 8bit ~17.42Gbps
3840x1440 ..108Hz 8bit ~17.92 Gbps.
3840x1440 .. 110Hz 8bit ~18.25 Gbps

3840x1500 .. 98Hz 8bit ~17.50 Gbps
3840x1550 .. 100Hz 8bit ~17.86 Gbps
3840x1600 .. 98Hz 8bit ~18.06 Gbps



That doesn't mean that the C9 OLED TV's would accept and display the signals properly and with VRR or that games would support some of the non standard resolutions - but it would be cool if a C9 could do a 8bit x1400 or x1600 UW rez at close to 100hz for now.

Total bandwidth on HDMI 2.0b is 18 Gbps, but the data rate is limited to 14.4 Gbps. The raw bitrate of 3840x1440 8bpc 100Hz is actually 12.36 Gbps, so I don't know what the calculator you used is doing to come up with their number.

I have not.

I cant get 10bit color depth at 2560x1440 120hz either. It greys out changing color depth even with hdr enabled. Looks like it may have to do with using a pc resolution. Can't change it even at 4k either unless i change to YCbCr422 or 420

2560x1440 @ 120 Hz with HDR and 10-bit color exceeds the bandwidth limitation of HDMI 2.0b. You have to use 4:2:2 if you want to use these settings. Same with 4K. HDMI 2.0b only supports HDR at 60 Hz and with 4:2:2 chroma subsampling or lower.

 

[tygeezy]

So I went ahead and checked last night. Set my c9 to 1440 p 120 hz and checked the scaling. Scaling was listed as being performed by the display and no black bars. So im not sure where that guy got the info about anything other than 4k creating black bars when the tv is doing the scaling, but that was misinformation.

 

[sharknice]

So I went ahead and checked last night. Set my c9 to 1440 p 120 hz and checked the scaling. Scaling was listed as being performed by the display and no black bars. So im not sure where that guy got the info about anything other than 4k creating black bars when the tv is doing the scaling, but that was misinformation.

I'm not sure what you're referencing, but to get black bars all around they said you enable the "just scan" option on the tv.

 

[tygeezy]

I'm not sure what you're referencing, but to get black bars all around they said you enable the "just scan" option on the tv.

Tigger said when you use tv scaling it creates black bars which isn't true. He didn't mention a "just scan" option.

 

[Stryker7314]

I'm not sure what you're referencing, but to get black bars all around they said you enable the "just scan" option on the tv.

I tried my C9 at 2560x1440 120hz as well with just scan and the tv does not appear to do 1:1 pixel mapping. Nvidia control panel is set to no scaling and perform scaling on display. On C9 tried all aspect ratio settings to include Original along with Just Scan and no dice, the C9's scaler still stretches it to full screen unfortunately. Really lame actually, was planning to do 1:1 with 2560x1440 120hz. Also tried custom res on nvidia control panel to 3840x1440 and the tv displays it all wonky in full screen. Restarted pc several times to see if that would fix it. I will continue to tinker and report any findings.

 

[kasakka]

I tried my C9 at 2560x1440 120hz as well with just scan and the tv does not appear to do 1:1 pixel mapping. Nvidia control panel is set to no scaling and perform scaling on display. On C9 tried all aspect ratio settings to include Original along with Just Scan and no dice, the C9's scaler still stretches it to full screen unfortunately. Really lame actually, was planning to do 1:1 with 2560x1440 120hz. Also tried custom res on nvidia control panel to 3840x1440 and the tv displays it all wonky in full screen. Restarted pc several times to see if that would fix it. I will continue to tinker and report any findings.

Just let the GPU scale the image, then it should work.

 

[Stryker7314]

Just let the GPU scale the image, then it should work.

Tried that as well and it does not work. If it did work it wouldn't be able to do 120hz.

 

[kasakka]

Tried that as well and it does not work. If it did work it wouldn't be able to do 120hz.

Oh yeah I always forget the bandwidth issues with 4K TVs until we get HDMI 2.1. It should still scale the image right though.

 

[Stryker7314]

I don't believe just scan is working correctly, may need to be reported to LG.

 

[delita]

Thinking about picking a 65" C9 from Best Buy for my main living room TV - is the current $2,099 price the best there has been at this point? I saw there's a cheaper option on NewEgg but it's from a third party and BB doesn't Price Match them anymore. The BB financing option is what is most attractive as well.

 

[sharknice]

I tried my C9 at 2560x1440 120hz as well with just scan and the tv does not appear to do 1:1 pixel mapping. Nvidia control panel is set to no scaling and perform scaling on display. On C9 tried all aspect ratio settings to include Original along with Just Scan and no dice, the C9's scaler still stretches it to full screen unfortunately. Really lame actually, was planning to do 1:1 with 2560x1440 120hz. Also tried custom res on nvidia control panel to 3840x1440 and the tv displays it all wonky in full screen. Restarted pc several times to see if that would fix it. I will continue to tinker and report any findings.

That sucks, I was planning on doing that as well. You could basically have a 36 inch 2560x1440 screen and could sit closer.

 

[Stryker7314]

That sucks, I was planning on doing that as well. You could basically have a 36 inch 2560x1440 screen and could sit closer.

Going to contact LG today and see if they can fix just scan in the next firmware.

 

[tigger1612]

I got my 55 on rakuten from iElectrica for 1199. Free shipping no tax. Took 2 weeks to actually get it but it was new and no issues. LG warranties no matter where you buy it. Ill try to get screenshots with no scaling. I had it working in BL3 with black bars all around.

 

[delita]

Ended up picking up the 65 C9 today. Wow holy fuck. I've loved my Samsung 43 curved for going on 2 years but it looks like washed out garbage compared to this beautiful piece of art LG has created.

 

[elvn]

I got my 55 on rakuten from iElectrica for 1199. Free shipping no tax. Took 2 weeks to actually get it but it was new and no issues. LG warranties no matter where you buy it. Ill try to get screenshots with no scaling. I had it working in BL3 with black bars all around.

cool. can you get any ultrawide rawide rez 3840x1440 8bit 100hz working 1:1 (bars top and bottom)? That would be a huge seedling point to me. VRR working with that would be a plus too.

 

[delita]

I hope LG sees the potential for gaming monitors / or just starts producing some smaller OLEDs in general next year. There's no way I'm going to use my 65" C9 for desktop use but if they come out with a C10 43" I'll be the first in line to buy it. Otherwise I'll probably just get the 55" C9 when prices drop next year and whatever new card with HDMI 2.1 is and call it a day. This TV is so amazing I wouldn't even consider an Acer/ASUS 43" 4K panel now. Immediately spoils you.

 

[l88bastard]

I hope LG sees the potential for gaming monitors / or just starts producing some smaller OLEDs in general next year. There's no way I'm going to use my 65" C9 for desktop use but if they come out with a C10 43" I'll be the first in line to buy it. Otherwise I'll probably just get the 55" C9 when prices drop next year and whatever new card with HDMI 2.1 is and call it a day. This TV is so amazing I wouldn't even consider an Acer/ASUS 43" 4K panel now. Immediately spoils you.

Using the Alienware 55 now for a month and a half and there is no going back to LCD for me. 4K120hzVRROLED is like....

 

[TheGameguru]

I replaced my C6 with a C9 55” for my main PC/Console gaming setup. I use a pretty big desk and have done the 55” OLED for some years now. The C9 is a nice upgrade over the C6 but I do miss the curved screen. At 3 feet viewing distance the curve does help keep the picture more centered. Upside of the newer panel does make it worth it.

 

[kasakka]

I replaced my C6 with a C9 55” for my main PC/Console gaming setup. I use a pretty big desk and have done the 55” OLED for some years now. The C9 is a nice upgrade over the C6 but I do miss the curved screen. At 3 feet viewing distance the curve does help keep the picture more centered. Upside of the newer panel does make it worth it.

Aside from the curve, how would you say the displays have improved over the years?

 

[TheGameguru]

Aside from the curve, how would you say the displays have improved over the years?

Better control of grey color banding.. in general the colors are more uniform across the entire screen from the C6.. its brighter than the C6 which helps with HDR. Even Image Retention seems better so far as well.

 

[Tol]

Anyone have any luck using one of these with a monitor arm? I'm probably going to pick one up from the first place that has a sale and just thought about how much heavier it is compared to my monitor....40lbs vs. 20lbs.

 

[sharknice]

Anyone have any luck using one of these with a monitor arm? I'm probably going to pick one up from the first place that has a sale and just thought about how much heavier it is compared to my monitor....40lbs vs. 20lbs.

Normal monitor arms are for 75x75 or 100x100 mm VESA mounts. The 55" is 300x200. It wouldn't work with a normal monitor arm.

 

[Sancus]

I'm a bit confused what you would do with a normal monitor arm anyways. The TV needs to be further away from you than the depth of any desk I can think of, so mounting it to the desk seems questionable. The best solution to me was always just to wall arm or mobile mount it behind your desk.

 

[gamerk2]

I'm a bit confused what you would do with a normal monitor arm anyways. The TV needs to be further away from you than the depth of any desk I can think of, so mounting it to the desk seems questionable. The best solution to me was always just to wall arm or mobile mount it behind your desk.

Speak for yourself; I've got my B6 on my desk and it works fine, if you don't mind having to physically move your head from time to time.

 

[elvn]

Normal monitor arms are for 75x75 or 100x100 mm VESA mounts. The 55" is 300x200. It wouldn't work with a normal monitor arm.

I used one of these on my 43" tv-as-monitor. I could have used bar adapters that came with the arm to make an "X" but I used a vesa adapter plate instead.

I use an ergotron LX HD which is a huge version of the ergotron arms. They don't come cheap though. You can find them at times for $260 though they go as high as $280. I find them well worth it, I really love those arms. They are massive so do your research and measurements before buying.

According to ergotron these arms can support up to 50 pounds officially, perhaps more when tightened properly (ymmv).

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I'm a bit confused what you would do with a normal monitor arm anyways. The TV needs to be further away from you than the depth of any desk I can think of, so mounting it to the desk seems questionable. The best solution to me was always just to wall arm or mobile mount it behind your desk.

Speak for yourself; I've got my B6 on my desk and it works fine, if you don't mind having to physically move your head from time to time.

Personally I tend to agree with Sancus in general on this point since a 55" is so massive that in my opinion a 4' viewing distance would be the closest comfortable viewing distance as well as keeping the percieved ppi decent at that distance. However monitor arms are great to have to tweak things just perfect including height wise. They also clear a lot of space for use beneath or merely the benefit of having the clear view aesthetic of a "floating" monitor. Otherwise I find the monitor arms more essential for my side monitors than a central pillar type monitor.

If you are doing a remote command center desk type set up around 4' from screen to eyeballs you could probably get a pillar style tv stand which would be a lot more modular than pinning the tv to a wall. They can be a stand alone narrow flat strip type stand pillar designed to lay more flat against a wall (or set back a bit behind a desk) or other styles have small shelves under them which can be useful for misc hardware.

I use a relatively narrow J shaped "bench" style desk to mount my monitors and monitor arms on and I use a separate adjustable height kidney-shaped / C or half-moon shaped desk on caster wheels for my peripherals. Currently it's 3' from screens to my eyeballs. Any farther and I'd have to start scaling past 100% at 43" 4k perceived ppi wise. With a 55" I'd want it farther away at 4' minimum, perphaps farther in order to include side monitor(s) depending on how I'd do the layout. Also considering it being an oled used as a "media/gaming stage" rather than a dedicated desktop/app monitor.

I think that ppi scaling limit can be a good indicator to guide nearest viewing distance on 4k screens/sizes almost like focusing in a lens. Any closer than the sweet spot and the perceived ppi is larger than 100 - 100ppi to you, any farther and it requires scaling for the smallest default text/fonts.

 

[sethk]

Aside from the curve, how would you say the displays have improved over the years?

Brighter
More color calibration options (and better HDR performance in general)
Banding and dithering improvements
Lower input lag
Better streaming platform/ cpu
120 hz and VRR support
HDMI 2.1, eARC
Slightly lower price (although this seems to have stabilized in the last 2 years)

 

[Sancus]

Speak for yourself; I've got my B6 on my desk and it works fine, if you don't mind having to physically move your head from time to time.

I mean this is the absolute worst way to use a display but you do you man.

 

[Lateralus]

Ended up picking up the 65 C9 today. Wow holy fuck. I've loved my Samsung 43 curved for going on 2 years but it looks like washed out garbage compared to this beautiful piece of art LG has created.

This TV is so amazing I wouldn't even consider an Acer/ASUS 43" 4K panel now. Immediately spoils you.

Hahahahaha. I've been saying this for 2 years. Congrats, you've just gone next level image quality. It's nice because if you can make the size work, you can immediately rule out all of the subpar LCD displays with their various compromises. They look like garbage in comparison.

 

[gamerk2]

I mean this is the absolute worst way to use a display but you do you man.

I actually like it, due to the increased screen real-estate. No different in my eyes then using multiple monitor setups, just without the hassle of multiple monitors.

 

[Tol]

Thanks for the comments. I'm facing a corner with 2 windows and haven't found a wall mount that would work. The mobile mount seems like a great idea.

Of course I've also considered rearranging the entire room to accommodate everything...haha. I DO currently have my 35" ultrawide on an ergotron LX (non-HD) so I could put the tv in the middle of the desk and swing the monitor in front of it to work if I really needed to. I don't want to use both displays permanently but it could work as a temporary solution.

 

[Nenu]

Thanks for the comments. I'm facing a corner with 2 windows and haven't found a wall mount that would work. The mobile mount seems like a great idea.

Of course I've also considered rearranging the entire room to accommodate everything...haha. I DO currently have my 35" ultrawide on an ergotron LX (non-HD) so I could put the tv in the middle of the desk and swing the monitor in front of it to work if I really needed to. I don't want to use both displays permanently but it could work as a temporary solution.

Why not pull your desk away from the wall and use another desk big enough to hold the TV between your current desk and the wall.
Get one slightly lower then you can have the screen start at your desk height reducing the need for upward head movement.

 

[sharknice]

Ideal setup with a tv would be a small desk just for your keyboard and mouse then the tv mounted on the wall or on that roller mount.

You don't need a bigger desk, you actually need a smaller desk. Because the "monitor" doesn't have to be on the same desk as your keyboard and mouse and you don't want the desk blocking your view of the screen.

The screen is so big if you want it to be vertically centered it needs to start lower than your keyboard height.

 

[elvn]

Brighter
More color calibration options (and better HDR performance in general)
Banding and dithering improvements
Lower input lag
Better streaming platform/ cpu
120 hz and VRR support
HDMI 2.1, eARC
Slightly lower price (although this seems to have stabilized in the last 2 years)

Unless it's changed, the eArc does not support uncompressed HDMI audio formats on the C9 tvs. That means you can't run eArc back from the tv to a reciever for full HD audio and would have to get a very expensive new receiver that passes hdmi 2.1 through the other direction to the tv in order to do so (which could also add lag and complicate high hz, vrr etc).

-------

Everyone is saying what I said about keeping a smaller desk for seating and peripherals. I already do that with my 43" tvs. It works great.

I went from this...

to this... the black circular desk is on caster wheels too so I can roll it back or forward. Height adjustable so I have it tall enough to overlap the monitor "bench" desk.

 

[delita]

Hahahahaha. I've been saying this for 2 years. Congrats, you've just gone next level image quality. It's nice because if you can make the size work, you can immediately rule out all of the subpar LCD displays with their various compromises. They look like garbage in comparison.

I made it work...for my living room TV. I couldn't do the 55", nonetheless the 65" for my desktop use. I just don't have the room. I'm praying that LG makes a 43" with the next iteration of OLED models.

 

[elvn]

nvidia 3080ti 7nm will hopefully have hdmi 2.1 output with 120hz 4k vrr capability. That will be a wait but considering multiple thousands of dollars in hardware I'm roadmapping over 2020-2021 it will be worth waiting for, picking my battles. If I could run 3840x1440 8bit at 98hz - 100hz with VRR off of hdmi 2.0b for now on a 55" C9 I'd probably get one during or just after the holidays but I think I would have read about someone doing that by now if it was possible.

It would/will require me moving my whole main monitor mount desk setup left 90 degrees to beneath the window/curtain on the left in the pics I posted in order to get use of the length of the small rectangular spare room I'm currently using as my pc room. I'd have to install one or two of my solid state metal usb 3 hubs under the surface of my round kidney shaped desk and velcro bundle and sleeve an umbilical cord from the main rig so that I can move the kidney shaped desk forward or back on it's caster wheels. I'm thinking in the long run I can use this setup to tuck the kidney shaped desk up against the (55" monitor?) shelf desk for when I'd like to use the room for VR gaming and VR gaming-workouts (BoxVR with a weighted vest and wrists/fingerless mma weighted gloves), and roll it back 4' away for when I want to use the flat screens. The oculus quest is a standalone VR kit that runs off of a phone processor (snapdragon 835) but it will soon be able to connect via a link cable to a pc for much higher fidelity pc gaming which makes it essentially a slightly higher resolution oculus-S with an oled screen instead of ips. For $400 (64gb) to $500 (128gb) it's not a bad deal for a first foray into VR, especially considering the stand alone bring it anywhere dual functionality. I really don't want to spend the money on building a mini itx rig for a different VR room on top of a $1000 + enhancements/quality of life peripherals valve vr kit that requires mocap sensors on the walls.. at least not at this point in VR.

So that is what I'm looking at roadmap wise with the VR for xmas. If the C9 OLEDs weren't stuck at 60hz off of pcs I'd pull the trigger for a more distant 4' away gaming display especially conisidering the overstocked prices they are selling for right now. However I don't know that I'd buy a 65"+ one for my living room tv considering the eArc can't do uncompressed hdmi sound, at least not right now. They claim they are going to fix it later but I'll have to wait and see. There are also reports of some lip sync issues on the LGs eArc with certain formats:

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/40-o...s-general/3072900-lg-c9-earc-info-thread.html


https://lgcommunity.us.com/discussion/4423/oled-c9-edid-limitation-regarding-hdmi-earc-pass-through

 

[Tol]

I ended up picking up one of the Amazon Renewed C9s for $1139. The back is pretty scuffed up and the back part of the stand has a chip taken out of the plastic but the screen looks perfect and the front, aluminum piece of the stand is new. Build date on the back shows 04/19.

So far, I haven't seen much difference between this and my old C7 beyond the logistics of my desk setup. I only spent a couple hours with each, though. I tried a couple resolutions/frequencies and found the same things that have already been mentioned here. No sneaky ultrawide resolutions at 100+ Hz are possible.


1440p/120Hz looked amazing with Forza Horizon 4....The Outer Worlds, The Division 2, not so much. I didn't try the new nvidia sharpen filter thing...I couldn't get the overlay to activate and it was late last night. Red Dead 2 crashed on me and I won't be able to try again until tonight. I expect it to be ridiculously good looking so I'm sure I'll be disappointed.

I'll be picking up one of the "mobile tv stands" next week to move this thing back. Right now, it's on the back of my desk and because the stand is so large, the screen itself is only 31" away from my eyeballs. At 4k, again as has been discussed that's just too close. BUT......because I'm running pretty much everything at 3840x1600, I could use this if I had to and would still choose it over my 35" ultrawide. At the ultrawide resolution, the portion of the screen where the magic is going on between the black bars is a perfect height and there would only be a few games that would be annoying with some kind of UI elements in the far corners. I measured about a 51" diagonal of screen when running this at 3840x1600....that's my new dream monitor, I think. Perhaps quadruple the resolution by the time anyone ever makes one, but 51" ultrawide, curved, oled, and 1000 Hz. ha



CPUs are cool, custom cases and exotic cooling is super fun, GPUs can definitely do some great things but I don't think they compete at all with improved experience gained by switching to a "better" monitor.





I did leave the WORST thing about my experience so far. The magic remotes use bluetooth for pretty much everything and you can set a TV's ID to different numbers but the Power button is IR and it cannot differentiate between different LG tvs. Since I have my new C9 "monitor" sitting next to my C7 "TV"...ugh.