LG OLED C1: 5 tips to make the most of your TV with PS5, Xbox and PC
LG OLED C1
The LG OLED C1 TV has been keeping us company in the editorial office for several days now during increasingly profitable gaming sessions, thanks to a continuous filing of the various settings parameters. A process that has been long and expensive and which, after careful evaluation, has led us to the conclusion that we would have done a great job for humanity to spread this knowledge. And you readers of sportsgaming.win can enjoy it to make the most of this TV for gaming. But not only this specific model, since most of our suggestions are also valid for the editions distributed on the market in recent years, in particular the CX and the C9.If you are interested in technical specifications and evaluations more general, here is our review of the LG OLED C1 TV. We take this opportunity to inform you that at the moment, this model is available on Amazon at the discounted price of € 1499. And then we just have to move on to the real suggestions: the tips to best configure the LG OLED C1 TV on PC, PS5 and Xbox (or on the next-gen if you prefer).
Exploit HDMI 2.1
The C1 series has 4 HDMI 2.1 ports The LG C1 series has a great value: all four HDMI inputs on the back are 2.1. They therefore guarantee support for automatic low latency mode (ALLM) and Ultra HD 4K signals at 120 Hz. There is also Variable Refresh Rate, in all existing formats, namely NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync and HDMI Forum VRR .So make sure you always use an HDMI 2.1 cable, and not the first one you find on your desk, even if you think you are not using 120 Hz. There is in fact much more behind this audio / video interface than implements a whole series of key features for those who play. Our advice is to buy a cable that guarantees 42 or 48 Gbps of bandwidth, for example the 2-meter Amazon Basics one that you find for € 9.99. This way you are also sheltered for future 8K 60Hz support.
Variable Refresh Rate
Variable Refresh Rate is quite well known, especially for those with PCs with a G-Sync or FreeSync monitor. Its use is simple: it modifies the refresh of the TV in real time to be perfectly aligned with the rendering frequency of the video source. In fact, the video signal of a console and a PC is not always stable in its frame rate and some fluctuations are noticeable even in the best optimized titles. If the TV had a fixed frequency, like 60Hz, it would find itself not having enough frames to constantly fill the pixels on its panel. And the result would be tearing, or the phenomenon that "breaks" the image.eARC
Then there is the eARC specification, which is perhaps the least known of the lot. It is a protocol that manages and allows bidirectional dialogue between the TV, all the devices connected to it and an audio amplifier. To understand this, it is the one that allows you to control the volume of the soundbar or your audio system with the TV remote control, or to synchronize the switching on and off of the TV with switching the console on and off.Support the new eARC specification, and not just plain ARC, means we can take advantage of much more bandwidth and handle all recent audio encodings, including Dolby Atmos. However, this is only connected to an HDMI input, that is HDMI 2. So get organized to connect the console you use most or your PC to this HDMI port, then using all the others in cascade. If you have another model, look carefully on the label that identifies the HDMI ports. One will definitely say eARC or ARC. Always start with the one for your connections.
Auto Low Latency Mode
The last one is Automatic Low Latency Mode (ALLM). You know the game mode, to be enabled to minimize latency, or the delay between commands and reaction on the screen? Here, HDMI 2.1 uses the ALLM to understand that you are playing and automatically activate all the connected settings.Activate Game Optimizer
The Game Optimizer menu has customizable colors. leads straight to the second tip: make sure you have LG's Game Optimizer active. The C1 series, and only this one, can in fact optimize the image according to the genre we are playing. The Genre submenu includes four presets, which adapt the black and white stabilizer to the type of game being played. The standard mode is thus flanked by those FPS (First Person Shooter), RPG (role-playing game) and RTS (real-time strategy). To give an example of all, the FPS option adjusts everything in order to make some details of the darkest and shaded areas more visible. We also have a new setting, called "prevent input lag" which lowers the input lag to around 3ms, but can only be activated at 60Hz.Within the same option, we can also make sure it is the aforementioned VRR is active.
Choosing the right source
The LG OLED C1 Dashboard We have already said that this series of LG TVs automatically recognizes when we connect a console; indeed, it is even able to understand often and willingly which console we are using. If we are using a PC, however, we must pay particular attention, because the recognition is not as immediate.If the right icon does not appear, go immediately to the dashboard and associate the PC type with the input where your computer is connected. Only then will you have an optimal PC experience and correct 4: 4: 4 color sampling.
Once this is done, remember to reapply your SDR and HDR settings, because the TV settings change when you switch labels. In some cases it may be necessary to manually activate the HDMI Deep Color too.
Calibrating the TV
The standard settings menu Let's move on to what is the Holy Grail, the supreme knowledge of who spends hours and hours fiddling with a TV: calibration. We are sorry to disappoint you, but it is impossible to provide perfect options for each panel: the optimal settings in fact, not only change according to the individual TV, but also according to the usage environment. What we can do, however, is to give you a base from which to start to get the best possible image.Usually you can start from the profiles set by LG and change them according to the brightness of the room and the presence or not of HDR. For SDR contents we therefore choose the ISF Expert preset (bright room) if the room in which we have the TV is, in fact, bright; the ISF Expert (dark room) preset if it is poorly lit. The Filmmaker mode, although very accurate and without processing, is slightly lower to play with the right color calibration.
Let's then act on the "OLED Pixel Brightness" item to our liking based on the brightness we prefer and we set the true motion, the interpolation that allows you to "fill" the missing frames, to the value we prefer even if in this case the golden advice is to keep this feature off to avoid any form of graphic artifact.
For HDR content, on the other hand, we recommend not touching any parameter on the first page, the one where we find Oled light and contrast to understand each other; while the True Motion profile can be chosen at will even if the above rule applies. For the profiles, on the other hand, we have chosen Home cinema when there is a lot of light and Filmmaker mode if it is dark.
The AI services menu We then deactivated in "general" all the "AI services" that are not already deactivated by default for the chosen profile, disabled energy saving in the chosen image profile and Motion Eye Care in any profile.
This is for everyday use. To play, however, there is little to do once the Game Optimizer is activated. Also in this case we recommend the activation of HDMI Deep Color in the port you are using. But if you have Instant Game Response enabled, the TV should do so automatically. More thorough calibrations would require expensive professional tools, which would bring little noticeable advantages if you are not a true image lover.
Check the video settings of the console
PS5 does not yet support some HDMI features 2.1 Last, but not least, check your console settings. In fact, nothing is enough to find yourself with the HDR deactivated or the resolution set to 1080p without realizing it. We say this from experience.On Xbox Series X you have to go to the "settings" and then to the "display and TV options" menu: select "4K TV details" and enter the "video mode" menu. Here you can check and then activate the support for Dolby Vision or VRR and ALLM, since the Microsoft console implements these features and already highlights them in the settings.
Xbox Series X supports practically everything On PS5 , enter the "settings", the "screen and video" item, then select "video output information" from the "video output" item and check the video signal information. Only in this way will you be sure that your TV is correctly configured to support 4K, HDR and frequencies up to 120 Hz. If this is not the case, it means that you have missed some steps or that you have some connection problems: double-check the cable and our other tips.
You can check its parameters by pressing the green button on the TV remote control 7 times. However, keep in mind that, compared to the new Xbox Series, PS5 does not yet support VRR, ALLM and the 1440p Quad HD resolution, nor does it allow you to activate HDR when rendering the image in 4K at 120Hz. So if you don't see these active options, it's not your fault.
Don't forget to let us know below in the comments if you like this content and if you'd like to see similar ones on sportsgaming.win. And, of course, if you have any other advice for our readers, go ahead!
Have you noticed any errors?
