Gamers often ask what TVs are the best for gaming, and that question got a little bit easier after Nvidia announced that G-Sync compatibility was coming to select LG OLED TVs. If you live overseas and you have a newer LG OLED, chances are you’ll have gotten the support already — but in Australia, that support is coming a little bit later.
After Nvidia’s announcement in September that LG’s OLED TVs had been added to the G-Sync compatibility list, the next step was firmware updates actually making those TV’s compatible. As of this week, LG announced to the media that their E9 (55-inch and 65-inch), C9 (55-inch, 65-inch and 77-inch) and B9 (55-inch and 65-inch) TVs would all get patches sometime this week that would help reduce flickering, stuttering and tearing in games.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/09/lgs-2019-oleds-are-g-sync-compatible-now/” thumb=”https://www.gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/LG-2019-tvs.jpg” title=”LG’s 2019 OLEDs Are G-SYNC Compatible Now” excerpt=”It’s been a bit quiet on the TV front in the last few months, thanks to the massive elephant in the room: 8K. The new consoles aren’t out until next year, and we’re still waiting for the best technologies like OLED to drop down to an affordable price point. But LG has dropped a neat surprise: their existing 2019 OLED TVs have been validated through Nvidia’s G-SYNC compatibility process, making them a nice option for anyone who wants a decent large-size gaming screen.”]
Small problem: Australia wasn’t included on the compatibility list. I pressed the company’s local team for clarification on when Australian OLED owners would get the firmware updates. After a back and forth, LG confirmed that firmware updates will roll out from December 9 to December 15 “for LG OLED E9, LG OLED C9 and LG OLED B9 TVs”.
To take advantage of the feature, you’ll need a Nvidia GPU connected to the relevant LG OLEDs via HDMI. The end experience won’t be as fast as a dedicated gaming monitor — LG are quoting a best case scenario of 13.1ms response time, which is a solid improvement on a lot of 2016, 2017 and 2018 TVs, but not even close to the milliseconds possible on current 144Hz/240Hz gaming monitors on the market.
That said, an OLED screen will look a billion times nicer than a lot of gaming monitors, and it’ll probably be a lot cheaper: if you want a 4K IPS screen with high refresh rate and HDR, it’ll still cost you north of $2000. LG’s 55-inch B9 models, meanwhile, are available from $1300, while the 65-inch model is going for $1999, which isn’t a bad alternative for a decent-sized OLED screen that also has G-SYNC support.
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