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Gaming SDR picture settings with tips for

LG 2020 OLED TVs

Thank you for supporting my work by purchasing this document.

This is a list of settings that I have obtained after performing a complete SDR calibration on LG 55-inch
OLED55CX3LA 4K UHD OLED TV (software version 03.10.44, webOS TV version 5.1.1-3794 jhericurl-
japoon), but results are fully applicable to other series and screen sizes in LG’s 2020 OLED TV lineup. This

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
includes BX, GX, WX and even ZX series (all screen sizes).

Calibration was done for HDMI limited range YPrPb (component) 4:4:4 signal, white-point target D65,
Rec.709 color space, gamma 2.2.

Application examples: PS3, Xbox, PS4 Pro SDR gaming (having the console's Video Output Settings all set
to Automatic).

Measured input lag @1080p60 = 13.1 ms in Game mode with disabled OLED Motion (21.5 ms when
OLED Motion is enabled in Low, Medium or Auto mode and 29.8 ms in High mode), between 90 and 100
ms in other modes

Step 1 – access settings menu:

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Step 2 – select Picture on the left hand side of the screen and see picture settings:

Picture Mode: Game (will become Game (User) after adjustment)

OLED LIGHT: 80 or Energy Saving (for a brighter picture increase, for dimmer decrease; adjusting
this setting does not affect the rest of settings;
Energy Saving will appear only if Energy Saving option is set to
Auto – see below for more details)

Contrast: 85 (white-level control, affects amount of details in highlight and luminance – see
below for the correct process to configure this setting for your viewing
environment)

Brightness: 50 (black-level control, affects amount of details in dark areas – see below for the
correct process to configure this setting for your viewing environment)

Sharpness: 10 (or higher if you want TV to artificially make image sharper)

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
Colour: 50 (overall colorfulness of colors)

Tint: 0 (controls balance between colors)

Advanced Controls:

Dynamic Contrast: Off (artifically darkens dark elements and makes brighter bright
objects to create impression of bigger difference between
elements in the picture)

Super Resolution: Off (activate if you want sharper picture)

Colour Gamut: Auto (best to use this option as it will map the correct colorspace)

Gamma: 2.2 (if you want brighter picture, change to 1.9)

White Balance: (warning: adjustment of 2- and 20-point controls is highly individual

from unit to unit – if settings listed below lead to either too red, green
or blue picture in different brightness areas, better revert to the default
values or try to adjust yourself)

Colour Temperature: Warm2 (the most precise by default)

Method: 2 Points (10 Points IRE and 22 Points IRE to stay untoched)

Point: High

Red: 4 Green: 0 Blue: -6

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Point: Low

Red: 5 Green: 0 Blue: 4

Apply to all inputs (copies white balance settings to all inputs)

Reset: resets all values to default (0) – use only if you want to set
everything back to default, otherwise just skip it

Colour Management System

All values at default 0.

Apply to all inputs (copies white balance settings to all inputs)

Reset: resets all values to default (0) – use only if you want to set everything
back to default, otherwise just skip it

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
Peak Brightness: disabled in this mode

Picture Options:

Noise Reduction: Off (enable if you want to reduce noise in picture)

MPEG Noise Reduction: Off (no need to use it for digital content)

Smooth Gradation: Off (enable if you want to reduce posterization effect – e.g. on
sunset shots)

Black Level: Auto (set it to High if device is sending full range 0-255 signal)

Real Cinema: disabled in this mode

Motion Eye Care: Off

TruMotion: Off or User with OLED Motion engaged (due to the need for game mode to
have lowest possible input lag, only
OLED Motion Pro (Black Frame
Insertion is available) – try Low or
Medium setting and see if you can
see an improved motion resolution)
You can compensate loss of
brightness by increasing OLED LIGHT
control)

Apply to all inputs (this will copy part of the options to other inputs (not including Advanced
Controls)

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Reset (resets picture settings to the default values – use only if you want to set everything back
to default, otherwise just skip it

Aspect Ratio Settings: 16:9 or Original with Just Scan turned On (to avoid overscan)

Energy Saving: Off or Auto (disable it if you want fixed screen luminance that you can adjust with OLED
LIGHT control – turn on Auto if you want the built-in Light sensor to adjust
screen luminance in a similar way as on smartphones)
IMPORTANT: Auto setting will only adjust brightness of the screen up to the
value to which OLED LIGHT is set. So if you've set OLED LIGHT
to 70 and then set Energy Saving to Auto, screen brightness will
vary up to OLED LIGHT value of 70, not to any higher value

Additional settings

Eye Comfort Mode - off (slider to the left)

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Colour: important only for UHD HDR / 4:4:4 (full color resolution signals –
TV will automatially adjust this option when it detects such signal)

Instant Game Response: enables Auto Low Latency mode for HDMI inputs (useful for
gaming)

AMD FreeSync Premium: to be enabled for gaming for a particular HDMI input if connected
device supports this technology

FILMMAKER MODE Auto Change: Disabled - not relevant for gaming

OLED Screen Saver

Pixel Refresher (1-hour long process that reduces image retention on the display –
recommended to use if the TV will often display static images; can be
performed when the TV is turned off)

Screen Shift: enabled (picture slighly shifts from time to time to prevent image
retention)

Logo luminance Adjustment: enable if you watch content with static elements (like TV
station's logos, low and high options available but in
reality hard to notice any big difference)

General

AI Service

AI Picture Pro: disabled in this mode

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AI Brightness Control: this setting will adjust gamma depending on ambient light
conditions – useful if you are having issue seeing details in
shadows while watching content in a bright room

___________________________

Game picture preset before calibration:

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
Game picture preset after calibration:

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Brightness and contrast controls – correct adjustment

You can easily adjust brightness and contrast controls to the correct level using test patterns that can be
found on test discs, both commercial and free. Personally, I recommend downloading free AVS HD 709
test files from this location (Google Drive) and copying Basic Settings folder to a USB or playing it via
local network.

I recommend doing this is a dark room environment for the most accurate adjustment, especially for
Brightness control.

To adjust Brightness (black level), use file 1-Black Clipping.mp4. There are numbers 1 – 25 on top and
bottom of the frame and text Reference Black written 90° counter-clockwise at level 16. You will
probably see that some columns are flashing and some are not. If column 17 and all above are flashing,
then your TV is already adjusted correctly. Still, it is good to verify that your TV is outputting signal
correctly so follow the next step. While video is playing, press Settings on your remote, go to Expert
Settings and click on Brightness control. Move slider to the right until columns at level 16 and below are

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
flashing and whole image appears brighter than before. After that, move slider to the left until you see
flashing at number 17 and columns 16 and below are not visible at all.

Important remark – on OLED TVs if you increase Brightness above 52, so 53 or higher, blacks will no
longer be perfect, absolute 0 nits, but they will get a very faint light to it that will increase from barely
visible to clearly visible. You will hardly notice it in the room with some lighting, but you will notice it in
certain dark scenes when watching in the dark room environment. Take this into consideration when
adjusting Brightness control.

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To adjust Contrast (white level), use file 3-White Clipping.mp4. You will notice numbers 230 – 253 on top
and bottom of the frame and text Reference White written 90° counter-clockwise at level 235. As
opposed to the black level where you did not want to see Reference black or any value that is lower,
here you want to see as many values as possible without columns appearing red/pink/orange or some
other color other than neutral grey. On LG TVs in general, white level is usually set correctly in the most
accurate picture presets.

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
Do not reduce Contrast too much otherwise you will loose light output and picture will be too dim – find
an optimum value that for your naked eye gives the best result.

This concludes procedure for adjustment of black- and white-level adjustments. Usually they are pretty
accurately adjusted by default, but it is good to verify them with this simple test.

If you want to further adjust picture settings on your own, consider test discs from Spears & Munsil,
both first and second editions are a truly reference and offer incredibly vast amount of test patterns.

Tips to avoid permanent image retention (burn-in)

All TVs based on OLED technology could develop permanent traces of static images if they are displayed
on the same part of the screen for a long time periods. I recommend that you watch this video that
shows 7 easy to follow tips that will help you avoid this negative effect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=renV1x2xTAY

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Notes:

Most people never adjust picture on their TVs. They keep all settings at default values set by the
manufacturer. In 99% of cases that kind of picture is very innacurate when compared to industry
standards and original video sources available to consumers (DVDs, Blu-rays, streaming, etc.).

Because of this, people are used to picture that has too many colors, that is very blue and with often
very aggressive dynamics because of active Dynamic Contrast control and poorly set gamma. After
calibration or even after they switch to more accurate picture presets like Cinema, Movie, Expert or
Professional, many will complain how picture is too warm, yellow or red and simply not as impressive as
before. Many will not like it at first and would prefer the old one.

To clear misunderstandings here is a video that explains this topic and anyone wanting to understand
what makes better picture “better“ should watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JEFu2M2tt8

Calibration equipment:

LG 2020 OLED TV gaming content SDR picture settings with tips | by TV Calibration with Darko
Calibration was done using Portrait Display CalMAN 2019 Ultimate for Business software, Murideo
Fresco SIX-G pattern generator and C6 HDR2000 colorimeter.

To learn more visit: https://store.portrait.com/

Disclaimer:

Settings are for reference only.

There is no guarantee that they will give you the best picture which is inline with industry standards and
suitable for your viewing environment, especially regarding 2/12/20 point White Balance and Colour
Management System controls. If you want guaranteed calibrated picture,
hire professional TV calibrator (for example with ISF certificate, more info at
http://www.imagingscience.com).

For new calibration videos, tips and reviews, please visit my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/tvcalibrationwithdarko

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