Ignacy Giżyński
LG G5 was meant to be a technological sensation. But right after its launch, something went awry. Now, however, everything suggests that the manufacturer has come to its senses and listened to users and reviewers!
At the turn of March / April, Phil Hinton – editor of AVForums and one of the most experienced TV testers in the world – published his review of the LG G5, and it wasn't pleasant. The new OLED with a Tandem RGB panel was supposed to take the market by storm. Meanwhile, it turned out that the Filmmaker mode, which was intended to be the most reference and in line with the creators' intent, behaved... "weirdly."
For overly bright blacks, issues with smooth tonal transitions, errors in Dolby Vision and HDR10 – all of this led Hinton to lower the score, and the internet agreed with the opinion about the LG G5. Something was off.
LG in "we'll fix everything" mode
Fortunately, LG did not ignore the criticism. On the contrary – the technical team got to work and by April, the first beta versions of the new software were released. Now, in June, after several updates, we can officially say: LG G5 has been fixed.
The updated firmware (version 33.10.75) improves what had been most bothersome for viewers:
Dolby Vision finally works as it should. Scenes from films that can be seen in the AVForums video: A Quiet Place: Day One and Kung Fu Panda – previously full of artifacts: now they look much better.
HDR10 also looks significantly better, although... not perfectly. In absolute darkness and with very demanding scenes (e.g., the tunnel in the film Pan), you can still spot slightly elevated blacks. But we are talking about details that 95% of users won’t notice – especially in normal conditions, with a bit of light in the room.
And what about the gaming mode?
Phil Hinton in his post does not mention a word about the gaming mode. This means we still do not know if the issues with Dolby Vision and HDR10 have been fixed in games. For gamers, this is important information, as many of them use consoles that support these HDR formats. For now, we must wait for the next tests.
Is this the end of the G5 troubles?
Not quite. You can still spot subtle signs of dithering if you’re sitting with your nose up to the screen in total darkness. But who watches TV like that? The most important thing is that the Filmmaker mode – the most purist one (designed for watching films) – finally works as it should. LG took the criticism on board, improved what needed improvement, and made an update available to everyone who purchased the G5.
The final version of the update is set to be available for all G5 owners in June. And then... maybe the ratings in reviews will go up? Soon, a unit of the LG G5 will arrive at our editorial office. We'll check it thoroughly – including in gaming mode – and assess whether the new firmware actually resolves all the issues!
Source: AVForums (Phil Hinton)
