I'm super stoked. Will be getting 65" LG C9 OLED!!!

[4kUltraBD]

Hey all,

As you can see from my signature, I have been watching UHD discs on my lowly TCL 4 series set, but I have been wanting an OLED for a long while now.

After scrimping and saving, it's finally going to happen. Hopefully, by the end of the night, I will be firing up an LG OLED65C9PUA from Best Buy. WOOT!

I have never owned a 65" tv before (although I used to have a projector setup in the days of BD), nor have I ever had a truly reference class set previously. To say that I'm excited, is a strong understatement. LOL!

I had considered getting the B9, or even dropping to the 55" C9, however, I figured that this is essentially going to be my "forever tv", so I may as well bite the bullet, and get something that I will not have a need to upgrade for many, many years.

Yes, I know 8K is around the corner, but I don't see 8k physical media on the horizon any time soon, if at all. In that respect, I think 4k will be the last stop for me so-to-speak.

Anyway, I'm just excited, and I don't really know anyone in real life who cares about this kind of stuff, so I figured I'd share my enthousiasm with other enthusiasts.

[knobby69]

Awesome,congrats,need pics of the set up so we can all see.

[Bluyoda]

Congratulations on the set, and your choice.

I have the same model, and it's fantastic.

Use the isf dark for SDR, cinema home user for HDR/DV.

I recommend getting the Disney WOW calibration disc for SDR, and these patterns for basic HDR settings:

This one for contrast:

Color Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 - YouTube

Whites:

White Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 Calibration Pattern - YouTube

Blacks:

Black Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 Calibration - YouTube

And enjoy these once you are all done:

CHROMA GALAXIES HDR // 8K EXPERIMENTAL MACRO SHORT FILM - YouTube

ABSTRACT COLORS VOLUME 2 HDR // 8K MACRO // FILMSUPPLY EXCLUSIVE - YouTube

YouTube

Let me know in case you have questions, and most of all: Have fun with your set. It's a beauty!!

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Congratulations on the set, and your choice.

I have the same model, and it's fantastic.

Use the isf dark for SDR, cinema home user for HDR/DV.

I recommend getting the Disney WOW calibration disc for SDR, and these patterns for basic HDR settings:

This one for contrast:

Color Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 - YouTube

Whites:
White Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 Calibration Pattern - YouTube

Blacks:
Black Clipping 4k UHD HDR 10 Calibration - YouTube


And enjoy these once you are all done:

CHROMA GALAXIES HDR // 8K EXPERIMENTAL MACRO SHORT FILM - YouTube

ABSTRACT COLORS VOLUME 2 HDR // 8K MACRO // FILMSUPPLY EXCLUSIVE - YouTube

YouTube

Let me know in case you have questions, and most of all: Have fun with your set. It's a beauty!!

Love how people say DOLBYVHYSHON on their YouTube videos like youtube supports it lol

[4kUltraBD]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I have a feeling that this will be a quantum leap forward for me here.

Also, thanks for the links, I'll check them out!

[4kUltraBD]

I am trying to decide what disc I should use for the inaugural disc on the new set tonight. My OCD is acting up...LOL!

Sadly, my LG player doesn't support Dolby Vision, so I will have to wait until that upgrade to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm sure that tonight will be a bunch of playing around with settings, spot checking certain parts of discs, etc.

I'm genuinely curious to see how the ABL treats 2001:ASO. I am wondering if there's any noticeable dimming when jumping from the black of space, to the bright white interiors of the spaceship. I'll definitely be popping it in tonight, to see how it's handled.

Also, I'm interested in how BR 2049 and Solo will look on here, due to both of them not really being torch mode discs. How will the additional nits of the LG (coupled with the tone mapping it uses) compare to my old TCL. I thought BR 2049 looked good on my TCL, but I always thought Solo was way too dim, so I am especially interested in that.

On the other hand, Pacific Rim 1 & 2, Kong SI, Godzilla KotM, Blade Runner, etc are all discs that really blew me away, even on the TCL. Pacific Rim's colors were especially impressive IMO, so I am excited to see it on a TV that actually has enough nits, and the wide color gamut, to really nail down the directors intent.

Needless to say, I sincerely feel like this is going to be getting my entire UHD library all over again. Quite honestly, I feel like I am about to experience everything as it was actually intended, not being so limited by the TVs capabilities. It really is an excuse to re-watch my entire UHD library..."for the first time".

I'll try to get a quick pic on here, once I have it set up, for those curious. However, I don't have a ballin' setup or anything (and it's just going to be in the living room as opposed to a dedicated home theater room), so it's not going to be an impressive picture visually.

[HarcourtMudd]

Congrats of the set! I'm sure you won't be disappointed (now, you just have to carve out the time to re-watch your entire library)...

[4kUltraBD]

I watched Joker but was mostly playing with menus and setup stuff during it. However, at the end on the Murray show, I was amazed/astounded at the color of the face paint around Jokers eyes. I have always thought it was just blue, but the LG brings out a really nice blue aqua color that I hadn’t noticed before.

Having said that, this is with no real calibration or anything, so the color could be a bit off as of yet.

After Joker was over, I decided to pop in Godzilla KotM to see how this set handles specular highlights. OMG you guys (in my best Cartman voice). I can’t believe it!!!

Truly, I feel like I’ve completely been missing out on what UHD actually offers. It’s night and day here. The specular highlights are amazing on here, and the top end is being tone mapped very well IMO. One reason I put this on, is because when Mothra is awakened, there is a grate above her head that is blown out completely, if the tone mapping is off. I am pleased to report that the grate is fully intact. Woot!

Another thing I must mention quickly is the jump from a 49” tv to a 65” set is no small upgrade. In fact, it’s quite a bit larger than I had expected. I ended up having to pull our couch back as far as I could for our furniture arrangement. Hahahahaha!!!

I’m LOVING this set already, and I haven’t even really wrapped my head around the menus and options yet.

Picture before unboxing.

Joker ended up making the cut as the disc to break in the new OLED.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by 4kUltraBD

I watched Joker but was mostly playing with menus and setup stuff during it.

You're suppose to adjust, calibrate all of your A/V settings one time when you take the TV out of the box not during a movie because, all movies are not going to look the same.

[danny24]

Congrats, bought a Sony A1E OLED set back in 2017 and haven't looked back. No problems with the set at all, the blacks and colors are truly stunning. I don't even look at LED/LCD the same after owning an OLED set. The Sony OLED's actually use the LG displays. I have seen QLED and that actually rivals OLED but it was a good investment as I am not buying a new TV every two years like I used to be prone to. These sets deliver!

[oddbox83]

OLEDs need time to bed in anyway before it can be accurately calibrated. Just use the already recommended default presets for now. The defaults on these are pretty close to ideal, I wouldn't be randomly tinkering during movies. You can always factory reset the video settings if you don't know how to get them back.

(Yes, I understand why you'd want to fiddle with a new toy, but put them away neatly afterwards. )

This is good for a quick basic rundown of what the best slightly tweaked out-of-box settings are. Just don't bother with the more advanced bits at the bottom of the page if you're not an expert, as you could make the picture worse, not better. https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/lg/c9-oled/settings

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by 4kUltraBD

Thank you so much for the kind words. I have a feeling that this will be a quantum leap forward for me here.

Also, thanks for the links, I'll check them out!

Also, remember to turn off

Dynamic Contrast
Suer Resolution
Noise Reduction (for HDR/DV, I have it on LOW for SDR, as it makes the grain less volatile/swirly)
MPREG Noise Reduction
Smooth Gradation (LOW for SDR though, off for HDR/DV)
Motion Eye Care
True Motion (The worst!)

Using anything other than isf, and the cinema modes is pretty much horrible.
I compared the default settings to my "calibrated" settings, and it's night and day.

EDIT: SDR: OLED Light 85, HDR/DV: 100

[oddbox83]

Also energy saving. Get that turned off! The back-light set sensibly for SDR content will save energy already without compromising the image quality.

[4kUltraBD]

Thanks for all of the tips and suggestions everyone. I appreciate it.

I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, playing, tinkering, swapping disc after disc, etc.

I have to say that having the new set has given me an entirely new perspective on UHD. I had no idea of what I was missing out on, nor how good these discs actually looked. Oddly, the one disc I found the least impressive on the TCL (Solo), had the "largest leap in quality" on the LG. I really wasn't expecting that, TBH. I thought it would take the disc from being "nigh on unwatchable" to be "tolerable". Instead, it transformed it into something that actually looked pretty good, and I'll be darned if there isn't some pretty nice HDR pop encoded on that disc. Who woulda thunk?

Although my player doesn't support DV, I found that some of the movies I have on VUDU do indeed have DV encoded on the stream. I was streaming a bit of Pacific Rim today, but without doing an A/B comparison with the HDR 10 signal from the disc/my player, I didn't notice any major/obvious differences right away. Granted, I didn't really try that hard, I just wanted to see what it looked like.

Speaking of Pacific Rim. I have a question for you guys. IMO, it almost feels as if I am getting a bit of black crush on that disc. If I change the setting of Black Level from Low to High, it lifts the crush, but also lifts the blacks to the point that they are all not deep enough. This is especially evident on the 2001:ASO disc, when the scene is supposed to be pitch black.

I have the brightness at default 50, and thought about seeing if I could bump it up slightly, to get more details in dark scenes, but not so much as to kill the deep blackness of the 2001 black scene at the beginning.

What do you all think? I didn't feel that anything else seemed to feel a bit bit crushed, just Pacific Rim. However, I did not have a chance to play every single disc I own, yet. Nor did I pop in part two to check it out yet.

Speaking of 2001. It's a torture test for slow panning shots. I found that playing with the True Motion setting smoothed things out, but then I got the dreaded soap opera effect, and I absolutely LOATHE that.

I tried playing with the settings on my player. I can choose between 24 and 60 hz as the output, but ended up landing on 24, as I felt it looked the best. Placebo affect? I don't know.

Also, I set the color output of the player to YcbYr (or whatever it is) vs RGB. Is that correct? I have never known which is actually the most accurate, I have to admit.

Thanks again for the all the help and the comments. It's genuinely appreciated.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by 4kUltraBD

Speaking of Pacific Rim. I have a question for you guys. IMO, it almost feels as if I am getting a bit of black crush on that disc. If I change the setting of Black Level from Low to High, it lifts the crush, but also lifts the blacks to the point that they are all not deep enough. This is especially evident on the 2001:ASO disc, when the scene is supposed to be pitch black.

You need to set the HDMI Black Level option then calibrate the brightness and contrast with test patterns. If you go from Low to High I think it raises the brightness about 16 points. Check to see Low isn't crushing anything below 17 on a test pattern, so everything flashes then adjust accordingly.

Can't quite recall, but the blacks in 2001 aren't quite as deep as the letterbox bars, but I maybe thinking of another title.

[4kUltraBD]

Unfortunately, I do not own any discs (Spears & Munsil, etc) to run test patterns. Perhaps I will have to invest in one.

Yeah, I agree that the black of space in 2001 seems a bit lifted in certain parts, however, the opening with the pitch black screen and music playing in the background is truly black, as in my tv appears to be turned off, minus the music playing. This is the black that I was referring to as being lifted when changing the black level setting. Apologies for the confusion.

Thanks for the info.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by 4kUltraBD

Unfortunately, I do not own any discs (Spears & Munsil, etc) to run test patterns. Perhaps I will have to invest in one.

Yeah, I agree that the black of space in 2001 seems a bit lifted in certain parts, however, the opening with the pitch black screen and music playing in the background is truly black, as in my tv appears to be turned off, minus the music playing. This is the black that I was referring to as being lifted when changing the black level setting. Apologies for the confusion.

Thanks for the info.

You can download test patterns from AVSForums:

https://www.avsforum.com/forum/139-d...libration.html

[gkolb]

Originally Posted by 4kUltraBD

Unfortunately, I do not own any discs (Spears & Munsil, etc) to run test patterns. Perhaps I will have to invest in one.

Yeah, I agree that the black of space in 2001 seems a bit lifted in certain parts, however, the opening with the pitch black screen and music playing in the background is truly black, as in my tv appears to be turned off, minus the music playing. This is the black that I was referring to as being lifted when changing the black level setting. Apologies for the confusion.

Thanks for the info.

I have never tried this, but put any Sony UHD disc in your player, enter “7669” and you will get some basic patterns. It’s been mentioned numerous times in this Hardware forum. You can search this forum to find other references. (I’m posting from my phone, don’t know how to link any posts from here. )

EDIT: On my PC now, here's a link to post from GeoffD about the Sony calibration screen:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...3&postcount=88

[TheSpruceMoose]

Can't speak to calibrations but I've got a 55" model, which is perfect for my wall size it went up on, and I love it so far.

[4kUltraBD]

Awesome!

Thank you for the links and info gentlemen!

I tried the trick with a Sony disc, and it worked! I found that upping the brightness also brightens up the black bars, so I couldn't push it past 51 without ending up with gray bars. I'm also going to have a look at the stuff that Chip75 linked.

I am thinking this is going to need a true professional calibration to really get it dialed in, especially in regards to color accuracy and all that jazz.

Thanks again for the information and tips all.