With Dolby Vision gaming HDR technology available on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles, some TV owners have noticed that suddenly there’s a new setting to worry over. While some HDMI 2.1-equipped 4K displays could handle 120Hz, and some can support Dolby Vision for gaming, at first there weren’t any that could do both things at once.
Now LG has confirmed it’s the first manufacturer with Dolby Vision HDR at 4K 120Hz support on some of its TVs, just a couple of weeks after owners noticed it arriving in updates. The 03.15.27 firmware enables the feature on C1 and G1 2021 OLED TVs, and today LG says support is on the way for other premium TVs in its 2021 lineup.
Additional premium models in LG’s 2021 TV lineup such as OLED Z1 series, QNED Mini LED QNED99 series and NanoCell NANO99 series TVs will also receive the update in July. Additional 2021 and 2020 TV models are also being tested for Dolby Vision gaming in either 60Hz or 120Hz.
The press release wasn’t specific about support for previous years, but the company has said to Forbes that beta software with 4K/120Hz support is coming to other 4K TVs including last year’s CX and BX models. There’s no word yet on any update for 2019 OLED TVs.
All of this is happening before the first Dolby Vision HDR-enabled games are available, which we believe should help gamers automatically configure their brightness and image settings to match the TV’s capabilities. As the company behind the technology explains, “Dolby Vision games automatically map to your Dolby Vision display as you play, so you’re always seeing the full picture.” Microsoft has said it means you’ll see “brighter highlights, sharper contrast, and more vibrant colors,” although how that applies to other HDR games is harder to tell.
The new firmware also adds Game Dashboard, a floating menu that should help LG owners configure their TVs and see which settings are enabled. It works on any 2021 LG TV with Game Optimizer, and can show the status of the TV’s black stabilizer, low latency and variable refresh rate (VRR), or flip between settings tuned for specific genres. Samsung was first with a game bar feature on its 2021 TVs, but with something this useful we hope more manufacturers pick up the idea.