Flashing macro-blocking discussion (UPDATE: LG's FW fix now available)

Waynej

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
10,310
Reaction score
2,063
Points
2,247
Location
Wales
Thank you to everyone who posted here, both good or bad, in sharing your experience in whether you encountered this issue.
LG Fixes OLED TV Flashing And Blocking Problems [Updated]
-
Update 7/1/2019 - LG confirms firmware fix is coming, though it may take some time. At least it has now been acknowledged. OLED Blocking And Flashing Problems: LG Responds

*Originally posted in owner's thread but thought it be better here to discuss scenes with flashing white macro-blocking. Input from users without the issue is also welcomed as this may help determine if a software bug or rarer hardware fault.
---

I got a feeling more people may be interested in testing this scene. :rolleyes:

Can anyone with Amazon Prime Video please try to play on their LG OLED C8 - Vikings Season 5 Part 2 - Episode 12 and play from 35m27s to 36m33s (1080p HD Only). It is a brief sex scene but that's not the kind of flashing you'll be seeing.

Please tell me if it's OK for you, or if it's not.

I don't just want to know if it's a problem - it's also important to know if others see the scene play fine without issues too.

What I see - in the dark hallway there is constant white flashing blocks that get severe. Then when he's nosing through the door, the box or whatever it is by the door appears distorted and mis-coloured. Almost like cartoon or game graphics in a real-world scene, it looks very odd. There is also continued flashing going on when the camera switch to view the couple in the room.

For reference - I tested also on a 4K HDR LCD TV - the Panasonic DX750B, and the same scene did not have the issues that are showing on the LG OLED C8.
 
Last edited:
I just watched that on my 65 C8 and I can confirm I see the macro blocking. It pretty much what you explain...
 
Zero issues on my 65" C8 with 04.10.20 firmware.

That can't be a hardware fault for you though.There must be some settings that are causing this. Do you have a UK model?
 
I have the UK model from John Lewis. I didn't change much of the setting, pretty much use Rtings settings.
 
Zero issues on my 65" C8 with 04.10.20 firmware.

That can't be a hardware fault for you though.There must be some settings that are causing this. Do you have a UK model?
Can you confirm if you watched it on the C8's own internal Amazon Prime Video app? It may not make a difference but best to try and play it in like for like.

Also, if your picture settings differ drastically from mine, then would you mind trying it with my settings that are below?

Mine is a UK model also on latest firmware. And thanks for the post, most people who have no issue probably won't bother to post, but it does greatly help as it lets those of us who see the issue know that, well, we're probably screwed.

Whereas if everyone reports having the same fault LG would be forced to fix it in firmware, if possible. The potential for callouts and panel replacements can be rather stressful though.

These are my settings.

Expert (Dark Room)

OLED Light 18 (raised to 33 to get a better look)
Contrast 85
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0
Colour 50
Tint 0

Expert Controls

Dynamic Contrast Off
Super Resolution Off
Colour Gamut Auto
Colour Filter Off
Gamma 2.2

White Balance: Colour Temperature Warm 2

Picture Options

Noise Reduction Off
MPEG Noise Reduction Off
Black Level Auto
Real Cinema On
Motion Eye Care Off
TruMotion Off
 
Can you confirm if you watched it on the C8's own internal Amazon Prime Video app? It may not make a difference but best to try and play it in like for like.

Also, if your picture settings differ drastically from mine, then would you mind trying it with my settings that are below?

Mine is a UK model also on latest firmware. And thanks for the post, most people who have no issue probably won't bother to post, but it does greatly help as it lets those of us who see the issue know that, well, we're probably screwed.

Whereas if everyone reports having the same fault LG would be forced to fix it in firmware, if possible. The potential for callouts and panel replacements can be rather stressful though.

These are my settings.

Expert (Dark Room)

OLED Light 18 (raised to 33 to get a better look)
Contrast 85
Brightness 50
Sharpness 0
Colour 50
Tint 0

Expert Controls

Dynamic Contrast Off
Super Resolution Off
Colour Gamut Auto
Colour Filter Off
Gamma 2.2

White Balance: Colour Temperature Warm 2

Picture Options

Noise Reduction Off
MPEG Noise Reduction Off
Black Level Auto
Real Cinema On
Motion Eye Care Off
TruMotion Off

Your setting pretty much same as me except the OLED Light 18, I have mine on 21
 
Yes to Amazon internal app.
OLED light 18? Wow that's low, the lowest I have on mine is 50.
I did have Gamma on BT.1886 but changed it to 2.2 and still see zero issues that you mention in your first post.
 
Avforums @Steve Withers mentioned he owns a C8 so maybe he can shed some light on to what is going on here, or bring it to LG's attention? If you're reading this please see OP.

Yes to Amazon internal app.
OLED light 18? Wow that's low, the lowest I have on mine is 50.
I did have Gamma on BT.1886 but changed it to 2.2 and still see zero issues that you mention in your first post.
I set my OLED Light that low as per rtings recommended settings video. I've done very little SDR watching to feel the need to change it just yet. I do find 18 comfortable though when going from dark to light scene and don't feel the need to have a bias light on. I may find a new sweet-spot at some point but besides Vikings, most of my content is watched in HDR.

Thank you for the update. Really helpful. Means I can say to retailer or LG that I have this issue as do others, and other people's TVs are performing fine.

It is ridiculous really. Watching this on an LG OLED C8 for perfect blacks and my 2016 Panasonic DX750B edge-lit LCD looks better.
 
I can confirm that i see the flashing in that scene. Doesnt look good!
LG, fix it please!
 
Regarding OLED Light values - I measured 100% peak white the other day when I did a calibration in ISF Dark mode. This is only on my panel.

SDR content is mastered to 100nits for peak white.
Vincent Teoh says he targets 120nits for a dark room for a bit of extra headroom.
Notes from calman say:
Dark Room: 100-130 cd/m2
Dim Room: 130-170 cd/m2
Bright Room: 170-200+ cd/m2

I ended up with OLED light=28, which outputted 118nits. Personally, I wouldn't have it up in the 50s unless the TV was in bright sunshine :)

I would guess that OLED light=18 was ~100 nits on that panel, perfectly sensible. :)

OLED Light.png
OLED Light graph.png
 
ps. Yes, I see the problem. Nice find. Mainly on the left of the screen.

You didn't say SDR or HDR - but I can't find this in HDR. Not helped by Amazon Video using the world's worst interface. But I went through the entier "HDR" category, after I eventually found the HDR category.
 
ps. Yes, I see the problem. Nice find. Mainly on the left of the screen.

You didn't say SDR or HDR - but I can't find this in HDR. Not helped by Amazon Video using the world's worst interface. But I went through the entier "HDR" category, after I eventually found the HDR category.
Ah, should have made it clearer - it's 1080p HD SDR only. I use Netflix so often I forget sometimes that Amazon splits stuff up.
 
Derren Brown's new show, Sacrifice, on Netflix - there's not really dark scenes in it so seemed fine throughout. However at the end 48m30s mark when it fades to the black credit screen, all across the bottom of the screen flashes up with white macro blocks during the transition to black.
 
Derren Brown's new show, Sacrifice, on Netflix - there's not really dark scenes in it so seemed fine throughout. However at the end 48m30s mark when it fades to the black credit screen, all across the bottom of the screen flashes up with white macro blocks during the transition to black.

I just checked and here there was no flashing at all.
But there is on the other video's mentioned.
 
Glad this issue is getting some attention. I own a c8 and the near black artifacts ruin this TV for me. I end up setting brightness to 55 to make it watchable.
 
I just checked and here there was no flashing at all.
But there is on the other video's mentioned.
I guess it varies then? Mrtickeuk just above mentioned on the Vikings scene he noticed the flashing macro blocks on the left side. Mine seems worse than that as I get a flash of blocks briefly over the guy walking down the dark hall, and as he peeks through door and the two rabbits are going at it there's blocks galore all in the dark areas.

It's really strange this issue. I am watching Blade Runner 2049 now on 4K Blu-ray and it looks stunning.

I only really notice this flashing macro-blocking crap in SDR material. The Derren Brown show I mentioned was in 4K, but SDR.

So I think resolution may be irrelevant. It's just dark scenes in SDR content, at least that I noticed so far, where the problem seems to crop up.
 
I guess it varies then? Mrtickeuk just above mentioned on the Vikings scene he noticed the flashing macro blocks on the left side. Mine seems worse than that as I get a flash of blocks briefly over the guy walking down the dark hall, and as he peeks through door and the two rabbits are going at it there's blocks galore all in the dark areas.

It's really strange this issue. I am watching Blade Runner 2049 now on 4K Blu-ray and it looks stunning.

I only really notice this flashing macro-blocking crap in SDR material. The Derren Brown show I mentioned was in 4K, but SDR.

So I think resolution may be irrelevant. It's just dark scenes in SDR content, at least that I noticed so far, where the problem seems to crop up.

yeah, same here as you describe in the Viking scene.
For the rest only in some low quality SDR content on streaming services.
Not on my digital cable tv here or blu rays.
 
Can you let me know if all.the affected tv are build between June,July and August ? If that's the case then you have a better chance of LG changing the TV as it would point to a batch fault , or if any are experiencing this outside of those builds.
 
Can you let me know if all.the affected tv are build between June,July and August ? If that's the case then you have a better chance of LG changing the TV as it would point to a batch fault , or if any are experiencing this outside of those builds.

Mine has a build date of October
 
I can confirm I see the same problem when using both the built in app and the app on a Sony 4k player on this particular scene

Non calibrated. 55c8.

To be honest I've not noticed it on any other viewing. Only checked this particular scene out as a highlighted problem.

Also checked my old Sammy plasma. No issue on that with this scene but does look more washed out in comparison now.

Have never seen Vikings before. Any good?
 
The vikings scene is a good example. Probably a lot more people have access to that than the handmaids tale scene.

During almost the whole scene I can see the macroblocks flashing up in the darker parts of the picture.
At 35:58 when the camera cuts to the guy peeking through the door almost the whole picture flashes up.

You should probably mention in the original post that people try this at default settings, especially default brightness. A lot of people have it set much higher than 50 which can rectify this problem.

As for the speculation about this being a bad batch problem, I don't think this is the case. I bought my C8 in april and got a panel replacement 5 month later and nothing changed.
 
You should probably mention in the original post that people try this at default settings, especially default brightness. A lot of people have it set much higher than 50 which can rectify this problem.
That could very well indicate that it is a firmware issue which is reliant upon specific picture settings being in place in order for it to happen (rather than a specific picture setting masking it if you see what I mean).

Just checked on my 55inch C8 with .20 firmware, brightness at 50 and I don't see it.
 
Can the A9 processor be at fault? It's only LG announced early that it's being fitted with an updated version for 2019 so it hasn't lasted long in production
 
Can the A9 processor be at fault? It's only LG announced early that it's being fitted with an updated version for 2019 so it hasn't lasted long in production
Updated processor to cater for 120 fps video, better noise reduction, sharpness, contrast ratio & colour fidelity apparently.

LG's 2019 OLED TVs will run A9 Gen 2 CPU, ready for 120fps video

Such technological improvements would be par for the course, and would require a "next-gen" processor.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is Home Theater DEAD in 2024?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom