LG Electronics has a real treat in store for LG C2 and G2 OLED TV owners, with the latest firmware update bringing a new feature that’s known as Dolby Vision IQ Precision Detail.
The TVs were already rated as being among the most precise and accurate TVs that money could buy, but firmware update 03.20.24 looks sure to make them even better.
That’s because Dolby Vision IQ Precision Detail is an entirely new picture enhancement system that’s designed to reveal extra detail in especially dark scenes, and LG’s new TVs are the first in the industry to support it thanks to their powerful Alpha 9 Gen 5 video processor.
The new capability is said to work in tandem with Dolby Vision IQ, which itself is a new-ish feature that was only added to LG’s premium OLED TVs this year. Dolby explains that Precision Detail makes use of the TV’s embedded ambient light sensors to perceive how bright it is in the living room, and then adjust the on-screen picture to ensure that every detail can be seen, even in the darkest of scenes.
The addition of Dolby Vision IQ Precision Detail makes good on a promise LG made earlier this year that all TV models running its most powerful chip will get the update. The company said the LG Z2 8K OLED TV will also receive the same update in a few week’s time.
If you’re a Star Wars fan and you recently labored through the numerous extremely dark scenes in the Disney+ spin-off Obi Wan Kenobi, you’ll appreciate how important it is to have a display that can properly handle the nuances of dimly lit content.
Similar to the Game of Thrones’ finale, which was also subject to numerous complaints that key scenes were too dark, fans of Obi Wan may have been left frustrated at not being able to see exactly what was going on during crucial moments, despite viewing it on a fairly decent HDR TV.
It’s a longstanding issue that stems from the fact that many films and modern TV shows are graded as if they’re going to be watched in a pitch black cinema. When the ambient light of a living room is added to the mix, or if someone watches at home during the day, the dark details often become obscured.
Dolby Vision Precision Detail therefore promises to go some way towards addressing such issues, removing the need for viewers to tweak the picture settings to see what’s going on.
LG has made a habit of getting some juicy Dolby updates first. Both Dolby Vision and 4K@120Hz support came to LG’s TVs first of all, months ahead of other brands. Thanks to LG’s close relationship with Dolby, it seems to be reliably ahead of the curve when it comes to the latest improvements in HDR.
Of course, Dolby Vision Precision Detail won’t be exclusive to LG TVs forever. MediaTek, the company that provides the video processors for most other TV brands, has said that its latest system-on-a-chip will support Dolby Vision IQ and Precision Detail when it launches in the second half of this year. That should enable other TV makers to implement the features on their own TVs, with the first models likely to show up in 2023 or 2024.
By the way, LG’s firmware update also brings a few other tidbits for C2 and G2 TV owners, with enhanced black level handling, improvements to AirPlay connectivity, AV1 playback and voice recognition, the company said.
