VRR Flicker On OLEDs Is A Real Problem

This is the kind of work that sets standards. You, people at Rtings, are our heros without the capes. Cheers.

RTings is the only media outlet I trust when it comes to this type of review.

These guys are so far ahead of other media outlets... Also, Abby is doing a great job as the host of the R&D channel.

This drove me nuts in Alan Wake 2 on PC on an LG C2. I'm so glad someone finally made a video on this.

I recently got an OLED monitor and flickering with VRR on was the first thing I noticed. I was shocked that it was an issue that hadn’t shown up in my prior research - searching for it specifically on forums was the only way to get info about it. Thank you for bringing more attention to this!

I'm truly grateful that you've brought attention to this issue because, in my view, it's often overlooked. I've encountered this problem myself with certain VA panels in the past. Since then, I've switched to IPS and haven't experienced it again. Additionally, I believe that brightness flickering is most noticeable when examining the frame time graph. Even simple actions like opening the inventory in WoW caused brightness flickering for me, despite maintaining a steady 60 FPS throughout.

Please add this flicker test also to TV reviews. And also test TVs with the new methodology of pixel response times. Many thanks!

Fascinating Abby & co, I like the casual way y'all just improve the VESA test!

U guys r the best, no 1 source for peripheral testing

Since usually people only comment when the opposite is the case, I just wanted to say that you're really good at this presenting thing!

This is such an annoying issue with some displays and I'm glad you guys are calling it out. I have two main panels I play games on, one of them hooked to an AMD card with Freesync and the other with an Nvidia card using Gsync. The Freesync on the panel with the AMD card (Samsung Q70R) is near-flawless while the panel using Gsync with the Nvidia card (TCLR648) has that annoying VRR flicker in some games where you can clearly tell the VRR is engaging. I feel like if a monitor is going to advertise VRR, it ought to be an actual decent implementation of it. Nobody wants to sit there watching the screen constantly flicker in brightness while playing a game.

I've emailed Gamers Nexus, LTT, Hardware Unboxed, Optimum Tech, Der8uer, Paul's Hardware, JayzTwoCents and NONE OF THEM covered the issue. Thank you RTINGS for doing more for the community than all those other channels combined.

seriously, you guys are doing the lord's work.

This is such an important topic, thank you for making this video since this needs more attention.

looks like Rtings just found out why some OLEDs give people headache, can't believe they do all this and share it with us for free. what a time to be alive! Thank you very much Rtings.

YOU literally read my mind, I had issue with flicker on my screen and was starting to look for info on how to fight it and Boom a video from Rtings detailing exactly my issue ! Thanks for your work

You guys didn't identify the actual source of the vrr flicker: that the gamme curve depends on the presented refresh rate. Measure the gamma curve at different fixed present vrr frame rates. Eg, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 fps. You will find the lower the vrr, the more broken the gamma (raised dark levels) and as you approach 120fps(or the monitors native refreshing rate) , the gamma will approach the correct curve. I believe this is a solvable problem (by manufacturers in future models) and it would help if you guys devled in this this more. :) The second cause of vrr flicker is some system / hdmi / game / driver level frame rate vrr rate desynchronization that seems to happen on some game engines and vrr monitors. You see it when the vrr displays 240hz for a split second then drops down to the correct frame rate, when in fact the game never presented a 240hz frame. The funny thing is, the flicker you see in this scenario is the actual correct gamma.

Thank you soooo much for this! VRR flicker drives me crazy on my LG C1, leading me to rarely use VRR in the games that would benefit from it most. Having actual, objective data not only showing that the problem exists (which many deny), but having the ability to actually compare different monitors in this regard is incredibly helpful!

Finally a reviewer talks about this! Thanks so much, Rtings!

Thank you for shining light on this. Not everyone is aware of this issue with the different panels. Subscribed