LG C2 OLED Reviewed for Modern & Retro Gaming - 2022 C2 vs. 2021 C1 vs. 2017 C7 / MY LIFE IN GAMING

LG seemed to perfect their OLED TVs with the 2020 and 2021 models, with great compatibility and performance for both modern and retro gaming... but is the 2022 C2 a step back?

► Episode Chapters
00:00 - Episode intro
01:09 - C7 OLED degradation and why I upgraded
03:44 - Introduction to the C2 OLED
05:15 - C2 HDR performance
08:06 - C2 SDR performance
14:31 - Should you label inputs as PC?
18:02 - C2 black frame insertion and VRR
22:09 - C2 input lag and compatibility tests
32:37 - Falling out with the C2
34:50 - Deciding to exchange for a C1
35:55 - Introduction to the C1 OLED
37:50 - "EVO" C1?
40:47 - C1 SDR performance
43:44 - C1 black frame insertion
48:42 - C1 vs. C2 input lag and compatibility tests
57:35 - Conclusion
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♫ Theme Music♫

"Principle" by Matt McCheskey

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Coury Carlson
My Life in Gaming
P.O. Box 72172
Newport, KY 41072

Marc "Try4ce" Duddleson
My Life in Gaming
P.O. Box 2684
Indian Trail, NC 28079

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My Life in Gaming makes documentaries, deep dives into retro console hardware, and more.

[mylifeingaming]

[Try4ce] I'm pinning a comment here to clarify whether there is a difference between the OLEDs in terms of motion clarity when not using black frame insertion, because some people have looked at a few shots (particularly the one of Monster Boy running through the town) and come to the conclusion that the C2 has much worse motion clarity. The short answer is, no, there is no major difference between them one way or the other in terms of non-BFI motion clarity. So I wanted to explain why you're seeing this illusion...

Older or cheaper LCDs may be slow at refreshing the screen, but that is not the issue we're seeing here. Display blur is actually mostly a trick of your eyes and how they track motion. Thus, a camera cannot (to my knowledge) accurately convey what a display's blur looks like. Each frame will be captured relatively sharply no matter how blurry it looks to your eyes in person. If you pause the video on the Monster Boy clip (or several others), you may notice that there is a double image on the C2, but each image has crisp edges on its own. So why does the C7 look perfect in comparison and have no double image? It's because there's a half a frame of difference (8ms) in lag between the two screens... 9ms on the C2 (in standard mode, as long as you aren't using 4:3), and 17ms on the C7 (for any supported resolution). Thus, what has happened here is that the C7 got lucky and just so happened to be exactly synced to the camera's shutter, whereas the C2, being half a frame faster, has two frames captured. If you were to pause on another side-by-side, you may be just as likely to catch the C7 being "blurrier" than the C2. The Monster Boy shot is not flattering to the C2, but that was certainly not my intention with it - any assumptions made on motion clarity based on what a camera sees are not at all correct.

[GameSack]

Very good review and also immensely entertaining.

[crazydopetastic]

Sorry but you should continue to do TV reviews for modern & especially retro gaming. It's a missing gap in TV reviews & you're excellent at it. I'm sure you can get companies to send you review units as well.

[ErinGoBragh]

This was—hands down—the best tv review because you documented everything us classic gamers care about when purchasing a newer display.

[samuraispiritsx]

This is one of the best videos you guys have ever done, I wish more people did videos on modern screens for multi generation gaming, this is such valuable information.

[Hambs]

This is a super well-written and well-delivered analysis of the C2 / C1 . Thanks for taking the time to produce this

[KBABZ]

32:40 That time MLiG briefly turned into the AngryJoe Show for two minutes! Man I'm sorry you had to go through that, Try, thanks for your service in getting the information out there. I did appreciate all the C1 information because it serves as the contrast to the C2 and what it COULD have been, so for me it wasn't a waste of time at all. It's like comparing revisions of retro consoles; it's still relevant despite being years old.

[pholly]

I ordered a 65" C1 a couple of days ago and it'll be here tomorrow, perfect timing for this video.

[ppeters]

Thanks for that video, currently on the edge between C1 and C2 and you made that choice much easier...

[frankderossi]

As a person who is considering buying a new TV, this was incredibly stressing to watch but also entertaining as well. Great job.

[smartperson]

Wow I had no idea tvs had become so complicated and arcane. The idea that labeling inputs would affect the image processing never occurred to me. Thanks.

[SteamPunk]

the "Falling out with C2" section is absolutely perfect, it feels like you're selling me a Sega console from the 90's

[DaveVoyles]

I've had an LG CX and C1 for a while now, and these monitors are absolutely mind blowing.

[jonathan]

What this has taught me is that I’m going to stick with my HD TV for modern content, and my CRT for retro content, for as long as possible. There is no way I can be arsed with any of this sort of messing about with settings just to play my games!

Thanks for the video though, I found it really insightful and I’ve always fancied an OLED TV, but with this sort of faff I’ll gladly not bother!

[GiskardC]

As a gamer, you don’t know how much I appreciate this video as I was waiting for the C2 but will now go buy a C1 instead! My MisterFPGA offers its sincere gratitude.

[ErinGoBragh]

Funnily enough, since LG merged with Zenith back in the mid-nineties, I found I can actually control my C1 with my Zenith VCR remote through the RetroTink 5X Pro; I can turn the tv and vcr on and off, and I can switch inputs on the tv and control the volume 😅

[chrismorozin]

No lie, this is the best TV review I’ve ever watched for someone like me. I suspect there are more than dozens of us and that there must be some way to make this something different for manufacturers that want your audience to use their product.

[roberthernandez]

I'm only 13 minutes in and this is already in my top 10 list of MLiG releases so far. Try, amazing work man. Seriously awesome effort. Thank you for taking one for team!

[YeaNaYea]

Christ I'd never would thought this year OLED models from LG would downgrade the lag for almost everything so far. I'm super glad I picked up a c9 (2019 model) that thankfully was the few 2019 models that got the vrr/dark tune fixes. I reckon Vincent from HDTV test should have a look at this video, the fact you guys put so much detail in your investigations for each of your videos is really heartwarming to see but makes me cringe that other popular youtube channels don't spend enough time to do all this stuff just to find out if everything works...

[brandonlee]

You pointing out the input lag issues and differences between the tvs is super cool and honest, TV reviewers need to test more aspect ratios for sure, never knew that they would be different! Crazy lol, anyway still enjoying my C9 just interested in this video, my c9 is pretty bright in standard and I wonder if its actually the same or worse than your c7, never knew they reduced the brightnesses like that in the newer models,

I was expecting the C2 to be a much brighter tv but seemed very similar and surprisingly worse in SDR,
That C1 65inch seems like the best value for money TV right now and kinda glad you did get those issues as you got a bigger TV at the end and it still had those C2 upgrades like better input lag and all the gaming stuff