LG’s 2019 OLED TVs won’t add FreeSync gaming feature, report says

By Nick Woodard August 3, 2020

Attention all 2019 LG OLED TV owners who are hoping to get their hands on the upcoming Xbox Series X: You may want to think about upgrading your display.

LG has confirmed that its 2019 line of OLED TVs will not gain support for the AMD FreeSync variable refresh rate system, as first reported by Forbes. The technology, which is meant to eliminate the “tearing” effect that happens when a monitor won’t refresh as quickly as a game’s framerate, will be enabled on the yet-to-be-released Xbox Series X consoles.

LG confirmed this report with Digital Trends, but noted that 2019 models still support HDMI VRR, which is present in both the Xbox One S/X and the upcoming Xbox Series X. Simply put, the older lineup is still solid for gameplay – they just don’t support everything that LG’s newest TVs do.

LG’s 2020 roster of OLED TVs added support for FreeSync VRR thanks to a firmware update, meaning those new displays will be able to take full advantage of the technology. You just won’t be able to save a few bucks on an older display to pair with your brand-new Xbox console.

That’s not to say these slightly older LG TVs won’t do a great job as far as gaming is concerned. In fact, the LG C9 is still ranked as our best TV for gaming. That’s not just because of the mix of vivid colors and incredible black levels that come with the picture quality of a premium OLED TV, as it has plenty of other features to make that display work well for gaming.

In addition to a 120Hz screen that makes for incredibly quick responses, the C9 added a new Adaptive Refresh Technology called G-Sync via a software update. G-Sync is another technology meant to solve problems with image smoothness, though it does have its differences compared to FreeSync. So, even without FreeSync VRR, it’s not like these displays are useless when it comes to video games. They’re still incredibly capable machines, just without one of the latest pieces of software that happens to be enabled in one of the most anticipated new gaming consoles.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

As an A/V Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Nick Woodard covers topics that include 4K HDR TVs, headphones…

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