LG Electronics this week began rolling out an important firmware upgrade that will enable Nvidia’s G-Sync technology on its E9, C9 and B9 2019 OLED TVs.
G-Sync is a variable refresh rate technology that helps to eliminate “screen-tearing” by synchronizing a PC’s graphics card with the television display it’s hooked up to. LG first announced the upgrade was coming in September, and now it’s ready for prime time.
“With G-SYNC Compatible support, LG’s acclaimed OLED TVs will deliver the smoothest, most immersive gaming experience without the flicker, tearing or stuttering common to most common displays,” the company said.
G-Sync is already fairly common in PC monitors but it was only recently that Nvidia opened up the standard, making it compatible with televisions too.
Those who want to take advantage of G-Sync will need a PC paired with an Nvidia graphics card, either the Nvidia GeForce RTX 20 or the GTX 16 GPU. Once the PC is hooked up to a compatible LG TV running the new firmware, gamers should be able to experience refresh rates of up to 120Hz.
While G-Sync is only just arriving on its first TVs now, it’s likely that variable refresh rate technologies will soon become the norm on most modern TVs. That’s because the latest HDMI 2.1 standard has variable refresh rate functionality built in. But the HDMI 2.1 standard is yet to arrive on PC graphics cards. Once it does, it should be possible to take advantage of the technology using pretty much any TV or graphics card, assuming they’re both compatible with HDMI 2.1.
LG said the firmware upgrade will roll out to OLED TVs in North America first of all, and in other regions before the end of the year.
