Local DC Dimming

Dizzy

I have an AOC Q27G3XMN 27" Mini LED Gaming Monitor with Local DC Dimming set to Medium, Brightness set to 70 and contrast set to 50. Is DC Dimming helpful or do I need to tweak brightness to have it work?

Zappano

Hi, RTINGS.com has reviewed this monitor: https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/aoc/q27g3xmn

Scroll down to almost the bottom of the article and you'll see the measurement under Image Flicker (and VRR flicker).

It appears to have a very high flicker frequency >1000 Hz. Similar to a MacBook Pro M1 16" (also mini-LED). Some people may be ok with this and won't have any symptoms (that's why it's tagged as flicker free) . For me personally, these types of displays are the worst.

Additionally they also tested it to have terrible VRR flicker (VRR = variable refresh rate). You should therefore imo disable VRR, at least to test if it triggers you.

Dizzy

Zappano so do I enable or disable DC dimming? Turn brightness up or down?

Zappano

Dizzy I don't know in which mode they tested the monitor.

But they added the following update:

"Updated Dec 18, 2023: Clarified that the type of Flicker it uses is DC dimming and not PWM dimming".

So the monitor appears to be always DC-dimming.

I also just checked the manual. There's no DC-dimming settings, only Local Dimming settings (not the same).

According to RTINGS "the recommended Local Dimming setting is 'Medium' because the highest setting, 'Strong,' is too aggressive with more blooming and black crush".

But they also mention the following: "The local dimming algorithm keeps up with fast-moving objects well, but sometimes they're slow to turn off after a bright object disappears from the screen, like with subtitles." This algorithm may mess with your eyes. I'd personally disable it, even if that means that dark content will look worse.

Just test it if you're not sure.

Dizzy

Zappano thank you so much! What monitor do you use? Any low flicker monitors/how would I search for those? Appreciate all the help.

Zappano

Dizzy

Here's a list of 46 monitors that have no PWM flickering (0 Hz) according to RTINGS test protocol:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools/table/157761

I've additionally narrowed down the list to only show monitors with a VRR flicker rating of more than 7.0 (10 is best). You can change that according to your preference.

If you don't use your monitor for playing games you could also just disable VRR.

Here you can see all 136 monitors on RTINGS without PWM flickering (0 Hz), regardless of VRR flickering.

That's how no PWM flickering looks like:

Dizzy

Zappano you have helped so much! I also just followed the post calibration settings on rtings for my monitor and it makes a clear difference. I used an app and found that uncalibrated it was a Color temp of 5500 and calibrate it was at a nice 6500.