LG C4 42 inch as a PC monitor?
My old monitor (Phillips 42" OLED) broke recently so I'm looking for an alternative and the LG C4 looks amazing!
But from what I've read and experienced, there are some potential issues when using as monitor:
1. you need to turn it ON/OFF - is this true? What happens when PC goes to sleep? Won't it turn off after some time?
2. TPC (Temporal Peak Luminance Control) OLED protection - the automatic brightness lowering when image is not changing "enough" (for example when writing text).
This was super annoying on my previous OLED monitor, because it was lowering brightness even when it was already low, even when it was 0%! Which made it then barely visible.
The main problem was, that this protection activated every time I was writing text, because the changing text on the screen was not "enough" to register is as movement. Also moving mouse was not enough to "restore it", I had to scroll the page or open some new window.
My room is pretty dark, so most of the time my brightness is set to <20% and 0% in the evening, so this protection doesn't really make sense.
3. Screen Shift (pixel shift) - does this make part of the screen invisible? Or are there "spare pixels" on edges?
My previous OLED was moving screen a lot and for example in games I couldn't see FPS counter fully when the shift was full left at the moment.
Also, is the shift only horizontal? I would hate to see my taskbar cut in half with vertical shift.
Can someone with this TV as PC monitor comment on these points please? :)
And maybe share more issues/benefits.
Thank you!
UPDATE:
I'm now a proud owner of the LG C4 42" so I can reply to my own questions :), and even compare it with the terrible Phillips OLED monitor I had before.
1. the ON/OFF - sadly yes, the monitor has to turned ON and OFF manually.
When the PC is switched OFF, it will start showing some random images with a pretty high brightness (probably ignoring the user setting), no matter how long I've waited.
Similarly, turning PC will not wake it up. The good news is, Windows won't resize or move windows around while the TV is off. This was happening with my Phillips before.
2. TPC OLED protection - an amazing surprise! There is no visible dimming, even while writing or showing white pages, nothing visible is happening. But I am using a low brightness, so that may be related.
Note that I'm not even sure what brightness am I using, the settings for that are not very intuitive and sadly there is no dedicated button on a remote for it :(.
3. pixel shift - it's definitely there and it's somewhat visible. But much less than on my Phillips before.
Note that I'm pretty sure it can shift it also a bit UP, but again, it's very subtle so not really bothering.
Now, let me list some other issues I've noticed over the few weeks:
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it's missing the DDC/CI, so you can't change brightness from operating system using an app
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it's missing an USB hub (well, it's a TV so not a big surprise)
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the glossy panel is just too much... you can see ALL reflections in it
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when I've used S/PDIF to connect my speakers, it introduced about ~200ms delay. Maybe it's the Dolby/DTS issue while encoding in my Windows, I'm not sure. But it was not really usable for movies or games with it.
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with the HDMI ARC I couldn't get a 5.1 working, only stereo
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on a grayish backgrounds, there is weird "slow pulsating ellipse gradient pattern", it's not very visible though and it's visible only sometimes and only on static content, like web.
Now, let me list some great POSITIVES:
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144Hz and super fast response time!
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amazing picture quality with perfect blacks!
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all OLED protections seems to be invisible (even the pixel refresh which my old Phillips reminded me every 4 hours is running when the TV is off, so you can't even tell)
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great price - only about 1000€, which is like 400€ less than I payed for the Phillips!
I know I've listed a lot of negatives, but the overall feeling is super positive!
For this price it's UNBEATABLE screen for a PC, and I can highly recommend it!
I don't want to be an alarmist or be one of those people who give out bad information, but I can provide anecdotal evidence as far as having a C3 has gone for me.
Brilliant TV to use as a monitor, absolutely gorgeous picture quality, but BE CAREFUL.
I got my C3 at launch, for 6 months it was great, I'd check it every few days with full-screen plain colour images to make sure my desktop wasn't causing any sort of burn-in and for the first 6 months it was absolutely pristine. Then, for some reason that all changed after an OS update. I CANNOT confirm if this is true, this again is anecdotal, but I updated my software when I was prompted to (Another in a line of "Probably shouldn't fix what isn't broken" moments) and within 2 days I checked it to find I had EXTREME burn-in. It (to me, I must stress again this is anecdotal evidence) feels like Pixel Refresh (the automatic one after 4 hours of usage) isn't working properly anymore. I've updated my OS several times since then, it's still not giving me any of the indicators that it is working and I never received any sort of request from the TV to run a pixel refresh after however-many thousands of hours it's meant to prompt me at. I also don't run the TV with Always Ready or anything that could theoretically block the automated nightly refresh from working other than that it's plugged in as a PC monitor and *perhaps* that is blocking the logic from realising the TV is actually on...
Note: I'm a game developer, I spend a lot of time in things like Excel, web browsers accessing things like JIRA, MIRO, Confluence and other tools, as well as using Unreal Engine. I had my OLED brightness at 80, most settings at standard, and all the OLED Care stuff for moving the screen around on to try and minimise any static lit sections of my screen always being in the same place. I run with a black windows desktop and will minimise everything if I'm not doing anything on my TV, I hide my taskbar in Windows 11 automatically, but it made zero difference.
I got LG to send a technician out to take a look, and he said "This is the worst burn-in I've ever seen, especially with the new panels they use these days". I had horizontal and vertical lines burned in throughout my screen from Excel (white cells with black lines...), my entire browser top bar was permanently seared into the panel and it was so bad you could actually read the text that was burned into the panel.
He replaced it, and I lowered the OLED brightness to 40 and continued running it as my every-day monitor (unhappy it was so dim, but happy to be able to see everything again) and within 3 days the burn-in began again.
I'm now another 6 months on from that point, and the burn-in along the top of my screen is staggering. I will be replacing this with a Mini LED as soon as one comes out that fits my desk (aiming for anything 42-50 inches if anything quality comes out at those sizes, possibly will stretch to a 55 inch if I'm desperate) because I'm pretty certain OLED just isn't meant for computers that don't just play games with constantly moving imagery.
Just recently got a 42” C3 as a second monitor. I do have to turn it on every time. With the controller shouldn’t be too bad. I can’t use the controller bc I have C3 65” in the same room so it turns it on too. Luckily the button is front and center under IR sensor. When the PC is shutdown the signal stops going to the tv so it will turn off on its own eventually. You can install “LGTV Companion” app which I think solves this annoyances but I haven’t used it since I believe it uses the internet/ip address to do it, I have yet to connect the tv directly to the internet.
Have not experienced TPC as I try to have the screen constantly changing, usually with playing MVs.
Have to check if I have pixel shift on. If I do it’s not noticeable.
I was having an issue with getting the full 120hz and getting full screen on video play back.Messed with the settings on both the tv and pc and eventually got it. Not sure what fixed it
My only issue right now is HDR. The option doesn’t want to toggle on. If I’m using the TV by itself on the pc it works but not as second monitor.
Thank you for the feedback!
I had issues with HDR on my OLED too, and the issue was that I enabled "10 bit pixel format" in my AMD GPU driver options:
"on a grayish backgrounds, there is weird "slow pulsating ellipse gradient pattern", it's not very visible though and it's visible only sometimes and only on static content, like web."
This is the only complaint I have on this panel as a monitor and I've gotten zero help on it.
My LG C9 did NOT do this and it's incredibly annoying. I've turned off pretty much all features and not sure what causes it. I'm wondering if turning off some brightness settings via a service remote would help, but I actually can't find any info on one for the C4.
It's a pretty big deal to me and I'm shocked more have not brought it up. It will just expand and contract for no reason on static darker sites (discord) and it's super distracting.
Do you think this would be okay to use as my work pc monitor? I have my work pc and gaming pc at the same desk and want to upgrade to OLED for my main display monitor.
Has anyone managed a way to use split screen to hook up work laptop with home pc? I've read LG has multi view but it has the black bars on screen bottom and top wasting screen space. I'm not sure what the best work around would be, possibly a multi viewer box?
I have a C1 for the living room, but I'm thinking about getting a 42" C4 as a monitor. My biggest gripe with the C1 is that there is no option in the quick menu to change OLED pixel brightness, so I either need to go through 4 sub-menus or activate the mic and squawk at the TV (which still takes 8 seconds to process).
How difficult is it to change OLED pixel brightness on the C4?
Look into LGTV Companion or Color Control. They'll allow you to control your tv via a program over the network. I personally use both. LGTV Companion seems more reliable in turning your tv on/off and Color Control has a shortcut option to turn on the screensaver. Personally, I have it set to turn on a blank screensaver after 3 mins. I also use the shortcut if I have something going that won't shut the screen off and I want it off. This will turn off all pixels since it's black. Then I have it set to turn off the monitor in the power settings after 1 hour. LGTV Companion will shut off the monitor when that happens. I wanted time to get back to it before it shuts off my tv. I didn't want to miss out on having it run the pixel cleaner automatically (I'll 100% forget to do it manually) because it wasn't running for 4 hours if it keeps shutting off for a few mins when I go to the bathroom or get something to eat.
I'm not sure how it works. I don't see any extra pixels around the edge. It might shift it by a row of pixels, leaving a row invisible. It's not really noticeable. Most of the time I don't notice it and can't tell how it's been shifted. I've only seen it happen once or twice when I've been actively trying to see it.
Had a 48" C3 for a year as a primary PC / Gaming Monitor and have had the 42" C4 since it was released.
The monitor needs to be turned on, but not off. OS-based PC screensavers work just fine. The TV also has its own screen saver and that works (no source thing) and it does eventually turn off.
TPC. I have no issues with this but I also used a service remote to turn all that crap off
Pixel Shift - I use it and don't notice any issues
Burn In? None. But I have taken precautions: dark solid color for desktop, no desktop icons, auto-hide task bar
Is there anyone who runs OLED as PC monitor more than 5h a day? How a burn in?