I've tested this out, and although it makes the picture more punchy like it used to be it still comes with all the drawbacks of dynamic contrast. I'm tired of constantly regurgitating myself, so I'll just quote myself directly from the AV forums.
Dynamic contrast does NOT work differently in HDR. Hell, even with the 2017 models and their active HDR implementation through the dynamic contrast setting they still show the drawbacks of dynamic contrast. Dynamic contrast adjusts brightness levels on the fly which will screw up gamma, contrast, and brightness depending on scene. The one thing dynamic contrast does is make the screen artificially brighter, but to the people that are sensitive to the dynamic nature of dynamic contrast, it ain't a bloody solution. Most people simply aren't aware of these side effects, so dynamic contrast is a solution that works for them. But to people that care for an accurate display, dynamic contrast is not a fix, it's a damn compromise.
Now this new tone mapping does provide more detail in highlights yes, but in doing so it sacrifices the overall brightness of the display to a shocking degree on the C/E/G series. It also crushes blacks by default too, so that's nice. Now the only solution to the crushed blacks is to either enable dynamic contrast which has a whole host of drawbacks or crank up your TV's brightness and in doing so losing the perfect blacks or hope the HDR enabled game you're currently playing has an in-game brightness slider which many don't. So yeah, you get more detail in highlights, but in doing so we get slightly crushed blacks and a pathetically dim screen that is unplayable in normal lighting conditions. LG has forced gamers to use a setting that artificially enhances the brightness on the fly with a myriad of issues simply because they can't be bothered giving us an option to choose the older implementation of the game mode. The saddest thing is they're going to get away with it because the majority of people aren't impacted by the side effects of dynamic contrast, so the minority that care for an accurate display get screwed.
I still can't wrap my head around what an absolute cluster of horse crap LG's response to this issue has been. Initially they said they were aware of the problem and were working on a fix, then the American and Canadian branch started suspiciously implying this was a deliberate change even though it wasn't included in the patch notes. Then some other branches of LG started saying they were going to put this out to the 2017 models (which they haven't yet), and not just to the HDR game mode either but apparently to all the HDR modes. Oh, and I was informed by LG themselves that they had already forced out this new tone-mapping into all the HDR modes in the 2016 and 2017 series which is just a downright lie. This new tone-mapping only effects the HDR game mode of the C/E/G 2016 series, the B model isn't effected although it does have a dimmer HDR game mode due to a screen tearing issue but to nowhere near the extent of how dim the C/E/G series currently is. The C/E/G series also never suffered from any screen tearing issues, their previous HDR game mode's tone-mapping was completely in line with the standard HDR mode which hasn't been changed, and honestly I don't think it will. I don't think LG will enforce this change onto their 2017 series, or the other HDR modes, I think this new tone-mapping will stay exclusive to the poor old HDR game mode of the C/E/G models because nothing about this situation screams like a deliberate change on LG's behalf. Hell, even an LG employee said this change was forced on us by some engineers without much thought before their statement was taken down by LG.
I purchased my LG OLED when they released the HDR game mode update, I was very happy with their implementation of HDR. A nice balance of detail in the highlights while also still retaining a vibrant screen which is a must for HDR content. Then they forced a change on me that essentially destroyed my $3000 purchase without even giving me a heads up forcing me to downgrade and then refuse any future updates, just because they can't be bothered giving us the old HDR game mode as an option. All they'd have to do is give two HDR game modes, a bright pre-set with the old in my opinion superior tone-mapping, and a dark pre-set with the new aggressive tone-mapping. Something that would take one of their engineers literally a few hours to implement, will they do that? No, much easier just to tell everyone to throw dynamic contrast on. Damn disgusting. What a load of bollocks.
I'm staying downgraded forever it seems. Even more so considering that a recent firmware actually got rid of perfect blacks, what the hell LG?
