The promised fix for Dolby Vision’s “raised blacks” has arrived but only in Europe and only for 2017 LG OLED TVs. We are told by owners that it does indeed fix the issue but that subtitles remain problematic.

 × Update: It appears that the update does not resolve the issue for every affected film. We are awaiting more details from LG.

Raised blacks, begone!
Users have for a while been complaining that Dolby Vision video playback (via HDMI) can cause raised blacks during some scenes. Dolby later acknowledged the issue and promised to issue a fix that would be made available to TV manufacturers. 

And here comes LG’s fix. The changelog for firmware version 04.70.65 is said to address: “Bug Fixes – Playing Dolby Vision contents over HDMI”. The firmware is currently available only in Europe and only for the 2017 OLED models (B7, C7, E7, G7, W7). LG has vowed to also release a fix for its 2016 models.

- “No doubt that it has helped. At least for the black bars at the top and bottom that now remain black. I tested the one scene from Bright on Netflix that has been debated earlier in this thread as well as other scenes further into the movie that used to look wrong. The bars remain black,” user ikodk wrote on our Danish forum .

He further notes that while the black bars now remain black on his 2017 LG OLED and Apple TV 4K, contrast in the actual picture area can still looks a little muted at times but this appears to be related to how the particular movie was color-grated from the studio’s side. However, subtitles can still cause fluctuations in scene brightness when viewing Dolby Vision content – at least on Apple TV 4K.

  Also read: Dolby Vision gains momentum but problems loom

So, this is one step in the right direction but the Dolby Vision debacle continues. This fix has to be applied to every Dolby Vision compatible TV out there – not just LG’s TV – and there is still the curious case of the new Dolby Vision “light” profile for Sony TVs. What a mess...