The edge-lit local dimming feature is terrible. You can adjust the Variable Backlight setting to ‘Mode 0’, ‘Mode 1’, and ‘Mode 2’, and while ‘Mode 2’ is the best option, it isn’t anything special. It has an array of 32 large edge-lit zones, and any small bright object causes an entire zone to light up. This results in distracting blooming, like when there are subtitles. However, the blooming isn’t as bad with content that causes all the zones to turn on, which is the majority of content.
Sadly, it’s visible when each zone turns on and off, especially when you have black bars on the top and bottom. The zones are also quick to turn on when a bright object appears on the screen but slow to turn off when it disappears, which can get distracting. When using ‘Mode 2’, there’s black crush that causes a loss of details in dark scenes; however, the details are easier to see if you disable the local dimming feature entirely.
You can see the local dimming video with Variable Backlight set to ‘0’ here and with it off here.
