Innocn 48Q1V 48-inch OLED monitor review: surprisingly strong for PC use

The $1099 Innocn 48Q1V ticks a lot of boxes for me. It's a 4K OLED PC monitor with DisplayPort and HDMI 2.1 inputs, a matte finish and a refresh rate that tops out at 138Hz - oh, and it's gigantic at 48 inches. As a fan of OLED technology in the living room, I was eager to adopt one as a PC monitor - and find out if I could use it like a regular LCD without worrying about burn-in. One month in, I've got some preliminary results to share.

To test out the 48Q1V, I pulled no punches and used it as I would any other high-end PC gaming monitor - that means high brightness settings, no auto-hiding the taskbar, no dark themes and no blank wallpapers. The 48Q1V saw a lot of Adobe Premiere usage during these tests, with hours of static imagery, and I also tested a wide range of games in both HDR and SDR to assess its performance on that front. The results are overwhelmingly positive - but there are some definite caveats as well.

The 48Q1V is based around one of LG's TV-sized OLED panels and comes in a TV-sized box, but the rest of the design is completely different with a speaker bar covered in soft gray fabric. Below that, there are five adjustment buttons and a power switch; a remote is also provided for changing settings. There's a height-adjustable stand too, with tilt but no swivel, plus a 200x200 VESA mount via an adapter plate for wall-mounting. I did try attaching it to my Ergotron monitor arm, but of course it was too heavy to be supported.

The back of the monitor is similarly minimalist, with a DisplayPort 1.4 input, three HDMI 2.1 inputs, USB-A and USB-C ports (the latter with 65W Power Delivery), and a 3.5mm audio output. There is also a C5 power connector with a built-in power supply which is handy plus two RGB LED strips running along the left and right side of the display with multiple modes of illumination. It's a nice-looking monitor but the permanently-attached speaker bar adds to the height and may not be to everyone's tastes, although it does produce results that are vastly superior to typical built-in monitor speakers with reasonable clarity and even some low-end representation.

Actually using the monitor was initially overwhelming due to its 48-inch span, and coming from a curved ultra-wide monitor it even looked convex at first. Once I got used to it though, I liked that it was large enough to enjoy a true 3840x2160 at 100 percent scaling, which translates into a lot of desktop real estate at your command. I also appreciated that Innocn opted for a matte finish on the panel, lending it a more LCD monitor-like aesthetic and minimising glare without negatively impacting colour reproduction.

Image quality at first glance is superb. As an OLED display, this monitor offers perfect black levels with vibrant colours and instant pixel response. I retained the same wallpaper between my LCD and this OLED monitor and, instantly, the depth of the panel transformed my perception of the desktop thanks to its inky black levels. Everything just feels more striking than I was used to, and I love it.

The only drawback to using an LG OLED panel as a monitor is its WRGB subpixel structure which isn't handled well by Windows 11's ClearType feature. This means that some text/colour combinations may appear slightly less crisp than they should in practice, and Microsoft would need to specifically support WRGB for this to be solved. I didn't find it too distracting even at normal viewing distance, but it's something you might notice with certain colour combinations such as yellow highlights.

Another consideration is that just like LG's OLEDs, when static imagery remains on-screen, the monitor dims slightly to avoid potential burn-in. You can defeat this via the service mode on LG's sets, though they do not recommend it, but I've yet to discover a similar option for the Innocn monitor to disable auto-dimming. I only found this slightly distracting while typing away within Microsoft Word - it's here that I noticed the screen becoming dimmer over time likely due to lack of motion. The 48Q1V also includes an automated screensaver function and pixel orbiting, and I suspect it's these two features that allow it to function well as a monitor. Basically, after a short time, when there's zero on-screen movement, the monitor enters a screen saver mode with an orbiting text box. The idea is that it can protect the screen from hours of static imagery without requiring any effort from the user. I never powered the monitor off when walking away, it handles this on its own - return to your desk and it's ready to go instantly.

The auto-dimming and WRGB sub-pixel arrangement are basically the two major downsides to using an LG OLED panel in a monitor configuration, but they are far from deal-breakers as, when it comes to other aspects of picture quality, that OLED quality shines through.

With these forced precautions in place, it should come as no surprise that it survived unscathed. I used full white and grey screens to scan for imperfections and found zero evidence of image retention or burn-in. Temporary image retention does happen on my LG CX OLED TV, so I assume this monitor uses a newer panel that's even less susceptible. As a result, I feel comfortable recommending this monitor for normal PC usage as the risk of any sort of burn-in seems minimal and does not require the user to take any specific actions. You can use it just like any LCD monitor without issue, which is fantastic.

When gaming, the improvement in image quality over my IPS LCD monitor cannot be overstated. The contrast is richer, colours more vibrant and motion clarity greatly improved. During this review, I produced the video for the System Shock Remake from Nightdive and it turned out to be the perfect comparison point. The game feels so much more immersive when parked in front of a display with proper black levels. What really surprised me is how effortlessly this monitor handles near black content - shadow detail is pristine.

The monitor supports up to 138Hz as its maximum refresh rate, but I mostly used 120Hz to prevent judder with video playback. VRR is supported, with AMD FreeSync Premium, but it's not G-Sync Certified - so I had to tick an extra box to utilise VRR with an RTX 4090, which worked just fine. HDR is also supported and very useful for gaming, but enabling it does disable most monitor settings. Thankfully, using an i1 Display Pro colourimeter, I determined that the RGB values were still within acceptable range with just a slight blue push. Sharpness also appears to be increased ever so slightly in HDR mode - not noticeable in most content but evident within Windows system fonts.

When gauging the performance of an OLED panel in HDR, one must measure both small highlights and full field brightness. The highlight performance is below the typical OLED TVs I've tested with a small two percent window test pattern producing around 450 nits of brightness. The full field of white, however, reduces this to 143 nits, which is comparable with recent OLED TVs. As a PC monitor, the results are still very strong when using actual content and, thanks to the perfect black levels, the contrast feels adequate. SDR brightness performance is reasonable with a peak two percent window measurement coming in at 333 nits with full field white delivering 113 nits.

Despite the somewhat average numbers, the monitor's performance is still solid in practice as a result of its underlying technology, which is what matters most. Any loss in brightness is quickly countered by flawless contrast. If you want your screen as bright as possible while using your desktop and don't care about black levels, however, an LCD is still the better overall choice.

One question that came to mind during this review is - what makes this a monitor rather than a TV? This has multiple benefits including proper DisplayPort 1.4 input, which is often preferable to HDMI for PC users - especially those that don't have HDMI 2.1 capable graphics cards or want to maximise refresh rate. For my use case, it means that the highest resolution reported by the monitor is 3840x2160, rather than the 4096x2160 you may see when hooked up to an LG TV - which doesn't match the pixel grid of the monitor but is sometimes selected automatically by PC games.

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The built-in interface also has its pros and cons - with a rudimentary design, Innocn's efforts fall behind mainstream gaming brands but at least the menu is quicker to operate than that of your average smart TV thanks to its simplicity. There are still some useful tools here, including four colour presets: standard mode with full user customization, as well as sRGB, Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 modes. There are also adjustments for sharpness, shadow balance and low blue light, along with hue, saturation and a dynamic brightness option. I recommend leaving sharpness at zero to avoid edge ringing and keeping shadow balance at default. The sRGB mode produces excellent, accurate results out of the box provided you leave the Contrast setting at 50.

The most intriguing feature is labelled brightness mode, which controls the response of the Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL). Highlight mode allows the panel to reach a much higher level of brightness but this also results in more aggressive ABL, which I found distracting for desktop usage. The normal mode setting, conversely, limits the maximum brightness of the panel but provides more consistent brightness.

There's also support for a split-screen mode, which allows you to use a second input of your choice in a split or picture-in-picture configuration. I found this useful given the size of the monitor, eg when capturing a game from an external source, I was able to use the pass-through feature of my capture card to send the direct signal to the monitor's HDMI input. I could then see this image and play the game without additional input lag or other issues related to capturing footage. Neat.

Finally, there are also RGB strips along the left and right side of the monitor which are surprisingly configurable, complete with options to match the dominant colour of whatever content you're viewing. When playing System Shock, I enjoyed the projection of rich purple hues against the wall behind the monitor. I'm not a big RGB guy but it's a nice touch and can be disabled if you choose.

The experience has been mostly excellent, as you may surmise by this point in the review, but I do have a few additional nits to pick regarding the overall user experience. Firstly, this monitor lacks support for any form of black frame insertion which is a huge miss as we know this LG panel can handle it well. Granted, BFI is not usually possible when combined with VRR which is how most people use this monitor, but I'd have preferred the option. Secondly, and more curiously, the monitor is weirdly sluggish when it comes to switching resolutions, taking around seven seconds each time. While certainly not a deal breaker, I did find this slightly annoying while tweaking settings in certain games and it's something to consider.

So, after this period of testing, I'd say the experience of using a large format OLED as a PC monitor is positive. You get a beautiful picture with a ton of screen real-estate, and the image is far more appealing than any LCD monitor I've used - just excellent for games and movies alike. The 48Q1V also behaves as a PC monitor should and its OLED panel requires no additional user care. However, the auto-dimming feature is somewhat annoying at times, and I'd love to see a more robust menu system with features such as black frame insertion. This isn't the only 48-inch OLED monitor on the market of course, and I'm interested in testing those too, but for now I'd be perfectly happy using the 48Q1V as my daily driver.