LG 29EA93 Ultrawide Display - Rev. 1.09
by Chris Heinonen on December 11, 2012 1:20 AM ESTLG 29EA93—Brightness and Contrast
The LG 29EA93 uses a totally different panel and backlighting setup than any display that I’ve tested, so for once I am coming into a review without any real idea of how something will perform. With the LED backlight set to maximum with a pure white screen, the peak brightness measures at 252 nits. This is a bit lower than I expect but fine for those people without direct sunlight on the screen. With the backlight at minimum that light output level drops down to 61 nits, which provides plenty of range for users that have light controlled environments and want a dimmer display.
Black levels on the LG are pretty good in comparison to other IPS panels. The black level with the backlight at minimum is a nice 0.237 nits, and that drops all the way down to 0.057 nits with the backlight at minimum. When measured against the peak light levels and against other IPS displays, these are good black levels to see.
These numbers combine to give us a contrast ratio over 1060 for both minimum and maximum backlight levels. This puts the LG up there with the best IPS contrast ratios we have measured on any size display. The best VA displays still perform better, but IPS has managed to really improve upon contrast ratios the past few years.
Overall the peak brightness left a bit to be desired on the LG 29EA93, but the black levels and contrast ratio help to make up for that. They still won’t make it a good choice for someone that has to deal with direct sunlight on the display, but for users without that you can get plenty of brightness and a good contrast ratio from it.
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blackmagnum - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
I'll be really interested in the screen if the design was less tacky and the price more wallet friendly. Now, I'm just amused at what Hollywood has delivered to us.Rick83 - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
The price is pretty good, what's problematic is the size.This needs to be 36", 4K horizontal pixels and around $2k-3k, with the same uniformity, but locally adjustable contrast.
Impulses - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
If only... Maybe by 2016? :pyankeeDDL - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Mah. 36" excludes completely the application as a desktop.Not that it wouldn't be nice, but it is a different product altogether.
I kind of like the idea of ultra-wide screens: with 16:9 I find myself uneasy tiling two windows side by side: in most cases, the space is not enough.
21:9 might fix the issue (I'm talking about productivity, of course).
Watching movies sitting in front of a 29" screen sounds odd to me. You can't be too close, but if you're sitting on a couch it'll be way too far.
Rick83 - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
It's onlz going to be slightly wider than a 30" screen.No wider than my current desktop of 24" 16:10 + 19" 4:5 (portrait)
It's very much the same product, only where the 29" model is slightly smaller than two 19"s next to one another, at 36" you're slightly larger than two 21"ers side-by-side.
My current perspectiev of upgrading beyond 2x 19" is 3x21" in portrait. It's the only way to get no bezel in the center, while maintaining a 2.0-2.5:1 ratio.
(I guess 3 19"ers might also work in portrait....)
The advantage of large screens is that you can work on multiple scales: sitting back to see the big picture, leaning in, to look at detail. The most natural of all zooms.
secretmanofagent - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Page 1:Video Inputs 2xHDMI, 1xDisplayPort, 1xDVI, 1xMHL (Shared with HDMI1)
"What is missing is an analog DSub input, which I almost always still see."
LG 29EA93—AV Use and Calibration
"With a pair of HDMI inputs to go with the VGA, DisplayPort, and DVI inputs, you can easily hook up a game system, Blu-ray player, DVR, or other AV device to watch on it."
Am I missing something?
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Probably a copy-n-paste from another manual when they created this one. There's definately no VGA port on this monitor.Googer - Saturday, December 15, 2012 - link
No need for VGA when you have the swiss army knife port aka Display Port. Also you can use HD Fury on the DVI port.cheinonen - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
Sorry about that, I'll clean that up. No copy and paste there, just a stupid mistake.Jann___ - Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - link
The way I see it, these ultra-wide desktop monitors are a great replacement for dual-screen setups. If the OS added some 1/4 width window placement you'd have a dual-screen without the annoying gap in the middle.