LG 34UM95 Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen on June 18, 2014 7:00 AM ESTAnother area where 21:9 displays have shined is in their uniformity. They have had some of the most uniform screens of anything I have tested to date. The LG 34UM95 proves to be a good performer here, but with a couple issues.
As soon as we look at white uniformity we see what the issue is going to be. The upper corners of the display are very dim in comparison to the rest of the screen. If you leave those corners out the rest of the display is very uniform with an all-white screen. The middle 60% of the display is within 3% and even the lower-corners are within 5%. It's those upper corners that are dim that cause a problem with the uniformity.
Black Uniformity is also good except for a bit of brightness in the lower-right corner. The upper corners are darker, which isn’t as much of an issue with black as compared to white. The lower-right corner has a significant rise in black level but very little change in white level. Excluding that point the rest of the display is quite good.
Other than the lower-right corner, the whole display has a contrast ratio of close to 1000:1 with a median of 979:1. The average is dragged down by the lower-right corner as you’d expect but overall the whole screen is good here.
Color Uniformity suffers as a result of the dim corners at the top of the screen. This causes all the color checker samples to miss their target luminance levels and dE2000 errors are higher as a result. As you can see in the center of the screen, uniformity is excellent, but those corners are just not good. The Median color error is only 1.27 but the average falls to 1.65 due to the poor performance in the corners. If you are doing photo work, you can use the center of the screen and be safe, which is basically a 27” display at that point, but avoid the edges due to the light issue.
It is a shame the two upper corners on the LG are so dim. Had they been closer to the rest of the display it would be an excellent performer for uniformity. As it is it only comes in as a very good display. The uniform area is still close to a full 27” QHD display in size, but that is making an excuse for those two corners.
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Ubercake - Friday, June 20, 2014 - link
Put G-sync on a monitor with this resolution and I'd consider it. I've found the wider (in pixels) the monitor, the worse the perceivable tearing when gaming. I'd consider a 60Hz monitor only for productivity.JohnUSA - Friday, June 20, 2014 - link
Only 1 year warranty is no good.Should have been 3 years.
gochichi - Thursday, July 31, 2014 - link
You're absolutely right, if I spend $150 on a monitor, then sure 1-year is fine. But if I invest $1000, I want a 3-year advance exchange situation.LudumHair - Sunday, June 22, 2014 - link
I bought one of these yesterday but the backlight bleed is awful. There are two bright yellowish patches in the bottom left and right corners of the display that are barely noticeable in daylight and downright distracting during evening and night use. Even with brightness set to its lowest the patches are still clearly visible. Buyer beware with these panels - I'm requesting a repair from LG and will take back to the store if that doesn't pan out.arpiggies - Sunday, June 22, 2014 - link
I feared there would be some light bleed issues with this size panel. Usually happens with first few production runs before it's fixed. May I ask what vendor you procured yours from and do you know the manufacture date of your unit?LudumHair - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Sure, I bought it at Micro Center in NY. The manufacture date is May 2014 and there's a "(Rev 2)" by the serial/model number.Larzy - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Thanks for Sharing that, lets hope LG can iron out leakage in further revisions. I guess each of the manufacturers will be using this panel though, to make thier versions, so I think I'll wait a few months till they've all been reviewed.Laststop311 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I don't like 21:9 makes you move your head too much. 16:10 32 inch 4k monitor with 120hz is my dream monitor.gochichi - Thursday, July 31, 2014 - link
That's a great dream. I'd certainly consider the monitor you describe. And if it came in at $1000, I'd actually buy it too.genomecop - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Seems the backlight bleed is a known problem. I copied this from the thread at HardOcp.com...We have asked our distributor. This product currently has an unknown delivery time. The LG screens are called back because of a fabrication error in the backlight. At the moment it is not known when this model will be available...