LG 34UM95 Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen on June 18, 2014 7:00 AM ESTPre-calibration I used the Warm color temperature preset and the Gamma 1 setting. This provided results closest to our targets of 200 cd/m2, sRGB color gamut, and a gamma of 2.2. The RGB balance is good overall and the largest issue is the gamma. Yellow and Green are slightly over-saturated but most of the color gamut is good overall.
| Pre-Calibration |
Post-Calibration, 200 cd/m^2 |
Post-Calibration, 80 cd/m^2 |
|
| White Level (cd/m^2) | 207.8 | 198.8 | 81.3 |
| Black Level (cd/m^2) | 0.2023 | 0.205 | 0.085 |
| Contrast Ratio | 1027:1 | 970:1 | 955:1 |
| Gamma (Average) | 1.98 | 2.20 | 2.37 |
| Color Temperature | 6791K | 6511K | 6494K |
| Grayscale dE2000 | 1.65 | 0.46 | 0.81 |
| Color Checker dE2000 | 2.08 | 1.30 | 1.34 |
| Saturations dE2000 | 2.84 | 1.15 | 1.20 |
Post-calibration the RGB Balance is nearly perfect and the gamma is ideal as well. Color errors are improved due to the more accurate gamma but the 100% yellow and green colors are still overly saturated. Our contrast ratio drops slightly but is still good. With our 80 cd/m2 target and sRGB gamma the 100% issues at Green and Yellow remain but other colors are much better.
With a white LED backlight system, the LG is limited to the sRGB gamut. Using the internal color management system you can correct the over-saturation in the yellow and green colors but I would advise against it. I did this and while 100% improved, every saturation below 100% is worse and and the color checker test is worse as well. It is nice of LG to include a CMS system, but it does not function correctly in my testing. I would much rather see a multi-point white balance, which does work correctly, to help correct for the RGB balance and gamma inside the display instead of in the video card LUT.
Post-calibration the LG 34UM95 is good but not excellent. For most people it should be just fine, but for graphics professionals the extra saturation will pose a problem. LG also provides their own calibration software but I was unable to get it to run correctly on my MacBook Pro or PC. Even when it detected the display correctly it is unable to use my i1Pro or i1DisplayPro meters to calibrate itself. Assuming this performs similar to my last experience using it, CalMAN will still provide superior results as the LG display lacks an internal LUT.
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acejj26 - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
The graph on the top of page 6: "Processing Lag Comparison (by FPS)" and then you have the units on the graph in terms of ms. At a quick glance, it looks like there is 18 FPS of lag which would be ridiculous.inighthawki - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
The only thing ridiculous about it is that it makes no sense because FPS is not a measurement of time, it's a rate.ERJ - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
Dang'it...we've been waiting a month for these to come back into stock (except for the price gougers) and you posting a review is not going to help the situation :)Gambit2K - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
I ordered one this morning to replace my three 23" 1080P NEC screens. Bought them for Eyefinity and have used eyefinity once in 3 years :)RagnarKon - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
Bought three Dell 23" screens for the same purpose. Used Eyefinity four times, and then stopped using it. Now I'm down to two monitors (rarely used the third).BUT, I can get behind this 21:9 monitor. Not ready to order yet though, price too high.
jslater - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
Unless I'm mistaken, this monitor comes with Thunderbolt 2, and not Thunderbolt 1 - do you know if it'll still work alright on an older Mac with only Thunderbolt 1 though?mackjam - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
I was wondering the same thing. According to this form it does work. http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&am...crazysurfanz - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
thanks for that link, lots of good information there.DrKlahn - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
I bought a Dell 21:9 (1080) last year. My work machine has 3 1080 monitors, but I don't have the desk space to replicate that at home. This lets me see about a monitor and a half when remotely controlling my work PC. Which is a big improvement. The extra width makes it feel somewhat like a 3 monitor setup. The resolution isn't crazy, so it's not hard for the video card to drive while gaming. Editing video on it is great. The extra width gives you a lot more room to play with timelines. The vertical resolution is no more constraining than a normal 16:9 1080p monitor. Of course the extra resolution of this monitor would only make it better. Just wanted to chime in on using a monitor with this aspect ratio in the real world.cknobman - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link
Now just get the price down below $600 and I'll be interested.