LG 34UM67: UltraWide FreeSync Review
by Jarred Walton on March 31, 2015 3:00 PM ESTLG 34UM67 Brightness and Contrast
Moving on from the FreeSync discussion, we still need to see how the LG 34UM67 fares as a display. We’ve run our usual assessments to look at brightness, contrast, color accuracy, and uniformity. We’ll start with the brightness results. The LG FreeSync 34UM67 is in orange/red while we've highlighted the ASUS PG278Q in cyan/blue.
Set to maximum brightness with the default (50/50/50) RGB values, the 34UM67 can output 306 nits, which is just above the rated 300 nits. However, you can increase the output a bit more by maxing out the RGB values at 100, which gives us the above result of 321 cd/m2. This is plenty bright for most people, and more than I would normally need (outside of situations where the display needs to overcome reflections and lights during the day.) Setting the brightness to the minimum level with 50% RGB drops the display to 52 cd/m2, which is perhaps a bit too bright, but if you tweak RGB settings you can get as low as 19 cd/m2. That can work even in very dark rooms, so LG has covered all the necessary output range.
Black levels are okay but nothing amazing. At the maximum backlight (with the OSD Black Stabilizer set to 0 – increasing it will increase black levels somewhat, ostensibly to help you see dark areas in games better), we measured 0.3077 cd/m2. Going to the minimum backlight level this falls down to 0.0255 cd/m2. Interestingly, LG doesn’t appear to be using any form of dynamic contrast, so whether we test with a full screen color or 50% APL patterns makes no difference. That’s a good thing if you’re wondering, as dynamic contrast often ends up being more of a distraction than a benefit (IMO).
The resulting contrast ratios range from just over 1000:1 to closer to 750:1, but the contrast ratio stays pretty consistent until the very lowest brightness settings. Also note that our i1 Pro meter isn’t the most accurate sensor for black levels, so that might contribute to some of the difference. Overall, the contrast ratio is good but not exceptional.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
96 Comments
View All Comments
FlushedBubblyJock - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
So freesync is low fps sunk.Another amd failure, no surprise there.
Plus high fps sunk.
Just a tiny near worthless middle ground - again...
Now you know why nVidia actually made technology happen with new hardware, while amd claimed it is everyone else's job to do it, to make it work for amd.
Freesync is only free for amd, no one else.
FlushedBubblyJock - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Don't forget it doesn't work with most games because the aspect ratio is wrong.ROFL
Epic failure # xxx for amd.
I can hear it now- "It's not amd's fault"... blah blah blah blah - yeah they sure "worked with" the "industry" didn't they. There's probably a boatload of unresponded to emails and phone messages sitting in the mad to do box - well too late again amd.
It's someone else's job, right...
Black Obsidian - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
So... because this one monitor isn't to your liking, FreeSync is an "epic failure" for AMD? That's some stellar logic right there.Those not hopelessly poisoned by fanboi-ism will note that there's no lack of released and pending FreeSync monitors running a wide range of sizes, aspect ratios, refresh rate ranges, and panel technologies.
wigry - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
Whats wrong with 21:9 aspect ratio? All but the oldest games have no problem taking full use of this aspect ratio. Have managed to enable it on may of my old favorites and new games have no trouble with it whatsoever. So 21:9 aspect is nothing to be afraid of.bizude - Thursday, April 2, 2015 - link
You're an idiot. 99% of games out there work flawlessly with 21:9 monitors.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
"flawlessly"? No, 99% of the games listed here are not Hor+ Native. http://www.wsgf.org/mgl?page=1bizude - Sunday, April 5, 2015 - link
And that list is flat out wrong. For example, it lists AC 1 & 2 as not supporting ultra-widescreen, but both of them work with ultrawidescreen resolutions "out of the box". If you'd like, I can take screenshots for you.AnnonymousCoward - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
Jarred,-Watch out for overdrive. I think on the older Samsungs with it, it made input lag horrendous. Overdriving might always require at least 1 extra frame of buffering/processing.
-For gaming, I think the higher the color gamut the better. Allowing a full range of saturated colors is more realistic for your eyesight. I see it as ok for 3D rendering, which is different from viewing pictures saved on a reduced gamut space.
-It's inexcusable to have no height adjustment on a huge monitor like this one.
-For general desktop use, the AOC Q2770PQU 27" 2560x1440 seems better. Vertical space is too important.
Ethos Evoss - Saturday, April 4, 2015 - link
AMAZING !mlmcasual - Monday, April 6, 2015 - link
1080P=FAIL...