
Introduction
There's been a real surge in popularity of the
ultra-wide market for desktop monitors, with a decent range of screens
now available to suit most needs. There's more general all-round displays from the
likes of
Dell and
LG, with flat and curved models available. Then there's some more
specialist, gamer-orientated displays around like the
Acer Predator X34 and
Asus ROG Swift PG348Q for instance, offering high end gaming features like
G-sync and overclocked 100Hz refresh rates. What has attracted many people to
this sector is the large screen size and high resolution of most models, with
3440 x 1440 being the preferred option above a hand full of 2560 x 1080 screens
also available. The ultra-wide format with a 21:9 aspect ratio is an interesting
format for split screen multi-tasking, as well as immersive wide screen gaming
and models primarily in the 34" bracket have really taken off.
As we discussed recently in our
High Refresh Rate Panels and Displays article, there are currently very few
real options in the IPS technology space if you want a high refresh rate. AU
Optronics were first to venture in to this market with their widely used 27"
2560 x 1440 @ 144Hz IPS-type panel which has become very popular and worked very
well. We've already mentioned the hand full of overclocked 34" 3440 x 1440 @
100Hz models available, making the most of the available 34" panels from
LG.Display which are actually natively 60Hz. We've been waiting for LG.Display
to get their act together and start producing a native high refresh rate IPS
panel of their own, and they've now finally done that with their new 34" panel - first seen in the LG 34UC79G display which we have with us for review. This is
a 34" model offering a 144Hz native IPS panel. The resolution is limited to 2560
x 1080 as a result, since current DisplayPort connectivity won't support a
higher bandwidth to enable 3440 x 1440 resolution at such high refresh rates. Not to mention there aren't any available
panels yet with those specs. This is LG.Display's first venture in to true high
refresh rate IPS so it will be very interesting to see how they've handled it,
and primarily whether the response times can live up to the requirements of the
refresh rate.
The LG 34UC79G display also offers a fair few
other interesting gaming features including FreeSync support (50 - 144Hz range)
and a
Blur Reduction backlight system. We will of course test all these features
throughout this review.
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Specifications and Features
The following table gives detailed information
about the specs of the screen:
Monitor
Specifications |
Size |
34"WS |
Panel Coating |
Light AG coating |
Aspect Ratio |
21:9 curved |
Interfaces |
1x DisplayPort
(version 1.2a), 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB 3.0
|
Resolution |
2560 x 1080 |
Pixel Pitch |
0.312 mm |
Design
colour |
3-side zero frame design with black plastics,
some red trim on stand and back |
Response Time |
5ms G2G |
Ergonomics |
Tilt and 120mm height |
Static Contrast Ratio |
1000:1 |
Dynamic Contrast Ratio |
'Mega' |
VESA Compatible |
Yes 100mm |
Brightness |
250 cd/m2 |
Accessories |
Power cable and brick, DisplayPort and HDMI
cables |
Viewing Angles |
178 / 178 |
Panel Technology |
LG.Display AH-IPS |
Weight |
with stand: 8.6 Kg |
Backlight Technology |
W-LED |
Physical Dimensions |
(WxHxD)
830.5 x 449.5 x 279.7 mm |
Colour Depth |
16.7m (8-bit) |
Refresh Rate |
60Hz -
144Hz
FreeSync range 50 - 144Hz |
Special
Features |
2x
USB 3.0 ports (1 with charging), Factory calibration and report, audio
output, headphone
output, FreeSync, Motion Blur Reduction mode |
Colour Gamut |
Standard gamut
sRGB, ~72% NTSC |
The 34UC79G offers a pretty good range of connectivity
options with DisplayPort 1.2a and 2x HDMI 2.0 connections
offered. DisplayPort
is needed to support refresh rate up to 144Hz, including FreeSync support from compatible
AMD graphics cards (50 - 144Hz range). The
digital interfaces are HDCP certified for encrypted content and the video cables
are provided in the box for DisplayPort and HDMI.
The screen has an external power supply and comes
packaged with the power cable and power brick you need. There are also 2x USB 3.0 ports located
on the back of the screen with the video connections with one have charging
capabilities as well. An audio headphone jack is also provided in case you want
to take sound transmitted to the screen over the video connection, but there are
no integrated speakers on this model.
Below is a summary of the features and connections
of the screen:
Feature |
Yes / No |
Feature |
Yes / No |
Tilt adjust |
 |
DVI |
 |
Height adjust |
 |
HDMI |
 |
Swivel adjust |
 |
D-sub |
 |
Rotate adjust |
 |
DisplayPort |
 |
VESA compliant |
 |
Component |
 |
USB 2.0 Ports |
 |
Audio connection |
 |
USB 3.0 Ports |
 |
HDCP Support |
 |
Card Reader |
 |
MHL Support |
 |
Ambient Light Sensor |
 |
Integrated Speakers |
 |
Human Motion Sensor |
 |
PiP / PbP |
 |
Touch Screen |
 |
Blur Reduction Mode |
 |
Factory calibration |
 |
G-Sync |
 |
Hardware calibration |
 |
FreeSync |
 |
Uniformity correction |
 |
Wireless charging |
 |

Design and Ergonomics


Above: front views of the screen and stand. Click for larger versions
The 34UC79G comes in an attractive design with a
three-side 'zero bezel' panel. There is a thin 3mm black trim around the
sides and top of the screen, and then a 11mm black border to the panel
before the image actually starts. Along the bottom edge is a black bezel
measuring ~17mm thickness and then a 3.5mm black panel border. As a result
of these borders, the screen looks pretty similar around all 4 sides in
terms of a border before the image. Actually the black panel border is
quite wide as well so it doesn't really look that different to a standard screen
with a larger black plastic bezel. There is a grey LG logo in the middle
of the bottom bezel but no other markings or writing on the front of the
screen anywhere. The panel curves towards you from the slides slightly, but it is a
subtle curvature. It does make using the screen more natural given
the large size and wide format though. You soon get used to the massive
34" size and it becomes a
pleasure to use. The base of the stand is a matte black plastic as well with
some red trim on it which looks very nice. The stand provides a wide and sturdy
base for the screen.

Above and
below: rear
views of the screen and stand. Click for larger versions

The back of the screen is encased in a mixture of glossy
and matte black plastics which looks very nice. It also has some red trim
highlights as you can see. It looks
sleek and attractive and since only the bottom section is glossy it isn't
overly reflective. The stand attaches in the middle at the back as you can see
above, and can also be removed to reveal VESA 100 compliant mounting support.
The connections are on the back of the screen next to the stand as you can see.
On the back of the stand you can attach a small provided cable tidy clip which
is handy.

Above: view
from above the screen showing thin profile
The display has a nice thin profile with a 75.5mm
thickness, thanks to the use of a W-LED backlight unit and an external
power supply.

Above: side
views of the screen shown. Click for larger versions

Above: full
tilt range of the screen shown. Click for larger versions
The screen offers height and tilt adjustments from
the stand, but does not have side to side swivel which is a bit of a shame
and would have been handy. There is no rotate adjustment which would have
been impractical on a screen as big as this. Because the screen is so
large and pretty heavy, and because the stand attachment is relatively small on
the back (100mm x 100mm) there is some wobble from the screen if you knock
it, or as you re-position things. During normal use, keyboard and mouse
use doesn't cause any wobbling though on the desk. Tilt is smooth and easy
to use and offers a nice wide range of adjustment as shown above.

Above: full
height adjustment range of the screen shown. Click for larger versions
Height adjustment is also available with
smooth movement but is quite stiff to move. At the
lowest setting the bottom edge of the screen is ~80mm from the top of the
desk, and at maximum extension it is ~200mm. This gives a total adjustment
range of ~120mm which is decent and as advertised.
A summary of the ergonomic adjustments
are shown below:
Function |
Range |
Smoothness |
Ease of Use |
Tilt |
Yes |
Smooth |
Easy |
Height |
120mm |
Smooth |
Quite stiff |
Swivel |
No |
- |
- |
Rotate |
No |
- |
- |
Overall |
Tilt and height are easy
enough to use, but missing swivel which was a shame. Some wobble from the
screen |
The materials were of a good standard and the
build quality felt very good as well. There was no audible noise from the screen,
even when conducting specific tests which can often identify buzzing issues.
The whole screen remained cool even during prolonged use as well which
was pleasing.

Above:
interface connections on the back. Click for larger version
The back of the screen features the interface
connections as shown above. There are 1x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB
upstream, 2x
USB 3.0 downstream (one with charging support), an audio out, headphone jack and the power connection. They
are pretty easy to get to although because there's no swivel adjustment from the
stand it can be a bit cumbersome trying to get behind the screen if you want to
change connections or plug/unplug anything.


OSD Menu

Above: OSD control joystick on the bottom edge of the screen in the middle Click for larger
version
The OSD menu is controlled through a single
joystick control located on the bottom edge of the screen in the middle. It is a
pressable button as well which glows white during normal operation, and flashes
on/off white when the screen is in standby.

Pressing the joystick up or down (i.e. away from
you or towards you) pops up a confirmation of your current input connection, as
well as the active preset mode and whether you have the Smart Energy Saving
feature turned on or not. You can't actually change anything though from this
pop-up menu oddly. Pressing the joystick left or right allows you to adjust the
volume control although since there are no integrated speakers, this is only
useful if you're sending sound to the screen and then outputting it via the
audio connections to headphones or external speakers. You have to press the
joystick button in to bring up any other menus. First you get the above quick
access menu which sadly you aren't able to customise to options you'd prefer to
have access to. You can quickly switch between inputs here and also enter the
'game' menu with various useful options if you want. You can also enter the main
menu by pressing right on the joystick from this quick access first menu.

The 'game' menu looks like the above. You can have
quick access to the game preset mode, black stabilizer, FreeSync on/off, blur
reduction backlight and response time settings. Useful to have access to all of
these quickly and in one place actually give this is a gaming screen.

Above: full top
to bottom view of the OSD menu. Click for larger version
When you enter the main menu, a large OSD is shown
on the right hand side of the screen, spanning from top to bottom. It's a big
menu in size as you can see from the image above. The menu itself is split in to
4 sections down the left hand side. You can navigate quite easily using the
joystick, although you do sometimes have to drill through several levels to get
where you want. Once closed, the menu won't remember where you last were either,
so you have to start navigation again. The options available in each of the 4
sections are shown on the right hand side. The first 'quick settings' menu has
options to control the brightness, contrast and volume.

The input menu allows you to switch between the
video inputs as well as control the hardware aspect ratio settings.

The 'picture' menu has most of the other settings
in it. You can adjust the preset mode via the 'picture mode' option. The
'picture adjust' section allows you to change brightness, contrast, sharpness
and turn the dynamic contrast ratio on if you want.

The 'color adjust' section allows you to change
the gamma setting, colour temp and adjust the RGB channels.

The 'game adjust' section allows you to alter the
response time setting, turn FreeSync on/off and also has the Blur Reduction mode
available. We will test all of these functions
later in the
review.

The 'general' section of the menu is pretty self
explanatory as shown above.
All in all there were a decent range of options
available in the menu and a good control over most things. Some of the navigation
got a bit tiresome through many levels of menu to get to where you want.
Navigation was pretty intuitive thanks to the joystick though, but the software
felt a little big and chunky in the way it was presented.

Power Consumption
In terms of power consumption the manufacturer
lists typical 'on' usage of 52W and 1.2W in standby. We carried out our normal tests to
establish its power consumption ourselves.
 |
State and Brightness
Setting |
Manufacturer Spec (W) |
Measured Power Usage
(W) |
Default (100%) |
52.0 |
55.8 |
Calibrated (24%) |
- |
33.2 |
Maximum Brightness (100%) |
- |
55.8 |
Minimum Brightness (0%) |
- |
29.3 |
Standby |
1.2 |
0.5 |
|
We tested this ourselves and found that out of the
box the screen used 55.8W at the default 100% brightness setting. Once calibrated the screen reached
33.2W consumption, and in standby it
used only 0.5W. We have plotted these results below compared with other screens
we have tested. The consumption is comparable to the other large ultra-wide
screens we have tested as you might expect, with some of the smaller screens
drawing less power (comparing the calibrated states).


Panel and Backlighting
Panel Manufacturer |
LG.Display |
Colour Palette |
16.7 million |
Panel Technology |
AH-IPS |
Colour Depth |
8-bit |
Panel Module |
LM340WW2-SSA1 |
Colour space |
Standard gamut |
Backlighting Type |
W-LED |
Colour space coverage (%) |
sRGB, ~72% NTSC |
Panel Part and Colour Depth
The LG
34UC79G features an
LG.Display LM340WW2-SSA1 AH-IPS technology panel which is capable of producing
16.7 million colours. This is achieved through an 8-bit colour depth. The
panel part is confirmed when dismantling the screen as shown below:

Screen
Coating
The
screen coating is a light anti-glare (AG) offering. It isn't a semi-glossy
coating, but it is light as seen on other modern IPS type panels. Thankfully it
isn't a heavily grainy coating like some old IPS panels feature and is also
lighter than modern TN Film panel coating. It retains its anti-glare properties
to avoid too many unwanted reflections of a full glossy coating, but does not
produce an too grainy or dirty an image that some thicker AG coatings can.
Backlight Type and Colour Gamut
The screen uses a White-LED (W-LED) backlight unit
which is standard in today's market. This helps reduce power consumption
compared with older CCFL backlight units and brings about some environmental
benefits as well. The W-LED unit offers a standard colour gamut which is
approximately equal to the sRGB colour space. LG quote the corresponding 72%
NTSC coverage in their
spec. Anyone wanting to work with wider colour spaces would need to consider
wide gamut CCFL screens or the newer range of GB-r-LED type (and similar)
displays available now. If you want to read more about colour spaces and gamut
then please have a read of our
detailed article.
Backlight
Dimming and Flicker
We tested the screen to establish the methods used
to control backlight dimming. Our in depth article talks in more details about a
common method used for this which is called
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). This in itself gives cause for concern to some
users who have experienced eye strain, headaches and other symptoms as a result
of the flickering backlight caused by this technology. We use a photosensor +
oscilloscope system to measure backlight dimming control
with a high level of accuracy and ease. These tests allow us to establish
1) Whether PWM is being used to control the
backlight
2) The frequency and other characteristics at which this operates, if it is used
3) Whether a flicker may be introduced or potentially noticeable at certain
settings
If PWM is used for backlight dimming, the higher
the frequency, the less likely you are to see artefacts and flicker. The duty
cycle (the time for which the backlight is on) is also important and the shorter
the duty cycle, the more potential there is that you may see flicker. The other
factor which can influence flicker is the amplitude of the PWM, measuring the
difference in brightness output between the 'on' and 'off' states. Please
remember that not every user would notice a flicker from a backlight using PWM,
but it is something to be wary of. It is also a hard thing to quantify as it is
very subjective when talking about whether a user may or may not experience the
side effects.
100% 50%
0%

Above scale = 1
horizontal grid = 5ms
At 100% brightness a constant voltage is applied
to the backlight. As you reduce the brightness setting to dim the backlight a
Direct Current (DC) method is used, as opposed to any form of PWM. This applies
to all brightness settings from 100% down to 0%. The screen is flicker free as a
result as advertised, which is great news.
Pulse Width
Modulation Used |
No |
Cycling
Frequency |
n/a |
Possible
Flicker at |
|
100% Brightness |
No |
50% Brightness |
No |
0% Brightness |
No |

Contrast
Stability and Brightness
We wanted to see how much variance there was in
the screens contrast as we adjusted the monitor setting for brightness.
In theory, brightness and contrast are two independent parameters, and good
contrast is a requirement regardless of the brightness adjustment.
Unfortunately, such is not always the case in practice. We recorded the
screens luminance and black depth at various OSD brightness settings, and
calculated the contrast ratio from there. Graphics card settings were left at
default with no ICC profile or calibration active. Tests were made using an
X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter. It should be noted that we used the
BasICColor calibration software here to record these, and so luminance at
default settings may vary a little from the LaCie Blue Eye Pro report.
OSD
Brightness |
Luminance
(cd/m2) |
Black
Point (cd/m2) |
Contrast
Ratio
( x:1) |
100 |
266.89 |
0.21 |
1271 |
90 |
249.70 |
0.20 |
1248 |
80 |
234.36 |
0.19 |
1233 |
70 |
218.66 |
0.17 |
1286 |
60 |
202.71 |
0.16 |
1267 |
50 |
186.37 |
0.15 |
1242 |
40 |
167.55 |
0.13 |
1289 |
30 |
150.28 |
0.12 |
1252 |
20 |
132.47 |
0.11 |
1204 |
10 |
114.62 |
0.09 |
1274 |
0 |
95.70 |
0.08 |
1196 |
Total Luminance Adjustment Range
(cd/m2) |
171.19 |
Brightness OSD setting controls backlight? |
 |
Total Black Point
Adjustment Range (cd/m2) |
0.13 |
Average Static Contrast Ratio |
1251:1 |
PWM Free? |
 |
Recommended OSD setting
for 120 cd/m2 |
13 |
We conducted these tests in the default 'custom'
picture adjust preset mode. The brightness control gave us a reasonably good
range of adjustment. At the top end the maximum luminance reached 267
cd/m2 which was
a little higher than the specified maximum brightness of 250 cd/m2
from the manufacturer. There was a reasonable 171 cd/m2 adjustment range
in total, and so at the minimum setting you could reach down to a modest low
luminance of 96 cd/m2. This might be adequate for those wanting to
work in darkened room conditions with low ambient light although we would have
liked to have seen a lower possible minimum. A setting of 13 in the OSD menu should return you a
luminance of around 120 cd/m2 at default settings in this preset mode.
It should be noted that the
brightness regulation is controlled without the need for
Pulse Width Modulation, using a Direct Current (DC) method for all
brightness settings between 100 and 0% and so the screen is flicker free.

We have plotted the
luminance trend on the graph above. The screen behaves as it should in this
regard, with a reduction in the luminance output of the screen controlled by the
reduction in the OSD brightness setting. This is a linear relationship as you
can see.

The average contrast ratio of
the screen was excellent for an IPS panel at 1251:1. This was fairly stable
across the brightness adjustment range as shown above.

Testing
Methodology

An
important thing to consider for most users is how a screen will perform out of
the box and with some basic manual adjustments. Since most users won't have
access to hardware colorimeter tools, it is important to understand how the
screen is going to perform in terms of colour accuracy for the average user.
We restored our graphics card to default settings
and disabled any previously active ICC profiles and gamma corrections. The
screen was tested at default factory settings using our new
X-rite i1
Pro 2 Spectrophotometer combined with
LaCie's Blue Eye Pro software suite. An X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter was
also used to verify the black point and contrast ratio since the i1 Pro 2
spectrophotometer is less
reliable at the darker end.
Targets for these tests are as follows:
-
CIE Diagram - validates the colour space
covered by the monitors backlighting in a 2D view, with the black triangle representing the
displays gamut, and other reference colour spaces shown for comparison
-
Gamma - we aim for 2.2 which is the default
for computer monitors
-
Colour temperature / white point - we aim
for 6500k which is the temperature of daylight
-
Luminance - we aim for 120
cd/m2, which is
the recommended luminance for LCD monitors in normal lighting conditions
-
Black depth - we aim
for as low as possible to maximise shadow detail and to offer us the best
contrast ratio
-
Contrast ratio - we aim
for as high as possible. Any dynamic contrast ratio controls are turned off here
if present
-
dE average / maximum -
as low as possible.
If DeltaE >3, the color displayed is significantly different from the
theoretical one, meaning that the difference will be perceptible to the
viewer.
If DeltaE <2, LaCie considers the calibration a success; there remains a
slight difference, but it is barely undetectable.
If DeltaE < 1, the color fidelity is excellent.

Default Performance and
Setup
The 34UC79G is factory calibrated
according to a 'quality assurance report' provided in the box. While this report
tells you that it has been calibrated to 2.2 gamma, 6500k white point (within
500k deviance) and dE <
5, it is a little unclear which mode it is referring to. We can only assume it
is calibrated in the default setup of the screen which would be the 'custom'
picture adjust mode. The report provided with our test sample is shown
below for reference:

Default settings of the screen were as follows:
Monitor OSD Option |
Default Settings |
Preset Picture Adjust mode |
Custom |
Brightness |
100 |
Contrast |
70 |
Gamma |
1 |
Color Temp |
Custom |
RGB |
50, 50, 50 |

LG 34UC79G - Default Settings



|
Default Settings |
luminance (cd/m2) |
275 |
Black Point (cd/m2) |
0.22 |
Contrast Ratio |
1271:1 |
Initially out of the box the screen was set in the
default custom preset mode. With the maximum 100% brightness setting out of the
box the screen was overly bright and uncomfortable to use, so you will
definitely need to turn that down. You could tell the screen was using a
standard gamut backlight as well with the naked eye, and the colour balance and
temperature felt pretty good, although a little too warm.
We went
ahead and measured the default state with the i1 Pro 2. The
CIE diagram on the left of the image confirms that the monitors colour gamut
(black triangle) is fairly equal to
the sRGB colour space. There is some modest over-coverage in greens and blues but not by anything
too significant.
Default gamma was recorded at 2.2 average, leaving it with a minor 2% deviance
from the target which was great news. White
point was measured at a reasonably accurate 6092k, being 6%
out from the 6500k we'd ideally want for desktop use and a little too warm. We
tested the other colour temperature modes with warm = 6140k, medium = 7801k and
cool = 8453k.
Luminance was recorded at a bright 275
cd/m2 which is
too high for prolonged general use. The screen was set at a default 100%
brightness in the OSD menu but that is easy to change of course to reach a more
comfortable setting without impacting any other aspect of the setup. The black
depth was 0.22 cd/m2 at this default
brightness setting, giving us an excellent (for an IPS-type panel) static contrast ratio of
1271:1.
Colour accuracy was pretty good out of the box
with an average dE of 2.7. Testing the screen with colour
gradients showed smooth transitions in all shades, with only some slight gradation evident
in darker tones. Overall this default setup was reasonably good. Some minor OSD
corrections to the RGB channels and brightness should bring the white point
closer to 6500k and that will probably be sufficient for most typical users. Not
a bad factory calibration overall.

Calibration
We used the
X-rite i1 Pro 2
Spectrophotometer combined with the LaCie Blue Eye Pro software package to
achieve these results and reports. An X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter was used
to validate the black depth and contrast ratios due to lower end limitations of
the i1 Pro device.
Monitor OSD Option |
Calibrated Settings |
Preset Picture Adjust mode |
Custom |
Brightness |
14 |
Contrast |
70 |
RGB |
46, 45, 56 |
Gamma |
1 |
Colour Temp |
Custom |

LG 34UC79G - Calibrated Settings


|
Calibrated Settings |
luminance (cd/m2) |
120 |
Black Point (cd/m2) |
0.09 |
Contrast Ratio |
1271:1 |
We stuck to the 'custom' preset mode which
offered us access to the RGB controls from within the menu. We adjusted the RGB
channels and brightness setting as shown in the table above. All these OSD
changes allowed us to obtain an optimal hardware starting point and setup before software level changes would be
made at the graphics card level. We left the LaCie software to calibrate
to "max" brightness which would just retain the luminance of whatever brightness
we'd set the screen to, and would not in any way try and alter the luminance at
the graphics card level, which can reduce contrast ratio. These adjustments
before profiling the screen would help preserve tonal values and limit
banding issues. After this we let the software carry out the LUT adjustments and create an
ICC profile.
Average gamma was now corrected to 2.2 average
with a 0% deviance, correcting the minor 2% deviance we'd seen out of the box. The
white point had now been corrected to 6513k, which corrected the 6% deviance
we'd seen out of the box. Luminance had been improved thanks to the adjustment
to the brightness control and was now being measured at 120
cd/m2. This
left us a black depth of 0.09 cd/m2 and maintained an excellent static
contrast ratio (for an IPS-type panel) of
1271:1. Colour accuracy of the resulting
profile was excellent, with dE average of 0.3 and maximum of 1.1. LaCie would
consider colour fidelity to be very good overall.
Testing the screen with various colour gradients
showed smooth transitions. There was some slight gradation in darker tones
but no banding introduced due to the adjustments to the
graphics card LUT from the profilation of the screen.
You can use our settings and
try our calibrated ICC profile if you wish, which are available in
our ICC profile database. Keep in mind that results will vary from one
screen to another and from one computer / graphics card to another.
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Calibration Performance Comparisons

he comparisons made in this section try to give
you a better view of how each screen performs, particularly out of the box which
is what is going to matter to most consumers. When comparing the default factory
settings for each monitor it is important to take into account several
measurement areas - gamma, white point and colour accuracy. There's no point
having a low dE colour accuracy figure if the gamma curve is way off for
instance. A good factory calibration requires all 3 to be well set up. We have
deliberately not included luminance in this comparison since this is normally
far too high by default on every screen. However, that is very easily controlled
through the brightness setting (on most screens) and should not impact the other
areas being measured anyway. It is easy enough to obtain a suitable luminance
for your working conditions and individual preferences, but a reliable factory
setup in gamma, white point and colour accuracy is important and not as easy to
change accurately without a calibration tool.
From these comparisons we can also compare the
calibrated colour accuracy, black depth and contrast ratio. After a calibration
the gamma, white point and luminance should all be at their desired targets.

Default setup of the screen out of the box was
pretty good thanks to the factory calibration. You have a reliable gamma curve
with 2.2 average and a minor 2% deviance, along with a strong static contrast
ratio (for an IPS panel) and pretty low dE. The white point is a little off, and
the screen is of course far too bright but some basic OSD adjustments should
bring those in line better and be suitable for most users. Some of the other ultra-wide
screens we've tested have been pretty good out of the box too and quite
comparable to the 34UC79G. The
Acer Predator X34
and
Asus ROG Swift PG348Q for instance were fairly similar to the LG overall.


The display was very strong when it came to
calibrated contrast ratio for an IPS-type panel. At 1271:1 it was actually the
highest static contrast ratio we've measured from an IPS-type panel so far,
edging out our previous champion the
Dell U2417HJ (1228:1 - not shown). Of course
none of these IPS panels can compete with VA panel types which can reach over 2000:1 easily, and
commonly up to 3000:1 (e.g.
Acer Predator Z35).

Viewing Angles

Above: Viewing
angles shown from front and side, and from above and below. Click for
larger image
Viewing angles of the screen were very good as you
would expect from an IPS-type panel. Horizontally there was very little colour
tone shift until wide angles past about 45�. A slight darkening of the image
occurred horizontally from wider angles as you can see above as the contrast
shifted slighting. Contrast shifts were slightly more noticeable in the vertical
field but overall they were very good. The screen offered the wide viewing
angles of IPS technology and was free from the restrictive fields of view of TN
Film panels, especially in the vertical plane. It was also free of the
off-centre contrast shift you see from VA panels and a lot of the quite obvious
gamma and colour tone shift you see from some of the modern VA panel type
offerings.

Above: View of an
all black screen from the side. Click for larger version
On a black image there is a characteristic glow
introduced to the image when viewed from a wide angle, commonly referred to as
IPS glow. This type of glow is common on most modern IPS-type panels and can be
distracting to some users. Here on the 34UC79G it was a pale blue colour as
opposed to the common white glow you see from a lot of IPS panels so was a
little less noticeable. If you view dark content from a normal head-on
viewing position, you can see this glow as your eyes look towards the
edges of the screen. Because of the sheer horizontal size of this 34" panel,
the glow towards the edges is more obvious than on small screens, where there
isn't such a long distance from your central position to the edges. Some people
may find this problematic if they are working with a lot of dark content or
solid colour patterns. In normal day to day uses, office work, movies and games
you couldn't really notice this unless you were viewing darker content. If you
move your viewing position back, which is probably likely for movies and games,
the effect reduces as you do not have such an extreme angle from your eye
position to the screen edges. The glow effect was a little less than on flat
ultra-wide screens as the curved nature created a smaller angle between your
eyes and the edges of the screen.

Panel Uniformity
We wanted to test
here how uniform the brightness was across the screen, as well as identify any
leakage from the backlight in dark lighting conditions. Measurements of the
luminance were taken at 36 points across the panel on a pure white background.
The measurements for luminance were taken using BasICColor's calibration
software package, combined with an X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter with a
central point on the screen calibrated to 120 cd/m2. The below
uniformity diagram shows the difference, as a percentage, between the
measurement recorded at each point on the screen, as compared with the central
reference point.
It is worth
noting that panel uniformity can vary from one screen to another, and can depend
on manufacturing lines, screen transport and other local factors. This is only a
guide of the uniformity of the sample screen we have for review.

Uniformity of Luminance

The luminance uniformity of the screen was
fairly good overall. There was a drop in
luminance towards the sides of the screen, more so on the left, where in the
worst case the luminance dropped to 98
cd/m2
(-22%). That was the most extreme example though and in fact 75% of the
screen was within a 10% deviance from the centrally calibrated point which
was not bad.

Backlight Leakage

Above: All black screen in a darkened room. Click for larger version
We also tested the screen with an all black image
and in a darkened room. A camera was used to capture the result. The camera
showed there was no real backlight bleed evident, but a little clouding from the
top edge of the screen. Note that this picture was taken from a suitable distance to
eliminate capturing viewing angle related IPS glow, which
as we've said
already may become a problem for some users on a screen this size.
Note: if you want to test your own screen for
backlight bleed and uniformity problems at any point you need to ensure you have
suitable testing conditions. Set the monitor to a sensible day to day brightness
level, preferably as close to 120
cd/m2 as you can get it (our tests are
once the screen is calibrated to this luminance). Don't just take a photo at the
default brightness which is almost always far too high and not a realistic usage
condition. You need to take the photo from about 1.5 - 2m back to avoid
capturing viewing angle characteristics, especially on IPS-type panels where
off-angle glow can come in to play easily. Photos should be taken in a darkened
room at a shutter speed which captures what you see reliably and doesn't
over-expose the image. A shutter speed of 1/8 second will probably be suitable
for this.

General and Office Applications
One of the key selling points of some ultra-wide
screens is the high resolution and large screen size. A similarly sized 34"
display with 3440 x 1440 resolution offers a sharp but comfortable picture and provides an efficient
environment for using Microsoft Office programs and internet browsing. This
model is a little different as the resolution is more limited at 2560 x 1080.
This is a requirement to allow the high 144Hz refresh rate as current
DisplayPort 1.2 interfaces will not support 3440 x 1440 @ 144Hz. It's also a
limitation of the panel produced, as currently LG.Display only manufacturer this
high refresh rate IPS panel in 2560 x 1080 res. They do have a 3440 x 1440
version
planned but not until late 2017. So for now, you will need to make do with
the more limited resolution here. The 0.312mm pixel pitch is quite large and so
text and fonts look quite big. Certainly coming from a 2560 x 1440 27" model
that we tend to use day to day, the fonts look big and a bit chunky. Although
you soon get used to it and it's not too bad. It might actually be preferable to
some people depending on their eye sight and viewing distance. The ultra-wide
format does mean you can still comfortable do split screen working, as the 2560
horizontal resolution is sufficient for two side by side windows. We continue to
enjoy the curved format of these displays for day to day office work. It just
felt more comfortable than a flat screen on a model as wide as this, bringing
the corners a little bit nearer to you. You didn't really notice the curve in
normal use but we liked the feel. Probably down to user taste, so if in doubt
try and see one in person.
The light AG coating of the panel is
welcome, and much better than the grainy and 'dirty' appearance of older IPS AG
coatings. The
wide viewing angles provided by this panel technology on both horizontal and
vertical planes, helps minimize on-screen colour shift when viewed from
different angles, making colour work and photo viewing very viable. The default
factory setup of the screen was very good as
well, offering an accurate gamma curve, excellent contrast ratio and low dE. A
few tweaks in the OSD menu should bring the white point and brightness in line
and provide a reliable setup suitable for probably most users, without the need
for calibration equipment.
The brightness
range of the screen was also very good, with the ability to offer a luminance
between 267 and 96 cd/m2. This should mean the screen is perfectly
useable in a wide variety of ambient light conditions, including darkened rooms
although we would have perhaps liked a slightly lower minimum. A setting of ~13 in the OSD brightness control should return you a luminance
close to 120 cd/m2 out of the box. On another positive note, the brightness regulation is controlled
without the need for the use of the now infamous
Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM), and so those who suffer from eye fatigue or
headaches associated with flickering backlights need not worry.
There was no audible noise or buzzing from the screen, even when specifically
looking for it using test images with a large amount of text at once. The screen
also remains cool even during prolonged use.
There are a few extras provided here as well
including a 2x port USB 3.0 hub on the back, one with charging support as well from
one of them. There is an audio output for headphone connection if you want,
although there are no integrated speakers. There
were no further extras such as ambient light sensors or card readers on this
model which can be useful in office environments.
There was a reasonable range of ergonomic adjustments available from the stand
allowing you to obtain a comfortable position for a wide variety of angles of
tilt, and a decent height adjustment range. Side to side swivel was sadly
missing though. The
VESA mounting support may also be useful to some people as well.

Responsiveness and Gaming
Quoted G2G Response Time |
5ms G2G |
Quoted ISO Response Time |
14ms |
Panel Manufacturer and
Technology |
LG.Display AH-IPS |
Panel Part |
LM340WW2-SSA1 |
Overdrive Used |
Yes |
Overdrive Control Available to
User |
Response Time |
Overdrive Settings |
Off, Slow, Normal, Fast |
The 34UC79G is rated by LG as having a 5ms G2G
response time which indicate the panel uses
overdrive /
response time compensation (RTC) technology to boost pixel transitions
across grey to grey changes. The
part
being used is the
LG.Display LM340WW2-SSA1 AH-IPS panel. Have a read about response time in
our
specs section if you need additional information about this measurement. As
a reminder, this is the first native high refresh rate IPS panel from
LG.Display, offering a 144Hz maximum.

We will first test the screen using our thorough
response time testing method. This uses an oscilloscope and photosensor to
measure the pixel response times across a series of different transitions, in
the full range from 0 (black) to 255 (white). This will give us a realistic view
of how the monitor performs in real life, as opposed to being reliant only on a
manufacturers spec. We can work out the response times for changing between many
different shades, calculate the maximum, minimum and average grey
to grey (G2G) response times, and provide an evaluation of any overshoot present
on the monitor.
We use an
ETC M526
oscilloscope for these measurements along with a custom photosensor device.
Have a read of
our response time measurement article for a full explanation of the testing methodology and reported
data.

'Response Time' Setting (Overdrive)


The 'response time' setting is available via the
picture > game adjust section of the OSD menu as shown above, or also via the
quick access 'game' menu. We will test all four modes to see which is optimal
first of all. Note that these results were the same from an NVIDIA and AMD test
system. For now we have taken these measurements at 60Hz refresh rate, but we will look at the
implications of the refresh rate in a moment once we've
established the behaviour of the response times under this setting.




In the 'off' setting the response times were slow
as you might expect from an IPS panel without overdrive. There was an average
G2G response time of 15.6ms measured, but some transitions ranged up to 24.5ms.
There was no overshoot since the overdrive impulse was turned off. When you turn
the response time setting up a notch to 'slow' there is an improvement, where an average 11.6ms
G2G was measured now. Again, a change to
'normal' makes a further small improvement over the 'slow' mode, down to
9.7ms G2G average
and some low levels of overshoot were starting to creep in. Boosting the response times up to the maximum 'fast' mode gives you only a
further improvement down to 6.7ms G2G average. At that setting you start to get some
some very high overshoot
though, particularly with changes from dark to light shades. A reminder, these
tests were done at 60Hz and we need to look at the impact of the refresh rate in
a moment as this doesn't tell the whole story on its own.

Refresh Rate and FreeSync

The 34UC79G supports a refresh rate of up to 144Hz
natively, and as we've discussed earlier this is the first high refresh rate IPS
panel form LG.Display. When enabled, and from a compatible system, FreeSync is
also available which operates in a range between 50 and 144Hz.

From both an AMD and
NVIDIA test system we found stable performance without any
frames being dropped at all refresh rates from 60Hz to 144Hz which was good
news.
Impact of Refresh Rate
First we wanted to mention a note
about the response time behaviour of the 34UC79G when we first tested it. There
was an issue with the behaviour of the response times as you changed the refresh
rate, which we flagged back to LG as a concern. This is part of the reason for
the delay with this review but we wanted to work with LG to get the issue fixed
as best we could before publishing. We will try to explain the original situation
here for you before we move on to the further tests.
When we first tested the screen, the behaviour of
the overdrive setting was fairly similar to the
previous section of the review,
with response times improving as you would expect as you move from off > slow >
normal > fast. That part was fine. What we would normally expect to see is an
improvement in the response times as well as you increase the refresh rate of
the screen. The overdrive impulse is usually turned up to accommodate the
increased frame rate demands as you increase the refresh rate. So for instance
you need an average G2G response time of <16.6ms when running at 60Hz to avoid
added smearing and blurring caused when the pixel response times are slower than
the frame rate. At 60Hz there is a new frame every 16.6ms (1000ms / 60Hz =
16.66) so it's important the pixels can change fast enough to keep up with the
frame rate. Obviously the faster the response times are the better. By the time you reach
higher refresh rates like 120Hz you need to be able to achieve <8.33ms G2G
and at 144Hz you need <6.94ms G2G. So usually what you see from a compatible
high refresh screen is that pixel response times are boosted via the overdrive
impulse as you increase the refresh rate. This helps ensure the pixel
transitions keep up with the frame rate demands, otherwise you get a lot of very
noticeable smearing and blurring of the moving image where pixel transitions
can't keep up. As an example, we saw this limitation with the VA panel used in
the
Acer Predator Z35 which couldn't keep up with the high refresh rate demands
of up to 200Hz.
When we first tested the 34UC79G it showed an odd
behaviour. As you increased the refresh rate the overdrive impulse actually
seemed to be turned DOWN. This meant that response times slowed down and
although that did help reduce some of the overshoot, it meant that the screen
was not usable in any of the high refresh rates really at all. You got
noticeable smearing and blurring on moving content, even with the maximum 'fast'
overdrive mode being used. We felt that 100Hz was about the maximum refresh rate
you could use, and you had to stick with the 'fast' mode to make that viable.
Any refresh rate above that showed too much blurring and was not enjoyable.
Firmware Fix
LG investigated the issue for us after we provided
detailed measurements and tests and sent us an updated firmware to try. This
required a hardware device to flash the screen, but we were pleased that it
seemed to help. The tests in the following section are using this V2 firmware.
We will update this part of the review when we have any further information
about this firmware fix.
|
Overdrive Mode = Fast
The following tests were completed once the screen
had been flashed to the new V2 firmware. We
switched to the 'fast' response time setting for now and we
wanted to test the response times at a range of refresh rates to see if that
influences the pixel transitions. It's quite common for the overdrive impulse to
be dynamically controlled across a wide refresh rate range like this.
The overshoot can also be impacted we have seen in the past.





As you can see from these measurements the actual
pixel transition times do not seem to really change that much overall as you
change the refresh rate. We measured basically the same average response time of
around 6.8ms G2G across each refresh rate from 60 to 144Hz, while sticking with
the same 'fast' overdrive setting in the menu. What did change though was the
levels of overshoot, which improved as you increased the refresh rate. So at
60Hz in the 'fast' mode, there were high levels of overshoot detected on a wide
range of transitions, but as you reached 120Hz and 144Hz most of the overshoot
was eliminated. This is good news of course, but you need to be achieving a high
refresh rate really to be able to experience the screen without the overshoot
becoming an issue in this 'fast' mode.
As the refresh rate drops below 120Hz the
overshoot starts to become far more apparent, and dark and pale halos become
more noticeable. Even more so because of the reduced frame rate in fact.
Thankfully, unlike the V1 firmware which the screen came with, the response
times were at least adequate to support the high refresh rate and frame rate on
the most part. By the time you reach the maximum 144Hz too many transitions are
slower than the required 6.94ms and you do get some additional smearing
introduced in practice. Up to around 120Hz is mostly fine though and probably the upper
limit of refresh rate you'd want to push this panel to we think. Again, if
you're using this 'fast' mode you don't want refresh rate to be too low either
as the overshoot starts to become a problem. We'd say stick to the 'fast' mode
for 100 - 144Hz range but preferably try and cap your refresh rate to around 120Hz
maximum to avoid additional smearing at the very top end. Whether you'd be
consistently able to achieve 144Hz anyway from your system at 2560 x 1080 resolution
is probably another consideration.
The panel manufacturer LG.Display will have to do
some additional work to their high refresh rate IPS panels to ensure the
response times are adequate at the top end, although the ability to support up
to around 120Hz quite well is still a big step up from their previous 60Hz panel
limit. It was a bit of a shame the panel couldn't really operate at the maximum
advertised 144Hz refresh rate without additional smearing and blurring being a
distraction.
Overdrive Mode = Normal



If you're using the screen at 60Hz - 100Hz then we
would recommend sticking with the 'normal' response time setting, as the 'fast'
mode has too much overshoot really. This will apply if you're connecting a games
console or Blu-ray player for instance where you are limited to 60Hz. That
'normal' overdrive mode resulted in very little overshoot at all refresh rates
so is a better option to use when you're operating at these lower refresh rates.
By the time you reach towards 100Hz the response times aren't quite fast enough
to be keeping up with the frame rate so you get some additional smearing, but at
lower refresh rates the response times are fast enough to cope. At 60Hz for
instance the average 9.7ms G2G response time was not bad. A little slower than
the best 60Hz IPS examples which can reach down to about 8.5ms G2G (with no
overshoot). At 9.7ms G2G it was a decent enough IPS offering for 60Hz refresh
rate scenarios.
For PC gaming there's a choice to be made with the
overdrive control depending on your achievable refresh rate. This will depend on
your game, settings, graphics card etc and will also need to be considered if
you're using FreeSync to dynamically control your refresh rate. If you're
consistently achieving refresh rates in the upper end of 100 - 144Hz then use
the 'fast' overdrive mode. If you're operating more in the lower end of 50 -
100Hz, the 'normal' mode is probably best to avoid a large amount of overshoot.

Detailed Response Time Measurements
Refresh
Rate = 120Hz, Overdrive = Fast



We stuck with what we consider to be the optimal 'fast'
response time setting and 120Hz refresh rate. We know from the previous section
of the review that pushing the refresh rate up to the maximum 144Hz returned
some additional smearing and blurring as the response times were not quite fast
enough to keep up with the frame rate. So this 120Hz refresh rate delivered the
upper limit we felt for frame rate. With overdrive set to 'fast', we optimised
the response times and made 120Hz frame rates useable, and thankfully at this
high refresh rate the overshoot was also kept pretty low.
The
average G2G response time was measured at 8.4ms which was a little slow on
average for a high refresh rate panel, where really you need to be consistently
delivering <8.33ms to keep up with the 120Hz refresh rate. A lot of the
transitions were faster than this though and only a hand full dropped below the
threshold. So overall, in practice you didn't really get too much additional
smearing added to moving content. You will see additional smearing though if you
push the refresh rate up to 144Hz as the panel cannot keep up then. Rise times (changes from dark to light shades)
were a bit faster on average than fall times (changes from light to dark
shades). The lowest response time measured was 4.0ms, reaching below the
advertised 5ms G2G figure in fact.


If we evaluate the Response Time Compensation
(RTC) overshoot then the results are pretty good at this high 120Hz refresh
rate. There were a few transitions where a high overshoot was seen, mostly
changes from black to light grey shades. Overall though there wasn't much
noticeable overshoot here. As a reminder, this was with the refresh rate at
120Hz and overdrive mode set to 'fast'. We know from our previous tests that in
this fast mode, the overshoot becomes more noticeable as the refresh rate drops.
You'd probably only want to stick with the 'fast' overdrive mode for 100Hz+
refresh rates. Below that, you'd be better switching to the 'normal' mode we
think.

Display Comparisons


The above comparison table and graph shows you the
lowest, average and highest G2G response time measurement for each screen we
have tested with our oscilloscope system. There is also a colour coded mark next
to each screen in the table to indicate the RTC overshoot error, as the response
time figure alone doesn't tell the whole story.
As a reminder, these figures are at 120Hz refresh
rate and with overdrive set to 'fast'. The response time performance of the LG
34UC79G was
not bad overall although the average G2G figure was dragged down a bit by some
slower transitions. Still, an 8.4ms average G2G response time was measured with
only a few transitions showing overshoot problems at this high refresh rate.
AU Optronics' rival high refresh rate 144Hz IPS-type panels
used in models like the
Asus ROG Swift PG279Q and
Acer XB270HU can reach lower response times of around 5ms G2G though and
with no overshoot, and it seems AUO have done a better job maximising their high
refresh rate IPS technology. The native 60Hz LG.Display IPS panels which are
overclocked to 100Hz used in the Acer Predator X34 and Asus ROG Swift PG348Q
also perform a little better, with slightly faster response times of 7.8 - 7.9ms
G2G and freedom from any real overshoot problems. It is a little disappointing
that the 60Hz IPS panels from several years ago can be overclocked quite nicely
to 100Hz and deliver better response time performance than this new native 144Hz
IPS panel from LG.Display. Although you do need to keep in mind those 100Hz IPS
models are NVIDIA G-sync screens and FreeSync options are only available up to
75Hz maximum using those same panels. So here, with the 34UC79G you have an IPS
panel which works with AMD FreeSync and can reliably run up to around 120Hz so
that's still a positive thing.

1ms Motion Blur Reduction Mode

This is a new feature LG are advertising on some
of their screens now, the so-called "1ms Motion Blur Reduction" mode. We
already tested this recently on the
LG 38UC99,
confirming that it is in fact an added strobed backlight
feature, designed to help reduce perceived motion blur in practice. Our in depth
article about
Blur Reduction Backlights talks more about these methods and how they help
reduce motion blur for the user, so it's well worth having a read of that if
this principle is new to you. This strobed backlight on the 34UC79G (and also
the 38UC99) is not linked
specifically to AMD FreeSync (like ULMB is linked to NVIDIA G-sync) and we're pleased
to confirm you can use this feature from NVIDIA cards as well as AMD.

The 1ms Motion Blur Reduction setting is available
in the OSD menu in the 'game adjust' section, and is only available when you've
set the screen to a compatible refresh rate in Windows. It is available when set
at 60, 100, 120 and 144Hz, but greyed out at 75Hz. If
you enable it with FreeSync active, it also turns off the FreeSync setting in
the OSD menu, so as expected it is not possible to use both at the same time.
Actually, that is a little annoying, as when you want to turn Blur Reduction
off, you also have to re-enable FreeSync if you were using it although on the
34UC79G there is a quick access option to get to the game settings from the
OSD menu
controller.

Blur Reduction
Mode Strobing at 144Hz, scale = 5ms
Each strobe lasts 6.94ms (144/second)

Blur Reduction
Mode Strobing at 120Hz, scale = 5ms
Each strobe lasts 8.33ms (120/second)

Blur Reduction
Mode Strobing at 100Hz, scale = 5ms
Each strobe lasts 10ms (100/second)
Once enabled, we can test the strobing via our
oscilloscope as shown above. The strobing cycles the backlight completely off
and on in sync with the refresh rate of the screen. We've included the
oscillographs here at 144, 120 and 100Hz first of all. Each strobe lasts
1 frame, so at 144Hz it strobes every 6.94ms, at 120Hz every 8.33ms and at 100Hz
every 10ms. So that's 144/120/100 times per second. Thankfully at these high
frequencies it is hard to spot any visible flicker from the strobing, and the
higher the refresh rate the better in that regard. We had found the 75Hz
strobing on the LG 38UC99 to be a little too slow and produced some visible
flicker, but here it was not a problem as you can run the feature at 100Hz+.

Blur Reduction
Mode Strobing at 60Hz, scale = 5ms
Each strobe lasts 8.33ms (120/second)
We've saved the results for the 60Hz strobing to
talk about separately as it's a bit different. Manufacturers have two options at
low refresh rates. 1 strobe per frame is the typical setup you might expect, but
at 60 and 75Hz that produces noticeable flicker which is likely to be
problematic to many users. The other option which can be used by
manufacturers is to use a "double strobe" system, where the strobing is done
twice per frame. In this scenario at 60Hz that would in theory result in 120
strobes per second. That is what LG have used here when using the strobed
backlight at 60Hz refresh rate. That might seem a better option as it would certainly be
less harmful on the eyes and the visible flicker would be significantly reduced
or eliminated for some users. However, double strobing isn't a great system we
have seen in the past as it tends to lead to double images and ghosting issues
on moving content. There is no option to revert to a a single strobe system. We
will look at the blur reduction results in a moment at 60Hz and above.
Brightness
Setting with Blur Reduction Enabled (144Hz) |
Luminance
(cd/m2) |
100 |
141.36 |
75 |
122.12 |
50 |
104.06 |
25 |
83.67 |
0 |
61.45 |
Enabling the Blur Reduction backlight has a usual
impact on the luminance of the display. Thankfully you can still alter the
brightness setting in the OSD menu although it should be noted that there are no
other controls or options to adjust the strobe timing or strobe length or
anything like that. A consideration for users of these blur reduction backlights
is the maximum brightness you can still achieve with the feature enabled. Here,
it is a reasonably good 141
cd/m2 which should allow the
feature to be used for gaming where brightness needs to be at a similar level to
normal every day use. Unfortunately, the menu does not remember a brightness
setting for Blur Reduction on and off modes, so you have to manually change the
brightness slider when you enable Blur Reduction, and then when you turn it back
off (unless you just stick with the same brightness setting of course). A
typical every day brightness of around 14% would be comfortable for normal
desktop use, but when you enable blur reduction the resulting ~70
cd/m2 may be too dark for gaming.
Model |
Refresh Rate |
Max Normal
Luminance
Blur Reduction Off
(cd/m2) |
Max Luminance
Blur Reduction On
(cd/m2) |
Acer XB270HU* |
100Hz* |
327 |
111 |
Acer Predator Z35 |
120Hz |
359 |
111 |
Asus ROG Swift PG278Q |
120Hz |
385 |
123 |
Asus ROG Swift PG279Q |
120Hz |
331 |
101 |
BenQ XL2720Z |
144Hz |
282 |
119 |
BenQ XL2730Z |
120Hz |
309 |
191 |
Dell S2716DG |
120Hz |
328 |
118 |
Eizo FG2421 |
120Hz |
386 |
257 |
Eizo FS2735 |
144Hz |
331 |
180 |
LG 34UC79G |
144Hz |
267 |
141 |
LG 38UC99 |
75Hz |
308 |
213 |
Note:
Pulse Width setting at max where applicable.
*Note 2: The Acer XB270HU was later updated to include a 120Hz mode, which will
produce a slightly darker maximum luminance
If we compare the max luminance of all the screens
we've tested with a blur reduction strobed backlight we can see that the LG
34UC79G offers a slightly brighter display than many of the other options, which is a good thing.
If you need a slight improvement in brightness, you can also use the feature at
a lower refresh rate, where the less frequent strobes result in a slightly
brighter image.
Blur Reduction Tests
Of course the main thing we want to test is what
improvements the Blur Reduction mode offers when it comes to motion clarity and
gaming. We were pleased with the results we'd seen from LightBoost backlights
when we tested them, and also from the natively supported blur reduction
feature on other displays including the popular gaming models we've tested as
listed above.
We used the BlurBusters full-screen
TestUFO online motion test to help establish the image clarity at different
areas of the screen. These tests were conducted at 120Hz refresh rate and with
overdrive set to 'fast'. The results are represented by the image below which
gives you a sample from 5 areas of the screen, from top to bottom using a
pursuit camera setup. That gives you a real-life indication of the perceived
motion clarity on the screen using the Blur Reduction feature. We didn't find
the blur reduction feature on the 34UC79G very good though to be honest. Tracking of moving objects
did become a bit easier and the image looked
sharper and clearer. However, there was quite a lot of strobe crosstalk evident
which resulted in ghost trails behind the moving tests. This was particularly
noticeable in the bottom region of the screen, but even the best areas showed
quite high levels of strobe crosstalk. The central region of the screen would
normally be the area you'd want the best clarity, but as you can see there's
some high levels of ghosting here as well. It looks like the strobe timing needs
adjusting by LG really. We have flagged this as a concern to LG in case it can
be adjusted as part of the
firmware update.

Pursuit
camera photos representing strobe cross talk from top to bottom regions of the
screen.

Additional Gaming Features

Aspect Ratio Control -
the 34UC79G has 5 options for
aspect ratio control through the OSD 'Display' menu as shown above. There
are options for full wide, original, 1:1 pixel mapping and 2 different 'cinema'
modes. The cinema modes are designed for 21:9 full screen viewing, with and
without captions. The presence of an 'original' mode to maintain the source
aspect (but fill as much of the screen as possible), and 1:1 pixel mapping
should be very useful, and certainly welcome given not all content and inputs
are this 21:9 native aspect ratio.

Preset Modes -
There are several specific game preset modes
available from the 'picture mode' menu. There are FPS Game 1, FPS Game 2, RTS
Game and Custom (Game) modes to choose from. All have differing preset values,
with some settings being locked in certain cases like sharpness and even the
response time control. These modes may be useful if you want a slightly
different setup for gaming, perhaps with accentuated sharpness and a brighter
display which would be fairly typical. You could even have a mode where the
Blur Reduction backlight is enabled by default.

Black Stabilizer - You can adjust this
slider to change the black saturation levels in dark images, to help bring out
detail in darker scenes. Might be useful if you play a lot of darker games. LG's
website also talks about the 'Dynamic
Action Sync' setting which seems to imply it reduces input lag. Actually
there is no setting in the menu at all for this, so we can only assume it's an
always active feature.

Lag
We have written an in depth article about
input lag and the various measurement techniques which are used to evaluate
this aspect of a display. It's important to first of all understand the
different methods available and also what this lag means to you as an end-user.
Input Lag vs. Display Lag vs. Signal
Processing
To avoid confusion with different terminology we
will refer to this section of our reviews as just "lag" from now on, as there
are a few different aspects to consider, and different interpretations of the
term "input lag". We will consider the following points here as much as
possible. The overall "display lag" is the first, that being the delay between
the image being shown on the TFT display and that being shown on a CRT. This is
what many people will know as input lag and originally was the measure made to
explain why the image is a little behind when using a CRT. The older stopwatch
based methods were the common way to measure this in the past, but through
advanced studies have been shown to be quite inaccurate. As a result, more
advanced tools like SMTT provide a method to measure that delay between a TFT
and CRT while removing the inaccuracies of older stopwatch methods.
In reality that lag / delay is caused by a
combination of two things - the signal processing delay caused by the TFT
electronics / scaler, and the response time of the pixels themselves. Most
"input lag" measurements over the years have always been based on the overall
display lag (signal processing + response time) and indeed the SMTT tool is
based on this visual difference between a CRT and TFT and so measures the
overall display lag. In practice the signal processing is the element which
gives the feel of lag to the user, and the response time of course can
impact blurring, and overall image quality in moving scenes. As people become
more aware of lag as a possible issue, we are of course keen to try and
understand the split between the two as much as possible to give a complete
picture.
The signal processing element within that is quite
hard to identify without extremely high end equipment and very complicated
methods. In fact the studies by Thomas Thiemann which really kicked this whole
thing off were based on equipment worth >100,1000 Euro, requiring extremely high
bandwidths and very complicated methods to trigger the correct behaviour and
accurately measure the signal processing on its own. Other techniques which are
being used since are not conducted by Thomas (he is a freelance writer) or based
on this equipment or technique, and may also be subject to other errors or
inaccuracies based on our conversations with him since. It's very hard as a
result to produce a technique which will measure just the signal processing on
its own unfortunately. Many measurement techniques are also not explained and so
it is important to try and get a picture from various sources if possible to
make an informed judgement about a display overall.
For our tests we will continue to use the SMTT
tool to measure the overall "display lag". From there we can use our
oscilloscope system to measure the response time across a wide range of grey to
grey (G2G) transitions as recorded in our
response time
tests. Since SMTT will not include the full response time within its
measurements, after speaking with Thomas further about the situation we will
subtract half of the average G2G response time from the total display lag. This should allow us to give a good estimation of
how much of the overall lag is attributable to the signal processing element on
its own.
Lag Classification
To help in this section we will also introduce a broader classification system
for these results to help categorise each screen as one of the following levels:
-
Class 1)
Less than 16ms / 1 frame lag - should be fine for gamers, even at high levels
-
Class
2)
A lag of 16 -
32ms / One to two frames - moderate lag but should be fine for many gamers.
Caution advised for serious gaming and FPS
-
Class
3)
A lag of more
than 32ms / more than 2 frames - Some noticeable lag in daily usage, not
suitable for high end gaming

For the full reviews of the models compared here and the dates they were written
(and when screens were approximately released to the market), please see our
full
reviews index.
(Measurements in ms) |
|
Total Display Lag (SMTT
2) |
10.0 |
Pixel Response Time
Element |
4.2 |
Estimated Signal
Processing Lag |
5.8 |
Lag Classification |
1 |
|

Class
1 |
We have provided a comparison above against other
models we have tested to give an indication between screens. The screens
tested are split into two measurements which are
based on our overall display lag tests (using SMTT) and half the average G2G
response time, as measured by the oscilloscope. The response time is split from
the overall display lag and shown on the graph as the green bar. From there, the
signal processing (red bar) can be provided as a good estimation.
The screen showed a total average display lag of
10.0 ms as measured with SMTT 2. Taking into account half the average G2G
response time at 4.2ms, we can estimate that there is ~5.8ms of signal
processing lag on this screen which is very low and shouldn't represent any
problems in gaming.

Movies and Video

The following summarises the screens performance
in video applications:
-
34"
screen size makes it a good option for an all-in-one multimedia screen, but
being quite a bit smaller than most modern LCD TV's of course even at this
massive size.
-
21:9 aspect ratio is more well suited to videos, more so than the wide range of
16:9 format screens around, leaving smaller borders on DVD's and wide screen
content at the top and bottom.
-
2560 x
1080 resolution can support full 1080 HD resolution content
-
Digital interfaces support HDCP for any encrypted and protected content
-
Good range of connectivity options provided
with DisplayPort and 2x HDMI offered.
-
Cables provided in the box
for DisplayPort and HDMI (x1).
-
Light
AG coating providing clean and clear images, without the
unwanted reflections of a glossy solution.
-
Wide
brightness range adjustment possible from the display, including a maximum
luminance of ~267
cd/m2 and a fairly decent minimum
luminance of 96 cd/m2. This should afford you good control for different
lighting conditions. Brightness regulation is
controlled without the need for PWM and so is flicker free for all brightness
settings.
-
Black
depth and contrast ratio are excellent for an IPS-type panel at 1271:1 after
calibration. Detail in darker scenes should not be lost as a result.
-
There
is a specific 'cinema' preset mode available for movies or video if you want
which doesn't look that dissimilar to our calibrated custom mode, other than
the brightness being at 100% and some of the other settings now being greyed
out and locked. Might be useful to set up at a specific brightness level for
movies though.
-
Decent pixel responsiveness which should be able to handle fast moving
scenes in movies without issue. Low overshoot issues which is pleasing in the
normal mode, which you may want to stick to for movies. The 'cinema' preset
mode is locked to this response time mode in fact.
-
Wide viewing angles thanks to IPS-type panel
technology meaning several people could view the screen at once comfortable
and from a whole host of different angles.
-
IPS glow is a little less obtrusive since it is
a pale blue glow and not the usual white glow, but given the screen size you might
experience some annoying glow on darker content from an angle.
-
Good and easy to use tilt and height ergonomic
adjustments available from the stand, although the lack of a side to side
swivel function is a shame for re-positioning the screen for movie viewing
from a distance, or with other people.
-
No
significant backlight leakage, and none from the edges which is
good. This type of leakage may prove an issue when watching movies where black
borders are present but it is not a problem here.
-
No
integrated stereo speakers on this model but there is an audio output
connection and one for headphones if needed.
-
Decent
range of hardware aspect ratio options including 'original' aspect ratio
retention and a 1:1 pixel mapping mode.
-
Picture in picture (PiP) and Picture By Picture (PbP) are not available.

Conclusion
If you appreciate this review and enjoy reading and like our work, we would welcome a
donation
to the site to help us continue to make quality and detailed reviews for you.
Focusing first of all on gaming, which is the
34UC79G's primary purpose, the screen does mostly pretty well. This is the first
high refresh rate IPS panel from LG.Display (the panel manufacturer, not LG the
screen manufacturer) and they've done a pretty good job with it. Response times
are capable of supporting up to 120Hz refresh rate pretty reliably, which is a
significant step up from their previous native 60Hz panels. We were a little
disappointed at the very top end as 120 - 144Hz showed too much added smearing
where response times couldn't keep up with the frame rate. You do need to be
mindful of your overdrive setting, choosing between 'normal' and 'fast'
depending on your use and achievable refresh rate. Although that's not too much
of an issue and it's easy enough to change. It is worth noting that in the 34"
IPS space, the only other
high refresh rate options are the overclocked 100Hz models, which are
combined with NVIDIA G-sync to allow that to function properly. The 34UC79G is
therefore the first high refresh rate IPS offering in this space with FreeSync
support so that's quite an attractive feature. Input lag of the screen was nice
and low too which was pleasing, and there's a decent range of extra gaming
features offered from the screen. We were disappointed with the blur reduction
mode which seemed to show too much strobe cross-talk on moving content and was
not really worth using.
In other areas the screen offered good all-round
performance as you would hope for from an IPS panel. Wide viewing angles and a
stable image quality were supported by a decent factory calibration and an
excellent static contrast ratio for this panel technology. Light AG coating and
a flicker free backlight are always welcome and the design, stand and
connectivity were also good on this model. The 2560 x 1080 resolution is more
limiting for general day to day office uses than the range of 3440 x 1440
resolution models, but it's a trade off at the moment as it allows for the
higher 100Hz+ refresh rate and will also be far less of a drain on your system
for high frame rate gaming.
Pros |
Cons |
Native high refresh rate
support combined with FreeSync and low input lag for gaming |
Blur Reduction mode shows
noticeable strobe cross-talk |
Excellent static contrast
ratio and decent factory setup |
Response times not perfect and
are limiting at upper end of refresh rate range |
Good range of features,
connections and gaming extras |
Missing side to side swivel
from stand |
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