LG 32UD99 4k@60+HDR over USB-C

Astravagrant · 18 Mar 2017 at 15:21

I just found out Overclockers have the exclusive on the first batch of LG's new 32UD99, which I've been (oh-so) patiently waiting for these past few months.

What I can't figure out is how I can run it over USB-C, it doesn't look like any of the 1080ti's have USB-C connectivity. The 32UD99 only has DP 1.2 (which won't run 4K@60+HDR) and HDMI 2.0a, which *will* run 4K@60+HDR but feels like a step back from USB-C, because, well, USB!!

I feel like I'm getting it wrong (does the USB-C just come from the motherboard and not the GPU?! Wouldn't that add latency?), or maybe we're just being screwed by different parts of the industry competing with each other, I dunno.

So, my simple question is this: can I run the LG on a 1080ti over USB-C? Or will I have to run it over HDMI instead?

Cheers!

Nexus18 · 18 Mar 2017 at 16:11

So is this going to be true HDR i.e. have full array local dimming or will it be fake HDR like dell's recently announced "HDR" monitors?

Given the price, I would hope that is using full array local dimming but at the same time, if it was using this, I imagine that it would be costing a bit more...

Dianbobo · 18 Mar 2017 at 16:33

yes you will have to use HDMI if you want 4k HDR, I don't see why this is a problem though? Also any word on pricing and availability for the UK?

FrankJH · 19 Mar 2017 at 11:42

Astravagrant said:
I just found out Overclockers have the exclusive on the first batch of LG's new 32UD99, which I've been (oh-so) patiently waiting for these past few months.

What I can't figure out is how I can run it over USB-C, it doesn't look like any of the 1080ti's have USB-C connectivity. The 32UD99 only has DP 1.2 (which won't run 4K@60+HDR) and HDMI 2.0a, which *will* run 4K@60+HDR but feels like a step back from USB-C, because, well, USB!!

I feel like I'm getting it wrong (does the USB-C just come from the motherboard and not the GPU?! Wouldn't that add latency?), or maybe we're just being screwed by different parts of the industry competing with each other, I dunno.

So, my simple question is this: can I run the LG on a 1080ti over USB-C? Or will I have to run it over HDMI instead?

Cheers!

Why are you fixated over USB-c?

HDMI 2 is much better at this point for graphics /video , and no reason at all to use any variety of USB for this purpose

Nexus18 · 19 Mar 2017 at 11:44

Dianbobo said:
yes you will have to use HDMI if you want 4k HDR, I don't see why this is a problem though? Also any word on pricing and availability for the UK?

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/3/17/14961720/lg-32ud99-price-release-date

The display will be available on March 28th for $999

USB-C, DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports

AMD FreeSync Technology

5ms response time

Built-in stereo speakers

No mention of full array local dimming...

EDIT:

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32UD99-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor

Looking on the official page and looks like it is going to be a fake HDR display...

EDIT 2:

Just seen that tftcentral have an article on HDR and analyse the LG etc. "HDR" models:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/hdr.htm#content

For instance there is the LG 32UD99 (pictured above), which talks about supporting Ultra HD resolution, 95% of the DCI-P3 colour space (so close to the requirement) and support for the HDR10 standard. However, the spec and press material doesn't talk about how or if local dimming is used, and we assume there is no full-array backlight being implemented here for a start. The "typical brightness" is listed at 350 cd/m2 with "peak brightness" at only 550 cd/m2 so it doesn't conform to the 1000 cd/m2 minimum brightness standard for the Ultra HD Premium certification or HDR10 content target. This is odd since LG specifically talk about HDR10 support in their features. So in this instance, it looks like HDR is being offered in some capacity, but not the full HDR experience and there's some question marks around how it will perform. LG use the following "HDR for PC" logo in their spec information.

What you need for "true" HDR support:

Option 1) A maximum luminance ('brightness' spec) of 1000 cd/m2 or more, along with a black level of less than 0.05 cd/m2. This would offer a contrast ratio then of at least 20,000:1. This specification from the Ultra HD alliance is designed for LCD displays and at the moment, is the one we are concerned with here at TFT Central.

Option 2) A maximum luminance of over 540 cd/m2 and a black level of less than 0.0005 cd/m2. This would offer a contrast ratio of at least 1,080,000:1. This specification is relevant then for OLED displays. At the moment, OLED will struggle to produce very high peak brightness, hence this differing spec. While it cannot offer the same high brightness that an LCD display might, its ability to offer much deeper black levels allows for HDR to be practical given the very high available contrast ratio.

So as expected, essentially it looks like we are going to get milked even more in the monitor market over the next 1-2 years

Nexus18 · 19 Mar 2017 at 12:06

Double post

Dianbobo · 19 Mar 2017 at 12:14

Well that's disappointing, hopefully there will be some proper reviews in soon. The Samsung UH750 sounds promising but it's impossible to find any recent news about it.

Nexus18 · 19 Mar 2017 at 12:23

Dianbobo said:
Well that's disappointing, hopefully there will be some proper reviews in soon. The Samsung UH750 sounds promising but it's impossible to find any recent news about it.

Probably be "fake" HDR too

I'm surprised that asus & acer look to be the first ones to be bringing proper full array local dimming displays over the likes of dell, LG and Samsung (probably). Part of me wants to buy the asus/acer screen now just to support them and the tech. of those monitors but at the same time, it would be utterly stupid paying that much when you could get a 55" OLED 4k HDR TV for less money....

Legend · 19 Mar 2017 at 15:07

Seriously, there needs to be some legislation established regards HDR very soon! We're just going to see a repeat of what's happened with TV's otherwise, and soon enough they'll be a slew of 'HDR' PC monitors available that don't even come close to meeting the required standards. The Dell models and this LG are prime examples, half the brightness required, no FALD and what appears to be an 8bit+FRC panel. Slippery slope. Something needs to be done about this, it's really pi**ing me off!!

Nexus18 · 19 Mar 2017 at 15:17

Legend said:
Seriously, there needs to be some legislation established regards HDR very soon! We're just going to see a repeat of what's happened with TV's otherwise, and soon enough they'll be a slew of 'HDR' PC monitors available that don't even come close to meeting the required standards. The Dell models and this LG are prime examples, half the brightness required, no FALD and what appears to be an 8bit+FRC panel. Slippery slope. Something needs to be done about this, it's really pi**ing me off!!

Hear, hear!

The monitor market is just going to become even more of a joke than what it already is

Dianbobo · 19 Mar 2017 at 15:34

I wouldn't expect fald for a monitor under £1000 some much more expensive TVs don't have it but the low peak brightness is a bit disappointing.

jeff83nz · 27 Mar 2017 at 12:16

Legend said:
Seriously, there needs to be some legislation established regards HDR very soon! We're just going to see a repeat of what's happened with TV's otherwise, and soon enough they'll be a slew of 'HDR' PC monitors available that don't even come close to meeting the required standards. The Dell models and this LG are prime examples, half the brightness required, no FALD and what appears to be an 8bit+FRC panel. Slippery slope. Something needs to be done about this, it's really pi**ing me off!!

You do not need FALD to have HDR. Of the 2016 TVs only the Samsung 9500 and the Panasonic 902b had this (bought the later...because curves on a Tv urgh....and the wife banned 65" TVs

). You do need however clearly local dimming.

Suspecting that the Samsung UH750 is going to be the steller beast as it sounds like it will be using the same technology as the 2016 Samsung KS8000 range (based on the tiny info released), which is a fairly impressive TV.

The really annoying thing is that with the size of a monitor it was a technology that OLED was designed for....yet no. No we can't

instead the king of OLED TV is releasing an IPS monitor, which has done poorly in HDR TV world due to not so great blacks.

Legend · 27 Mar 2017 at 12:43

jeff83nz said:
The really annoying thing is that with the size of a monitor it was a technology that OLED was designed for....yet no. No we can't instead the king of OLED TV is releasing an IPS monitor, which has done poorly in HDR TV world due to not so great blacks.

Yes Asus are releasing the PG27UQ (4K/144Hz/HDR) at some point which is HDR10 and has an IPS panel. It will be very interesting to see how well it performs in respect to blacks.

Nexus18 · 27 Mar 2017 at 12:45

For LCD, the only worth while type of local dimming is full array imo

Legend said:
Yes Asus are releasing the PG27UQ (4K/144Hz/HDR) at some point which is HDR10 and has an IPS panel. It will be very interesting to see how well it performs in respect to blacks.

I'm expecting superb results for blacks and contrast ratio as well as great IQ/colours in general. 384 zones is crazy for a 27" display. Obviously OLED will still be superior to it but I fully expect it to be in a league of its own compared to every current monitor out atm.

Greebo · 27 Mar 2017 at 13:11

Need a bigger screen than 27" for 4k IMO. Fine for games but not for dual use as a desktop.

nalla · 28 Mar 2017 at 00:26

so do we have a release date for the pg27uq, looks a good monitor

DONOHUE07 · 28 Mar 2017 at 01:02

TN, VA, IPS, Ultra wide, 4k, 1080p, 1200p, 1440p, 60hz, 120hz, 144hz, 165hz, 200hz, freesync, gsync and now HDR

Makes me a little dizzy looking for a new monitor now...

Daniel - LG · 28 Mar 2017 at 10:03

Nexus18 said:
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/3/17/14961720/lg-32ud99-price-release-date

No mention of full array local dimming...

EDIT:

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32UD99-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor

Looking on the official page and looks like it is going to be a fake HDR display...

EDIT 2:

Just seen that tftcentral have an article on HDR and analyse the LG etc. "HDR" models:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/hdr.htm#content

What you need for "true" HDR support:

So as expected, essentially it looks like we are going to get milked even more in the monitor market over the next 1-2 years

Hi Everyone,

in this post where you have written "what you need for true HDR support" - this is not what you need, what you have put there is what you need to show the UHD Alliance Premium Logo - not HDR.

to be able to do HDR 10, it is the below;

- HDR10 enabled scaler chipset
- HDMI2.0a support
- HDCP2.2. support
- 10 bit support

hope this clears up some of the issues surrounding this

dan

Greebo · 28 Mar 2017 at 10:17

Daniel - LG said:
Hi Everyone,

in this post where you have written "what you need for true HDR support" - this is not what you need, what you have put there is what you need to show the UHD Alliance Premium Logo - not HDR.

to be able to do HDR 10, it is the below;

- HDR10 enabled scaler chipset
- HDMI2.0a support
- HDCP2.2. support
- 10 bit support

hope this clears up some of the issues surrounding this

dan

to be far "cheating" on the 10 bit by just having 8 bit + FRC isnt on. Its like TVs when HD came out, some TVs were just HD ready which meant they could receive and process a HD signal not that they actually displayed in HD.

4k has this written all over again. Yes we know that the above list is all you need for it to be a HDR monitor or TV but really it isnt much better than a none HDR set.

I think the frustration is that we have UHD Alliance Premium logo TVs available for under a grand but PC uses are being fobbed off with just HDR ready monitors and charged over a grand.

Nexus18 · 28 Mar 2017 at 11:10

Daniel - LG said:
Hi Everyone,

in this post where you have written "what you need for true HDR support" - this is not what you need, what you have put there is what you need to show the UHD Alliance Premium Logo - not HDR.

to be able to do HDR 10, it is the below;

- HDR10 enabled scaler chipset
- HDMI2.0a support
- HDCP2.2. support
- 10 bit support

hope this clears up some of the issues surrounding this

dan

This:

Greebo said:
to be far "cheating" on the 10 bit by just having 8 bit + FRC isnt on. Its like TVs when HD came out, some TVs were just HD ready which meant they could receive and process a HD signal not that they actually displayed in HD.

4k has this written all over again. Yes we know that the above list is all you need for it to be a HDR monitor or TV but really it isnt much better than a none HDR set.

I think the frustration is that we have UHD Alliance Premium logo TVs available for under a grand but PC uses are being fobbed off with just HDR ready monitors and charged over a grand.

And as taken form that tftcentral article I linked, Badass really started the paragraph of best:

To stop the widespread abuse of the term HDR, and a whole host of misleading advertising and specs, the UHD Alliance was set up.

The LG display is nowhere close to being a "true" HDR monitor, it is essentially just a basic monitor with the above you have listed to get the "HDR" badge/selling point. IQ etc. will be a bit better than a standard monitor but it is not going to be anything like a "true" HDR monitor. To fully achieve the benefits of HDR, you need some kind of local dimming, which as far as we know... the LG does not have.

The upcoming asus 27" 4K 144HZ monitor is the only monitor so far to have the following to make it close to being a proper HDR monitor:

- full array local dimming zones and 384 of this lovely tech. That is around the same as what some of the lovely big expensive TVs have and they are 50+"

I have seen numerous fake "HDR" TVs and they look barely any better than a normal TV.