LG just made the best monitor of 2019 – 27GL850 Review

[James]

Buy LG UltraGear IPS 1ms 27GL850 on Amazon: https://geni.us/j1cvE

 

LG’s claim that their new UltraGear lineup of gaming monitors sport 1ms pixel response time is pretty alluring, especially since they already have high refresh rate (144Hz), Adaptive-Sync variable refresh rate, and Nano Cell accurate colors! 

 

 

[Evolution.]

idk why I watch videos on stuff I cant afford lmao 

[Frostbite]

I wish they had done some comparisons against the PG279Q and AD27QD

[kingmeowser]

So this monitor looks like it will be about $500 from looking around. Not too bad for the specs honestly. I see no real reason to sell my Dell S2716DG though.

I don't really understand the 1ms hype though. 60 to 144 Hz is definitely noticeable to anybody, but I have no idea if an average person could tell you if a monitor is 1ms vs 5ms other than professional CSGO players.

[Luscious]

I've been using IPS for 5 years now and honestly I wouldn't bother with anything else - TN is just inferior to the point that it should be made obsolete, OLED belongs on TV's and VA doesn't have the speed to keep up also making it obsolete.

 

IPS hits the sweet spot for color accuracy, viewing angles and high resolution on 3440x1440, 3840x1600 and 4K variants. Adding higher refresh rates was really all that was missing, beside things like HDR and G-sync support.

 

One thing to point out though is that not everybody needs a 120Hz display to get a better experience. Even a baseline of 75Hz will yield an improvement to the point that it will benefit not just gaming, but smoother cursor movement in productivity work and multitasking. But going up past 120Hz to 240Hz - I doubt a higher refresh rate panel will improve your experience if you cannot SEE a real difference.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

1ms IPS they finally did it

[Steve0Kinev0]

So what is the true response time of the monitor on the "Fast" setting?

[MajorityHippo]

So LTT has a new video out, "LG just made the Best Monitor of 2019 – 27GL850 Review" 

 

But the thing is Acer, has a 144Hz, IPS, Freesync, 1ms AND HDR400 monitor out, the 

Acer Nitro VG271UPbmiipx https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07P6S61TS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

[DocSwag]

Anyone know the adaptive sync range on this monitor? 

[Guest]

I do criticise for clickbait titles a lot, but now its the other way around. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

 

clickbait titles now criticise you? o_o

NEED A MORE INTERESTING TITLE 

[Princess Luna]

Ain't the best if it ain't 21:9 just sayin'

[SolarNova]

Ill bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that that monitor does NOT have a true 1ms response time.

 

Even TN panels cant achieve that.

 

Now im sure there is a specific transition at max overdrive that could be considered to have a 1ms 80% response time (like 80-100% transition), but if u measure 100% response time which takes into account the overshoot i guarantee it wont have.

 

rtings.com should be doing a review of that monitor at some point as its top voted for next review once it releases.

 

 

 

[spartaman64]

14 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Ill bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that that monitor does NOT have a true 1ms response time.

 

Even TN panels cant achieve that.

 

Now im sure there is a specific transition at max overdrive that could be considered to have a 1ms 80% response time (like 80-100% transition), but if u measure 100% response time which takes into account the overshoot i guarantee it wont have.

 

rtings.com should be doing a review of that monitor at some point as its top voted for next review once it releases.

 

 

 

so what you are saying is that they actually have -1ms response time they should advertise that instead Kappa

[SolarNova]

16 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

so what you are saying is that they actually have -1ms response time they should advertise that instead Kappa

huh ?

Think i was pretty clear.

 

While there may be a specific transition that has a 1ms response time, that is not the monitors overall response time. Its not the average nor is it the maximum.

 

Much like when measuring FPS in a game you dont say , "hey i get 200FPS with my system", when u only get that when staring at the ground or sky. You state ur average, and if u really want to, ur minimums as well.

 

Manufacturer spec response times are always misleading , very misleading. There are very few monitors that even come close to what their real 80% averages are, and they are always a far cry from there 100% averages, and even further still from their maximum.

 

The BenQ Zowie XL2540 for example is advertised as a 1ms response time 240hz TN panel monitor. Its actual 80% average is 3.3ms, its 100% average is 7.9ms and its maximum is a truly terrible 20.5ms with its 100%-80% transition. The only tests that show around 1ms response time are the 80% 20-0% transition, the 80% 80-0% transition and the same transition at 100% transition times, they range from 0.5ms to 1.3ms.

 

You can take 10 different monitors with the same advertised 1ms response time, even within the same manufacturer if u like, and their real response times will all differ greatly as will the amount of  blurring/ghosting that they each have.

[Ricky1234]

can someone pls tell me if the newest monitor of lg still got bleed?

[SolarNova]

1 hour ago, Ricky1234 said:

can someone pls tell me if the newest monitor of lg still got bleed?

I would be willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact it will have BLB.

 

How much though ..thats another question that will have to be answered by a full review.

[Ricky1234]

2 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

I would be willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact it will have BLB.

 

How much though ..thats another question that will have to be answered by a full review.

means it still got BLB even with new ips panel?

is that VA panel better than ips panel when we talk about BLB case?

[SolarNova]

3 minutes ago, Ricky1234 said:

means it still got BLB even with new ips panel?

is that VA panel better than ips panel when we talk about BLB case?

BLB can be present on all panel types. IPS has the added issue of IPS glow which will also be present and just like BLB its amount will different from one unit to the next.

 

When it comes to panel uniformity in darker scenes like 5% grey and 0% black, and when usedi n dark rooms, IPS is the worst by far due to its IPS glow. But thast not to say VA or TN are always perfect , they can suffer from really bad BLB in some cases.

[Ricky1234]

3 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

BLB can be present on all panel types. IPS has the added issue of IPS glow which will also be present and just like BLB its amount will different from one unit to the next.

 

When it comes to panel uniformity in darker scenes like 5% grey and 0% black, and when usedi n dark rooms, IPS is the worst by far due to its IPS glow. But thast not to say VA or TN are always perfect , they can suffer from really bad BLB in some cases.

i read some articles said that VA panel still can get almost zero backlight bleeding, is the best way to end BLB case is to wait OLED panel?

[SolarNova]

1 minute ago, Ricky1234 said:

i read some articles said that VA panel still can get almost zero backlight bleeding, is the best way to end BLB case is to wait OLED panel?

Well ...yea BLB comes form the backlight ..OLED doesnt have a backlight.

 

ALL monitors currently have poor black uniformity (caused by BLB/IPS glow) , TV's on the other hand, especially 55"+ versions which tend to be higher end, have far far better uniformity and can be found with zero BLB.

 

So LCD's can be made with zero BLB, but monitor manufacturers ..or rather the panel manufacturers just dont seem to be putting much effort into quality control for them.

[Ricky1234]

4 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Well ...yea BLB comes form the backlight ..OLED doesnt have a backlight.

 

ALL monitors currently have poor black uniformity (caused by BLB/IPS glow) , TV's on the other hand, especially 55"+ versions which tend to be higher end, have far far better uniformity and can be found with zero BLB.

 

So LCD's can be made with zero BLB, but monitor manufacturers ..or rather the panel manufacturers just dont seem to be putting much effort into quality control for them.

yea that means even with high end monitor with strong company also still cant make LCD monitor without BLB

[TnF]

LMG should feel bad. Their review sucks. Almost all subjective testing, not actual measurements/numbers and no comparisons. Just sponsored by LG to make a video. I'm really disappointed by LG. Brightness sucks, contrast sucks, backlight bleed, ips glow, + more. The only thing that is monitor has is good colour gamut and response time but advertised 1ms is still marketing gimmick. I would say price also but it is 700usd not 500usd advertised when i checked the prices online. Also they don't even state the freesync range of this monitor. FAIL.

 

If you want a good review here's one:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/27gl850-b

[BoggerBoss]

On 8/1/2019 at 10:50 AM, MajorityHippo said:

So LTT has a new video out, "LG just made the Best Monitor of 2019 – 27GL850 Review" 

 

But the thing is Acer, has a 144Hz, IPS, Freesync, 1ms AND HDR400 monitor out, the 

Acer Nitro VG271UPbmiipx https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07P6S61TS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

Yeah. I got confused about this too... 

[Guspaz]

On 8/17/2019 at 9:17 PM, TnF said:

LMG should feel bad. Their review sucks. Almost all subjective testing, not actual measurements/numbers and no comparisons. Just sponsored by LG to make a video. I'm really disappointed by LG. Brightness sucks, contrast sucks, backlight bleed, ips glow, + more. The only thing that is monitor has is good colour gamut and response time but advertised 1ms is still marketing gimmick. I would say price also but it is 700usd not 500usd advertised when i checked the prices online. Also they don't even state the freesync range of this monitor. FAIL.

 

If you want a good review here's one:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/lg/27gl850-b

I got one of these monitors today. I've not had a chance to adjust/calibrate it, so kind of just first impressions stage.

 

Brightness is fine... Overkill, even, on max setting. It ships with the default setting of 35/100, which is just about right (maybe a bit too bright) for use when the sun is down or the curtains are closed. I tried setting it to 100/100 to see how bright it got and it was kind of blindingly bright. Might be a different matter if I had sunlight coming in.

 

Contrast ratio is... roughly the same as the Dell U2711 this replaced. So, not great, but not bad. Just kind of in the "OK" territory. I knew what I was getting into, and the Dell U2711 was IIRC around 830:1, so it doesn't strike me as problematic. You probably can't tell the difference in contrast ratio between it and another IPS panel. You certainly could between it and a VA panel, but those come with their own set of limitations. Uniformity, by eye (I have no actual testing tools) appears to be... mediocre to OK, but not distracting. It's not as good as the Dell was, in any event. There is also some sort of gap between the backlight and the LCD. It's a strange thing I've not seen before on a monitor, there's kind of a small band of dimness at the edges of the display, which gets wider as you get on more of an angle. The way the size changes, it makes it look like the backlight is half a centimeter behind the LCD panel, and by looking at a more extreme angle, you're seeing the inside wall of the panel assembly between the backlight and the LCD. Maybe this is normal for modern displays? Maybe it's because my Dell U2711 was a cold cathode backlight with big chonky bezels that would give room for the backlight to be a bit bigger than the LCD?

 

Backlight bleed is kind of the panel lottery with any monitor. Mine does not appear to have any. It does appear to have a fair bit of IPS glow, but that's kind of par for the course with any IPS. Backlight bleed is also something that can improve over the first few weeks of ownership, as the monitor heats up from use and thermal cycles and the pressures on the backlight change.

 

Colour gamut appears to be decent. Not quite as wide as the U2711 was (94% aRGB versus 88% aRGB, if memory serves?). There was a calibration report in the box, apparently for the sRGB preset. The U2711 had one in the box too, when I got it nearly a decade ago. Nearly all the settings are disabled if you set the LG to sRGB, leaving just brightness configurable. The overdrive gets locked to fast (which is the only setting you'd ever use anyhow), and since that's the factory calibrated preset, it's probably OK for most of the settings to be locked since they're pretty close to ideal anyhow. I'm not actually sure how to configure Windows for color yet. I ran the U2711 with its "Adobe RGB" preset and set Windows to Adobe RGB, but this is a DCI-P3 monitor, and Windows lacks a DCI-P3 color preset. LG's drivers for the display ship with a "27GL850.icm" file that is presumably the correct DC-P3 preset (or at least the portion this monitor supports), so I've set that right now, and I'll load it into photoshop. I still need to do some degree of calibration anyhow, if only to figure out which gamma/colour settings to put on the monitor itself. Maybe I'll grab a cheap colorimeter.

 

Response time is... good? Benchmarks from rtings and tftcentral show that, with overdrive on a sensible setting, it's the fastest IPS panel on the market, and faster than many (but definitely not all) TN panels. My primary point of comparison is the 60Hz U2711 (which didn't actually let you configure its overdrive setting, it was just always on), and the response time is certainly significantly faster than the U2711. Toms benchmarked the U2711 back in the day as having a black-to-white response time of 23ms, and tftcentral benchmarked the 27GL850 at 6.0 to 6.5ms (everybody uses g2g these days, but that Toms review from 2011 only reported black-to-white), so certainly a big improvement. I mean, 60Hz -> 144Hz is too.

 

Price is $500 USD. Not $700 USD. You must be looking at scalpers. I paid $699 CAD for the monitor, which works out to about $526 USD. That appears to be the Canadian MSRP. I actually had an order in at another store that was $46 CAD cheaper, but it was backordered and the U2711 backlight was failing, so I needed a replacement ASAP.

 

Freesync range is officially 48-144, but it supports LFC, so isn't it really 1-144Hz in practice?

 

EDIT: Brightness info from tftcentral:

Rated 100% brightness: 350 nit

Actual 100% brightness: 336 nit

Default 35% brightness: 160 nit

tftcentral 23% calibrated brightness: 120 nit

0% brightness: 55 nit