LG 34UC79G, a 34-inch FreeSync curved monitor at 144 Hz

Presentation

With the 34UC79G monitor, LG targets players. This model has a 34-inch curved IPS panel with a WQHD definition of only 2,560 x 1,080 px, quite limited for everyday tasks like surfing the Internet or office automation, but very effective for gaming. The screen can reach a refresh rate of 144 Hz. In addition, it is FreeSync / AdaptiveSync compatible, thus preventing image tearing and micro-slowing. The LG 34UC79G monitor is sold for around € 700.

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Ergonomics

For its gaming model, LG leaves aside the white plastic that usually dresses its monitors for good quality black plastic. Target gamer requires, LG could not help but add a little touch of red.

The foot is adjustable in height by 12 cm and the screen tilts by -5 ° to + 20 °. As often with LG monitors, the LG 34UC79G skips the rotation and the pivot allowing the transition to portrait mode.

At the back, the lower part of the monitor is made of shiny black plastic: a coating that is quite sensitive to fingerprints. The connectors assembled on the back of the monitor consist of a DisplayPort input, two HDMI 2.0 inputs (HDCP 2.2 compatible) and two USB 3.0 ports, one of which supports fast charging (1.5 A). At the audio level, this monitor offers headphone output and output to PC speakers, but it does not include speakers.

The joystick is always the most pleasant way to navigate the settings. Pressing the button allows you to change source, mode (presets) and access the settings (brightness, contrast, sharpness, overdrive, FreeSync, gamma, temperature, etc.). The menus are readable and navigation is done quickly. On this point, it is a flawless for LG.

The definition of only 2,560 x 1,080 px limits comfort in office use. At less than 80 cm, the texts appear coarse and the pixels are visible. Beyond this distance, the resolution is less disturbing. In comparison, a 34-inch monitor displaying a UWQHD definition (3,440 x 1,440 px) offers good readability with a distance of approximately 60 cm. On the other hand, this definition of 2,560 x 1,080 is quite effective for games. It allows you to activate the most advanced effects and maintain a good display frequency essential to make the best use of the screen - which can display 144 images per second. Picture By Picture mode allows you to display two sources side by side, switch between the two and quickly switch between them. With the brightness pushed to the maximum (238 cd / m²), the LG 34UC79G consumes 46 watts. This value is reduced to 32 watts once the brightness is set to 150 cd / m² on our test pattern. The relative consumption is therefore only 77 W / m². It is one of the least greedy monitors in our comparison (100 W / m² on average). At minimum, the monitor consumes 23 watts for 85 cd / m².

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Colors and contrast

Default: average temperature at 7,650 K.

Default: gamma curve at 2.6.

Default: Average Delta E at 6.6.

By default, the LG 34UC79G monitor offers a rather mediocre rendering. The average temperature exceeds 7,600 K, very far from the 6,500 K reference. The gamma curve lacks stability with an average which soars to 2.6, far from the expected 2.2. Finally, the colors are far from being faithful. Delta E - measured at 6.6 - is much higher than 3, a threshold below which the human eye can no longer tell the difference between shades.

Manual setting: average temperature at 6,530 K.

Manual adjustment: gamma curve at 2.6.

Manual setting: Average Delta E at 5.4.

Switching to custom settings allows you to set the temperature on hot and thus stabilize the curve around 6,500 K. We lowered the brightness to 37 to obtain a white at 150 cd / m² and set the gamma to 0 to make descend the curve a little, but the average remains at 2.6. The Delta E drops slightly (5.4), but the colors are still far from being faithful. We did not manage to get better values with the proposed presets (cinema, game, etc.).

Calibrated: average temperature at 6,680 K.

Calibrated: gamma curve at 2.2.

Calibrated: Average Delta E at 1.4.

Only the calibration of the monitor using a probe can tame this 34 inch panel. The temperature and gamma curves are perfect while the Delta E is just below 3 (2.9). As always, the calibrated results are given for information only and are not taken into account in the rating on the screen. You can still download the color profile from Focus Numérique.

Equipped with an IPS panel, the LG monitor is fishing due to its lack of contrast. Black only goes down to 0.12 cd / m², which translates into a contrast of less than 1210: 1. It is still at the top of the basket when it comes to IPS monitors. Only the best of them exceed a rate of 1,300: 1. VA technology always offers the best contrast and the best VA screens can exceed 3000: 1 (Eizo Fortis FG2421).

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Reactivity

The LG 34UC79G monitor does not use pulse width modulation (PWM) to adjust its brightness. The PWM plays on a variation of intensity of the LEDs in a cyclic way, which can be perceived as flickering by certain sensitive people. In some rare cases, PWM can cause eyestrain and headaches. So there is no such problem on this monitor.

The LG monitor manages FreeSync between 50 and 144 Hz and it therefore works optimally when the graphics card sends between 50 and 144 images per second: a very wide range which is suitable for many games and graphics cards. In the operating range, fluidity is at the rendezvous and the image does not suffer from tearing problems or jerks (micro-stuttering). The monitor also embeds an ULM (Ultra Low Motion Blur) mode supposed to improve the sharpness of moving objects thanks to a scan of the backlight, but this system has not really convinced us on this model. The image is not necessarily sharper and we lose fluidity. We recommend using the FreeSync with the overdrive to the maximum.

The reactivity is correct for an IPS panel with an average persistence measured at 11 ms. However, it is not as good as other IPS monitors dedicated to players (8 ms for the AOC Agon AG271QG) or as models equipped with a TN panel (3.5 ms for the BenQ Zowie XL2540). This reactivity is also behind compared to that measured on the last IPS monitors (10 ms). The overdrive (response time) is here set to "high". This setting does not cause reverse ghosting.

Finally, the delay in the display is imperceptible (9.9 ms), so there is almost no lag between the sending of the image by the graphics card and its display on the screen.

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Conclusion

This LG monitor is struggling to impose itself against the AOC Agon AG352QCX whose VA 200 Hz panel is larger, more contrasted, more reactive and better calibrated. The LG 34UC79G still benefits from a slightly more sober design and a slightly more affordable price.

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