LG 32UL500-W - 32” UHD HDR10 Monitor with AMD FreeSync™

[cybereality]

So I just stumbled upon this monitor, the LG 32UL500-W, and it seems like an amazing kit for only $329.

32" 4K UHD resolution, FreeSync, HDR10 (not VESA certified), 10-bit color, DCI-P3 95%, low lag for a 60Hz panel.

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32ul500-w-4k-uhd-monitor

Sold out everywhere, but I was able to order from LG directly, looks like they still had inventory.

It was reviewed on DisplayNinja, but I couldn't find many other reviews or videos.

https://www.displayninja.com/lg-32ul500-review/

Interestingly, the FreeSync range is 40 - 60Hz, while most 4K panels only go down to 48. This doesn't sound like much, but it's a pretty big deal when you don't have the power to reach 60 fps solid.

Looks like it does not have LFC, so I guess I'll find out if that's a major issue or not. I've found that low fps is usually bad no matter what, so I'm not sure if LFC is a silver bullet anyway.

Was looking at some of the high refresh rate 4K monitors, and the prices were kinda crazy (and also hitting 60 fps is hard enough for 4K, I'd probably never be getting 120 fps+).

Anyone else think this is interesting? Hadn't even got on my radar but it does look like quite a nice package for so cheap.

 

[kasakka]

Displayninja is pure rubbish and not worth the click.

Interesting for an LG display is that this uses a VA panel. The HDR is probably not worth using in any way as there is no local dimming but at this price it looks alright.

 

[cybereality]

Yeah, I would prefer reading on RTINGS, but unfortunately this monitor wasn't reviewed there.

Not much on YouTube either, it looks like this monitor silently appeared about a month ago, but the reviews on Amazon were all 5 stars, which is a good sign.

I'm planning to use it for some light gaming (4K on older games or 1080p integer scaling for newer ones) and 4K video streaming.

Agreed that the HDR probably isn't great, but it might be okay at this price, at least to give some extra pop for Netflix in particular.

I do my serious gaming on this ultrawide anyhow, so the monitor doesn't have to be perfect and I didn't want to spend a fortune.

Hopefully it will live up to the marketing and glowing reviews on Amazon. One worry is the black smear on VA, but I'm willing to take another chance.

 

[cybereality]

Oh man. I decided to keep the Aorus monitor I bought and I'm trying to cancel this order.

Hopefully LG support can get back to me before it ships. It does look like a nice kit but I feel like 60Hz will be too big a downgrade.

 

[cybereality]

So I was able to cancel the order, but I wanted to test it out so I let it go through.

Unfortunately, LG is slow as balls to ship, I ordered 3 days ago and still no activity.

Decided to get the LG 32UK550-B from B&H, they were able to do 1 day shipping, should have it tomorrow.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1457459-REG/lg_32uk550_b_32_class_4k_uhd.html

Honestly, I think 60Hz is probably going to look like crap, but I could still use it for 4K Netflix.

If not, I'll just sell it or give to my little brother. Not sure why I bought so many monitors, hopefully I won't lose too much money in the exchange.

 

[MistaSparkul]

Well LCD monitors have so many compromises that I can understand why you go through so many just trying to find something that will satisfy you. I owned a 17" Sony Trinitron CRT that lasted me almost 10 years and was perfectly happy with it. While I haven't even been in the LCD game for 10 years yet, I've gone through far too many monitors trying to find something that I'm happy with, it's been quite a journey. Here's a list of monitors I have bought throughout the past 9 years:

Yamakasi Catleap
Asus VG248QE
Samsung U28D590D
Acer XB270HU
BenQ XL2730Z
Dell S2417DG
Asus MG24UQ
Samsung CHG70
Eizo FG2421
HP OMEN X35
LG 32GK850G
Asus XG248Q
Acer X27
Asus VG27BQ
HP OMEN X27

Even after all that, LCD's just can't satisfy me. I'm so damn glad LG released the CX OLED series as now my journey is over for a good while.

 

[cybereality]

To be honest, I never liked CRTs that much (I mean, you deal with it when that was all there was).

I guess my eyes are sensitive, because I would very visibly see flicker on CRTs (I used to run 85Hz) and it caused me eye strain I lived with every day.

I couldn't believe when I got my first LCD the eye strain problems stopped. I can also easily see refresh differences up to 240Hz (haven't tried higher) so maybe I'm unique in that regard.

But yeah, you're right, it's all a compromise. I'm hoping this 4K screen is okay, I do like the idea of 32" for media viewing (27" is kind of small). Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[cybereality]

So I got the monitor (actually the LG 32UK550-B, which uses the same panel).

Sadly, it's not that great. I guess I should have known, but the reviews on Amazon seemed positive.

I'm going to sell it and use the Aorus for now until something new comes out.

Here are some photos, but honestly the pictures here look better than in real life.

So the good:

- Resolution is obviously nice, it's 4K.
- No noticeable black smear or trails or anything. Good QC, no dead pixels or visible bleeding.
- 60 Hz is possibly acceptable for gaming, looks better than 60 fps on a HFR monitor.
- 32 inch is a decent size, definitely had a big screen look on my desk.
- Casing is clean black, very classy look that would be fine for work.
- Supports 10-bit color RGB in UHD res.

The bad:

- Monitor is really dim. Even at 100% brightness it's not bright at all.
- Colors had a very washed out look, either with HDR on or off.
- HDR is really bad on this panel, even compared to HDR 400 kits I've used.
- FreeSync flickering, which is a problem with many VA panels.
- 60 Hz may be okay for console gaming, but is too low for me.
- UHD is really intensive for PC gaming, hard to hit 60 fps.

Besides 60 Hz not looking that smooth (I've been on HFR for a while) my 5700 XT wasn't holding up outside of old games. I had to lower settings to medium or low, which honestly looked worse than 1080p ultra settings.

Especially without anti-aliasing, you could see jagged edges at 4K, where 1080p with max settings there were no edges (but obviously a softer look). Even in old games like HL2 and L4D (where I could use 4K and max settings), I wasn't blown away by the resolution increase.

Ultimately, I don't think I like it. Would probably be okay for work maybe, but for gaming or even video watching, there are better monitors than this for not much more money.

 

[Ors]

- No noticeable black smear or trails or anything. Good QC, no dead pixels or visible bleeding.

Hm, that would be actually good news for once. I have an older LG 32UD59-B and this is the worst VA for black smear I ever owned I will be waiting for high refresh panels to come out (most are rumored with an early next year launch).

Regarding 4k, yeah current cards will struggle but it is bound to change soon. You always have the option to drop the resolution though, new cards having integer scaling you could play in 1080p on this no problem until cards get powerful enough for 4k. Granted for that a 5k panel would be better in this size (to get 1440p integer scaled), but I did play some games in 1080p on mine (no integer scaling with my obsolete GTX 660) and was passable still in non text heavy titles.