Christmas has come early to GamerzDownunder.com
Straight after I do the unboxing live stream, I quickly give the misses and kids a kiss and say 'Sorry guys .... dads got to go to work....." they haven’t seen me since.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the video of the unboxing, I recommend it.(Click Here) The 10-minute-long video shows how quickly and easily the monitor is connected to the stand. (I literally timed myself and I got it well under 30 seconds) no longer do you need screwdrivers etc. It’s a plug and play type brace and then a final tightens up at the end which still can be done by hand.
As I’m doing the unboxing, I start to giggle at something that some might not realise, But all the cables, power pack etc. are white. It’s funny how the circle is once again being driven. I remember in the 90s it was white and then black was the next best thing. Some companies have swapped around with grey over the years but the primary two are white and black. The small things amuse small minds, I guess.
As I start to carry the monitor into the gaming room, ideas and thoughts racing through my head about which game to play first, what do I connect it to ? PS4 pro ? Xbox one X ? or the trusty PC ? I get to my computer / gaming desk and it dawns on me. I’m going to need a new desk to fit this monitor on there. After some frantic reshuffling of screens, I give one of my old 22inch monitors the boot. I feel a pang of pain for a fallen comrade, but the pain fades rapidly as I look at its replacement. 31.5 inch of pure glory. While I discuss the size of this screen, I have to reiterate the healthy weight of it. Unlike the old days where tv's and monitors were deeper than they were wider, this is like carrying a bag of feathers. A gigantic bag of feathers at that. With the stand, it weighs in at the 7kg mark. Which is nothing in the scheme of things. The Balancing of the monitor on the stand also makes it very easy to turn on its side but that’s something I will touch on more in the PC section of the review.
My set up at the moment is -
27inch 4k LED screen on the right, running console gaming
22inch LED screen on the left running pc gaming
Then my 18.5 Alienware laptop that sits far left for when I don’t want to play the pc
CONSOLE REVIEW
My console gaming ranges from re-released consoles IE PlayStation one mini , super Nintendo mini etc. All the way to the ps4 pro and Xbox one x. Which brings about my one and only CON of this monitor to date..... 1 HDMI input!!! It's ok because I have a HDMI splitter for all my consoles, so I don’t have to plug and unplug constantly. But in this day and age can’t we have 2 x HDMI inputs ? Are screens so dedicated to computers these days ? Now I know you will all be yelling at me what about the Thunderbolt 3! I know, I know. But us older retro style gamerz are hard to teach new tricks ;)
I look at my gaming library and think about what’s going to give the best results or push this monitor ? For the console side of gaming I choose
- Spiderman
- God of war
- Call of duty modern warfare (remaster just released)
- Need for speed heat
- Death stranding
- Horizon zero dawn
later on, I read some questions in regards to the adjustment of blacks on the screen. It pains me to do it but I want to see for myself, so I chuck in days gone which is also a PS4 exclusive. The game was too dark for my likening originally, but under these circumstances it suits perfectly. The colours are astronomical. The black is pitch black but its controlled darkness. No longer is everything just blurred dark, in certain patches there is light shining and it looks true to its design. the 27inch monitor I’m using is an 4k LED monitor that’s not very old at all, but I realise its missing one little detail. HDR. This is such a phenomenal difference. the colours are of such crispness that a simple review can't do enough for it. I need to replace said 27 inch monitor ASAP.I wonder if the misses will allow it ? actually come to think of it not just the misses but the computer desk probably won’t allow it either, unless I turn one of these new monitors sidewards .... a simple feature taken advantage of on the PC more than a console, I guess.
Spiderman, God of war and even Horizon zero dawn are all very similar games. The graphics are superb, sound is crisp. Cinematics are so blended I still don’t know when the cinematic ends and the gaming starts. Which is even harder now with the new monitor. Some scenes in horizon zero dawn give me chills. The design of this game reflected on the monitor is outstanding. I put on my 'complaining' hat and watch for latency issues, blurring, slight jumps in picture and my eyes don’t pick up on any.
Next up is Call of duty. After an hour or so worth of gaming I realise I’m supposed to be doing a review not shooting down all the Christmas noobs and move on to my next game. I'm still wearing my 'complaining" hat but so far nothing.
Need for speed steps up to the plate, out of all the selected games I thought either a shooter or a racing game would show any flaws in this monitor. Still nothing. Time is running out and my library is starting to run dry with games that I thought would show me some problems.
I finally decide to put on Death Stranding. Out of my whole gaming library this game is more of a movie, the cinematics heavily outweigh the actual gameplay. Which is perfect in this situation. Just like all the other games I have played so far this one doesn’t let me down, at one point I look around and my partner is watching over my shoulder. For a non-gamer girl she’s intrigued by the graphics and even comments about the picture quality.
Well LG so far so good on the console department but can it handle pc ?
I jump back on LG's website to read up a bit more in regards to their projected figures of this screen. If we are getting to the exacts, they say
Launching the new LG UltraGear range is a demonstration of LGs confidence and excitement about the Australian gaming market.
The new UltraGear range includes three NVIDIA-tested and G-Sync® compatible monitors which deliver a one millisecond response time, combining high performance with superb picture quality and fast refresh rate.
LG INTRODUCES ITS FIRST 1ms PERFORMANCE GAMING MONITORS
Six new LG UltraGearTM monitors launched in Australia as part of new gaming range
19 November 2019 – Australian gamers will be able to get their hands on six of LG’s fastest gaming monitors from today, as part of the local launch of the new LG UltraGear range.
The new UltraGear range includes three NVIDIA G-Sync® Certified and G-Sync Compatible monitors, with a one millisecond response time to deliver superb picture quality and fast refresh rate. Overall, six new UltraGear models will be available from Australian retailers from this week – including curved widescreen and Full HD IPS gaming models.
The 38” GL950G Nvidia G-Sync Certified model is amongst the fastest monitors in the LG line-up. It is officially certified by NVIDIA®, and it can utilize the premium quality refresh rate function offered by NVDIA. The model also features a 21:9 curved UltraWide QHD display and VESA DisplayHDR™ 400.
This 27” GL850-B and 34” GL750-B G-Sync Compatible models impress with the excellent picture quality LG's advanced IPS displays are well known for, producing lifelike Full HD images with rich, natural colours and consistent contrast across a wide viewing angle. With HDR10 support and smooth visuals thanks to NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible and Adaptive-Sync, these monitors deliver a great balance of performance and price for serious gamers.
“With a wide choice of models that prioritise performance, picture quality and out-of-this-world gaming, more Australian gamers are seeing LG as an innovation leader in monitors,” said Russ Prendergast, Marketing Manager IT at LG Electronics Australia. “Launching the new UltraGear range is a demonstration of our confidence and excitement about the Australian gaming market.”
-but wait there’s more-
Other gamer-specific settings on the new LG UltraGear range include:
Dynamic Action Sync - Allows you to see the action as it occurs in real time, so you can react immediately and get the edge over your competitors;
Black Stabiliser Mode – Brightens dark areas and gives you better visibility in dark scenes to help you find the enemy or game objectives in the dark;
HDR 10 - To better realise the vision of content creators the LG 27”GL850-B, LG 27” GL650F-B and LG 34” GL750-B monitors are compatible with HDR10 to represent details in bright and dark parts of high dynamic range content.
VESA DisplayHDR 400 - The LG 32” GK850F-B, 34” GK950F-B and 38” GL950G monitors support VESA DisplayHDR™ 400, meaning users will experience incredible visual immersion when viewing the latest HDR movies, images and games.
Game modes – select models are optimized for each genre including FPS and RTS are directly linked to gamers’ enjoyment of various game genres, and they also offer the perfect experience in games combining multiple aspects of different genres.
Crosshair Feature – Helps enhance accuracy in first-person shooter games; and,
Sphere Lighting and eye-catching design which enhances your overall gaming experience, and sleek yet subtle lighting completes your gaming setup.
Ok then..... if I had a degree in computer science or engineering I might be able to understand a lot of the specifics in regards to the colour ranges etc. But alas I am not, I am a simple gamer.
I could literally sit here and rattle off all the scientific side of the review, like viewing angles for horizontal , vertical. refresh rates, latency etc. etc. But we at Gamerz Downunder are not scientists, we are not professional labs . We are gamerz, so I thought I would stick to what we know and enjoy which is gaming. ( we have to enjoy it we have been doing it for nearly 30 years) truthfully a review doesn’t do this screen justice.
while I read some concerns in regards to dark colours you can also download updates etc. for drivers so LG are constantly staying in front of the game with this new range. I personally didn’t have any issues with the blacks, nor did the other admin of the page. ( the only problem we had was sneaking past our wives / girlfriends the newest monitors )
After many many hours I finally switch the HDMI over to the PC, now’s the real test. The computer games I decide to test it out on are
- Counter strike
- League of legends
- Warcraft 3 frozen throne ( new beta )
- World of warcraft
- The Witcher 3: wild hunt
- Battlefield V
- Assassin's creed odyssey
- Forza horizon 4
Just like the above gaming I try to go through my library and hand pick out games that I feel like are going to push this thing to its boundaries. Games that are known to be graphics heavy. Especially Motorsport and FPS games where you need that latency and refresh rates.
After a few days worth of gaming I realise that Gamerz Downunder's Christmas party has arrived. What better opportunity to put the gaming room through its paces and see what the other Admin and friends all say. One in particular is an ex professional league of legends and street fighter V player, or as I know him. My older brother. It doesn’t take him long to bring his tower over, connect it up to the monitor and claim rights to the chair. Some background info on our gaming relationship, I play a lot more casually than he does. So normally when he comes over, I try to convince him to connect our arcade sticks to my 65inch 4k LED tv, but he despises it. I had never noticed, but the input lag was causing a slight delay where he could not frame count and pull off his combos in the game. Works well for myself not too much for the ex-professional who’s gaming ego is getting pushed. Now with LG's new addition to the gaming room I can see the joy on his face once again. Mine not so much, he's back counting frames again so I suggest changing to a different game. By the end of the day and the party is over he stands up and asks if Santa got him the monitor for Christmas. I reply back saying Santa must still be at LG's place because he only had time to deliver one this year. By the end of the party I realise casual, part time, full time gamers, ex professionals all give the nod of approval towards the screen. Finally, I kick the brother out and sit back down.
Even I don’t want to walk away from this piece of brilliance. No, I can’t even call it a piece. More like Chunk of brilliance in the computer monitor world. This screen is an absolute beast. I can only heavily recommend if you’re going to be sneaking one into your partners stocking for Christmas then I would be buying a very large stocking. But all jokes aside this monitor is top tier goodness, any gamerz dream would come true waking up to this thing on their front doorstep delivered by Santa.
I would love to keep typing but I must admit. I have to go do some more gaming !
Thanks for reading the review guys and girls and if you liked what you see jump over to our page and give us a heads up.
Also, a massive shout out to LG Australia for giving us this opportunity. It is Much appreciated and we look forward to working more with them in the future.
Thanks, gamerz and just remember
Gamerz Gotta Game , and It will never be game over !
written by Steven Dalzell
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