LG Electronics IPS Digital Cinema 4K Monitor 31MU97-B 31.0-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor

The LG 31MU97 monitor is glorious.I bought it because I just setup a new computer system to be my main machine at home. My computing activities are heavily focused on graphic art, photography, publishing and presentations, and general computing. For me, a high resolution monitor has always been a foremost consideration in my choice of system and components, for laptop and desktop as well. I always choose the highest resolution monitor available among those from reputable manufacturers and with good user ratings. This LG 31MU97 seemed like an ideal fit for my new machine.If you read the negative reviews, there might be some legitimate gripes if someone received a defective unit, but most of the complaints I read seem to be related to compatibility and specification issues. This means you need to understand what this monitor can do and what kind of graphics card and cabling are needed to drive it. Do your homework.A 4096x2160 pixel monitor needs a graphics card that can support that high resolution, and you need to connect the monitor to the card with cables that are certified for 4K. Such items are easy to find, but you have to make sure that you get the correct items. When I put my new computer system together, I used an NVidia GeForce GTX 980Ti 6GB graphics board. I did my homework, and that was one of the few cards capable of supporting true 4K. The industry seems to be moving toward 4K, so within a few years, a big (high res) monitor like this one and a compatible board might be relatively commonplace, but for now, do not assume that any old video card that comes with a cheap floor model computer is going to work. (And by the way, to see what would happen, I did try this monitor out with my laptop which has an NVidia MXM Geforce GTX 860M 4GB card which is not explicitly rated as compatible. It worked flawlessly, but do not assume that your current system or video card will support this monitor.) And, not only must the card be able to drive the high res display, but if you are a gamer or video enthusiast (which I am not), you need a card that can drive that big display at a high frame rate. Furthermore, there are generic HDMI and Display Port cables, and then there are those rated for 4K. If you get the wrong cable, it will not work. The specs and need for proper cabling is in the 31MU97 manual which can be downloaded from the LG site. Ignore these issues at your own peril. In my case, the monitor and computer needed about 12 feet of cabling to connect. The Display Port cable provided in the box was too short for my setup. Amazon has plenty of 4K cables for sale, and after buying one, I was connected with no problem.Also, note that the monitor has an onscreen setup menu. There are a few essential settings, such as "DP" and "DP EQ" which are set to default but might need to be set to different values for your graphics card (covered in the manual). Set the parameters properly, and you will love what you see. Set them incorrectly, and you will be one of those people writing an erroneous poor review.If you have set up your entire system properly, I cannot envision anyone being unhappy about what appears on this screen. For the first time, I am seeing my high resolution photos appear almost as they truly are (my main camera is a Nikon D800 which gives images that are 7360x4912 pixels). The massive screen real estate allows you to open and spread out many windows at once. I can comfortable tape up, side by side, three sheets of normal letter paper (8.5 x 11 inches) on the screen with room to spare, meaning that you can use Word or Writer or InDesign or whatever, and work on three pages at once at actual size. This monitor brings an entirely new dimension to your computer based tasks, which once you have tasted of it, it is hard to work on any other machine or screen.Color is excellent. Right out of the box it was good but not perfect, so calibration was desirable. At factory default settings, it was too bright and overly contrasty and overly saturated, especially the blues. I used an X-Rite i1 Display Pro color calibrator to create icc profiles in the computer so that the graphics card and OS (Windows 10) can make the color corrections. I read recent reviews about the current crop of color correction software which implied that the color correction software provide by LG was inferior to the i1 application and another popular utility Argyll. I tried all three, and for me, the i1 software and Argyll distorted colors with unsightly results - not awful or incompetent, but distorted from reality (not to impugn these reputable products, but they did not fare well with this monitor). So, I then used the included LG software, begrudgingly because I expected the worse, but the results were fabulous. I used the i1 calibrator as the hardware, and the LG software read it and made the corrections - simple and accurate. Photographic imagery on this monitor now looks the same as on all of my other calibrated monitors, and looking like real life.Speakers. The product description on Amazon states "With two internal 5W speakers and the MAXXAUDIO functions, there is no need for separate high-end monitoring speakers." However, the LG product manual and webpages make little if any mention of speakers, and from the outside, you cannot see speakers nor even a speaker grille. So I wondered all along until I was fully setup if there really were speakers or not. There are. If you are an audiophile, these are not the speakers you want. I have attached a 5-speaker system to my new machine for surround sound music audio. But, the speakers in the monitor are actually quite good, nothing to criticize whatsoever. If all you need sound for is watching TV or DVD's or YouTube, or playing internet radio or news channels, these truly should be the only speakers you need, and you will not be disappointed. They connect via USB, and Windows readily recognizes them after install the unit via the 31MU97 installation disk.The only thing I have found so far that I would fix is the joystick under the lower edge of the device, and the absence of a dedicated on-off switch and on-off indicator light. The one joystick serves all purposes for on-off and for menu navigation and selection. It is clumsy to use, and the company's efforts to create a design paradigm in which nothing interferes with the smooth detail-free front bezel is detracted by the non-obvious and clumsy nature of that joy-button. But like anything else, you get used to it.Here is an odd thing that is not the monitor's fault, but for which the company could engineer a fix. When Windows 10 sleeps or powers down and then starts up again, if the monitor is not on, then Windows reverts the desktop display to a default VGA monitor, and all of your open windows are downsized and shuffled toward the left upper corner. It is an utter aggravation, well documented in many blogs, and one which Microsoft has made no effort to fix so far. Note that this only occurs when connected to Display Port, not HDMI. If you do not need high frame rate video, then you can connect the monitor and computer via HDMI and be okay. But if you want the highest specs for video and audio, then DP is needed, but you will then have this nutty problem. This is not the fault of the monitor, rather the DP specification and how Windows reads it. There is one company that offers a hardware dongle to put inline with the DP cable that is supposed to stop this behavior. I have not yet bought it, but I probably will. Since there evidently is a hardware fix, LG might do its customers a courtesy by having a hardware fix in the unit, or supply a dongle with the monitor (the 31MU97 box does include DP and HDMI cables). As a practical matter, if you do not want your Win 10 desktop scrambled, then do not ever power down the monitor. Likewise, do not set up a Windows power scheme that turns off the monitor. When the computer sleeps or is turned off, the monitor will automatically put itself into power saving mode which is okay. If you do power down the monitor, make sure ALWAYS to turn off the monitor after the computer is off, and then turn on the monitor before you power on the computer. This is one reason why a front panel power-on indicator on the monitor would be nice, so you can see that you need to power up before turning on the computer.One negative one-star reviewer made a bunch of silly points such as the aspect ratio is too narrow. This is a true 4K monitor. It is 4096 x2160 pixels, a 1.9 ratio, or almost twice the width as height. This is in distinction to the much more prevalent UHD which is 3840x2160 (1.78 ratio). The 31MU97 monitor gives you 7% more width, or 552,960 more pixels than a UHD monitor. It is like building out a deck or a sun room from your living room - you get more space, room for more furniture or that pool table you always wanted. With so much available screen, you have more room to play, and you are not obligated to stretch everything to full screen.So, take the negative reviews with a grain of salt. MAKE SURE you get a compatible graphics card and proper cabling, and you will be rewarded. I got my first computer in 1987 (an Epson Equity II 286, 12 MHz, 2 Mb - imagine that!). Thirty years ago, hardware like this was an unimaginable fantasy. Since then, I have bought countless computers and peripherals, and the LG 31MU97 so far has been by far one of my most favorite, most bang-for-the-buck, most I-sure-am-happy-I-bought-that purchases I have ever made.June 1, 2016

[3rd, probably final edit]LG has sent a tech out, i've tried four different types of mini displayport cables, including (i think) the startech 1.2 cables (i'm receiving conflicting reports from B&H and startech about the cables i purchased.)nothing makes these monitors work with my mac pro. they glitch, shut down, and cause headaches constantly. after a period of time they'll work and be stable for hours, but i can't be having monitors shot off and glitch when clients are at my office for playback.LG's tech support specifically told me he only has access to the manual and google, which of course doesn't help. LG doesn't seem to be too interested in helping me out beyond sending the (third party) tech out, who wanted to take my two 2-week old monitors "in for repair". i don't have time for this, so i'm returning them.this has been a horribly frustrating and overall disappointing experience. apparently the technology for these monitors isn't there yet (at least in my experience) but the most frustrating aspect is that some people are apparently having NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER with the exact same setup i have, which just makes it worse.beware.[2nd edit - i think i'm losing my mind]i've changed my review a few times as my experience has varied in the 5 days since purchasing these. there are 5-star moments, and there are 1-star moments. so i've split the difference at 3.neither of the two 31MU97 monitors work very well with my new mac pro. it's as simple as that. after getting just about a day of trouble-free performance, this morning we're back to BOTH MONITORS exhibiting constant glitching, electronic burping and static, and turning off. i reseat cables, reboot, rearrange buses, reset the monitors, nothing fixes this, and it's relentless and constant when it happens.after research online, nobody seems to know if this is an issues with apple's SST implementation, the monitors, or god knows what else.i go back and forth between being patient and quite happy when they're stable (which can be for a full day or more with no problems) and wanting to return them during the times when i literally can not get them to stay on and not glitch.the inconsistency and lack of a definite cause is the most frustrating part.i'd recommend caution if using these with mac...i'm giving them 48 more hours as i await new more expensive displayport cables, but it looks like these might be going back, which sucks.[1st edit after some juggling]i've updated my review from 2 stars to 4 after juggling some ports and reorganising my mac pro a bit.i'm still seeing glitches and errors, but after changing the TB buses the monitors were on and reallocating bandwidth to audio devices and such, things have improved quite a bit, and the stability has increased.in truth, i love these monitors. the size of the type i'm entering in to this review box is idiotically small (i realise i can change scaling in the settings, but i am liking the screen real estate as-is.)i can fit so much on the screen. premiere, logic pro, cinema4d, after effects, nuke... everything is MASSIVE in scale and i can have more tools and windows open than you can shake a stick at.it would be 5 stars if it weren't for the slight issues with glitching. i realise these things push the envelope in terms of displayport, but next time just use a better envelope!ORIGINAL REVIEW:i'm quite depressed. ordered a pair of these to go with my brand new mac pro with dual D700 Firepro cards so that i can edit RED footage in its native resolution.they don't work.i can't get through an hour without one (or both) of the displays glitching, turning off, emitting horrible burping static sounds from the speakers, or otherwise simply not functioning.in the few moments when both displays work, it's gorgeous. colours are great, resolution is beautiful.sadly, however, my work requires that my monitors function properly, and these seem incapable of that.to be fair, displayport is just about maxed out with the 4096x2160 resolution at 50hz that these suckers take, but if the tech can't handle the throughput, perhaps that should be indicated.i'm giving them a couple more days because i really want them to work, but it's not looking good - a return may, sadly, be in my future. be EXTREMELY cautious if you're planning to use these with the new mac pro!

I bought two of these monitors and they were great for color and all aspects. However, just after the warranty was up, I had a power interruption in our house. Both monitors died. No other electronic device in the house was harmed. I had a surge protector installed ahead of the monitors. They were black and would not power up. I sent them to a LG repair depot. It cost me more than $400 each to get them repaired. They both worked for about a year after that until I had another power interruption. Both died a second time. I am an electronics engineer and this monitor has a serious design flaw and should have been recalled and replaced. I have since replaced the monitors with an ASUS monitor. Never again!

Excellent monitor...use it for photo editing etc and it has really made a huge difference over my earlier monitor (full HD). 100% Adobe RGB and SRGB coverage. Excellent picture clarity.