LG Unveils 32UK550: 31.5 Inch 4K Display with DCI-P3, HDR10, & FreeSync for $500
by Anton Shilov on September 28, 2018 12:00 PM EST
LG has introduced a new 31.5-inch monitor aimed at the midrange market. Dubbed the 32UK550-B, it's an Ultra-HD display that supports HDR10, covers 95% of the DCI-P3 color space, and features AMD’s FreeSync dynamic refresh rate tech. The unit appears to be LG’s first HDR-capable large-screen LCD in a sub-$500 price band. For its initial announcement LG focused on Japan, but I have no doubt we'll eventually see for sale in other countries as well.
The 32UK550-B is based on a VA panel with a native 3840×2160 resolution. The panel can reproduce 1.07 billion colors over 95% of the DCI-P3 color space, or alternatively it can hit 100% of the sRGB color gamut. As an added bonus, the monitor comes factory-calibrated. The panel features a 300 nits typical brightness, a 3000:1 contrast ratio, a 4 ms GtG response time, a 60 Hz refresh rate, and your VA-standard 178°/178° horizontal/vertical viewing angles.
The monitor also supports HDR10, AMD’s FreeSync dynamic refresh rate technology with a 40 – 60 Hz range, and LG’s Super Resolution+ upscaling tech. It's also worth noting that the display features LF’s Black Stabilizer (increases brightness of dark scenes in games) and Dynamic Action Sync (bypasses internal processing to reduce input lag) modes for gaming, so it looks like LG is also aiming the monitor at casual gamers.
When it comes to input/output capabilities, the 32UK550-B is equipped with two HDMI 2.0a ports, as well as one DisplayPort 1.2 input. All of the display inputs support HDCP 2.2, which of course is required by most major services to watch Ultra-HD and/or HDR10 content. Meanwhile the monitor has two 5 W speakers and a headphone output for audio, however you won't find any USB ports.
| Specifications of the LG 32UK550-B Display | |
| 32UK550-B | |
| Panel | 31.5" VA |
| Native Resolution | 3840 × 2160 |
| Maximum Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Response Time | 4 ms |
| Brightness | 300 cd/m² (typical) |
| Contrast | 3000:1 |
| Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical |
| HDR | HDR10 |
| Dynamic Refresh Rate | AMD FreeSync (at 40 ~ 60 Hz) |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.1816 mm² |
| Pixel Density | 140 ppi |
| Display Colors | 1.07 billion |
| Color Gamut Support | DCI-P3: 95% sRGB: 100% |
| Stand | Tilt (5~15°), height (110 mm) adjustable |
| Inputs | 1 × DisplayPort 1.2 2 × HDMI 2.0a HDCP 2.2 |
| USB Hub | - |
| Audio | 5 W × 2 audio out port |
| Launch Price | ~$500 (not confirmed by LG) |
Looking at LG's broader lineup, the company has offered sub-$500 31.5-inch 4K displays in its lineup for a while now. For example, the company has been selling its 32UD60-B monitor for around $500 since early 2018. Unlike the flagship 32UD99-W and 32UK950-W, LG’s inexpensive 31.5-inch Ultra-HD LCDs do not use IPS panels, but rely on the VA technology. In the meantime, the 32UK550-B is LG’s first reasonably priced large 4K monitor to support the HDR10 transport format. With that said, while the monitor can take an HDR signal, its 300 nits brightness is barely enough for a quality HDR experience. But at least the tech is supported on paper, right?
LG Japan will start sales of the 32UK550-B display on October 11 with an MSRP of ¥55,000 w/o tax ($485). Considering the fact that PC hardware is usually a bit more expensive in Japan, I'd expect the monitor to cost around $500 in other countries. In the meantime, LG offers its sans-HDR VA-based 32UD60-B for around $530 in the U.S.
Related Reading:
- LG Develops ‘Nano IPS’ LCD, Unveils 32UK950 4K Display with DCI-P3, HDR600, TB3
- LG Announces the 5K UltraWide 34WK95U: A 'Nano IPS' Monitor with a HDR600 Badge
- LG Unveils UltraGear 34GK950 34-Inch Curved Gaming Displays with Nano-IPS
- LG Announces 32UD99: 4K IPS Display with 95% DCI-P3, HDR and USB-C
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
28 Comments
View All Comments
HardwareDufus - Friday, September 28, 2018 - link
I'd love it if this monitor had a touch interface as well. Seriously. Although I primarily use a keyboard and mouse, touch would be great for development work and testing of the HMI/SCADA development work that I do. My eyes are no longer appreciating my dual 24" monitors.... I need to go up to dual 32".tokyojerry - Saturday, September 29, 2018 - link
Curiously, are there stand along monitors with touch interface?I just ordered this monitor (Amazon Japan)
DanNeely - Monday, October 1, 2018 - link
Ones at the level of high end consumer displays are either rare to non-existent. Not an exhaustive search, but other than a 55" 4k model and a $833 27" 1440p display Newegg doesn't have anything higher than 1080p. The 1440p one has a stand that will let it lay almost flat to use it as a drawing surface for art type functions.Using a touchscreen at arms length is even more awkward than just above the keyboard like in a laptop; combined with the cost of making a large monitor touch capable being significantly more than a small laptop screen it's a mostly empty niche; instead what you mostly get are assorted cheap displays for making kiosks of various types.
Easel mode drawing displays are the one semi exception, but being marketed at artists they've got somewhat different priorities than gaming displays. The biggest one is that color accuracy trumps everything else. OTOH as long as it can be done without impeding that low latency and faster refresh rates are beneficial as well; so the former isn't generally decent and the latter will probably trickle in over time. (At least to the 120/144hz level; the only gaming displays at 240 are TN, which is a general no go for anything where color matters and pushing the refresh rate that high has reportedly resulted in colors that are awful even for TN.) Variable sync doesn't really do anything needed though (drawing shouldn't be GPU limited); so unless it comes along for free as an eventual standard feature for the controller chip probably not.
Unfortunately for HardwareDufus; that means that if he needs a touch based test screen for work it's probably going to have to be seperate from his big high end displays. I do my dev work on a laptop and just use its screen for local touch testing; if that's not enough or he's using a desktop I'd recommend an inexpensive 1080p display just for touch UI testing.
RSAUser - Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - link
I quite dislike touch on PC's, I'd rather not have it and not have to pay extra for a feature I didn't want while it would probably be detrimental to the display.darkchazz - Friday, September 28, 2018 - link
Is nvidia ever going to support VESA Adaptive Sync?This is getting ridiculous. Monitors are coming out left and right with freesync support. Meanwhile the gsync options are very limited, expensive (unless you opt for a poor quality TN panel) and full of panel QC issues.
flashbacck - Friday, September 28, 2018 - link
There's not really any reason for them to.mode_13h - Friday, September 28, 2018 - link
Hey, what's up with that first image? The car's proportions seem rather cartoonish, and it's clearly too wide for the road it's on. Probably not the best choice for showcasing their monitor.mode_13h - Friday, September 28, 2018 - link
Sorry, that wasn't meant as a reply.Lord of the Bored - Saturday, September 29, 2018 - link
They do... on laptops.Outside of that? Nope. They're going to try to get people committed to GSync for as long as they can, because every GSync monitor out there is good for a few nVidia graphics card sales(as people upgrade their graphics cards more often than monitors)
sing_electric - Wednesday, October 3, 2018 - link
Not to mention it's cash directly in Nvidia's pocket when they sell the monitor.Also, although people buy graphics cards more often than monitors, the use of multiple graphics cards has plummeted in recent years, but more and more people are using 2/3 monitor setups (though if you're like me, each monitor has a different purpose - one of mine is for web work, so is calibrated for sRGB, while another does print, calibrated for Adobe RGB, etc. - I don't game enough to care about G/FreeSync, but if I did, I'd probably get one monitor with, and one for something else(,