LG Develops ‘Nano IPS’ LCD, Unveils 32UK950 4K Display with DCI-P3, HDR600, TB3
by Anton Shilov on December 22, 2017 5:00 PM EST
LG has announced a new kind of IPS liquid crystal panel that features an improved color reproduction. The Nano IPS technology will be used for LG’s upcoming high-end displays due in 2018 and will enable professional-grade DCI-P3 color space coverage on consumer models. One of the first monitors to use Nano IPS will be the 32UK950. The 32UK950 will be LG’s new flagship consumer 4K LCD, and will feature the VESA HDR 600 badge along with an integrated Thunderbolt 3 dock.
Nano IPS and HDR 600
LG’s Nano IPS technology will be used on numerous high-end monitors by the company, so it makes sense to examine what manufacturer tells us about it before jumping to the actual product. LG says that it applies nanoparticles to the screen’s LED backlighting to absorb excess light wavelengths and improve intensity, purity as well as the accuracy of the on-screen colors. Controlling spectral output of backlighting is a method generally used to improve IPS LCD panels — quantum dots and Panasonic’s light modulating cells do just that.
Adjusting backlighting spectral output not only enables to improve color reproduction, but also contrast ratio, but this is where LG’s press release gets vague. It never discloses or even mentions static contrast ratio, yet to get the HDR 600 badge (which is what the 32UK950 has), you need to get a black level of 0.1 nits max, which VESA believes is impossible without local dimming. However, neither local dimming, nor pixel-by-pixel control of backlight intensity, are mentioned in the press release.
Wrapping things up, we know for sure that LG’s Nano IPS enables the company to offer an improved color gamut by controlling the LED backlighting. The contrast ratio is something that is expected to be improved on new monitors as well, but LG does not say whether its Nano IPS is responsible for that.
The LG 32UK950
Among the first monitors to feature the Nano IPS technology will be the LG 32UK950. Its 32” panel has a 3840×2160 resolution, can reproduce 1.07 billion colors and cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color space. The HDR 600 badge clearly points to HDR10 processing capabilities along with up to 600 nits brightness, but LG does not disclose any information regarding its LUTs (look-up-tables) for HDR. LG’s current-generation consumer flagship display (the 32UD99-W) can cover 95% of the DCI-P3 gamut, which was a bit lower than 97% DCI-P3 coverage by the 31MU97-B, a professional display with a 4096×2160 resolution. The upcoming 32UK950 will surpass both models when it comes to gamut coverage.
| Preliminary Specifications of the LG 32UK950 | ||
| Panel | 32" IPS with Nano IPS technology | |
| Resolution | 3840 × 2160 | |
| Refresh Rate | 60 Hz (?) | |
| Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical | |
| Color Saturation | 98% DCI-P3 | |
| Display Colors | 1.07 billion | |
| 3D-LUT | supported | |
| Inputs | 1 × TB3 DisplayPort 1.2 (TBC) HDMI 2.0a (TBC) |
|
| Audio | Integrated speakers | |
Another major selling point of the LG 32UK950 will be an integrated Thunderbolt 3 connectivity with daisy chaining support (enabling to connect two 4Kp60 displays using a single TB3 port on the host). Apart from TB3 headers, we expect the LG 32UK950 to feature regular DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, a USB 3.0 hub and other essential features.
LG plans to show the 32UK950 at CES trade show early next month. The company does not reveal when it intends to start sales of the new product, or its MSRP.
Related Reading
- LG’s 34UC89G 21:9 Curved Display with G-Sync, 144 to 166 Hz, Available for $999
- Pre-Orders for LG’s 32UD99 Display Available: 4K, DCI-P3, HDR10, FreeSync for $999
- LG 43UD79-B Launched: 42.5-inch 4K IPS with FreeSync
- BenQ Launches the SW271 Display for Professionals: 27-inch 4K with HDR and DCI-P3
- Panasonic Develops IPS Panel with 1,000,000:1 Contrast Ratio, 1000 Nits Brightness
- Philips Begins Shipments of LCD Monitors with Quantum Dot Technology
- LG Announces 32UD99: 4K IPS Display with 95% DCI-P3, HDR and USB-C
Source: LG
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surt - Saturday, December 23, 2017 - link
You want 4k at a minimum on basically every device these days to avoid artifacts being generated by the scaler when displaying 4k content.lmcd - Saturday, December 23, 2017 - link
As someone with 20/15 vision, yea it's useful for that.It's also just useful to fit more content on the screen.
haukionkannel - Sunday, December 24, 2017 - link
Even 8K would be nice in 22”. There is no problem of making screens better and sharper. It is like hoping to have worse pixels in the books... why? There is no limit how sharp text in the book can be. The sharper, the better. Computer screen Are not even close to the quality of good books.Lolimaster - Monday, December 25, 2017 - link
The problem is not the pixels but the distance between them, be 1080p/2k/4k/8k, it's different on CRT were the "pixels" show as rounded, masking way better the screen door effect.mr_tawan - Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - link
It would take a few year before GPU can drive 8K screen effectively.rocky12345 - Sunday, December 24, 2017 - link
We can blame that fruit company for this resolution craze with their claim to fame retina display in a 3.5" screen. Every one jumped on the band wagon. I'm typing this on a 60" 1080p TV and everything is crystal clear.The reason why it looks good is my viewing distance is 12 feet back from the screen. Now if I had my nose pressed up against the screen yes it would look very bad and make your eye's bleed. So you are pretty much spot on here with the point you made about this.JoeyJoJo123 - Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - link
I have a budget 24" 4K IPS Acer display at home (K242HQK), it makes web content look really sharp, especially fonts, after using ctrl + mousewheel up to enlarge the content to fit the screen. There's no noticeable degradation in static size content (images, for example) either, 4K at 24" or 1080 at 24" showing the image at the same size doesn't magically reveal dithering or anything.Really get tired of the asinine responses to better advances in technology, usually revolving around "But you don't need it! It doesn't do anything better than (old tech), and human senses won't be able to appreciably notice any difference anyways!". If it were up to people like you, we'd still be using campfires to cook food because any advancements in heating elements (and we have magnetic-induction stovetops in the current day) would just memed on about it not being appreciably better in any significant way than a traditional wood-burning fire source.
Just remove your head from your rear and if you don't need/want the technology, you can continue living in the stone age while others appreciably enjoy the advancements and benefits that come with better tech.
CharonPDX - Saturday, December 23, 2017 - link
I have a Samsung 23" 4K. $350 list price, often available less. https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/monitors/uhd-...lmcd - Saturday, December 23, 2017 - link
I'm literally sitting behind a ~$400 24in ASUS 4K60Hz IPS panel. Hello?Bullwinkle-J-Moose - Friday, December 22, 2017 - link
Can you measure the individual pixel fidelity to the source Camera Pixels?dimming blocks of backlight pixels can give you high contrast on crappy monitors, but there is no per pixel fidelity to the source (camera)
Getting to 100% of the color spectrum presents a similar problem...
Who care if you have the entire color spectrum if the color are different from the source material
Does this Picasso looking test image have 100% fidelity to the source?
96%
60%
???