TVs
80 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE389
ASKANYONECRUISINGintomiddleageand
they’ll tellyou 49 isthe new 36.That’sequally
true of TV screen sizes: 49in once seemed
unreasonably large foratelevision, but
nowadays is athoroughlyunremarkable size.
What’s more,while our desire forabigger
screen is on theup, theprice we have to pay
foritisever-decreasing. Youonlyhavetolook
at theLG49UM7400 –ithas the sort of
specification that wouldhavecostmore than
twice as much afew shortyearsago.
This is a3,840x2,160 HDR TV that uses an
IPS LCD panel. It’s part of arangebuilt to mop
up sales from customerswho aren’t early
adopters, don’twantanenormous television
andwho aren’t about to spend amonth’s
salary on anew TV,but who nevertheless
don’t want to go without thenicetieswe’ve all
come to expect from modern 4K sets.
BULKOUT
In that respect, it has prettymuch everything.
Youget ausable smart interface with apps for
all themajorstreaming services, and you can
pick from 43in and55in sizes if you want the
same tech in something slightly smaller or
bigger.The use of an IPS panelalsomeans
the 49UM7400 has widerviewing angles than
TVsthatuse VA technology.
However,you can’t expect muchinthe way
of design flourishes or premium materials at
this sort of price/size ratio,and sureenough
the LG doesn’t deliverany.The 49UM7400
supports itsrelatively chunkychassis and
bezel on aplasticcrescent-shaped stand.
All theconnections are at the leftrear of
the display,and theseinclude threefull-
bandwidth HDMI 2.0b ports and an optical
S/PDIF output forjetting audiointoanAV
receiver or soundbar.
The WebOSsmart TV platform is similar to
that foundonLG’s OLEDscreens, andNetflix,
YouTube,Amazon Prime Video and Freeview
Play, whichincludes BBCiPlayer, are
all available here with HDR support.
The user interface canget laggy on
occasion,however,which is annoying.
It’s also worth mentioningthat,
rather than the Magic Pointerremote
controlsupplied withthe OLED
models, the remotecontrol here is as
prosaicasthe TV it accompanies.It
does at least have Netflix and Prime
Videodirect-access buttons, though.
Widerviewing angles aside,the IPS
panelisn’t all goodnews.Asistypical
of thetechnology,itproduces
shallower black tonesthanaVApanel
would; they’re greyish andmilky rather
LG 49UM7400
★★★★★
£349•Fromwww.johnlewis.com
VERDICT
The49UM7400isn’tperfectbutdoesoffer
updecentHDRforrelativelylittlecash
thandeepandinky,andthepictureis
inevitablyrobbedofdepth.Theglobal–rather
thanlocal–dimmingcontributestothistoo,
althoughtheLG’slow-endgammaresponse
helpstoresolvesomeshadowdetailthat
otherwisemightendupdisappearing.
TIMEFORTINGE
Fresh from thebox, even themostaccurate
picturepreset has an undeniable green tint.
It can be dialled out, butinall honesty,
no-one’s expecting the owner of anew
49UM7400topay to have it calibrated.
Colours canbeadjusted foramorenatural
look, but it’s never truly accuratebecause of
the screen’s RGBWsubpixel configuration.
Screen uniformity,however,isvery good
by prevailing standards. There’s no banding,
and only very minor dirty screeneffect;the
right edge of thescreenonour sample was
very marginally darkerthan theleft.
As thisisa60Hzpanel, it can’t deploy
motioninterpolation to reducemotion blur,
which canbemildly problematic.SelectReal
Cinemafromthe picturemode menu,
however,and 24fps movies are delivered
smoothly withnot ahintofjudder.
As an upscaler,the 49UM7400isgood
rather than great. Standard-definitioncontent
is prone to more noise and jagged edges than
LG’s mid-range televisions, which is likely
another consequenceofthe RGBWsubpixel
configuration. RGBW is also theprobable
causeofamild shimmeringeffectwhen the
screen’s tryingtoresolve single-pixel lines
on 4K resolutioncontent, too. There’sa
Smooth Gradation preset in the user menus,
but itseffect is minimal.
As farasHDR goes,there’s no Dolby
Vision support, but at this price that shouldn’t
come as ashock. Peak brightness of 340cd/m^2
meansthere’s arelative lack of HDRimpact;
the LG actually adheres to theHDR luminance
standard prettyaccurately,but only until
200cd/m^2 or so.4K-derivedcolours in
particular look rather muted–the LG’sP3
colour gamut coverage is an unimpressive
82% –and while Dynamic Tone Mapping
helpsretain specular highlight details, this
is at theexpense of overallbrightness and
some shadow detail. Nevertheless,atthis
price, the49UM7400 is arelatively
accomplished HDR performer.
QUICKTHINKING
As agamingdisplay, meanwhile, it’sdownright
stellar. Select Game from thepicturemodes
and input lagfor both1080p SDRand 4K HDR
content is anegligible12ms. The LG supports
AutoLow-LatencyMode (ALLM)too,sowill
automaticallyengage Game mode whena
compatible consoleisfired up.
In terms of audio,the LG actually delivers
unusually potent levels of bothbass and
volume.There’s barely ahint of
stereo separation,however,and the
resultingsound is muddled.
Someimpressive technologies
distinguish theLG49UM7400 from
quiteafewcompeting budgetsets, in
particular the dynamic tone-mapping,
super-low input lagand smooth 24fps
reproduction despite the 60Hz panel.
It’s all impressivestuff at theprice.
Ultimately,it’s letdown somewhat by
its lower-contrastIPS panel,and that
means it will have atough time
competingagainst theincreasingly
talented budget opposition, including
the HisenseR50B7120UK.
