38 MARCH2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE385
ASKANYONECRUISINGintomiddle age and
they’ll tell you 49 is the new 36. And that’s
equally true of TV screen sizes: 49in once
seemed unreasonably large foratelevision,
but nowadays it’s an unremarkable size.
What’s more,while our desire forabigger
screen is on theup, theprice we have to pay
foritiseverdecreasing. The LG 49UM7400
has the sortofspecification that wouldhave
cost more thantwice as much afew yearsago.
GIVING DIRECTIONS
This is a3,840x2,160 HDR TV that uses an IPS
LCD panel. It’spartofarangebuilt to mop up
salesfromthose customerswho aren’t early
adopters, don’twantanenormous TV and
whoaren’t abouttospendamonth’s salary on
anew set, but whonevertheless don’twant to
go without the niceties we’ve all come to
expect even from mid-rangeTVs like this.
In that respect, it has pretty much
everything. Youget asmart TV interface with
apps forall the majorstreaming services, and
there arealso 43in and55in models if you
want thesame tech in something slightly
smaller or bigger.The use of an IPSpanel also
means the 49UM7400 has wider viewing
angles than TVsthatuse VA technology.
However,you can’t expect much in the way
of design flourishes or premium materials at
this sort of price,and sure enough theLG
doesn’t deliverany.The 49UM7400 supports
its relatively chunkychassis and bezelona
plasticcrescent-shaped stand. Annoyingly, the
standitselfproves relatively difficulttoattach
thanks to some less than enthusiastic screws.
All theconnections are at the leftrear of
the display,and theseinclude three full-
bandwidth HDMI2.0b ports and an optical
S/PDIF output forgetting audio into an AV
receiverorsoundbar.
The WebOSsmart TV platform hereis
very similar to thatfound on LG’svery
well-regardedand quiteabitmore expensive
LG 49UM7400
★★★★★
£379•From http://www.johnlewis.com
VERDICT
The 49UM7400 isn’t perfect, but there’s
lots toadmire at the price,especiallyHDR
performance
49 inIPSTV
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Prime Videoand Freeview Play,which includes
BBCiPlayer,areallavailable herewithHDR
support. Theuser interfacecanget laggyon
occasion, however,whichisannoying.
Widerviewinganglesaside,the IPSpanel
isn’t all goodnews.As istypicalofthe
technology,itproduces shallower black
tones thanaVApanel would; they’regreyish
and milkyrather than deep and inky, andthe
pictureisinevitably robbed of depth. The
global –rather than local –dimming
contributes to this, too, although theLG’s
low-end gamma responsehelps to resolve
someshadow details that otherwise might
end up disappearing.
Fresh from thebox,eventhe most
accuratepicture presethas agreen tint.
Colours canbeadjustedfor amore natural
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 the screen of our review model
wasmarginally darker than the left.
As thisisa60Hzpanel, it can’tdeploy
motioninterpolation to reducemotion blur,
which can be mildly problematic. Select Real
Cinema fromthe picture mode menu,
however,and 24fps movies are delivered
smoothly with notahintofjudder.
PIXEL IMPERFECT
When it comes to upscaling, the 49UM7400 is
good rather than great. Standard-definition
content is prone to morenoise and jagged
edges than LG’smid-range televisions usually
are,whichislikelyanother consequenceofthe
RGBW subpixel configuration. RGBW is also
the probable cause of amildshimmering
effect when thescreen is trying to resolve
single-pixel lines on 4K resolutioncontent,
too. There’s aSmooth Gradation preset in the
user menus, but its effect is minimal.
As farasHDR goes, there’s no Dolby
Visionsupport, but at this price that shouldn’t
come as ashock.Peak brightness of 340cd/m^2
meansthere’s arelative lack of HDR impact;
the 49UM7400 actually adherestothe HDR
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only until 200cd/m^2 or so.4K-derived
colours in particular look rather muted –
the LG’s P3 colour gamut coverage is an
unimpressive 82%–and while Dynamic
Tone Mapping helps retain specular highlight
details,this is at the expense of overall
brightness and some shadow detail.
Nevertheless, at this price the 49UM7400 is a
relatively accomplished HDR performer.
As agamingmonitor, it’sdownrightstellar.
Select Game fromthe picturemodes,and
input lagfor both1080pSDR and4KHDR
content is anegligible12ms. The 49UM7400
supports Auto Low-Latency Mode (ALLM)
too, so will automaticallyengage Game mode
when acompatible console is fired up.
In termsofaudio, the 49UM7400 actually
deliversunusually potent levels of bothbass
andvolume.There’s barelyahint of stereo
separation, however,and the resulting sound
is bothmuddled and muddied.
PUNCHING SIDEWAYS
Some impressive technologies distinguish
the LG 49UM7400 from many other budget
sets,inparticular thedynamic tone-mapping,
super-low input lagand smooth 24fps
reproduction despitethe 60Hz panel. It’sall
impressive stuff at the price.Ultimately,
however,it’s let down somewhat by its
lower-contrast IPS panel, and that means it
will have atough time competingagainst the
increasinglytalented budget opposition.
VincentTeoh
SCREEN SIZE49in•NATIVERESOLUTION3,840x2,160•
VIDEOINPUTSHDMI•TUNERFreeview•DIMENSIONS
704x1,110x249mm•WARRANTYFive yearsRTB•
DETAILSwww.lg.com/uk•PART CODE49UM7400
SPECIFICATIONS
CONNECTIONPORTS
HDMI x3 USB2x2 Ethernet
S/PDIF CI
