Cinema at a New Frontier: The In-Depth Look at the LG Display, Model 31MU97-B

LG Digital Cinema 31MU97-B 4K Monitor Review

Max Wales

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

No matter whether you are searching for a 4K monitor that can handle your routine needs at office or home, this 31 inch monitor can definitely serve all the purposes well. It offers easy adjustments for height and tilt adjustments so you will find this decent monitor suitable for your work environment as it can fit perfectly well for all situations. The physical appearance is quire unique as compared to other competitors available in market; you will not find it glitzy or gimmicky. The simple settings for display and higher resolution levels make this monitor perfect for animation and video operations.

Even if you keep on working on this display unit for several hours then also it can lead to painless performance. Although, it seems little wider with 31 inch screen size but the appearance is attractive enough with well designed hardware. The aspect ratio is found somewhere around 17:9 but still before making investment on this expensive unit, it is good to go through detailed review. The article below contains detailed information about this display monitor so spend some time to read it and soon you will be able to make right decision about whether it can fulfil your needs or not.

Pros

• It is simply the most attractive display unit available in 31 inch range.
• 31MU97-B offers higher color accuracy.
• The sRGB technology assists in 100% accuracy for color distribution.
• It offers 97% rang for color standards in the digital cinema world.
• Outstanding refresh rate.
• LG has designed this system with built in 5W speakers to ensure higher audio performance.
• Aspect ratio goes as high as up to 17:9.
• Wide range of connectivity that also includes Mini DisplayPort.
• Higher brightness level with IPS panel technology.
• Impressive AdobeRGB performance that supports incredible color gamut.

Cons:

• Most of the users find its screen text and menus little complicated to read.
• It causes light bleeding.
• Missing HDMI 2.0 port is another big trouble for professionals.

LG Digital Cinema 31MU97 Hardware Design

1.Design Style

If we talk about the design quality of LG 31MU97-B then it will definitely appear pleasing enough. The narrow bezels with minimalistic controls make it suitable for beginners and the sturdy stand with matte black color leads to more elegant appearance. Note that most of 30 inch display units these days do not offer adjustable stand so it causes much inconvenience for professional users as they cannot manage view as per their needs. But with LG 31MU97-B, you will find everything quite easier and suitable for professionals as its adjustable stand with impressive ergonomics make everything perfect for your needs. This stand can be easily moved to left and right direction, users can adjust its height as per need, the up/down tilting and 90 degree pivot movement allows easy adjustment for portrait and landscape mode.

The Pivot adjustment feature allows users to manage view for photos without reducing their size. As per the ratio of workspace, you can easily rotate pictures up to 90 degree rotation so that it can meet the requirements of workspace. All the adjustment features allow easy handling of user work without causing any discomfort to the eyes of viewers even if one keep on working for hours.

2. Ports and Connectivity

LG 31MU97-B offers almost all connectivity options that most of the top rated 4K monitors are supposed to have. Users need not to make additional efforts to get their desired 4K quality with this user friendly display unit. You will find DisplayPort 1.2 on this monitor that handles easy transfers of 4K graphics between monitor and PC with smooth details. It can handle 60Hz refresh rate very well and two HDMI ports make it suitable for professional needs. Other than this, it has four USB 3.0 connection ports and one Mini DisplayPort option.

LG 31MU97-B also has built in speakers with 5W rating that ensure delivery of great audio content. Users can find easy adjustment options for equalizer with simple to access OSD settings; it can easily handle audio effects from treble, bass, 3D effect and volume etc. How can we forget to talk about overall aesthetics of LG 31MU97-B. It has narrow bezels along with minimal matte black coloration and sturdy stand. The stand makes it appear more attractive with eye catching looks. PC users will find this monitor for useful for their desktop needs.

1.OSD and Settings

You will definitely find the OSD menu of this system quite user friendly with easy navigation. An interactive joystick is placed right below the monitor screen that assists in easy controls. On this OSD menu of this 31 inch monitor, you will find several setting options for enhancing picture appearance, the range of settings include sharpness, aspect ratios, color temperature, selection of input sources, contrast and brightness adjustment.

Also, you will find options to make easy adjustments for colours on screen so that quality of content delivery can be increased. It allows easy access to adjustment of hue related to yellow, cyan, and magenta, blue, green, red as well as one can manage saturation level for all these color ranges. Other than this, users can alter settings for adjustment of black levels that improves dark images, it is also possible to adjust speed settings so that response time can be varied as per need of particular project. One can also access Picture by Picture mode so that multiple sources can be handled with ease on screen.

Further, this monitor also allows easy swapping between various picture modes like Custom, DCM Sim, Calibration2, Calibration1, DCI-P3, Adobe RGB and sRGB etc. Note that, here DCM mode helps to manage X-ray images for education purpose, last three modes assist in color space calibration.

2. Color and Image Quality

Color performance of LG 31MU97-B is rated very high due to its incredible content delivery. You need not to worry about the trouble related to limited color spectrum as this high end monitor can handle 10 bit color depth with ease so that 4K content can be well managed on this wide screen. If we compare this performance with generally used 8 bit color then the 10 bit range leads to 64 times higher color depth. You will be able to access complete color palette having 1 billion colours at all.

Note that, along with those color variations, LG 31MU97-B also offers Cinema Grade 4K resolution ability. This feature is missing even several competitive high end models that have 4K UHD capability. The more interesting fact is that this monitor provides 4096 by 2160 pixels rather than old 3840 by 2160 pixel range. Generally, most of these monitors use to handle only half a million color pixels to deliver normal 4K content but this 31 inch screen manage additional half a million to improve quality with higher resolution level.

LG 31MU97-B has incredible visual aspects and that is why most of the professionals love to rate this monitor higher. This PC appears highly vibrant with its ability to handle 10 bit color range with impressive Adobe RGB coverage that goes up to 99.5%. It helps to maximize realism for pictures and natural schemes for colours are adopted ahead to improve quality. As it can handle one billion colours at a time so transitions appear highly smooth on screen. The viewing angle response is also maximized for this IPS panel and luminance standards are rated high to ensure wider color gamut support. The DCP-P3 Digital Cinema Color Standard support leads to wide range of color deliver on this screen where professionals can adjust brightness and saturation at different screen points as per need of their projects.

3. Highlighted Features

While mentioning all impressive details related to LG 31MU97-B, it is essential to talk about Dual Color Space. With this feature, it becomes much easier to access same image with two different color ranges and they appear side by side on screen. Just for an example if you want to see how your image will look on website after uploading then you must open it with sRGB mode on one side of screen and to view appearance after print out of particular image, you must open it with Adobe RGB on other half of screen. Note that, all color spaces are well calibrated from factory end and they will stay as like this due to the ability of this monitor to handle Total Color Management.

One more additional feature of LG 31MU97-B is its ability to work like professional photo and video editor due to Screen Split technology. With this technology, users can easily divide screens into several layout panels so that multiple sources can be handled at a time. It is possible to dedicate certain portion of screen for fix set of applications so that multiple tasks can be managed on screen at a time without wasting much time for individual adjustments.

Conclusion

There is no doubt to say that LG 31MU97-B offers a set of incredible features that can handle needs of most of professional editors as well as beginners. This device is often recommended for photographers, video editors, profession al graphic designers and many more. The true cinema resolution for 4K content along with 10 bit IPS technology and stunning color coverage assist this monitor to deliver eye catching image quality. You will find all colours well distributed with fine consistency and precise color management. Those who are looking for a budget friendly 4K monitor design but never want to compromise for quality, are advised to buy LG 31MU97-B to gain perfect content quality for their needs. This perfect combination of features lead to impressive details and makes this monitor must buy product against several competitive brands.

Max Wales

Max Wales is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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