LG Display says it has started mass producing the world’s highest resolution OLED panel for gaming monitors, maxing out at 5K2K.
The new, 45-inch 5K2K OLED panel boasts some impressive specifications in areas including resolution, response times and refresh rates, the company said in an announcement.
The resolution of a display refers to the number of pixels that make up the screen, and it has a real impact on image quality. The higher the resolution, the more precisely the display is able to render video and images. 5K2K refers to a resolution of 5120x2160 pixels, which translates to around 11 million in total. That’s over five-times as many pixels as seen on a traditional full HD display (1920x1080), and about 1.3 times the number on typical 4K UHD displays (3840x2160), which are used by professional graphic designers and video editors who require high accuracy and detail.
In addition, LG Display said the new panel also boasts a much higher luminance than traditional OLED monitors, with a maximum brightness of 1,300 nits. This translates to superior contrast, the company says, delivering a three-dimensional effect that’s similar to what the eye perceives. It comes equipped with a polariser that’s been especially designed for gaming monitors in order to reduce light reflection and glare and ensure perfect blacks in any environment.
Another novel feature is LG Display’s proprietary DFR technology, which allows users to switch between different refresh rates. Users can choose either a “high refresh rate” mode, which increases the refresh rate to 330Hz, or a “high-resolution” mode, which decreases the refresh rate to 165Hz in order to render content at the maximum resolution.
LG Display said the higher refresh rate can give gamers an advantage in fast-paced first-person shooter games or high-speed racing games, ensuring smooth graphics and no judder. Alternatively, they can switch to the higher resolution on slower games and movies to immerse themselves in ultra-realistic visuals.
Another advantage of OLED that should interest gamers is the technology’s low-level of harmful blue light, which can cause eye strain and impact on sleep. OLED emits less than half of the blue light of traditional LCD displays, while also reducing flickering that can cause some users to experience headaches. So not only do you get better visuals, but you can protect your health, too.
The company will sell its 5K2K OLED panels to various brands that compete in the high-end gaming display market, including its parent company LG Electronics, and brands like Acer, Asus, Dell Alienware and MSI.
LG Display’s head of large display product planning, Won-seok Kang, said the company intends to deliver all of the values that gamers desire in a monitor, including picture quality, form factor and high refresh rates. The aim is to “provide a differentiated customer experience and strengthen our technology leadership,” he added.
