LG UM6900  TV Review

The LG UM6900 is a basic, entry-level 4k TV. It's a 2019 model and is the closest replacement to the 2018 LG UK6300. It mainly competes with other entry-level TVs, including the TCL 4 Series 2019, the Samsung RU7100, the Vizio V Series 2019, and the Sony X750F.

The LG UM6900's design is very basic and feels a bit cheap. It looks very similar to the LG UM7300 but appears to be made of slightly cheaper materials. The stand doesn't support the TV very well as it wobbles a lot, and there's no cable management.

The feet are set almost as wide as the TV itself, so you'll need a large table if you don't plan on wall-mounting it. The feet don't support the TV very well, and there's a lot of wobble.

Footprint of the 49" model: 40.7" by 9.2".

The back of the TV is very plain. Unfortunately, there's no cable management at all.

The borders are a bit thicker than most higher-end models and they protrude from the screen, so they're a bit more noticeable when watching TV.

The LG UM6900 is a bit thicker than most higher-end models; however, it shouldn't stick out too much when wall-mounted unless you use the back-facing ports.

The build quality is mediocre and is almost identical to the LG UM7300. There's a lot of flex in the back panel, especially the area surrounding the inputs. The stand doesn't support the TV well, causing a fair amount of wobble.

The contrast ratio is sub-par, which is expected of most IPS TVs. This results in blacks that look gray, and is especially noticeable in a dark room.

Note that the 60" and 70" models likely use VA panels, and probably have better contrast.

This TV doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.

This TV has a bad SDR peak brightness, so visibility can be an issue in bright rooms. The brightness doesn't vary much across different content and the slightly dimmer 2% window isn't noticeable.

We measured the SDR peak brightness after calibration, using the 'Expert (Dark Room)' Picture Mode and with Brightness set to max. Unfortunately, the other picture modes aren't noticeably brighter.

Poor HDR peak brightness. It isn't bright enough to make small highlights stand out in HDR content. On the upside, the brightness is fairly consistent, with only the 2% window being dimmer due to frame dimming.

We measured the HDR peak brightness before calibration, using the 'Cinema HDR' Picture Mode and with Brightness set to max.

If you don't mind losing image accuracy, you can reach a peak brightness of 383 cd/m² by using the 'Vivid' Picture Mode, with Brightness and Contrast set to max.

Gray uniformity is okay. The corners of the screen are visibly darker and there's also some dirty screen effect, which isn't great for watching sports.

Decent viewing angles. This is good if you have a wide seating area, or if you like to move around a bit with the TV on.

Note that the 60" and 70" models likely have VA panels, and probably have a worse viewing angle.

Bad black uniformity. There's noticeable clouding throughout the screen as well as backlight bleed at the top and bottom left corners, which can be distracting in dark scenes.

Note that the 60" and 70" models likely have VA panels, so they probably have better black uniformity.

Good reflection handling. Glare can still be an issue in a bright room, though, or if you have light sources opposite the TV.

Before calibration, the color accuracy is mediocre. While balance is off, gamma doesn't follow the target at all, and the color temperature is much warmer than our 6500K target, giving the overall image a slight reddish tint. Also, there are inaccuracies in most colors.

After calibration, the color accuracy is outstanding. White balance is nearly perfect and gamma follows the target for the most part, with only some over-brightening in very bright scenes. The few remaining inaccuracies aren't noticeable, but color temperature is still a tad on the cold side.

You can see our recommended settings here.

480p content looks great, with no significant issues.

720p content, like most cable TV channels, looks great, with no obvious issues.

1080p content, like movies on Blu-ray, looks excellent. There are no obvious issues.

The LG UM6900, like the LG UK6300, uses an RGBW sub-pixel structure. This structure is less accurate, and isn't ideal for use with a PC. Learn more about RGBW.

The LG UM6900 can't display an 8k signal.

This TV uses a less accurate RGBW pixel structure. Learn more about RGBW.

This TV has an okay color gamut, but it can't display a wide color gamut. The EOTF doesn't follow the PQ curve properly, and almost all scenes are displayed brighter than they should be, including in 'Game' mode. If you find HDR too dim, the 'Vivid' Picture Mode is a bit brighter, as shown in this EOTF.

The LG UM6900 has a poor color volume. Colors aren't as bright as pure white, and it can't display dark, saturated colors very well due to the low contrast ratio.

Excellent gradient handling. There's some very slight banding, but this shouldn't be noticeable to most people. If banding bothers you, enabling Smooth Gradation can help, but it can also cause a loss of some fine details.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on the LG UM6900, even immediately after displaying our static test image for 10 minutes.

Although some IPS panels can suffer from temporary image retention, this doesn't appear to be permanent as the IPS panel in our long-term test appear immune.

Decent response time. There's some slight overshoot in some transitions, which can be noticeable in dark scenes. The flicker of the backlight causes noticeable duplications in motion, which can be seen in the above photo.

Unfortunately, like the LG UK6300 and the LG UM7300, the backlight flickers at 120Hz, even at maximum backlight. This flicker causes noticeable duplications in motion, as you can see in our pursuit camera photo.

Update 06/17/2020: There was a minor mistake in our BFI scoring. It's been corrected, and the score has increased a bit.

There's no black frame insertion feature on this TV. The backlight always flickers at 120Hz, though, which helps improve motion clarity compared to a TV with no flicker.

This TV has an optional motion interpolation feature, which can be used to increase the frame rate of low frame rate content up to 60 frames per second. This can help improve the appearance of motion, but also introduces something known as the "Soap Opera Effect", which may bother some people. If you want to use motion interpolation, set TruMotion to 'User' and adjust the De-Judder slider to '10'.

The relatively slow response time of this TV results in less noticeable stutter. Some stutter can still be seen with 24p movies, though, especially in slow, panning shots.

This TV can remove judder from 24p sources and native apps, but not from 60p or 60i sources. To remove judder from 24p content, the Real Cinema setting must be enabled.

The LG UM6900 doesn't support any variable refresh rate technology.

This TV has outstanding low input lag, as long as it's in 'Game' mode. The input lag rises slightly when playing in HDR but shouldn't be noticeable for most people. There's an 'Auto Low Latency Mode' that activates 'Game' mode when it detects a game being launched from a compatible device, such as a PC or an Xbox One. To use this feature, make sure that Instant Game Response is enabled for the input in use.

The LG UM6900 supports only 1080p and 4k @ 60Hz. It can display chroma 4:4:4 content properly, which is important for use as a PC monitor. To display chroma 4:4:4 properly, the input in use must be labeled 'PC', and to achieve full bandwidth, HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color must be enabled.

This TV doesn't support eARC, but the standard ARC connection can pass DTS and Dolby Digital to any supported receiver.

The frequency response is okay. There's almost no low-bass at all, so you won't get a thumping or rumbling sound. Dialogue sounds reasonably clear but lacks airiness due to the drop in the mid-to-high treble range. This TV can get loud enough for most environments but there's some compression at high volume.

Disappointing total harmonic distortion. Even at lower volumes the distortion performance is mediocre, and at high volume the total distortion increases significantly. Most people won't be able to hear this, though.

The LG UM6900 runs on LG's WebOS. The interface is identical to the higher-end LG TVs, but it's a bit slower, and it froze occasionally during testing, especially when launching apps.

There are ads on the home screen and in the app store. These ads can't be disabled, and there's no option to opt-out of suggested content, either.

The LG Content Store has a large selection of apps available for download, so you shouldn't have any issues finding what you need.

This TV comes with a fairly basic remote control, not the Magic Remote that usually comes with the higher-end LG TVs. There are shortcuts to Netflix and Prime Videos, but unfortunately, there's no voice control.

The TV's control consists of a single button located below the LG branding at the center of the bottom bezel. It lets you turn the TV On/Off, change the channel, change the input source, and adjust the volume.

• User guide
• Remote control
• 2x AAA batteries