LG UM7300
TV REVIEW
The LG UM7300PUA is a good 4k TV with a wide viewing angle, excellent low input lag, and an excellent response time. It has decent peak brightness in SDR, and it has excellent reflection handling, making it a great choice for a wide seating area in a brighter room. Unfortunately, like the majority of IPS TVs, it doesn't look as good in a dark room, as it can't produce deep, uniform blacks. It also has very limited HDR support and doesn't support any dynamic HDR formats, like HDR10+ or Dolby Vision.
| Design | 7.0 |
| Picture Quality | 7.2 |
| Motion | 7.2 |
| Inputs | 9.7 |
| Sound Quality | 6.1 |
| Smart Features | 8.2 |
- Outstanding low input lag.
- Image remains accurate when viewed at an angle.
- Can't produce deep, uniform blacks.
- HDR doesn't add much.
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Market Context
The UM7300 is LG's basic 4k model for 2019 for U.S. markets. It replaces the 2018 UK6300. There is a 2019 UM6300, but this is now a 1080p model. The main competitors for this model are the Sony X800G, the Samsung RU7100, and the Vizio V Series 2019.
Design
The LG UM7300 has a decent design. It looks very similar to last year's UK6300 and UK7700. The legs are very close to the sides of the TV, so it needs a large stand to support it if it isn't wall mounted. The stand supports the TV well, but does wobble a bit if nudged or if your floor isn't solid. It has decent build quality, and there are no obvious signs of concern, but it doesn't have the metal back of the UK7700. There is no cable management.
The back of the TV is very plain. Some of the connectors face directly out the back and may be difficult to access if wall-mounted. There is no integrated cable management.
Picture Quality
The LG UM7300PUA delivers decent overall picture quality. Like most IPS TVs, it has a mediocre contrast ratio, and isn't as well-suited for dark room viewing. This model doesn't have a local dimming feature, but has decent black uniformity. The UM7300 has decent peak brightness in SDR, but in HDR it can't get bright enough for small highlights to really stand out. It has decent viewing angles and excellent reflection handling. Unlike the UK6300, this TV doesn't use an RGBW pixel structure, and there is no subpixel dithering, which is great.
Like most IPS TVs, the LG UM7300 has a mediocre contrast ratio, very similar to the UK6300. Blacks look slightly grayish in a dark room. Unfortunately, this TV lacks a local dimming feature to improve dark room performance.
The 50" model is expected to have a VA panel, and will have a much better contrast ratio.
Decent peak brightness, good enough for most decently-lit rooms. The 55UM7300PUA is significantly brighter than the UK6300 and a bit brighter than the UK7700, which is great. There is very little variation in brightness with different content, which is great.
We measured the peak brightness with the 'ISF Expert (Dark Room)' Picture Mode, as it is the most accurate. Different picture modes and color temperatures can produce slightly different results.
If image accuracy isn't as important to you, the 'Vivid' Picture Mode delivers a slightly brighter image, reaching a peak of 402 cd/m² with a 10% window.
Mediocre HDR peak brightness, too dim to show off small specular highlights in some scenes. It is slightly brighter than the UK6300 and UK7700.
We measured the HDR peak brightness with the 'Cinema' Picture Mode before calibrating. Different picture modes and color temperatures can produce slightly different results.
If image accuracy isn't as important to you, the 'Vivid' Picture Mode delivers a slightly brighter image, reaching a peak of about 410 cd/m² with a 10% window.
The LG UM7300PUA has a decent viewing angle, but it isn't as good as most IPS TVs. Colors don't shift very much at an angle, but they wash out at moderate angles. The black levels remain relatively flat at moderate angles, but at wider angles they increase, causing the image to appear washed out.
The 50" model is expected to have a VA panel, and will have worse viewing angles.
Decent black uniformity, but there is noticeable backlight bleed, which is typical for IPS TVs. Unfortunately, there is no local dimming feature, which could improve black uniformity.
The 50" model is expected to have a VA panel, and will have a much better contrast ratio, and likely has better black uniformity.
The LG 55UM7300PUA has excellent reflection handling, very similar to the LG UK7700. The semi-gloss finish diffuses reflections across the screen, without the purple tint seen on high-end TVs.
After calibration, the UM7300 has excellent accuracy. The white balance is almost perfect, with only a slight inaccuracy in pure whites. Gamma follows our target of 2.2 almost perfectly. There are still a few color inaccuracies, especially in highly saturated blues, but most people won't notice it.
You can see our recommended settings here.
Unlike the UK6300, the LG UM7300 does not use an RGBW pixel structure, and 4k content is displayed with no issues.
The LG UM7300PUA has a decent color gamut, but it can't display a wide color gamut. The 'Expert (Dark Room)' EOTF (above) follows the target PQ curve almost perfectly, until it rolls off near the TV's peak brightness. The Game mode EOTF is almost identical.
If you find HDR too dim, unfortunately, there isn't much you can do on this TV. Setting Dynamic Contrast to 'High' increases the brightness of bright scenes, and helps a bit in extremely dark scenes. See our full recommendation here.
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.
Motion
The LG UM7300 has decent motion handling. It has a great response time, producing clear motion that has only a short blur trail behind it. The backlight flickers at 120Hz at any setting, which may bother some people, and causes duplications in moving objects. It doesn't have an optional black frame insertion feature, and doesn't support any of the variable refresh rate technologies.
The backlight flickers at 120Hz regardless of Backlight setting, which may bother some people. This low flicker frequency does help to clear up motion a bit, but causes noticeable duplications, as seen in our Motion Blur photo.
The LG UM7300PUA does not have an optional Black Frame Insertion feature. The backlight flickers at 120Hz in any mode, which does help clear up motion, but causes some noticeable duplications in motion, as seen in our Motion Blur photo.
There is an optional motion interpolation feature, but as it is a 60Hz panel, it can only interpolate up to 60 fps. Like the majority of TVs, the UM7300 does its best to interpolate fast action, but when it can't keep up it stops interpolating, which can be distracting due to the sudden change in refresh rate.
Learn more about motion interpolation, and how to enable it on the UM7300, here.
Due to the fast response time, low frame rate content, like movies, does appear to stutter at times. This is especially noticeable in wide panning shots. You can reduce the effects of stutter by enabling motion interpolation.
The LG UM7300 can remove judder from true 24p sources, like a Blu-ray player or the native apps, but can't remove judder from sources that output at 60Hz, like a cable box.
See here for our recommended settings for judder removal.
The LG UM7300 has a simple 60Hz refresh rate, which may disappoint some people. It does not support any of the variable refresh rate technologies, like FreeSync or HDMI-Forum's VRR.
Inputs
The LG UM7300 has outstanding low input lag, and it supports all of the common 60Hz input formats. It can also display chroma 4:4:4 properly with any resolution, but only in 'PC' mode. It has a decent selection of inputs, but has fewer HDMI inputs than more expensive models. Unfortunately, this model only supports HDR10, and does not support any dynamic HDR formats, like HDR10+ or Dolby Vision.
Outstanding low input lag, almost as low as the best 60Hz gaming monitors. The UM7300 has very similar low input lag with almost any supported input signal, as long as 'Game' mode is enabled. New this year is support for auto low latency mode, as long as Instant Game Response is enabled for the HDMI port in use.
See our recommended gaming settings here.
The LG 55UM7300PUA supports all of the common 60Hz input resolutions, and can display all of them with proper 4:4:4 chroma, so that text looks the way it should, as long as the input icon is changed to 'PC' from the Home Dashboard.
Some of the high bandwidth resolutions, like 4k @ 60Hz + HDR, require the HDMI ULTRA HD Deep Color setting to be enabled for the port in use.
This TV has 3 HDMI ports, all of which are HDMI 2.0 ports. It doesn't support any advanced HDR formats, like HDR10+ or Dolby Vision.
The LG 55UM7300PUA can pass through both DTS and Dolby Digital, which is great, but it doesn't support eARC for higher quality audio formats.
Sound Quality
The LG UM7300PUA has mediocre sound. It can't get very loud, and the bass can't produce any thump or rumble, and has very little body. It has a well balanced sound for clear dialog, but it lacks some airiness. For a better sound, a dedicated speaker setup or soundbars is recommended.
The LG UM7300 has a disappointing frequency response. The low frequency extension (LFE) is at about 120Hz, which is bad, and results in a bass that can't produce and thump or rumble, and doesn't have much body or punch. Above the LFE the frequency response is well balanced, which results in clear dialog. Although this TV is loud enough for quiet environments, if you have a lot of ambient noise it might not be enough.
The distortion performance of the LG UM7300 is decent, similar to the UK6300. The total amount of harmonic distortion is within limits, and it doesn't increase that much at max volume.
Smart Features
The LG UM7300 has great smart features. It runs the same version of LG's WebOS interface as their high-end models, but some features aren't quite as advanced. The interface is very polished, but some people might find it a bit complicated to use at first. It has the same great remote as last year's models, and also supports LG's unique virtual pointer system, which makes the interface very easy to navigate. LG's content store has an outstanding selection of apps, one of the widest available.
The interface is easy to use, and it is very quick to access most features or change the settings. The interface itself is smooth, with no obvious issues when browsing, but it sometimes hangs a bit when launching apps.
The 55UM7300PUA has the same excellent remote found on LG's high-end TVs. Like the C9, it can now be programmed to work with almost any device, even if it doesn't support HDMI-CEC. The remote also allows you to control the TV with your voice, including searching within some apps.
There is an available remote app for the TV, but it is very basic. It allows basic control of the TV, replacing the remote, but some of the smart TV functions are hidden, and may be difficult to find.
Through the remote app, you can also control the TV with your voice, but there are two separate options, which may be confusing. One option works as a speech-to-text, allowing you to input text into an app. The other option allows for direct control of the TV, like with the remote.
Differences between Sizes and Variants
We tested the 55" LG UM7300 (55UM7300). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 43" model (43UM7300), 49" model (49UM7300), and the 65" (65UM7300) model.
There is a 50" variant with a VA panel. We expect this model to have a much better native contrast and black uniformity, but the viewing angle won't be as good.
| Size | US | Canada | UK | Panel Type |
| 43" | 43UM7300PUA | 43UM7300AUE | 43UM7390PLC | IPS |
| 49" | 49UM7300PUA | 49UM7300AUE | 49UM7390PLC | IPS |
| 50" | 50UM7300PUA | 50UM7300AUE | N/A | VA |
| 55" | 55UM7300PUA | 55UM7300AUE | N/A | IPS |
| 65" | 65UM7300PUA | 65UM7300AUE | N/A | IPS |
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their LG UM7300 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.
The 55UM7300 we reviewed was manufactured in March 2019.
Compared to other TVs
The LG UM7300 is a good TV for most uses. See our recommendations for the best TVs, the best smart TVs, and the best 4k TVs.
The Samsung RU7100 and the LG UM7300 are similar, but they use different panel types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The LG UM7300 has an IPS panel, which remains accurate when viewed at an angle, but can't produce deep, uniform blacks. The Samsung RU7100 has a VA panel and looks much better in a dark room, but only when sitting directly in front, as the image degrades rapidly when viewed at an angle.
The LG UM7300 is much better than the LG UK6300. The UM7300 is much brighter than the UK6300, has better black uniformity, and has a faster response time. The UK6300 uses a less accurate RGBW pixel structure, which causes some noticeable artifacts with 4k content, whereas the UM7300 has a standard RGB pixel structure.
The Samsung NU7100 and the LG UM7300 use different panels, and the best one depends on your usage. The NU7100 is better-suited for dark-room viewing, sitting directly in front. The LG UM7300 is better suited for watching with the lights on and is a better choice for a wide seating area. The UM7300 has better motion handling overall, with a much faster response time, which is better for gaming or other 60p content.
The LG B8 is much better than the LG UM7300, but they use different panels, and the B8 has a chance of permanent burn-in, which the UM7300 is immune to. The B8 has much better dark room performance, outstanding motion handling, and an even better viewing angle. The UM7300 has slightly less input lag, and it supports a 1440p input, which is great for gaming.
The TCL R617 and the LG UM7300 use different panel technologies, each with their strengths and weaknesses. The R617 is better for watching movies or gaming in a dark room, as it has much better contrast, a full array local dimming feature, and an optional black frame insertion feature. The UM7300, on the other hand, is better-suited for watching sports or TV shows in a bright room with wide seating.
The Vizio V Series 2019 and the LG UM7300 have different panel types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The V Series has a VA panel, which looks better in a dark room, as it delivers deep, uniform blacks. The UM7300 has an IPS panel, which doesn't look as good in a dark room, but the image remains accurate when viewed at an angle.
The LG UM7300 is slightly better than the LG UK7700. The UM7300 is a bit brighter, and has better black uniformity. Unlike the UM7300, the UK7700 has a local dimming feature, but it isn't very effective anyway. The UK7700 has a slightly better design, with a full-metal back, and it has an additional HDMI input.
The LG UM7300 and the Hisense H8F use different panel types, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The H8F is better for watching movies or playing games in a dark room, but has worse motion handling. The LG looks better in a bright room, especially if you have a wide seating area, so it is a better choice for use as a PC monitor or for watching sports.
The Sony X850G is a bit better than the LG UM7300. The X850G is a lot brighter, but has worse black uniformity. The backlight of the X850G is flicker-free, and it has an optional black frame insertion feature. Other than that, these two TVs perform almost identically.