LG UltraGear 45GR75DC Gaming Monitor Review: Wide Screen, Wide Gamut, and Speedy Gaming

45-inch 32:9 DQHD VA 1500R curved gaming monitor with 200 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR600 and wide gamut color.

LG UltraGear 45GR75DC
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The 45GR75DC supports HDR10 signals with an automatic switch. It’s rated for DisplayHDR 600, which is unusual for a VA monitor. It is brighter than most of the competition.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

At over 800 nits, the 45GR75DC blows well past its 600-nit rating. The Samsung takes the top spot with its edge/zone dimming backlight that’s good for over 1,300 nits peak when measuring a 25% window pattern. Its main draw is a very aggressive dynamic contrast feature that gives it infinite contrast due to an unmeasurable black level. The LG is well in the hunt, though, with almost 20,000:1. Its HDR rendering is superb, with deep blacks, bright highlights and vivid color. This is excellent performance.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color

The 45GR75DC retains access to picture modes for HDR content. Gamer 1 is the best choice, as you can see from the charts. Grayscale tracking is visually perfect with all errors at or under 3dE. The EOTF starts a tad dark, then lightens up to the tone-map transition at 70%. I ran these tests in all three dimming modes and got the best performance from normal. It’s the most accurate and delivers the highest overall contrast.

In the HDR color tests, you can see a bit of over-saturation in the inner red targets and slight magenta hue errors with near-perfect performance from the other colors. Gamut coverage only comes up a tad short in the green primary. It makes a solid attempt at covering Rec.2020 as well. Inner points are a bit over-saturated, which is forgivable. Color runs out at around 85% for red, 65% for green and cyan and 95% for blue and yellow. This is typical of premium wide gamut monitors. The 45GR75DC’s overall HDR color accuracy is excellent.

Test Takeaway: With an effective dynamic contrast feature, the 45GR75DC delivers very high contrast in HDR mode. With solid grayscale, EOTF and gamut accuracy, it renders a superb HDR image. It isn’t quite an OLED, but it’s well ahead of most of its competition in quality.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

MORE: How We Test PC Monitors

MORE: How to Buy a PC Monitor

MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

  • Roland Of Gilead
    Have to admit, I really do like these Ultra wide monitors. My issues is that I'm partially blind in one eye, so something this wide would be ruined on me.

    Nice to dream though.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    Roland Of Gilead said:
    Have to admit, I really do like these Ultra wide monitors.
    What is it you like about them? I find them downright useless. It's like your squinting the entire time or something.
    Reply
  • anonymousdude
    brandonjclark said:
    What is it you like about them? I find them downright useless. It's like your squinting the entire time or something.

    I mean it's just a borderless dual 16:9 monitor setup. So if you're accustomed to that setup, it doesn't feel out of place at all. It's also neater since you have one less stand/arm and cables.

    Gaming wise it's more immersive. Downside is a lot of games don't properly support it.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    anonymousdude said:
    I mean it's just a borderless dual 16:9 monitor setup. So if you're accustomed to that setup, it doesn't feel out of place at all. It's also neater since you have one less stand/arm and cables.

    Gaming wise it's more immersive. Downside is a lot of games don't properly support it.

    Aspect ratio does not equal dimensions. Take a look...


    https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dell-s3220dgf-gaming-monitor-review-high-performance-work-and-play
    My monitor ^
    Dell S3220DGFPanel Dimensions WxHxD w/base27.9 x 18.6-24.4 x 9.8 inches (709 x 472-620 x 249mm)

    LG UltraGear 45GR75DCPanel Dimensions WxHxD w/base42.7 x 17.7-22 x 12.9 inches (1085 x 449-559 x 328mm)

    Notice the height.* This thing is literally shorter, by nearly an entire inch. Keep in mind this is a 45inch vs a 32inch, too.

    Sure, the aspect ratio might be the same, but it's literally shorter, by a lot.
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    Here is a monitor that I think is nice which is very wide, but also very tall.


    https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/alienware-38-curved-gaming-monitor-aw3821dw/apd/210-axvg/monitors-monitor-accessories
    Reply
  • anonymousdude
    brandonjclark said:
    Aspect ratio does not equal dimensions. Take a look...


    https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dell-s3220dgf-gaming-monitor-review-high-performance-work-and-play
    My monitor ^
    Dell S3220DGFPanel Dimensions WxHxD w/base27.9 x 18.6-24.4 x 9.8 inches (709 x 472-620 x 249mm)

    LG UltraGear 45GR75DCPanel Dimensions WxHxD w/base42.7 x 17.7-22 x 12.9 inches (1085 x 449-559 x 328mm)

    Notice the height.* This thing is literally shorter, by nearly an entire inch. Keep in mind this is a 45inch vs a 32inch, too.

    Sure, the aspect ratio might be the same, but it's literally shorter, by a lot.
    brandonjclark said:
    Here is a monitor that I think is nice which is very wide, but also very tall.


    https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/alienware-38-curved-gaming-monitor-aw3821dw/apd/210-axvg/monitors-monitor-accessories

    I mean yeah, aspect ratio and dimensions aren't the same considering that the ratio is width/height or more accurately our case horizontal/vertical pixels. Also the dimensions youre looking at are with the base. This LG is equivalent to 2 x 25in 16:9 monitors next to each other, so it's not going to be as tall as a 32in 16:9 or 38in 21:9 which are roughly the same height. The difference between the LG and the two you listed is around 3.5 - 4in in height. So yeah a big difference in absolute height. I'm not going to deny that. My point though is that if you've ever used 2 x 20, 22, 24, etc 16:9 setups (i.e your common office setups) this is basically the the same thing just without the border in the middle. Personally I've never found those setups to be "squinty" for lack of a better word.

    If your preference is for absolute height, I get it. Everyone has their own preferences and it really depends on your use case. Out of curiosity, do you find yourself squinting at anything smaller than than 16in of height in a monitor? Even a 25in 16x9 has a foot of height. Do you find things like phones and other small displays "squinty"?
    Reply
  • StevoReno
    The article reviews and gives the discounted price for the LG 45GR75DC but links to it's less capable and cheaper twin, LG 45GR65DC, on Amazon. The difference is the 45GR75DC has USB-C for video input and 90W power delivery.
    Reply