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LG 31MU97 4k Display
- Thread starter Zorn
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Not sure if your rmbp got discrete GPU or integrated graphics. My late 2014 model (integrated graphics) is having the same 3840x2160 limitation at the moment. The SwitchresX fix doesn't work, upgrading to 10.10.3 doesn't fix it either.
LG 31MU97: The Movie!
so here's a relatively exhaustive 13 minute video of my experiences this morning.
i don't mention it in the video, but the mac pro is running 10.10.3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pRFjy6xOGs&feature=youtu.be
new displayport cables coming tomorrow. meh.
cheers,
c
so here's a relatively exhaustive 13 minute video of my experiences this morning.
i don't mention it in the video, but the mac pro is running 10.10.3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pRFjy6xOGs&feature=youtu.be
new displayport cables coming tomorrow. meh.
cheers,
c
Do not use bus 0 use ports 1 and 2 The two top ports. Apple does not recommend bus 0.
You changed two things at one time only change one thing and restart and after restart you may need to turn the monitor of and on.
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ok, this is not information i had previously.
to be fair, i have shut down and rebooted the machine with the various TB port configurations, including the top two ports, and i still saw this behaviour.
since completion of that video, they've been fine all day. so i'm not going to rock the boat. but when it happens again, i'll try that specific combo again with a fresh reboot, and report back.
rainbows and happiness,
c
I can't believe you've stayed sane! Your video was very interesting. Will continue to watch your progress!
so per lisagurl's suggestions, i shut down the machine, disconnected everything, and connected the monitors to the top two ports (left and right).
kept the machine and monitors unplugged for probably a good five minutes.
booted up.
if you're expecting a surprise, look elsewhere.
same exact results, nothing has changed. in fact, it seems i get the worst performance when both monitors are plugged in to the top ports. only one of them will come on at all, and even then that one glitched.
upon further watching, the left monitor would not come on, the right one glitched and freaked out, but when it finally went to sleep, the left monitor came on at that exact moment. whether or not that was a coincidence, who knows.
this is absolutely ridiculous.
i'm not even going to be able to be here for the appointment tomorrow, but i am leaving my video and a guy who is familiar with the situation.
ok... here's an interesting update. now the right monitor has sprung back to life and everything seems fine.
so the right monitor came on, left would not. right began to glitch, eventually shut down, left monitor came on. few minutes later, right monitor flickers and comes back on.
now things seem ok.
this is the most successful attempt to get to this state so far. it's still absolutely insane, but if i didn't know better i'd call it progress.
c
kept the machine and monitors unplugged for probably a good five minutes.
booted up.
if you're expecting a surprise, look elsewhere.
same exact results, nothing has changed. in fact, it seems i get the worst performance when both monitors are plugged in to the top ports. only one of them will come on at all, and even then that one glitched.
upon further watching, the left monitor would not come on, the right one glitched and freaked out, but when it finally went to sleep, the left monitor came on at that exact moment. whether or not that was a coincidence, who knows.
this is absolutely ridiculous.
i'm not even going to be able to be here for the appointment tomorrow, but i am leaving my video and a guy who is familiar with the situation.
ok... here's an interesting update. now the right monitor has sprung back to life and everything seems fine.
so the right monitor came on, left would not. right began to glitch, eventually shut down, left monitor came on. few minutes later, right monitor flickers and comes back on.
now things seem ok.
this is the most successful attempt to get to this state so far. it's still absolutely insane, but if i didn't know better i'd call it progress.
c
Another nMP?
Any chance you could try the same 2x(LG-31MU97) configuration on another Mac Pro? Just to eliminate the possibility that your nMP(6) is at fault somehow, and place the please-fixit focus on LG.
Any chance you could try the same 2x(LG-31MU97) configuration on another Mac Pro? Just to eliminate the possibility that your nMP(6) is at fault somehow, and place the please-fixit focus on LG.
The way I understand it is that the use of bus 0 is fine unless you're using something connected to the HDMI port (which also uses bus 0):
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202801
I'm not so sure about the hype surrounding 4K monitors (or even 5K for that matter!) I know they look good and can be Retina-like but I just think it's still premature in the market for them to be worth the price. I picked up two 24" 1080p 144Hz monitors a while ago which I have connected to my rMBP, which I love! They cost me no more than £200 a piece. From a distance they look fine, can't really discern pixels. Plus as I'm using them via Thunderbolt, I'm running them at full 144Hz which is so smooth it almost hurts.
Maybe in the future I'd look at 4K monitors, but not until they are much more reasonably priced and when the content is more widespread to make them worth while. Can't help thinking that, right now, 4K and 5K is probably just a gimmick.
Maybe in the future I'd look at 4K monitors, but not until they are much more reasonably priced and when the content is more widespread to make them worth while. Can't help thinking that, right now, 4K and 5K is probably just a gimmick.
I have said this on several occasions on these forums, but it bears refreshing. 4K hardware and O/S drivers are still in their infancy. When you live on the "bleeding edge" then sometimes you get cut.
As having owned in the last two years:
2xDell U2412M 1920x1200
LG 34UM95 3440x1440
Dell P2715Q 3840x2160
I can tell you that ALL of those are good monitors, but the best one is by far the 4K monitor. Clear, crisp, clean, bright, with GORGEOUS images.
So, it's just based on each person's needs. You can generally find what you need in your budget. Or like me, stepping OVER the boundaries of your budget and splurging.
i've been cutting 4K for the better part of two years, so i FEEL like i've waited years for a decent 4K monitor, particularly one that has the same exact aspect ratio as RED footage.
i'm still, despite all of this, not giving up on these yet. but it's pretty close.
i realise that this tech is still pretty new... that's reasonable. but if these problems exist (particularly with the mac pro) it'd be good if other folks don't end up finding that out AFTER they spend the money (even though the 31MU97s seem to be dropping in price daily.)
i would like to test the monitors with another mac pro, but don't have access, nor will i for the forseeable future as far as i can tell. i'm not ruling out the mac pro of course.
i did briefly try one of the monitors on my macbook pro, and it connected and worked OK, but only at a lower resolution and i didn't have time to test too in-depth.
turns out the startech cables with the same model number at B&H are in fact NOT the 26.1 Gb/s cables, so i ordered a *5th* set of cables last night that show up tomorrow.
yay.
i'm still, despite all of this, not giving up on these yet. but it's pretty close.
i realise that this tech is still pretty new... that's reasonable. but if these problems exist (particularly with the mac pro) it'd be good if other folks don't end up finding that out AFTER they spend the money (even though the 31MU97s seem to be dropping in price daily.)
i would like to test the monitors with another mac pro, but don't have access, nor will i for the forseeable future as far as i can tell. i'm not ruling out the mac pro of course.
i did briefly try one of the monitors on my macbook pro, and it connected and worked OK, but only at a lower resolution and i didn't have time to test too in-depth.
turns out the startech cables with the same model number at B&H are in fact NOT the 26.1 Gb/s cables, so i ordered a *5th* set of cables last night that show up tomorrow.
yay.
I have said this on several occasions on these forums, but it bears refreshing. 4K hardware and O/S drivers are still in their infancy. When you live on the "bleeding edge" then sometimes you get cut.
As having owned in the last two years:
2xDell U2412M 1920x1200
LG 34UM95 3440x1440
Dell P2715Q 3840x2160
I can tell you that ALL of those are good monitors, but the best one is by far the 4K monitor. Clear, crisp, clean, bright, with GORGEOUS images.
So, it's just based on each person's needs. You can generally find what you need in your budget. Or like me, stepping OVER the boundaries of your budget and splurging.
Having just bought these two monitors, I'm not really in the market for new ones just yet. But I definitely would seriously consider 4K monitors in a few years if and when the prices are more reasonable. I did actually look at replacing my MacBook Pro with a 5K iMac but the Genius in the Apple Store told me not to get one yet because the Nvidia graphics chips in them aren't powerful enough yet anyway.
I hope he said "the AMD graphics chips" as the R9 M290X / M295X inside the 5K iMac are from AMD ;O)...
(as well as the D300/500/700 in a nMP)
Having a wobble
After hankering after an LG-31MU97 for some time now, I'm starting to think I may go for an alternative option. There seem to be a few possible problems with the LG (not least darkenergymedia's tale of woe) and the price on the LG here in the UK isn't dropping. Someone said it is "daily" but perhaps that's on the other side of the pond.
The 32" UHD BenQ BL3201PT is £400 (that's nearly $600) cheaper than the LG and seems in many respects equal to it (apart from not being true 4K and not being on Apple's "approved" list).
Things are going to change rapidly in the monitor market over the next few years so I'm beginning to think it's not worth spending a grand on a monitor that seems far from perfect and I may not want to keep once I (eventually) upgrade my Darth Mac in a few years time.
Comments?
After hankering after an LG-31MU97 for some time now, I'm starting to think I may go for an alternative option. There seem to be a few possible problems with the LG (not least darkenergymedia's tale of woe) and the price on the LG here in the UK isn't dropping. Someone said it is "daily" but perhaps that's on the other side of the pond.
The 32" UHD BenQ BL3201PT is £400 (that's nearly $600) cheaper than the LG and seems in many respects equal to it (apart from not being true 4K and not being on Apple's "approved" list).
Things are going to change rapidly in the monitor market over the next few years so I'm beginning to think it's not worth spending a grand on a monitor that seems far from perfect and I may not want to keep once I (eventually) upgrade my Darth Mac in a few years time.
Comments?
Maybe I mis-heard what he said, but I'm pretty sure he said Nvidia. His 'manager' also told me that he doesn't trust the new MacBook because of Force Touch and for that reason he won't be getting one. It's quite refreshing to walk into an Apple Store and have the genuine opinions of the staff presented to you. Not sure Apple would be too happy with them discouraging purchases though.
I personally have had no issues at all with the monitor and I know more people in that boat than the ones having issues. If you can't justify it currently, I'd wait; there will be more options with competitive pricing coming soon as the technology picks up steam.
so here is the promised post-tech update!
my guy called me and said the tech wanted to take the monitors in to his shop to see if he could repair them. unfortunately there's no way i'm going down that road as i'd rather just return them. apparently the guy was pretty savvy and he reckons it's something to do with the cables or connections. i say savvy but that conclusion isn't exactly scientific. but he was pretty reasonable, and is going to report his findings back to LG.
i also sent my 13-minute video to my LG support guy and suggested perhaps he pass it along to someone with technical knowledge beyond the manual and google. god bless the support guy, but he's more of an obstacle than a help.
now i have more interesting stuff to report.
when i returned home, everything worked fine. i noticed that the right monitor was sluggish and weird though - a quick investigation uncovered the fact that the tech had connected one of the monitors over HDMI.
interestingly, this seems to fix the glitch mania problem, but at the expense of having one display at a 24hz refresh rate. i'm personally more than happy with 60 (more would be great, but i'm not complaining AT ALL), but 24 is a compromise i don't think i can live with.
so. there's even more.
the B&H rep replied to me that the startech cables i ordered were NOT the 21 Gb/s versions. i emailed startech and they said they absolutely WERE the 21 Gb/s versions.
they arrived today, and scanning the QR code on the packaging takes me to the startech page which specifies the 21 Gb/s throughput, so i'm trusting the startech rep on that. i have another set of these coming from amazon that specify the 21 Gb/s, so when they arrive i can compare... but...
i unplugged the HDMI cable and plugged the startech cable in, and so far i've had no problems.
but then, i've had days without problems, so that doesn't mean anything.
i'm choosing to be optimistic one last time simply because i'm too exhausted to be cynical. i'd like to think that these higher throughput cables might help, but we'll see.
unfortunately this doesn't help me reach a final verdict yet - i figure i'll give it a couple more days to see if the startechs do the trick.
failing that, i'm at a loss. perhaps certain nMP machines have faulty or otherwise out-of-tolerance TB bus something-or-other, but like others have said in this thread, i'm no electrical engineer.
i just want to use my computer.
more soon,
c
my guy called me and said the tech wanted to take the monitors in to his shop to see if he could repair them. unfortunately there's no way i'm going down that road as i'd rather just return them. apparently the guy was pretty savvy and he reckons it's something to do with the cables or connections. i say savvy but that conclusion isn't exactly scientific. but he was pretty reasonable, and is going to report his findings back to LG.
i also sent my 13-minute video to my LG support guy and suggested perhaps he pass it along to someone with technical knowledge beyond the manual and google. god bless the support guy, but he's more of an obstacle than a help.
now i have more interesting stuff to report.
when i returned home, everything worked fine. i noticed that the right monitor was sluggish and weird though - a quick investigation uncovered the fact that the tech had connected one of the monitors over HDMI.
interestingly, this seems to fix the glitch mania problem, but at the expense of having one display at a 24hz refresh rate. i'm personally more than happy with 60 (more would be great, but i'm not complaining AT ALL), but 24 is a compromise i don't think i can live with.
so. there's even more.
the B&H rep replied to me that the startech cables i ordered were NOT the 21 Gb/s versions. i emailed startech and they said they absolutely WERE the 21 Gb/s versions.
they arrived today, and scanning the QR code on the packaging takes me to the startech page which specifies the 21 Gb/s throughput, so i'm trusting the startech rep on that. i have another set of these coming from amazon that specify the 21 Gb/s, so when they arrive i can compare... but...
i unplugged the HDMI cable and plugged the startech cable in, and so far i've had no problems.
but then, i've had days without problems, so that doesn't mean anything.
i'm choosing to be optimistic one last time simply because i'm too exhausted to be cynical. i'd like to think that these higher throughput cables might help, but we'll see.
unfortunately this doesn't help me reach a final verdict yet - i figure i'll give it a couple more days to see if the startechs do the trick.
failing that, i'm at a loss. perhaps certain nMP machines have faulty or otherwise out-of-tolerance TB bus something-or-other, but like others have said in this thread, i'm no electrical engineer.
i just want to use my computer.
more soon,
c
That's a fair comment. It's the usual tech "problem" that there's always something better around the corner. I waited 2 years for the nMP to come out (I was running a Mac Pro 1,1 while I was waiting so I deserve an award for the level of patience required) so I'm not averse to hanging about a bit waiting for things to happen. There's no doubt that the increased clarity of a higher pixel density added to improved colour reproduction and lower power requirements (the LG uses 49w, my ACD 30" uses 150w) would be useful. The sweet spot for me is about £600 (around $900). I'll keep watching for now, but don't want to wait too long.
The plot thickens!
no dice, sadly.
actually this morning (so far) things are fine, but last night for a period of time the left monitor wouldn't even work. this is after changing to the new startech cables.
so that's it. i'll either be ordering the ASUS or DELL UHD displays today, and these are going back.
severely disappointed because other than the obvious, these were great.
too bad.
cheers,
c
actually this morning (so far) things are fine, but last night for a period of time the left monitor wouldn't even work. this is after changing to the new startech cables.
so that's it. i'll either be ordering the ASUS or DELL UHD displays today, and these are going back.
severely disappointed because other than the obvious, these were great.
too bad.
cheers,
c
Bummer! You lasted infinitely longer than I would have. If you wouldn't mind, let us know how the replacement brand that you choose work.
Replace with 3x Dell(P2715Q)?
Well, you can get three Dell P2715Q monitors for about the same price as two of the LG-31MU97. And, according to several punters on this site, that seems to work Ok with the nMP(6). Still, its a damn shame that the LG monitors did not work out 4u.
Eg. https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20627074/.
Well, you can get three Dell P2715Q monitors for about the same price as two of the LG-31MU97. And, according to several punters on this site, that seems to work Ok with the nMP(6). Still, its a damn shame that the LG monitors did not work out 4u.
Eg. https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20627074/.
Yeah, I've been following this thread, and I just can't understand why people are putting up with this LG nonsense.
Life is short. please don't have me committed.
i tried one last thing... i downloaded SwitchResX and paid the $15... am presently forcing the displays to 4096 x 2160 at 50hz rather than 60.
i've rebooted and tried disconnecting / reconnecting monitors, and so far things are stable.
50hz is completely serviceable for me, so once again, for no good reason whatsoever, and indeed flying in the face of experience, i'm being optimistic one more time.
if this works i'll be annoyed, as it could have been addressed on day one.
i've read that people are actually having similar issues with the ASUS 321PQ - that one is MST, but if you look at the negative amazon reviews, there are a couple of nMP owners having some issues there - several being attributed to displayport 1.2 not being properly implemented yet. the MST not working properly and only 1/2 the screen working are issues that are cited with that guy.
so the last thing i want to do is replace these 4096x2160 monitors that have issues with UHD monitors that have issues.
this 50hz thing might make it all better. if it does, i will be thrilled. and annoyed.
c
i tried one last thing... i downloaded SwitchResX and paid the $15... am presently forcing the displays to 4096 x 2160 at 50hz rather than 60.
i've rebooted and tried disconnecting / reconnecting monitors, and so far things are stable.
50hz is completely serviceable for me, so once again, for no good reason whatsoever, and indeed flying in the face of experience, i'm being optimistic one more time.
if this works i'll be annoyed, as it could have been addressed on day one.
i've read that people are actually having similar issues with the ASUS 321PQ - that one is MST, but if you look at the negative amazon reviews, there are a couple of nMP owners having some issues there - several being attributed to displayport 1.2 not being properly implemented yet. the MST not working properly and only 1/2 the screen working are issues that are cited with that guy.
so the last thing i want to do is replace these 4096x2160 monitors that have issues with UHD monitors that have issues.
this 50hz thing might make it all better. if it does, i will be thrilled. and annoyed.
c
switchrez makes no difference. here is my entire summary and final verdict, after giving it significant thought today:
i'm keeping them.
you might consider this an entirely ridiculous idea, but here's my rationale.
no current 4K or UHD display works completely properly with the nMP. there are exceptions to this, and as one poster here commented, he feels that people without issues outnumber those with issues.
however, those of us WITH those issues seem to experience the same problems. and those seem to be related to apple's handling of either displayport 1.2 over TB2 or some other aspect of resolutions this high.
it's a bit disingenuous for apple to be touting "compatible" 4K monitors when there are numerous reports of users having these issues.
i was fully prepared to go with the ASUS monitors, but some digging into the negative reviews on amazon yielded similar issues, although with the MST nature of the ASUS monitors, the issues seem to manifest themselves through 1/2 of the display flickering or turning off.
the thread about the P2715Q seems to be full of displayport issues as well. there are indeed folks who aren't having any issues there either.
the fact is that nobody really seems interested in getting to the bottom of this. certainly not apple - i'm not even going to bother starting to get into it with them.
from what i've read, displayport 1.2 isn't fully implemented yet - or there are newer cables in development that might help things... or apple might get their act together and support 4K in a more robust way.
i've resigned myself to running the right display over HDMI for the time being. 24Hz is a ****** refresh rate, but my right display is typically for my timelines and general info - my left display is seemingly fine at 60hz and my playback is on that screen. so it goes.
the other option is to risk similar issues with a monitor with a less ideal resolution, or to resort to non-4K monitors. i don't think i can do that.
the devil you know, as they say.
so far from ideal, but at least functional, and seemingly stable.
i'm gambling on future support and these issues being ironed out. it'll probably come back to bite me, but i've made my peace.
i hope someone was able to get some insight through all of this. again, at the end of the day, the colour rendition and resolution is beautiful when working.
oh yeah, and i have a dead pixel now. it's in a very out-of-the-way place and almost unnoticeable. i'm just not going to think about it.
cheers,
c
i'm keeping them.
you might consider this an entirely ridiculous idea, but here's my rationale.
no current 4K or UHD display works completely properly with the nMP. there are exceptions to this, and as one poster here commented, he feels that people without issues outnumber those with issues.
however, those of us WITH those issues seem to experience the same problems. and those seem to be related to apple's handling of either displayport 1.2 over TB2 or some other aspect of resolutions this high.
it's a bit disingenuous for apple to be touting "compatible" 4K monitors when there are numerous reports of users having these issues.
i was fully prepared to go with the ASUS monitors, but some digging into the negative reviews on amazon yielded similar issues, although with the MST nature of the ASUS monitors, the issues seem to manifest themselves through 1/2 of the display flickering or turning off.
the thread about the P2715Q seems to be full of displayport issues as well. there are indeed folks who aren't having any issues there either.
the fact is that nobody really seems interested in getting to the bottom of this. certainly not apple - i'm not even going to bother starting to get into it with them.
from what i've read, displayport 1.2 isn't fully implemented yet - or there are newer cables in development that might help things... or apple might get their act together and support 4K in a more robust way.
i've resigned myself to running the right display over HDMI for the time being. 24Hz is a ****** refresh rate, but my right display is typically for my timelines and general info - my left display is seemingly fine at 60hz and my playback is on that screen. so it goes.
the other option is to risk similar issues with a monitor with a less ideal resolution, or to resort to non-4K monitors. i don't think i can do that.
the devil you know, as they say.
so far from ideal, but at least functional, and seemingly stable.
i'm gambling on future support and these issues being ironed out. it'll probably come back to bite me, but i've made my peace.
i hope someone was able to get some insight through all of this. again, at the end of the day, the colour rendition and resolution is beautiful when working.
oh yeah, and i have a dead pixel now. it's in a very out-of-the-way place and almost unnoticeable. i'm just not going to think about it.
cheers,
c
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