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LG UltraFine 5K - Owners Thread
- Thread starter iBrooker
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Sounds like a typical "Left hand not knowing right hand" issue. We see it all the time in my industry where the supporting department is not communicating (not nefariously) with the development/deployment team.
Sorry to be a skeptic but there's probably no new firmware, even if there is they wouldn't know anything about it. They don't even know what firmware is. That's just a line they tell people - "you see, there's this magical new firmware that's gonna solve all your problems, but it's not ready yet, so keep your eyes peeled and I'm gonna close this ticket now mmkay?"
Support centres are almost all outsourced now, usually in the Philippines & co. They have no clue about anything apart from some frequently encountered problems. The guys doing support for LG now will do support for Asus in an hour.
Case in hand: LG Twitter support didn't have a clue what I was talking about when I said Ultrafine 5k, I had to look up their silly model name
PSA for anyone who has some sort of green noise on dark backgrounds on the right side of the screen with random flickering: Get the TCON in your MacBook Pro checked. Apple replaced the one on mine and my 5K display has been working fine since... (for now..)
how does this flicker look like? i have an occasional white blocky flicker (like geometric shapes) on my 4k ultrafine which is connected to a 13 inch mbp.
I've been looking to buy this monitor for 3 months now, but i still cannot convince myself to pay 1400 euro for it. Especially when i see people still giving it 1 star ratings on the apple store, even though it has been receiving constant firmware updates for the past year.
For this same reason i couldn't fully transition from my Windows desktop to the MacBook Pro + this external monitor (the only one that can push full 85watt via the usb c port). Terrible!
For this same reason i couldn't fully transition from my Windows desktop to the MacBook Pro + this external monitor (the only one that can push full 85watt via the usb c port). Terrible!
It's had one firmware update since release, which only some people were able to install before LG accidentally pulled it. As far as I am aware, you cannot update a screen you buy today to the current firmware because it's not available to download (read the thread).
I have the 5k with a 13" TB. Not sure if the 5k + 4k combo will work, but 5k performance (usually in clamshell mode) is pretty good, especially since the High Sierra update. The display's performance is great, but as has been discussed these past two months, there are some of us with issues updating their monitors. Colours are identical to the MBP display as well, such that they use the same colour profiles.
My colours are not identical, the LG has cooler colours, the Macbook Pro is a lot warmer in comparison. Even after buying an expensive hardware calibrator and spending close to a day and night installing professional calibration software and doing 100 calibrations, I still could not get them to look the same.
It may not even be possible to get them to be the same, looking at the black levels on both in a dark room - the Macbook display is a lot darker, almost like OLED, a uniform black with way better viewing angles. While the LG is a washed out grey that turns into a light grey when viewed at an angle (slight backlight bleed here and there). It's like they're using completely different display tech.
They don't use the same profiles by default - the LG comes with it's own profile.
Right now I have them both set to sRGB, which makes the colours pop a whole lot more, especially on the Macbook. I may set the Macbook to the original profile when doing design work. Then again I may not - after being obsessed with calibration for years, now I've said to hell with it and I'm enjoying the vibrant colours.
My display is different then, because I can switch between Color LCD and Ultrafine 5k icc profiles and colours do not change on both the MBP display and Ultrafine 5k. Without taking the slight backlight bleed on both displays into account, the only glaring difference in my case is that the Ultrafine 5k can get noticeably brighter than the MBP display.
I'd chalk this up more to LG QC than an inability to see differences between the two displays (I hope!), as something like temperature difference would be immediately apparent on a white page.
This firmware update situation is becoming ridiculous. I still cannot update my 5k monitor's firmware, and still can't get any proper help from LG support. I will never be buying an LG product again after this.
If anyone has any ideas at all...I'm trying to find the Lg screen manager 2.06 dmg, maybe if you force it to update within the app, it may update the monitor. If anyone has a copy of the screen manager 2.06....or manages to get the latest update file...
If anyone has any ideas at all...I'm trying to find the Lg screen manager 2.06 dmg, maybe if you force it to update within the app, it may update the monitor. If anyone has a copy of the screen manager 2.06....or manages to get the latest update file...
Here is what I found in the lsm log after trying to update the firmware on my LG 5k Monitor:
http:/lmu.lge.com/ExternalService/lgscreenmanager/mac/FW/27MD5KA_MP3/MODEL_27MD5KA_SV3.04_CV1.13_HV5237_NV3.04_AV0.1e_20170705.zip
If you type that into your browser it will download what I believe is the latest firmware available for the LG 5K (I think the firmware is dated July 2017).
BTW I have upgraded my monitor but it seems to lose the update after a few days. The LG Screen Manager is very flakey as well.
GL
Use at your own risk.
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WOWWWWWW IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! how in the world did you find that file? Can you please show me the lsm log, so that I can find the update files in the future?
For everyone trying to update, this indeed works. download the zip file and then "open file" within the LSM to manually update. You do not need to unzip the zip file, it is password protected, but LSM still recognizes it and is able to use it
It certainly has also worked finde with mine!!!!
Thank you very much for discovering this!
It would also be interesting to know where you found that entry in the lsm log file.
Bob, thank you so much! Was able to update just fine, and am enjoying the more granular volume control! Strange that this link showed up on a monitor that already updated to the latest version. I only hope that we don't have to go through another one of these debacles once the next update hits.
Thanks also to everyone in this thread who tried to help!
I am considering purchasing an UltraFine 5K, but the only thing holding me back is all of the reviews about bugs / issues with the monitor. The price / looks do not concern me, but I just can't justify spending so much for a monitor that does not function the way it was intended.
I haven't followed the issues closely and am just wondering if I purchase a new one now will I be likely to experience issues or have they been worked out by now?
I haven't followed the issues closely and am just wondering if I purchase a new one now will I be likely to experience issues or have they been worked out by now?