The Samsung Odyssey G9: A Gaming Monitor Review

In our sponsored unboxing video on ShortCircuit, we were able to get more views than many LTT videos, and for good reason. The Samsung Odyssey G9 is a 49-inch monitor with the highest resolution of its form factor, boasting 240 freaking Hertz and DisplayHDR 1000 certification. On paper, this is the new God of gaming monitors, but we need to find out if it can overcome the shortfalls of its VA panel lineage.

One of the main concerns with VA panels is pixel response times. This refers to how long it takes a pixel to go from one value to another value. In reality, these numbers are averages that don't tell the whole story. The slowest transitions occur when going from the lowest values, which can result in deep blacks and medium grays being smeared more. However, this is not always the case. With adaptive sync on, we set up a pursuit camera to photograph response time artifacts without capturing human brain-imposed motion blur.

As it turns out, we see coronas on the backside of the ship as well as a color inversion of yellow to blue caused by overshoot. This is what you're going to get if you plan on gaming with G-Sync or any other adaptive sync technology. However, this can be mitigated with DisplayHDR, which provides a more accurate representation of the colors and contrast.

The G9 uses a quantum dot enhancement film to achieve near professional levels of color accuracy, covering 73% of the rec.2020 color gamut. The screen is also quite uniform, and the 1,000nit peak brightness makes HDR movies and games really pop. However, we do need to note that if you're watching a movie alone, I would recommend doing so because this monitor isn't built for great viewing angles.

One thing that sets this monitor apart from its competitors is its world's first 1,000R curve, which is tighter than anything we've seen before. This is said to be similar to the curvature of the human eye, increasing the proportion of the screen that you can see without strain and decreasing fatigue. There have been some studies that seem to back this up.

However, we do have one fairly big problem with this monitor - noticeable flickering when HDR is on. It's more obvious on the desktop than when you're actually watching or playing content. I was able to tell while playing CS:GO, but it's not clear if this is related to the flicker because there was some talk of this monitor being recalled.

Despite its flaws, the Samsung Odyssey G9 is still an amazing display for both gaming and productivity. At $1,800, which is a lot of money, it's actually $200 cheaper than our previous God of gaming monitors while offering great performance at this price point. So, should you buy this monitor? It's definitely not the highest performance 240 Hertz gaming display on the market, but what it is is one of the most complete packages out there.

To address that, let's talk about some other notable features and specs of the Samsung Odyssey G9. The monitor has 10 local dimming zones, which can sometimes look bad compared to our previous God of gaming monitors. However, this doesn't detract from its overall performance. The overdrive coronas are definitely going to annoy certain people, but for most users, this will be a minor issue.

For those who want to know more about the technical specifications and features of the Samsung Odyssey G9, here's what we found. It has a resolution of 5120x2880, with a refresh rate of 240 Hertz. The monitor supports DisplayHDR 1000, which provides a higher peak brightness and a wider color gamut than standard HDR. It also uses a quantum dot enhancement film to achieve near professional levels of color accuracy.

In terms of connectivity, the Samsung Odyssey G9 has four ports: one HDMI, two DisplayPort, and one USB-C. The monitor also supports wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. For those who want to know more about the monitor's power consumption, it has a standby mode that consumes only 1 watt of power.

Overall, the Samsung Odyssey G9 is an amazing display for both gaming and productivity. While it may not be perfect, its flaws are minor compared to its many strengths. If you're in the market for a new monitor, this should definitely be on your radar.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- My sponsored unboxingof the Samsung Odyssey G9over on ShortCircuit, got more viewsthan lots of LTT videos.And actually, why not?It's 49 inches of the highest resolutionthis form factor comes in.It's 240 freaking Hertz,and it's DisplayHDR 1000 certified.I mean on paper, this is thenew God of gaming monitors.If it can overcome the shortfallsof it's VA panel lineage.And we're gonna find out todayin our unsponsored full review,which isn't to say we don'thave a sponsor at all,it's just not Samsung.ORIGIN PC has got powerful,high end desktops and laptopswith a multitude of options,including up to twoterabytes of fast storagewith Samsung's 870 QVO SSDs.Check them out today at thelink in the video description.(upbeat music)The big concern with VApanels, like in the G9,has to do with pixel response times.That's how long it takes a pixelto go from one value to another value.Like the blue pixels of mydesktop background here,turning white as I movea window across them.Gaming monitors, including our G9 here,often advertise a greatergray switching timeof about one millisecond.But these are marketing numbersthat never tell the whole story,in part, because they are averages.In the real world, pixelresponse times varydepending on the valuethe pixel is starting at,and the value it's driving toward.Looking at measurementsfrom the first 240 Hertz VA monitor ever,the Samsung C27RG50, we can seethat the slowest transitions occurwhen going from the lowest values.So, the deep blacks thatVA panels are known forup through other dark and medium grays.Now, there is a way toget faster response times,just send more voltage to the pixels,but as with most good things,you can have too much.Pixel over drive comes with a trade offwhere you can overshoot the target valueintroducing Inverse Ghosting Coronas,that I personally think look way worsethan regular smearing.So the question for the G9,and I guess also the G7 by extension,because it's similar but justin a 16 by nine form factor,is whether Samsung has been able to findthat overdrive Goldilocks zone.To find out, we set up a pursuit camerato photograph response timeartifacts without capturingthe human brain imposedmotion blur that you seewhen looking at movingobjects on a screen.This is at 240 Hertzwith Adaptive-Sync on.The blacks are smeared morewhen the ship is againsta dark background,but overall there's very little smearingcompared to the pursuit camera picsthat TFT Central took ontheir review of the C27RG50.Instead, we see Coronas onthe backside of the shipas well as a colorinversion of yellow to bluecaused by overshoot.And this is what you're gonna getif you plan on gamingwith G-Sync, or FreeSync,or Adaptive-Sync, or variablerefresh rate turned on.However, with variable refresh rate off,you can actually adjustthe overdrive setting through three steps,with standard introducing fewer Coronas,though, you still cannotice them in games.If it bothers you toomuch, you could in theory,turn the refresh rate downto 120 or even 60 Hertzat the expense of clarity,but in our testing,it really didn't seem to help much.Now, as someone whoisn't terribly botheredby VA black smearing in general,and in light of these test results,I stand by what I saidin that sponsored video.This monitor deliversan absolutely incrediblehigh refresh rate,immersive gaming experience.But, don't click away yetbecause there are some thingsthat you should know about it.You may recall that ourprevious God of monitors,the Asus PG27UQ, was capableof 4K HDR gaming at 144 Hertz,but only with 422 Chromo Subsampling,which introduces colorfringing on fine detailsand can make text harder to read.That was because of thebandwidth limitationsof display port 1.4.But this monitor alsouses display port 1.4,and it's refreshing at an eyepeeling 240 times per second.Yet you get full RGB, 10 bit color.How is this even possible?Is it because 5120 by 1440is fewer pixels than 4k?Well, that does help,but the main reason is actuallythat this monitor's display port 1.4 portsupports a feature called DSC.DSC, or Display Stream Compressionis only supported on20-series and video cardsand AMD cards from 2019 onward.Without it you're actuallystuck with eight bit colorat 120 Hertz, and ourswouldn't even overclock to 144.By the way, hooking up twocables, that won't help.With DSC, though, you can unlockthe Odyssey's fullpotential, and to our eye,even though it is being compressed,there's no visual fidelity loss,just way more efficient useof the available bandwidth.Speaking of visuals, they're fantastic.lttstore.com, by the way.The G9 uses a quantum dot enhancement filmto achieve near professionallevels of color accuracyand has 73% coverage ofthe rec 2020 color gamut.The screen is also quite uniform.And of course, the 1,000nit peak brightnessmakes your HDR moviesand games really pop.One thing I will sayis that if you're watching a movie,I would recommend doing that alonebecause she ain't builtfor great viewing angles.She is built for immersion thoughwith apparently theworld's first 1,000R curve,which is tighter thananything we've seen before.1,000R is said to be similarto the curvature of the human eye,increasing the proportion of the screenthat you can see withoutstrain, and decreasing fatigue.And there are actually some studiesthat seem to back this up.I do have one fairly big problemwith this monitor though,the noticeable flickering when HDR is on.Now, it's more obvious on the desktopthan when you're actuallywatching or playing content.But I was able to tellwhile playing CS:GO,and I don't know if this is related,but there was some talk ofthis monitor being recalled,though now Korea tells usthat they're just doingadditional testing,not recalling it.So, whatever's going on,I hope that it's related to the flickerbecause somebody's got to address it.Leaving only then the final question,should you buy this monitor?It's definitely notthe highest performance240 Hertz gaming display onthe market, but what it is,is one of the most completepackages out there.Sure, it only has 10 local dimming zones,which sometimes looks bad,even compared to our previousGod of gaming monitors,which is a couple of years old now.And the overdrive Coronasare definitely going toannoy certain people,but at $1,800, which is a lot of money,it's still $200 cheaper thanour previous God of monitorswhile being great for bothgaming and productivity,something we didn't reallyaddress much in this video.So that's an extra benefit.It's not cheap, but Ithink these are going to bevery popular indeed,especially if Samsung can fixthat HDR flickering issue.What's in your online security toolkit?Adding a VPN lets you mask your IPand encrypt traffic toand from your devices,and Private InternetAccess has reliable servicewith thousands of serversin dozens of countries.They offer no bandwidthcaps, configurable encryptionwith a kill switchto keep you in control of your connection.And when combined with private browsing,PIA can make websites thinkyou're in a different country.Try it out risk-freewith their 30 day money backguarantee at the link below.You can connect up to 10 devices at oncewith clients for Windows,macOS, Android, iOS, and Linux.What are you waiting for?If you guys enjoyed thisvideo, you might enjoy,oh, our budget gaming monitors roundupto address the other end of the spectrum.Yeah, why don't we go watch that one?Get this out of our system.\n"