Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 tested: good picture, bloated software

Samsung's third-generation QD OLED panel is available in monitors from several manufacturers. I have already tested the models from Alienware and Asus and found them to be very good. Now the South Koreans are launching their own screen with the panel. It is therefore time for another direct comparison.

Two features set the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 apart from the competition: Firstly, it is matt. The coating is designed to minimise reflections. Secondly, the OLED G8 comes with a smart TV operating system. This allows you to use apps such as Netflix without an external source. Samsung's price is close to that of the Alienware AW3225QF. The most important key data at a glance:

• Format: 31.5 inch, 16:9, matt coating
• Resolution: 3840 × 2160 pixels, 140 ppi pixel density
• Brightness: 250 nits (SDR), 1000 nits peak (HDR)
• Picture frequency: 240 Hertz
• Reaction time: 0.03 ms grey to grey
• Colour space coverage: 100% sRGB, 99% DCI-P3
• Signal transmission: HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4 (DSC)
• Adaptive Sync: AMD FreeSync Premium Pro

Note: I received a pre-production model from Samsung for this test. The final product could still improve things - especially in the firmware. I will point this out in the appropriate places.

Design: elegant, but somewhat unstable

Samsung continues the design of past OLED models. The OLED G8 looks sleek for a gaming monitor, which I like. The display edges are thin. The flat base plate is made of real metal, while the back is covered in matt silver plastic. This looks elegant. The fake metal surfaces feel a little cheap to me.

In addition, the column is not particularly stable. When I bump into the table, the monitor bounces much longer than the Asus PG32UCDM. The mediocre quality of materials and workmanship is an annoying weakness of Samsung's monitors - I notice it anew in every test. For an expensive flagship like the OLED G8, this doesn't match the premium claim.

Samsung also doesn't pull any punches when it comes to connections: Twice HDMI 2.1 and once DisplayPort 1.4. The manufacturer has dispensed with DisplayPort 2.1, probably for cost reasons. It can be argued that the more expensive controller is superfluous with 4K 240 Hertz. More on this in the infobox.

In addition, there is a hub with just two USB-A sockets for your peripherals. This makes me wonder: Who is going to pull an extra cable from the PC to the monitor for this? Especially as the upstream here only happens via the lagging USB-B port. I'm looking in vain for USB-C, which could also transmit the image signal.

A little rant in passing: Samsung, your naming is causing confusion. The Odyssey OLED G8 has exactly the same name as the old 34-inch screen. It is neither the direct predecessor nor is it being discontinued from the range. The problem is even more pronounced with the G9 series. In some cases, two completely different monitors have exactly the same name. They can only be distinguished by the technical model designation. For example, G85SB. However, not even the manufacturer itself uses this in its marketing. That's not how it works.

Image quality: doesn't get the maximum out of it

What comes next goes deep into the matter. The measurements with professional tools from Portrait Display allow an objective categorisation of the image quality. If you are not interested in the details and diagrams, you can read the short version and then scroll to the "Gaming" chapter.

The most important findings in brief:

• Brightness: A maximum of 250 nits in SDR mode is typical for QD-OLED and is sufficient in most situations. The brightness always remains the same, whether full screen or in a small test window.
• Contrast: The contrast is excellent, the black level in low ambient light is typically perfect for OLEDs.
• Colours: The Odyssey OLED G8 covers both SDR and HDR colour spaces extremely well. The colour accuracy could be better.
• HDR: The peak brightness for HDR content is good, but drops quickly with larger highlights. The average colour accuracy is okay, but there are upward outliers for individual colours.
• Reflections: The Odyssey OLED G8 is the only 4K QD OLED with a matt coating. It reduces reflections well, but makes the picture appear less crisp.

Brightness and contrast: matte coating with advantages and disadvantages

Samsung's monitor has the same full-screen brightness as all devices with this panel: just under 250 nits. When the sun shines directly into my room, I wish for more, otherwise that's enough

In contrast to the Asus PG32UCDM, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 does not offer an option for dynamic SDR brightness. The white is always a maximum of 250 nits bright - whether in a 2 per cent or 100 per cent window. That's fine with me at work, where I don't want any fluctuations.

When gaming in a bright room, however, the Odyssey OLED G8 falls behind its competitor from Asus. This is because the average picture level (APL) is below 100 per cent in most game scenes. The PG32UCDM shines brighter than Samsung's model. The higher values mean a greater risk of burn-in, but this shouldn't be a problem in games with moving images.

The panel of my test model is evenly illuminated. I measured a maximum DeltaE of 0.8 between the centre and edges of the screen.

The HDR brightness reveals no surprises. The Odyssey OLED G8 doesn't quite achieve the promised 1000 nits in a two per cent window, but only 949 nits. To achieve this, I first have to set the "Peak Brightness" to "High" in the menu. Samsung limits the factory brightness to around 450 nits. Even with Peak Brightness activated, there isn't much more in a ten per cent section.

HDR content doesn't look quite as impressive in practice as with WOLED panels, which shine brighter with such medium-sized test windows. The following graphic shows the curve of the Asus PG34WCDM as an example

WOLED monitors are also superior in terms of black level in bright surroundings: The QD OLED panel in the Odyssey OLED G8 has no polarisation filter. Black therefore appears somewhat washed out and purple-coloured in bright surroundings. You can only see the difference in a direct comparison.

Unlike its QD OLED siblings from Asus and Alienware, Samsung's monitor comes with a matte coating. I'm not sure whether I like this. It does prevent reflections at certain points. However, this is not necessarily an advantage. This is because the light is distributed over a larger area - where it reduces the contrast everywhere. The bottom line is that a glossy display looks crisper and sharper.

Colours and shades of grey: calibration recommended

The measurements for colours and shades of grey should answer three questions:

1. Gamma and white balance: How accurately does the monitor display neutral grey tones?
2. Colour space coverage: How many colours can the monitor display?
3. Colour accuracy: How accurately does the monitor match the colours?

The Odyssey OLED G8 shows its first weaknesses when it comes to grey tones. Firstly, it displays light grey tones far too brightly. This leads to a loss of detail in the highlights. Secondly, the monitor is too cool and too green, as you can see in the following graph. The maximum DeltaE of 6 means a deviation that even a non-expert can recognise - at least if you see a better calibrated monitor as a comparison.

I show here the measurements in "Graphics" image mode with factory settings. The others show much larger errors. In "Game mode" you can choose between six "genres". In all of them, the picture is too blue, too saturated and so rich in contrast that details are lost. Whoever is responsible for these presets at Samsung obviously likes unnaturally bright images.

With a little hard work, at least the white balance can be corrected manually. There is a 2-point and a 20-point white balance in the expert settings. The first of these is sufficient in most cases. Here I can use the "Offset" values to control the colour balance in dark areas and the "Gain" values to control the colour balance in bright areas.

The Odyssey OLED G8 covers the common SDR colour spaces very well:

• sRGB: 136% (relative) / 100% (absolute) (good = 100%) - the standard colour space for digital content. Most SDR images and videos are adjusted to sRGB.
• AdobeRGB: 97.8 % (good= >90 %) - an important colour space for editing images intended for printing.

The high AdobeRGB coverage of the QD OLED panel never ceases to amaze me. Even in the Samsung monitor, it is almost 98 per cent. This means you can easily judge images for fine art printing. However, you should first calibrate the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8. Some of the colours deviate significantly ex works. Both in sRGB (maximum DeltaE of 7.8) and AdobeRGB (maximum DeltaE of 5.9).

Unlike the competition, Samsung does not offer a specific picture mode for sRGB content. I can switch between the "Native", "Normal" and "Custom" colour spaces. But that doesn't seem to do anything. Perhaps this is due to the non-finalised firmware. In any case, the labelling is not meaningful - what does "normal" mean?

HDR: good, but could be better

HDR content basically looks good on the Odyssey OLED G8. The accuracy is slightly worse than the models from Alienware and Asus. And on all three, the brightness drops faster in growing test windows than on devices with WOLED panels. The difference is particularly striking at an APL of ten per cent, which often occurs in real scenes.

The grey tones roughly follow their target values. Shadows are slightly enhanced, so at least no details are lost. As in SDR mode, the colour temperature is slightly too high.

I measure the coverage of the HDR colour spaces:

• DCI-P3: 99.2% (good = >90%) - the standard colour space for HDR content, for example in HDR10 or Dolby Vision.
• BT.2020: 79.2 % (good = >90 %) - an even larger colour space that is seen as the future. Current content rarely uses it.

Just like its brothers from Asus and Alienware, Samsung's monitor covers the important P3 colour space excellently - BT.2020, on the other hand, only 79 per cent. The latter hardly plays a role in practice. Most content today is adjusted to DCI-P3.

However, there are major outliers in terms of colour accuracy. The average DeltaE of 4.1 is okay, but the maximum deviation of 10.1 means significant colour shifts. These values are relatively poor for a QD OLED monitor. Fortunately, you will hardly notice this in games, as it is less about an exact display than with films and photos.

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 supports the HDR standard HDR10. As with its TVs, Samsung has dispensed with DolbyVision in favour of its own HDR10+ standard. However, there is currently significantly less content available than for DolbyVision.

Gaming: the competition is fierce

The Odyssey OLED G8 shines in its natural habitat: games look great. The high pixel density, perfect black levels and extremely short response times add up to impressive picture quality.

At the risk of repeating myself: The 32-inch 4K OLEDs hit a sweet spot. The resolution requires a lot of graphics power, but is within the realms of possibility for powerful PCs. With the help of upscaling technologies, you can also utilise the refresh rate of 240 hertz in current games. The image format is nice and large - but not absurdly huge like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9.

The biggest problem with the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 is the competitor models with the same panel. The Asus PG32UCDM is better suited to bright rooms in SDR mode thanks to the optional dynamic brightness. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 does not compensate for this, even with the matt coating. In dark rooms, a matt display tends to be a disadvantage anyway, which is why the PG32UCDM has the edge there too. However, it costs more.

The Alienware AW3225QF also looks a little crisper thanks to its glossy coating. Its curvature is a matter of taste. However, given the even lower price, it beats the Odyssey OLED G8 in terms of value for money.

Office: gets less warm than feared

The Odyssey OLED G8 is just as suitable for working as the other 4K OLEDs - in other words: very good. The pixel density of 140 pixels per inch (ppi) is high enough for text to appear sharp. There is no Auto Static Brightness Limiter, which reduces the brightness of static content. The size is sufficient for two windows side by side, even if I sometimes wish there was a little more space in the width.

As with all OLED monitors, the burn-in risk remains an unpredictable factor. The hotter the panel gets, the more likely the individual pixels are to wear out unevenly. The Alienware AW3225QF actively dissipates the heat with a fan. With the Asus PG32UCDM, the manufacturer wants to pass it on to the passive heat sink on the back via a graphene film. Samsung's monitor is significantly thinner and does not have a sophisticated cooling system at first glance.

I place the Odyssey OLED G8 next to the Asus PG32UCDM and let the monitors heat up for half an hour - at 250 nits and a completely white picture. I then take pictures with the thermal imaging camera. My suspicions are confirmed on the back: Asus' monitor allows the heat to escape from the top of the heat sink. However, no warm air escapes from the ventilation slot of the Odyssey OLED G8. Instead, the hotspot is located in the centre, where I attached my monitor arm.

Surprisingly, Samsung's monitor remains cooler on the front. The temperature is just under 50 degrees Celsius - around five degrees less than the Asus PG32UCDM. The presumed reason: The Odyssey OLED G8 draws 115 watts, while the PG32UCDM draws 125 watts at exactly the same brightness. Why? I have no idea. Either way: I suspect the burn-in risk is a little lower with Samsung as a result.

Samsung also offers a three-year burn-in guarantee on its QD OLED monitors. If you have problems, the panel will be replaced. This brings the South Koreans into line with other manufacturers.

Operation: I could freak out

Up to this point in the test, the Odyssey OLED G8 is similar to other monitors with the same panel. Samsung tries to stand out with the operating system. Like other Odyssey monitors before it, the G8 actually wants to be a TV. Because it runs the Tizen OS smart TV operating system. So I could use apps like YouTube or Xbox Cloud Gaming without a connected computer.

I hate Tizen.

On TVs, the Smart TV OS may be fine. On monitors, it's not only user-unfriendly but also overloaded. Why does Samsung want to force this bloatware on me? I've yet to meet a gamer who buys a 32-inch TV for over 1000 francs to watch Netflix on - with sound via the internal tin can speakers, of course. The best I can do is connect external sound systems via Bluetooth or HDMI ARC.

Now you could argue that the additional features are not a disadvantage. I see it differently. The TV OS is a pointless salad of menus, settings and picture modes. Some examples:

• Using the control pad on the back of the monitor is awkward. The pressure points are poorly coordinated and I have to press the OK button for three seconds each time to close a menu. The remote control is better, but an unnecessary device on my desk.
• The input is not automatically switched to the active signal. Even if I switch off all other connected devices, the monitor goes into standby after 60 seconds instead. I have to manually select the correct input every time I switch between laptop and PC.
• There are three different sets of picture modes, depending on whether I have defined the input as "PC" or something else - and whether I also activate the "Game" mode. What a jumble! All calibrations except "Graphic" are also unusable (see section "Picture quality").
• Game mode has three settings: On, Off, Auto. In the Off state, I can operate the monitor at a maximum of 120 hertz. If the switch is set to On, I am forced into game picture mode. On "Auto", 240 Hertz is displayed under Windows and I have the normal setting options. However, the Auto option is not available under MacOS.
• If I find myself on the home screen of the Smart TV interface, I can't simply escape with the back button. I have to search for the right device again under "Connected Devices".

As mentioned at the beginning, my whingeing is based on a pre-production model. Samsung could still improve the monitor's firmware. Whether much will change, however, is questionable - Tizen OS remains Tizen OS.