Samsung Odyssey OLED G8/G85SB S34BG85 Monitor Review

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 has a premium design with thin bezels. It's made of black and silver plastic, with a slightly curved screen that helps bring its edges within your field of view. It also has RGB lighting on the back of the monitor.

The build quality is excellent. The plastic is light but feels premium. The stand feels solid, but it doesn't prevent all wobble, as the screen can wobble depending on the surface it's on, but it isn't noticeable while typing either. The opening in the stand for the cable management is good, as the cables don't show when you're facing the monitor, even at the highest height adjustment. The bottom of the screen curves upward, but it's barely noticeable and doesn't impact performance.

The Samsung G8 OLED offers limited ergonomics adjustments, making it hard to place it in an ideal position. It has an opening in the back of the stand for cable management.

This monitor's stand footprint is smaller than most monitors of its size, allowing you to place objects around it. It has minimal wobble.

The Samsung G8 comes with Tizen OS built-in, and you can change the settings with the included remote. There's a switch underneath the screen that allows you to mute the remote's microphone control and a power button on the back of the monitor.

• Power supply and cable
• Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable
• Remote
• VESA-mount adapter
• User guides and documentation

The Samsung Odyssey G8 has a near-infinite contrast ratio, thanks to its OLED panel, which translates to deep and inky blacks in dark rooms. However, the lack of a polarizing layer causes the blacks to raise in brighter environments, giving black images a purple tint.

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 G85SB doesn't have a local dimming feature since it doesn't have a backlight. Regardless, the near-infinite contrast ratio doesn't produce any blooming around bright objects, which is equal to a perfect local dimming feature. We still film these videos on the monitor so you can see how the screen performs and compare it with a monitor that has local dimming.

The Samsung Odyssey G8 has okay SDR peak brightness. It isn't bright enough to fight glare, but it at least maintains its brightness consistent across different content. Unfortunately, its minimum brightness is a bit high if you want to use the monitor in the dark and are sensitive to bright lights.

These results are from after calibration in the 'Custom' Picture Mode with Game Mode enabled. After firmware update 1520 that Samsung released in Aug. 2023, you can no longer enable the Peak Brightness setting in SDR, but you could do so before the update. The monitor got much brighter with it on, reaching a Real Scene brightness of 331 cd/m². That said, you can still enable it in HDR, which is useful if you need to use it in a well-lit room.

The Samsung OLED G8 has reasonable HDR brightness. It gets bright enough to make small highlights stand out against dark backgrounds, but larger highlights aren't as bright. Unfortunately, the Automatic Brightness Limiter (ABL) causes the brightness to be inconsistent with larger-sized highlights. It's particularly clear when minimizing and maximizing windows on the desktop, as you can see the brightness changing. This issue only affects the desktop experience, as it's not noticeable when you watch videos or play games.

These results are with the following settings:

• Game Mode: On
• Picture Mode: Custom
• Brightness: 50
• Peak Brightness: On
• Game HDR: Off
• HDR10+ Gaming: Advanced

After firmware update 1442, the EOTF follows the target curve well until there's a slow roll-off at the peak brightness, meaning it preserves details well in bright scenes, and it performs the same whether you have HDR10+ Gaming set to 'Basic' or 'Advanced'. Before the update, the EOTF was similar, but the roll-off happened earlier. There's also a separate setting called Game HDR that boosts the EOTF when enabled, as you can see here. While firmware 1442 improved the EOTF, it didn't change the monitor's peak brightness.

The EOTF performs similarly if you disable Peak Brightness and HDR10+ Gaming, but leave Game HDR on, as you can see here. However, there's a sharper roll-off at the peak brightness, causing a loss in fine details, and the peak brightness of the display is lower, with the 2% window reaching 452 cd/m² and the 100% window reaching 285 cd/m². Additionally, the EOTF is darker if you disable both HDR10+ Gaming and Game HDR as you can see here.

The HDR Real Scene brightness test is done using an HDFury Vertex Linker connected to a Blu-ray player. However, the brightness is lower in Windows HDR with real content, as we only measured 395 cd/m² in Destiny 2 with the same settings as our testing, and this was with a PC with an RTX 3060 graphics card. However, we measured 885 cd/m² in Destiny 2 with Peak Brightness and HDR10+ Gaming both off and Game HDR on. Try using these settings if you find the screen too dim in Windows HDR.

The brightness results are also the same using our HDFury Vertex Linker whether we use a PC with an AMD or NVIDIA graphics card. However, you are locked out of certain settings when using an AMD graphics card with VRR on, like Game HDR. The screen is dimmer because of this, as we measured a brightness of 274 cd/m² in the 2% window in Windows HDR and 385 cd/m² in Destiny 2. If you're using an AMD graphics card and want the brightest image possible, you may have to disable VRR.

The Peak Brightness setting helps maximize the brightness of the display. However, disabling it also results in a less aggressive ABL, making the changes in brightness not as noticeable. You can see the results using the same settings as above but with Peak Brightness off:

Thanks to its OLED panel, the monitor has a fantastic horizontal viewing angle. This means that someone sitting next to you sees the same image.

The vertical viewing angle is outstanding. The image remains consistent if you're standing up and looking down at the screen.

The gray uniformity is amazing. There's no dirty screen effect, so web content, slow panning shots, and sports look good. However, OLED panels are known to have the Venetian Blind Effect, and this one is no exception as it uses the same OLED panel as the Dell Alienware AW3423DW. It means you may see some vertical lines with the same color across the whole screen. You can see the Dell monitor's uniformity with different shades of gray below.

• 5% gray
• 10% gray
• 15% gray
• 20% gray
• 25% gray
• 30% gray

Thanks to its OLED panel, the Samsung G8 OLED has exceptional black uniformity, so there's no blooming around bright objects.

The accuracy is very good before calibration. Setting the Color Space setting to 'Auto' instead of its default of 'Native' locks the colors to the sRGB color space, and you can still change other settings as you wish. The colors are accurate, and even though the color temperature leans slightly on the cooler side, it's close to the 6500K target. On the other hand, the gamma curve doesn't follow the target, which translates to most scenes being brighter than they should be. Additionally, the white balance is off.

It has excellent accuracy after calibration. While the white balance, color temperature, and gamma curve have improved, the gamut area is worse as some colors are slightly oversaturated.

The Samsung OLED G8 has a superb SDR color gamut. It has full coverage of the sRGB color space and covers the Adobe RGB color space remarkably well. However, there are some inaccuracies with reds and greens, which may be an issue if you edit photos.

This Samsung G8 OLED has outstanding SDR color volume. It can display colors at a wide range of luminance levels, while the near-infinite contrast displays colors as dark as pure black.

The HDR color gamut is fantastic. Its coverage of the DCI-P3 color space used in most HDR content is close to perfect. Its reasonable coverage of the Rec. 2020 color space makes it future-proof.

The HDR color volume is outstanding. Thanks to its QD-OLED panel, it can display a wider range of colors at higher luminance levels than traditional OLEDs, while the near-infinite contrast can produce colors as dark as pure black. It's also very good at displaying colors from the Rec. 2020 color space at a wide range of luminance levels.

The Samsung G8 handles reflection superbly well. Unlike other glossy screens, there aren't any distracting reflections from strong light sources, meaning the monitor can withstand glare from bright environments. However, QD-OLED panels lack a polarizing layer, causing blacks to have a purple tint in bright rooms. This means you don't benefit from the OLED panel's near-infinite contrast ratio. It's the same issue that both the Dell Alienware AW3423DW and the Dell Alienware AW3423DWF have, as they use the same panel, but it extends to any current QD-OLED display, including the Samsung S95B OLED.

The Samsung looks the same as the AW3423DW in bright rooms, and you can see examples from the AW3423DW of what the Samsung would look like in a bright room:

• Average Room
• Bright Room
• Bright Room next to the ViewSonic XG2431
• Dark Room next to the ViewSonic XG2431
• Bright room next to OLED and IPS displays

The Samsung OLED G8 has decent text clarity, but it displays the same issues we've seen with other QD-OLED monitors, like the Dell Alienware AW3423DW and Dell Alienware AW3423DWF, due to its triangular RGB subpixel structure. It's different than that of LED-backlit monitors where all three pixels are lined up, and results in color fringing around some text and at the top and bottom of windows. If you have multiple windows open, you can see a thin green line at the top of every window and a thin red line at the bottom. You can see an example of the color fringing around text from the AW3423DW here, around the Google logo or with zoomed-out images with ClearType on and ClearType off. You can see photos of the pixels from the AW3423DW review below, and the results are also valid for the Samsung monitor.

• White on black background - green color fringing on top
• White on black background - red color fringing on bottom
• White on black background - no color fringing on side
• White on black background - no color fringing on side
• Blue pixels
• Green pixels
• Red pixels
• Blue and red pixels
• Green and red pixels
• Green and blue pixels
• Green and blue pixels - fringing on bottom
• Green and blue pixels - fringing on top
• Blue and red pixels - no fringing
• Blue and red pixels - no fringing
• Green and red pixels - fringing on top
• Green and red pixels - fringing on bottom

While the text clarity isn't as good as other 34-inch, 3440x1440 displays with a typical RGB subpixel structure, it isn't a major issue, and text is still easy to read; and it comes up to personal preference whether you like it or not. Although enabling Windows ClearType (top photo) doesn't improve the text clarity, there are also workarounds to this, like using the free utility Better ClearType Tuner, which improves text clarity significantly. This is what it looks like with Better ClearType Tuner with the Contrast at '1000', as you can see here, and with it off here. If you're using Windows 11, this is how the text clarity looks with ClearType on and ClearType off.

If you want to learn more about the text clarity, you can read our writer's and tester's subjective opinions here from the Dell Alienware AW3423DW review.

The Samsung G8 OLED has superb gradient handling, and you won't notice any banding.

The Samsung OLED G8 has a high refresh rate you can reach over any available input. However, we experienced issues using an HDMI to Micro HDMI adapter with 10-bit signals as the signal drops at times before coming back. You can fix this by dropping the signal to 8-bit. If you prefer an ultrawide OLED monitor with an even higher 240Hz refresh rate, consider the LG 45GR95QE-B.

This monitor supports FreeSync variable refresh rate and is G-SYNC compatible across its entire refresh rate range and over both HDMI and DisplayPort.

The Samsung OLED G8 has an exceptional response time at its maximum refresh rate. It's near-instantaneous, resulting in almost no motion blur with fast-moving objects, as well as no overshoot. However, because of the sample-and-hold method that OLEDs use, there's still a bit of persistence blur. It doesn't have the option to adjust pixel overdrive.

Like at its maximum refresh rate, the response time at 120Hz is outstanding with no overshoot. This means that the motion is smooth when you game, and there's no ghosting.

The response time is yet again fantastic at 60Hz, with no overshoot. Motion is buttery-smooth, but there's some persistence blur caused by the sample-and-hold method.

The Samsung G85SB has a black frame insertion (BFI) feature to reduce persistence blur. However, it's very limited, as you need to have the input label set to 'Game Console' with a 4k @ 60Hz signal, with VRR and Game Mode disabled. Using the BFI with these settings also causes the image to stretch out if you keep the default aspect ratio 21:9, as you can see here. To get a proper image, you need to change the aspect ratio in the OSD menu to 16:9, but you'll get black bars on the sides.

The Samsung G8 isn't technically flicker-free because it has a small dip in brightness corresponding with the 175Hz refresh rate. However, this isn't noticeable because it's just an oscillation in brightness, and it isn't a full-screen on-and-off flicker like on LED-backlit displays. Because of this, it's not considered pulse-width modulation.

The Samsung G8 OLED has low input lag. This means you'll have a responsive gaming experience and won't notice any delay. We tested it with the following settings:

• Input Label: PC
• Game Mode: On
• Picture Mode: Custom
• VRR: Off

Note: While the listed test results are with Firmware 1422, we did our initial testing on Firmware 1421 before updating. With 1421 the input lag was considerably worse at all framerates.

It has decent compatibility with the PS5. The Tizen OS detects it and switches the input label to 'Game Console'. You can send a 4k @ 60Hz signal, but only if you disable Game Mode, which increases the input lag and isn't suggested for gaming. You'll also see black bars on the sides, as the PS5 doesn't support ultrawide formats. This monitor uses a Micro HDMI port, so you either need an adapter or a Micro HDMI cable.

The Xbox Series X works without issue, and despite having HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, 4k @ 120Hz doesn't work. If you want to downscale 4k @ 60Hz, you'll have to disable VRR and switch the input label to 'Game Console' yourself, as the monitor doesn't detect the console. VRR still works with 1440p and 1080p signals. The Xbox doesn't support ultrawide gaming, meaning you'll see black bars on the sides. This monitor uses a Micro HDMI port, so you either need an adapter or a Micro HDMI cable. You can also consider the MSI MEG 342C QD-OLED, a similar monitor with standard HDMI ports and can take full advantage of what the Xbox offers, including 4k @ 120Hz.

This monitor uses a Micro HDMI port, so you need an adapter if you don't have the appropriate cable.

There are two USB-C ports, including one that can only charge with 10W power delivery. The second port features DisplayPort Alt Mode, delivering 65W of power. It means you can display an image from a laptop while charging it.

The Samsung G8 works well with macOS. VRR works within the range of 48Hz-120Hz. HDR gaming looks good, but colors look better in SDR for general desktop usage, as the aggressive ABL causes large areas to be dim in HDR. If you're using a MacBook, you can charge it using the DisplayPort Alt Mode while having video and audio working. Windows return to their normal position after waking the laptop from sleep or when opening the lid. You can also use an external mouse and keyboard while your laptop is closed.

Because it uses the same OLED panel with the unique subpixel layout as the Dell Alienware AW3423DW, this monitor has the same text clarity issues displayed on Windows PCs. You can see two additional photos of the text clarity on macOS from the Dell here and here.

The Samsung OLED G85SB comes with Samsung's proprietary Tizen smart platform built-in, offering many features similar to a Samsung smart TV. You'll have access to applications like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Disney+ without a computer. You can read more about all its features in the Smart Features section of the Samsung QN90B QLED TV review.

The monitor has other gamer-oriented features, including:

• Core Lighting: Controls the RGB lighting at the back of the monitor.
• Game HDR: Helps increase the perceived brightness of the image in HDR.
• Game Mode: Gives the lowest input lag possible.
• HDR10+ Gaming (HDR Tone Mapping): Adjusts the colors in HDR to match the creator's intent.
• Virtual Aim Point: Inserts a virtual crosshair that your PC won't detect.
• VRR Control: This feature is meant to reduce flicker with VRR enabled. Unlike other Samsung LED monitors, there isn't any flicker. This setting is standard for Samsung but doesn't do anything in this case.
• Panel Care: Has features to reduce the risk of burn-in associated with OLEDs, which you can read about below.
  • Pixel Refresh: Allows you to run a complete pixel refresh cycle, which takes about an hour. You have to run it manually, but the system displays reminders.
  • Pixel Shift: This feature moves the entire image a few pixels to one side and gradually shifts it in a different direction over time. This helps reduce the effects of burn-in from very small elements, like fine lines in a game HUD.
  • Adjust Logo Brightness: Automatically dims the area around a logo when it detects one on the screen.

In North America, Samsung has a one-year warranty, but it doesn't cover burn-in. However, as some people have pointed out here, the length of the warranty and its specifications can change between different regions and countries.

Like the Samsung Odyssey G7/G70B S32BG70, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 uses the menu from the Tizen OS interface, which looks like the menu on their TVs.