Since it uses a VA panel, black levels are deeper than you’d find on IPS displays, so it’s a good monitor for playing games at night in a dark room – though it did fall a bit short of its promised contrast ratio, with our model measuring 2033:1 instead of the Samsung’s quoted 2500:1. The monitor’s black and white levels were on point in Lagom’s test patterns, with the darkest and brightest squares being just barely indistinguishable from reference black and white, respectively. Gamma measured fairly close to the 2.2 target, though I felt like the sharpness was turned up a bit too high out of the box – taking it down a notch made graphics look more natural. The maximum delta E we saw in sRGB mode was 3.44. Over 3 is easier to discern, while under 1 is imperceptible. Color accuracy in sRGB mode was very good out of the box, with an average delta E value of 1.68 – a delta E value under 3 is generally considered excellent, with the differences between the displayed color and the intended color difficult to see without scrutiny. Most people will probably enjoy the more vivid colors anyway, and it’s a quirk common with every wide gamut display out there, so it’s not a knock against the monitor – though if you’re doing any color-sensitive work, you’ll want to calibrate the monitor or flip into sRGB mode. However, it does mean colors may be a bit oversaturated, due to the way Windows handles wide color gamuts. That’s quite good, and will easily make for eye-popping colors in the Custom mode the monitor comes tuned to. Out of the box, our Odyssey G7 covered all of the sRGB color space and 88.2% of the DCI-P3 color space – which is the minimum value Samsung lists in its specs. TestingTo see if the Odyssey G7 lives up to these manufacturer-touted specs, I tested the monitor’s color performance using an X-Rite i1Display Pro with Displa圜al, as well as examining a number of Lagom’s LCD test patterns by eye. It’s a bit of a bummer that both HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 will soon be outdated, particularly when you’re spending $750 and want the monitor to last a long time. The rest of its specs are pretty typical, with FreeSync and G-Sync compatibility for tear-free gaming, built-in speakers for convenient (but tinny) sound, and rear IO sporting 1 HDMI 2.0 port, two DisplayPort 1.4 ports, two USB ports, and a headphone jack. Still, for pure gaming, a slightly less sharp picture is probably a worthy sacrifice for a screen this big and this smooth. If you prefer a super-dense pixel layout for desktop work, the 27-inch 1440p version may be more your speed at $650. In fact, On some shades of color, I find you can even see the space in between the pixels, causing a faint screen door effect – something I’ve noticed on other Samsung monitors, though it’s not as bad on the Odyssey G7. The 2560x1440 resolution offers a nice boost over the typical 1080p resolution of monitors this fast, though at 32 inches, it’s not very sharp. (It quotes response time at 1ms GtG, but this is largely meaningless, as manufacturers tend to fudge these numbers with a host of misleading techniques). It’s DisplayHDR 600 capable, which is actually decent as far as monitors go, and has a maximum frame rate of 240Hz for crazy smooth motion. The VA panel combines deep blacks with vivid colors, especially with the addition of Samsung’s quantum dot tech. But that’s okay, because this thing has pretty beastly specs. All this is to say: the Odyssey G7 is not a svelte, minimalist monitor. Whether you enjoy a curve that deep is personal preference – I’m not aware of anyone that wanted more curve, with most people preferring little to no curve – but it’s there. It also has one of the deepest curves we’ve ever seen in a monitor at 1000R, which Samsung says matches the curvature of the human eye. Instead, you’ll have to find a place to put the huge brick in the middle of the power cable. Part of this is due to the monitor’s size and weight: this sucker is 14.3 pounds with the stand, and it doesn’t even have the power supply built into the monitor. The Odyssey G7 looks good, though the stand is very deep, so make sure you have enough room on your desk – the 32” model requires about a foot of space from the edge. It doesn’t have as many color options as typical RGB gear, and it won’t sync with the lights in your PC, but it has enough available colors that you can probably get it to match, with a few cool effects for that extra bit of flair (like breathing or rainbow). Unlike other Samsung monitors, it also has a bit of lighting along the bottom bezel, giving it just a bit more of a gamer aesthetic. Its bezel is nearly frameless, with just a bit of plastic protruding out from the panel, and its two-legged stand boasts height, tilt, and swivel adjustments, with LED lighting at the pivot point. 4 Images Design and FeaturesIf you’ve seen any of Samsung’s monitors from the past few years, the Odyssey G7 will look familiar.
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