I thoroughly test the 4K gaming PC screen that looks like a TV: my opinion on the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED

Design, connectivity, OSD… the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 really looks like a 4K TV

Installation and design: elegant, premium, practical

The G8 OLED stinks of high-end. The traditional plastic found on almost all PC screen backs and frames is replaced here by metal, brushed aluminum. The monitor is very thin and sports elegant curves. The central pentagon which serves as the foot of the G8 turns out to be very practical in use (because it is space-saving and flat) in addition to being pretty.

Assembling the screen is done in just one minute, intuitively, without a screwdriver. On the connectivity side, the G8 is not as packed with ports as its competitors, but the essentials are there and almost no one needs more than 2 HDMI 2.1, 1 DisplayPort 1.4, USB A and USB-B. We even have a USB-C port which can be practical for connecting a controller, a smartphone, or even a laptop!

The screen can be adjusted in height by 12 centimeters. It rotates and can be placed in portrait mode. We note VESA certification which is quite practical for placing the beast on an arm or against a wall.

Because yes, it’s a 32-inch beast in 16:9, for a monitor, it’s big. We find it quite pleasant on a daily basis. Be careful though, a screen of this size throws a lot of light in your face, which can cause a bit of headache over very long sessions. Not to mention the fact that this G8 heats up quite a bit. After a few hours, even with the brightness at 60%, we are faced with a small office radiator.

OSD: the 32-inch Odyssey G8 does everything like a 4K OLED TV

This is THE thing that shocked me when testing this screen. When we turn on the G8, we are faced with the startup screens of modern Samsung televisions. It’s literally the Tizen OS interface, with a fairly long setup. You have to connect the product to the internet, link it to a Samsung account… you get the idea. Once this setup is complete, we arrive on a well-loaded Smart TV hub, faithful to Samsung.

Oh yes, and we do all this via… a remote control. A small remote control identical to those of the Korean brand’s TVs. To navigate through the product menus, you can traditionally use a small stick under the screen, but also, and above all, using this zapette. At JVTECH, even if we welcome the fact that this remote control runs on solar energy, we only moderately appreciate its ergonomics. The button to access the menus in particular is not very elegant.

With all that, on the OSD side, it’s obviously super complete. We are literally in front of a connected television. The various display modes are relevant (stay in “Hot 2”, it’s the most pleasant). The game mode, although a little blocking, is packed with information and possibilities. It is possible to calibrate the product quite finely… in short, you get the picture.

Image quality: a QD OLED panel perfectly mastered by Samsung

Samsung is refining its excellent display technology, better than ever. In 2024, QD OLED screens are, in our opinion, the best on the market. The G8 OLED displays perfect blacks, very beautiful peaks of brightness, numerous and faithful colors. To be more precise, let’s say that the G8 OLED sports the panel of the excellent Samsung S95D television and you can feel it in use. Here are the figures we obtained using our probe.

Sub-pixels of the G8 OLED. We recognize the latest generation QD-OLED

• Delta E: this is the difference between the color requested in the source and that displayed on the screen. It must therefore be as small as possible. It is generally said that below 3, a Delta E is perfect because the human eye would not be able to differentiate between the displayed color and the one requested from this value. Here we measured 2.8 at best. In game mode, we fly above 4, which is unfortunately classic for the Korean brand.

• Contrast and brightness: which can also be called black depth and white luminance. Here, as on all OLED screens, the contrast is “infinite” (a black pixel being an off pixel). In terms of brightness, the G8 OLED is excellent: on a daily basis, I even advise you to reduce it by half so as not to tire yourself too much. In SDR, we are around 250 candelas per square meter on a 10% window, like on a full screen or a peak. In HDR, we measure 611 candelas at 10% and around 1000 candelas at peak (2% window). Monstrous.

• Color space coverage: To measure the number of colors that the screen is able to display, we calculate the percentage coverage of a color space. The reference space is the DCI-P3 and it is covered at 96%. No need for explanation to understand that this figure is good. The most demanding BT 2020 space is 78% covered, which is also a good figure.

• Temperature: here, we are looking for a value close to 6500 Kelvin, the temperature of sunlight in broad daylight. Here, the game mode is a little too blue but in Play mode 2, the best, we are very close to the target.

Be careful though, who says OLED panel also says potential risk of marking the screen. If you leave a bright element displayed for dozens of hours, you can ruin the panel for life. Samsung has certainly installed several anti-burn-in protections, but the screen gets very hot, as we have said.

Two last points before closing this part:

• The reflections: they are extremely well managed, it’s just perfect. The same stunning anti-reflective panel as the Samsung S95D television.
• Viewing angles: excellent, no loss even when placed at improbable angles.

We bombard the screen with light and… nothing

Video games: a real joy

I tested the beast in two gaming configurations:

• With a PS5
• With a powerful tower capable of running any AAA PC at full speed.

The result is clear, clear and unmistakable: we have a blast. Samsung’s “games” display mode is too saturated, as we’ve said, but it’s hard to complain about anything. Come on, strictly speaking we can say that a flat 32 inch 16:9 is not a format suitable for everyone and all styles of games (it’s ideal for consoles but we would prefer a screen smaller for PC competition), but that’s just quibbling.

Gaming in 4K with stunning image quality is absolutely brilliant for immersive single-player gaming. Having G-Sync, FreeSync Premium Pro, a 0.03 ms OLED screen and a 240 Hz panel is perfect for everything else.

Conclusion of the Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED 32-inch test

Note that the JVTECH editorial team has chosen to not taking into account value for money products in its notes. Prices change all the time, features don’t. That being said, we can still mention this extremely important characteristic when making purchasing decisions (and if you read a review, it may be because you want to buy the product being tested). Here, even if the launch price is steep, it seems consistent given the characteristics of the product. And then, in reality, you probably won’t pay as much.

Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED: a gaming screen and an ultra high-end smart TV mixed together