Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49-inch Curved Mega-Wide Gaming Monitor Review: Three Displays In One Giant Screen

The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 is a 49-inch mega-wide gaming monitor with 240 Hz, HDR, wide-gamut color, Adaptive-Sync and built-in streaming apps.

Reviews
By Christian Eberle
published
Samsung Odyssey OLED G9
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

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Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49-inch
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

If you’re after the brightest possible monitor, OLED is not for you. Its strength lies in black levels and overall contrast, not peak output. The OLED G9 is typical of large screens in this regard, with a peak white level of 238 nits. It’s more than bright enough for an indoor space unless you have a lot of incoming sunlight. The Corsair is the brightest ultra-wide OLED I’ve tested with 437 nits, and it has an anti-glare screen, which the other panels don’t have, so it might be better suited to super bright spaces.

Since black levels are unmeasurable, contrast is theoretically infinite. I cannot overstate what a positive impact this has on image quality. The picture is incredibly lifelike and vibrant, more so than any LCD I’ve tested. The OLED G9 is a credit to the genre.

After Calibration to 200 nits

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Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49-inch
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Calibration does not change the result. The OLED G9 has a stunning picture with deep blacks and saturated color. Highlights don’t measure super bright, but perceptually, they pop right out of the texture. ANSI contrast is also impossible to measure.

Test Takeaway: The OLED G9 delivers the same gorgeous picture as every OLED I’ve reviewed. There are no differences in contrast except for the 42-inch Philips, which has a measurable black level. But you will be thrilled with any of the monitors, including the G9. There just isn’t any other technology that comes close in realism and detail.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

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MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cknobman
    At the current sale price of $1099 this monitor is a very compelling option.

    I think the form factor is just a little to wide for me though.

    Spending this much I would want something that can double as a media display for movies and this monitor and its aspect ratio would just waste too much space.
    Reply
  • Ogotai
    " It incorporates Samsung’s TV Plus and Game Hub platforms for seamless access to various streamed content libraries. It delivers shows, movies and games from powerful apps with expansion capability. "

    any chance for a version of this monitor with out that ? maybe for a lower price ?
    Reply
  • razor512
    A large curved display does not replace having multiple separate displays. Try replacing the a use case of having a game in full screen on one display with system stats, discord, and various other info on a separate display, using just the ultra wide display. At best, you would be hoping the game has a windowed mode that you can drag around and then go through the annoying process of positioning windows and getting a less clean and efficient look.
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    theres already reports of other ultrawides like this (not this model ofc) "cracking" towards outer edges as no support for the outer edges and gravity over time is damaging them.
    Reply
  • MaCk0y
    Ogotai said:
    " It incorporates Samsung’s TV Plus and Game Hub platforms for seamless access to various streamed content libraries. It delivers shows, movies and games from powerful apps with expansion capability. "

    any chance for a version of this monitor with out that ? maybe for a lower price ?
    G93SC.
    Reply
  • helper800
    razor512 said:
    A large curved display does not replace having multiple separate displays. Try replacing the a use case of having a game in full screen on one display with system stats, discord, and various other info on a separate display, using just the ultra wide display. At best, you would be hoping the game has a windowed mode that you can drag around and then go through the annoying process of positioning windows and getting a less clean and efficient look.
    With picture-in picture or picture-by-picture modes the monitor can act as two independent displays with zero bezel. What you are describing is actually one of the greatest strengths of such a monitor.
    Reply
  • Raezal
    I learned the hard way that the linked version of the OLED G9 on Amazon is not the same as the version reviewed here. It has a different stand and is not Gsync compatible. It only supports Freesync and there is no option to use it with a nvidia graphics card.
    Reply