Curved screens were very popular with leading TV manufacturers a few years ago, as they once did with 3D. However, the latter has practically ceased to exist in the consumer segment, but curved screens are much more fortunate, since they are still actively used in the creation of new monitor models.
One of the leaders in the production of such devices can be called the company without exaggeration. Samsung… Her line of gaming monitors Odyssey almost entirely consists of such displays.
Today we will talk about one of them – the model Samsung Odyssey G5 34 (LC34G55TWWIXCI) with cinematic ratio 21: 9 and resolution Ultra WQHD… This monitor is sold at the official price of 34,990 rubles, and in the online store Samsung when buying it they give SSD M2-storage device SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus MZ-V7S500BW 500 GB.
PACKAGING, APPEARANCE AND CONNECTORS
The monitor is packed in a large cardboard box with black printing. There are cutouts on the sides for easy carrying of the device. The box opens in the middle on the front side. Inside, the monitor is disassembled in two thin pieces of formatted foam.
Includes a two-piece foot, DisplayPort cable, external power supply, power cable, documentation, and a warranty card.
Despite the gaming focus, the Odyssey line has a rather austere design, and the Odyssey G5 34 is no exception. From the gaming one, it has only small triangular protrusions along the edges of the bottom of the display, which here did not receive backlighting like the variant from the Odyssey G7. Moreover, in the G5, the manufacturer has completely abandoned any backlighting. Most likely, this is due to the desire to release a model more affordable, which is why they had to make compromises.
The desire to make the device more accessible is also evident from the leg. It consists of two parts – a short stand and a wide boomerang-shaped base, which is fastened with a special built-in screw with a handle for easy tightening without a screwdriver. The stand is attached very rigidly to the display. Together with the base, it is made of matte plastic and is very lightweight. It looks cheap enough, but the monitor stands very confidently on this leg.
The stand allows you to adjust the tilt of the screen just 2 degrees forward and 18 degrees back. There are no other adjustment options, but the manufacturer did not forget to place a clip for wires at the back.
The monitor case appears to be thick, but this is due to the curved screen. Due to the rounded shape of the back wall, its thickness from the middle to the leg attachment point is 65 mm. Although at the edges, the case is only 1 cm thick. With the stand, the model has a maximum dimensions of 806.6 x 475.3 x 272.6 mm. Weight – 5.6 kg with stand and 5.2 kg without.
The body is made of black matte plastic, and the back is dotted with a relief, reminiscent of chains, which are directed from the center towards the edges of the monitor. In the round center, the manufacturer has placed four holes for mounting the monitor on a bracket according to the VESA 75 by 75 mm standard.
All interfaces look down and are in a special recess. Accessibility may be restricted when mounted on a wall. There, the manufacturer placed a connector for connecting an external power supply, one HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4, a 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones and one USB-A for service, that is, firmware updates.
SPECIFICATIONS
This LCD monitor measures 34 inches (86.4 cm) and uses an 8-bit VA matrix from Samsung with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz and an Ultra WQHD resolution (3440 by 1440 pixels). The surface of the screen is matte and has an anti-reflective coating that does its job well when exposed to bright light from a window.
The typical brightness value of the matrix is 250 cd / m2, the peak is 330 cd / m2. The static contrast ratio is 2500: 1. The color gamut is 99% sRGB and 72% NTSC. The manufacturer declared support for displaying a high dynamic range according to the HDR10 standard. Viewing angles – 178 degrees vertically and the same horizontally.
The monitor uses AMD FreeSync Premium technologies to synchronize the refresh rate of the video card and monitor, and therefore prevent tearing and distortion in dynamic scenes. In addition, Samsung Odyssey G5 34 (LC34G55TWWIXCI) supports the popular Flicker-free technology to completely prevent screen flickering.
CONTROL AND SETTINGS
Control is realized with the help of a small joystick, which is located in the middle of the bottom of the screen – under the Samsung logo and behind the blue status indicator. After turning on the monitor and clicking on it, you will be taken to the quick menu, where, depending on the direction, you can go to the settings you need: left – sources, up – menu, right – picture-by-picture and picture-in-picture modes, down – turn off the monitor, the second press – exit from the quick menu. If you do not go to the quick menu, then when you tilt the joystick in the right direction, you will quickly get to three more sections: to the right and to the left – select the signal source, down – adjust the volume, up – adjust the image (brightness, contrast, clarity).
The main menu in Odyssey is made in a gaming style, which Samsung developers called Super Arena Gaming UX. The main advantage of this menu is that useful information about the current monitor settings is always displayed on top. Thanks to them, you can find out at what level the black equalizer is set, about setting the response time, scanning frequency, whether frame synchronization is enabled and what is the state of the response delay reduction mode. The currently selected picture mode is also displayed below the indicators.
The manufacturer should be commended for the responsiveness of the OSD controls. The joystick is very fast and navigation is lightning fast, also due to the smooth animation in the menu itself.
As for the main sections, there are six of them:
“Game” – this section contains various parameters related directly to games. Here you can adjust the refresh rate, brightness of dark areas (that is, increase brightness in dark places without overexposing bright areas), display response time (four modes available: from standard to MBR) and minimize input lag, and also enable FreeSync frame sync to prevent screen tearing. In addition, you can adjust the size of the displayed screen (different diagonals are available – from 17 to 29 inches) and turn on the on-screen sight, which can be selected from six options, and adjust its position on the screen.
“Image” – in this section you can adjust the display image. In it, you can select several available profiles, including a custom one, 3 game and 3 others (Auto Contrast, Cinema and AOS). Standard settings for brightness, contrast, clarity, color, black level (only when connected via HDMI), blue filter, screen position are also available here.
PIP / PBP – in this section you can enable picture-by-picture or picture-in-picture functions when two signal sources are connected to the monitor at the same time. In addition to the position and size of the window (in the case of picture-in-picture mode), you can also switch between image and sound sources, adjust the screen format (automatic, where the picture from the source is displayed in accordance with its aspect ratio, and wide, where the working the allotted space is completely filled with the source image regardless of the aspect ratio) and contrast.
“On-screen display” – in this section, only the settings for the interface language and the display time of the on-screen menu are available.
“System” – here the manufacturer has collected the system functions of the device. Available volume control (when connecting headphones or speakers via the audio jack), dynamic brightness function, PC / AV mode (to enlarge the image from an AV source when connected to a screen), DP connector version control, as well as the option of auto-switching the source, response pressing the joystick and power indication. The latter allows you to turn off the blue indicator when the monitor is in standby mode so that it does not annoy with its blinking at night.
“Support” – in this section the manufacturer has placed service commands for the monitor. Here you can not only reset the settings to factory defaults, but also perform display diagnostics, update the firmware (via a USB flash drive), and also get information about the current monitor settings.
TESTS AND GAMES
We were able to test Samsung Odyssey G5 34 (LC34G55TWWIXCI) in conjunction with PC, Xbox Series X and PS5 in projects such as Red Dead Redemption 2 (PC), Death Stranding (PC), Forza Horizon 4 (XSeX), Microsoft Flight Simulator ( XSeX), Persona 5 Royal (PS5) and Control (PS5).
The PS5 was able to deliver a maximum 4K 60Hz resolution and suggested HDR tweaks and screen edges adjustments. On Xbox Series X, it was possible to set the maximum resolution to 4K at 60HZ, but the FreeSync function was not available in this case. This is due to the fact that in the monitor itself, this function is blocked when connected via HDMI and is available only with DisplayPort. At the same time, in terms of aspect ratio, in both cases, a stretched 16: 9 was offered, since neither the console from Sony nor from Microsoft supports ultra-wide displays. If desired, the aspect ratio can be changed in the monitor settings, but black stripes will appear on the sides. On a PC, this aspect ratio feels great, expanding the boundaries of the field of view and adding a wow effect from what is happening on the screen.
In terms of performance, the monitor is capable of delivering a maximum declared refresh rate of 165 Hz only via DisplayPort, while HDMI is limited to 100 Hz. The minimum response time of the matrix, when it switches the brightness on gray from the minimum to the maximum value, is about 4 ms, and according to the MPRT method – only 1 ms. There were no complaints about the viewing angles during the tests either. The backlight is uneven. When tested on a black screen, there is a Glow effect, which is clearly visible to the eye only at extreme viewing angles.
As we said above, the declared display brightness is 330 cd / m2, and the static contrast is 2500: 1. Also, the 8-bit matrix supports FRC anti-aliasing technology, which improves the display of missing colors in 10-bit content using the existing palette. The brightness in HDR was getting higher than in SDR, but it was clearly not enough to display content as it was intended. In addition, due to the lack of local dimming, especially dark scenes are lost in detail.
TOTAL
Samsung Odyssey G5 34 (LC34G55TWWIXCI) is a good monitor for consumption of content, productive work with many windows, as well as for games, but only on a PC, since the main chips are available only when connected via DisplayPort.
This monitor can be connected to consoles if you are a fan of black stripes on the sides or disproportionate objects. It has good contrast ratios, allowing for deeper blacks than IPS models.
Of the minuses, it is worth noting the little-functional leg, the absence of FreeSync over HDMI and the HDR mode, which is clearly here for show. If this is not a problem for you, then the Samsung Odyssey G5 34 (LC34G55TWWIXCI) is a good option. Before us is the most affordable monitor in ultra-wide 21: 9 format with a refresh rate of 165 Hz.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
Read also: Good monitor for office work: Samsung Smart Monitor M5 review…
