SAMSUNG 57" Odyssey Neo G9 Series Dual 4K UHD 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor, 240Hz, 1ms with DisplayPort 2.1, Quantum Mini-LED, DisplayHDR 1000, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, LS57CG952NNXZA, 2023

I usually wait about 30 days before writing a review but I know many people are looking at this monitor, the New Alienware OLED, Neo G8, and LGs New 32GQ950. So I figured I'd go ahead and give my 2 week review now and update later. (If I remember)First, make sure you have a high quality cables if your going to use this for PS5/XBOX. I recommend "Cable Matters Active 8K @60Hz Fiber Optic HDMI Cable" and for PC I recommend the one that came with it or "Startech.com 5m VESA Certified DisplayPort 1.4 Cable" Both I bought on Amazon. Crappy cables can result in a bad experience (I learn that lesson long ago)TLDR: Great Monitor, Had to return first one because 4 dead pixels, second monitor zero issues. Don't be afraid to return/exchange if panel issue due to Samsung hit or missing QA. Curve is not bad, if your use to an ultra wide. HDR looks great. Neo G7 is more realistic with 165hz 4k than Neo G8 240hz. LG 32GQ950 is flat but only has 32 local dimming zones and also IPS vs VA. (VA Panel better blacks)I've bounce back between the Neo G7 and Neo G8. The only difference a different screen finish and high refresh rate. I've read the Neo G8 screen finish makes black look deep while other reviews say colors look a bit washed, and the high 240 hz can cause scanline issues. (This is my first Samsung monitor so I had to read a lot about the previous models and this scanline issue) So with those two negatives, and knowing 4k gaming require alot of horsepower to drive, I landed on the Neo G7 because 4k 165hz was more realistic to hit with a RTX 3090, and the refresh being at 165hz will lower chance of having scanline issues. (Research showed that on other Samsung monitors lowering the refresh rate fixed the scanline issues)Received the monitor and perform the dead pixel test. Didn't see any, great! Used the monitor for 2 hours, (Playing PS5 Returnal, Got a game backlog leave me alone!) then perform a pixel test again. Notice I had 4 dead pixels not stuck pixels, 2 in the top left and 2 in top right. (Dead = No light at all) Called Amazon and request a replacement because at the time the monitor was on sale for $1000. Second Monitor, same test, but this was the weekend so I used the monitor for 12 hours, for PC, PS5 and Switch everyday. PC games, with medium/high setting, I'll usually see 120-147 hz.I saw a review talking about HDMI 2.1 not being on this monitor. It is however Samsung named it HDMI 2.0(Up Arrow) in the menu. Recently the HDMI Standard cause a rift with the HDMI name scheme so 2.1 can be label 2.0. Just look for how much bandwidth the HDMI port can handle to confirm 4k 120hz.The Curve on this screen is not bad at all, it just comes a little bit more at you than an ultrawide.Scanline, No issues/seen any scanlines at 165 hz on PC.Windows HDR setting I place the SDR brightness at 40-45. It's bright enough for me and I'm in a slightly bright room. If you using a HDMI cable for your PC versus a Display port, in the NVIDIA control panel you can enable 12 bit color. I really didn't see too much difference but that's me. I played Back 4 Blood on PC for the HDR experience and there were ALOT of details in the environment I did not notice until i got this monitor. Samsung say this monitor can hit 2000 nits, but that's only in a special use case and Windows Display Setting shows the Monitor brightness is 1015 nits that is for my monitor, seen some review were theirs is 1050 and that's for the Neo G7 AND Neo G8.Going into my 3rd week with the monitor and no major issues at all. A few small issues i have with the monitor is the following:- The Menu buttons (yes buttons not joystick) are stiff. You need to push the buttons with a good amount of force and the monitor will shake.- Ultra wide and Low Input Mode require Adaptive Sync to be disable to use- This Monitor has a Auto Input Source option (Off by default) that'll switch to a source that recently was turn on (Ex. PS5) which is great, but it does not switch BACK to PC input because it's not creating a new handshake.Overall, this monitor is great and I do recommend it over the Neo G8 and the alienware. I know the alienware is OLED and will have better black level/colors, BUT i think it still too early for OLED for PC with all static icons. So burn in is still a risk factor. I don't want to throw words like "Colors POP" or "SUPER BRIGHT". The specs on the monitor already point you in that direction. The monitor checks all my box for 4K monitor. (Min 32", Proper HDR, 120hz Support for Console, 165hz for PC) I don't think I can go back to 1440p IPS panel. The only thing that's uncertain is the lifespan of the monitor, Samsung seems to have a rocky QA record on monitors, but I'm willing to give them a try. I also recommend holding off and buying this monitor when it's back on sell for $1000.

After considering OLED for a while and waiting for the price to drop, I finally decided to try this when on sale. I had very high expectations and was fully prepared to refund at the first sign of trouble.Lets start with the cons in my experience.1. After setting up the monitor and looking through the settings, trying to turn the RGB LEDs on worked... for the most part. The lights on the back worked fine, on the front there are two zones that are supposed to light up also, but only one of them worked. After doing some searching apparently a simple firmware update or downgrade can fix this, so it is not a hardware issue but a software one. I do not need LEDs on a monitor anyway, especially an OLED that has those nice true blacks, so I don't want anything on to distract my eye. I turned the LEDs off completely and never card to change firmware just to be able to turn them on again.2. The first day I setup the monitor, tested it a bit, then went to bed. The following day I turned on the monitor and after a few hours of using it I closed all my programs and went to desktop (which is a true black single color background). To my surprise the LEDs were still on, the screen looked no different from my other non OLED screens. After digging through various settings and power cycling the monitor a few times I decided to contact support. I explained my issue and got transfer once or twice through Samsung support chat before finally getting through to help. The first thing that I was asked to do was unplug the power cord that runs from the adapter box to the monitor, not from the wall to the adapter box, and not power cycling using the button on the monitor. After waiting about a minute and plugging it back in the black were true black again and I felt like an idiot. The important takeaway here is that the box will run some power to the screen even if the screen is of, so if you need to power cycle make sure you unplug the screen. After doing the reset once my pixels have remained true black where they should and have not been an issue since.Before we get to the pros is want to mention settings. There are quite a few settings of which most are helpful, just about anything you would want to change you can. The only problem is that with so many settings it can be hard to find what you're looking for sometimes. So far this is one of my only monitors to not change settings ever after setup, I have had ASUS and ACER monitors before that both will occasionally change a setting if a certain game launches or if the hdmi/vda/dp gets unplugged.Finally we have the pros.1. OLED monitor at a PC desktop form factor. This thing looks great, it is great to watch movies and videos on, and colorful and cinematic games look amazing, I have never seen a non OLED come anywhere close it is not even the same ballgame. I have had TN VA and IPS displays before and IMO all three of those look far more similar to each other than to this.2. Responsiveness and Refresh rate. 240hz is incredibly solid for modern gaming, not as bug of jump from 60 to 144 or even 120, but still noticeable. Due to the OLED tech the overall screen response time is insane, it isn't as simple as the 1ms, 0.5ms or 0.1ms that you see advertised on these monitor pages, if you look into it in depth, this monitor has a response time that is about 2x faster then the next best non OLED gaming monitor, and that monitor is even 360hz! What does this meant though? Blur essentially does not exist on this monitor, comparing to 144hz, 165, and 60hz, when setting this monitors refresh rate to match, it is significantly clearer and less blurry. At 240hz even taking a still image with a high fps camera it is hard to detect or extremely minimal, where my VA 165hz displays at least 5 clearly visible ghosted images at once just with my phone camera.To summarize, this monitor I expected to be good but not worth the price tag, but after quite some use it has completely blown me away and I am definitely keeping it. The only monitor jump that has been as noticeable as jumping from non OLED to OLED is the jump from 60-144hz.