Samsung 32″ Odyssey OLED G8 (G80SD) 4K UHD 240Hz 0.03ms G-Sync Compatible Smart Gaming Monitor

Be very careful when buying. Product descriptions both on Amazon and Samsung show a 3-year warranty. However, after registering, it shows 12 months.

As far as the picture goes, this monitor is great. However, this monitor does not turn on automatically with the PC and it does not automatically switch to the active input. It also has smart TV features which makes it more frustrating to setup. But because the way that this device operates, it should be advertised a Smart TV first and not a monitor. Samsung never did great in the user experience department.

The monitor specs are amazing and visually it’s absolutely beautiful. HOWEVER, two points you should know before buying:

1. The monitor does not automatically turn on when you power your computer on. It has a remote or a button in the back. The problem is, it is really more a smart tv than a standalone gaming monitor. The smart features kept causing annoyances with each bootup.

2. If you coincidentally own a Samsung tv in the same room, turning your tv on will turn on or off your gaming monitor and vice versa. They both mess with each other. If I turn the volume up on my tv, it turns on and off my monitor as well. I don’t have them close to one another either. I tried putting up with it for a while, but it is just driving me crazy. There is no work around according to Support. I haven’t tested it with other televisions, but if the remote is on the same frequency, I imagine the issue will be the same.

The three-year warranty for Samsung’s 32-inch OLED monitor does not explicitly cover burn-in, but it does include coverage for pixel defects, which may include burn-in. To be eligible for the warranty, burn-in must be determined to be a manufacturing defect rather than a result of user behavior.

Once I got this setup and working connected to my computer’s Nvidia 4060Ti card, the display is absolutely amazing. I enabled Windows’ HDR functionality, and the first time my background with a sunrise came on, it felt blinding. The contrast capability of this thing is just beyond any display I’ve ever used before. I went with the 125% scaling in Windows, and it works great. Applications and games are clear and gorgeous. As a main monitor for a gaming PC, I cannot recommend this display enough.

The downside though is a common complaint I’ve heard about Samsung hardware, and I’ll repeat it here. Samsung desperately wants to drag you into its ecosystem, and is completely brazen about it. As soon as I powered up the monitor, it gave me three options to complete setup:

1) Remote control. This surprised me. Was there a remote in the box? I searched again, and found nothing, and realized it wanted you to dig up your existing Samsung universal remote, because you’re obviously a proud Samsung zombie. One down.
2) Your phone. A QR code was available to use with your phone. OK, I’ll give that a shot. Oh. Just a link to the app store listing for the Samsung “SmartThings” app. Fine, I’ll try it. The app won’t do anything until you create a Samsung account. Nope, not creating another online account to use a monitor. Two down.
3) Attached keyboard and mouse. OK, this is actually what I wanted to do at first, and the mouse moved the cursor around the screen, but weirdly, clicking on anything didn’t have an effect. So I tried the option to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, but they failed to work in exactly the same way. Three strikes, and Samsung’s out.

I did eventually figure out how to get the keyboard/mouse working. It turns out that on the initial setup page, to continue you have to press the “Next >” button, but the “Next” part of the button doesn’t work. The only valid place to click on the entire screen is the “>” character.

But, past that startup page, you’re invited to setup the “Samsung Hub” on the monitor. But you can’t go any further in the setup without (can you guess) creating a Samsung account. Sorry, again, I’m not joining the Samsung hegemony in order to get a monitor working. Fortunately, at this point, I bumped the mouse connected to my PC, and BAM, the computer screen displayed. To use this monitor as a simple PC display doesn’t require a Samsung account, and the nags to join the Samsung revolution eventually settle down. But if you want to use any of the smart features, even if they have nothing to do with Samsung, you’ve got to join the Samsung horde, which kinda sucks.

Edited to add: I was looking at some other reviews, and some discussed the aforementioned remote. I did a dive into the packaging again, and lo and behold, there was a tiny remote wrapped discretely in white foam, that I had completely overlooked. Since I’ve already got everything setup, and I didn’t buy this to be a TV, I’ll leave it in the box.

This truly is a beautiful monitor. I have always appreciated Samsung’s hardware design and have a great deal of it in my house (including a large Frame TV in our main living space). This OLED screen is the best I have ever seen. I remember telling my father 15 years ago after I bought a big 52″ LCD Samsung TV that it would be the last LCD I purchased (since OLED was always right around the corner back then). My timing was off, but my expectations on the quality difference were not. It is really nice.

And the metal housing of this monitor is also very sleek and upscale. I love everything about it.

What I don’t love is Samsung’s insatiable desire to push their software on everyone. I didn’t pay close attention to the overall specifications on this display when I ordered it and expected that it would be a normal monitor (i.e., you plug it in to the computer and it turns on with the computer). It’s really not. It’s a TV in a monitor shape, with a separate remote, a separate WiFi connection and everything. When you connect your keyboard and mouse to the computer through the monitor, the monitor actually takes control of the devices and requires you to use them to set up a bunch of unnecessary stuff on the monitor itself. I find it really off-putting and annoying. It even goes so far as to have you choose a voice assistant on the monitor (thank the heavens they at least allow Alexa now instead of forcing Bixby on us).

When the computer goes to sleep, the monitor re-asserts itself and takes control of the keyboard and monitor again. It offers a link to something to download on your computer to improve integration; I’ve done that and we’ll see if it helps the overall experience. One nit there: the monitor expects to be on the same WiFi network as the computer it’s connected to. Mine is, but the primary interface on my computer is hard-wired. Even with both technically on the same WiFi network, the computer software cannot find the monitor automatically, presumably because it’s only checking the wired connection. I tracked down the IP address that my router gave the monitor and was able to add it manually and that seems to work fine.

At this point, however, I find it all really intrusive (as is typical of my experience with Samsung software). I wish they’d stick to hardware.

I’m keeping this at 5 stars despite my disdain for the software side of it. The software seems to at least be well-designed (except for that wired/wireless bit – which at least they provide the option for manual configuration that works). The hardware is so nice that I can’t justify giving it any less than 5 stars.

The quality of videos and games are amazing even better than the other 4k screens I own. The screen is very lightweight and thin in all of the right places. All the edges you see are thinner than a pencil. The slim profile of the screen itself is very appealing. I can’t say anything bad about it but I can say there are some questionable things.

Why is the power cable white? every other cable (especially power cables) are black or gray. It stands out like a sore thumb and is very hard to hide.

The “monitor” sets itself up as a TV when you first set it up. I doubt most people buying this are going to hang it on the wall to use as a TV. You simply don’t need a 240 hz TV.

The monitor stand is very large and pushes the monitor a good 6 inches forward. Unless you have a massive desk the stand is going to push this screen uncomfortably close to you and take up most of your desk space. Get a mount to go with it.

recently purchased the 32″ Samsung OLED monitor, my first OLED and first monitor upgrade since 2015, and after two weeks of use, I’m thoroughly impressed. The picture quality is incredible, with deep blacks, vibrant colors, and outstanding contrast. This makes watching movies, playing games, and working on graphic design projects a visually stunning experience.

The built-in apps are a fantastic addition, allowing me to fully enjoy 4K streaming services. The ease of setup was another highlight; the instructions were clear, and I had everything up and running in minutes. The user-friendly interface and intuitive controls made the process smooth and hassle-free.

However, there are a few drawbacks. If you have more than one of these monitors, the remotes can sometimes interfere with each other, which can be frustrating. The back circle light, while aesthetically pleasing, could be brighter or have adjustable settings to enhance the overall ambiance. Additionally, the presence of ads for pre-installed apps on the remote and software interface is a minor annoyance that detracts from the premium feel. I also noticed that the overall brightness of the monitor isn’t as high as I would have liked, and it would be better if it were more adjustable.

Overall, despite these minor issues, the 32″ Samsung OLED monitor delivers a fantastic viewing experience. If Samsung can address the remote interference and ads, this monitor would be nearly perfect.

Bought this monitor. Was a little afraid of the mat finish. Not a problem at all. I love it. Picture is CRISP. Love that it doubles as a Smart TV. Very well done Samsung.

The Samsung G80SD is a great display. You get 4K resolution on a 32” screen and all the benefits that come with an OLED display using the latest panel technology. Being a previous user of the Alienware AW3423DWF OLED monitor I did notice the reduced overall brightness, but HDR still pops and blacks are as dark as they get. That being said, I think this more of a Smart TV than a monitor and while that can be a great benefit, it can also be a hindrance at times and I wish there was a way to put some of that stuff further in the background.

Getting the G80SD unboxed I was immediately struck by how slim the display is. At the edges it’s only a few millimeters and it looks very sleek. The silver/gray finish doesn’t go great against my mostly matte black setup, but it still looks good regardless and it mostly disappears especially if you opt for a monitor arm instead of the stand like I have. I did use the stand for a short time though and it’s sturdy and doesn’t take too much space for a stand. It also has a nice little rubber loop for cable management at the base. The power supply is external, probably owing to how slim the display is, and it’s a big thing for sure. Probably one of the larger power bricks I’ve seen. I ended up mounting on the underside of my desk with some Command Strips.

The panel itself is flat, which is generally my preference when it comes to monitors, though I’ve come to not mind curved displays after my time with my previous monitor. It’s a standard 16:9 4K panel that goes up to 240Hz with an advertised 0.03ms response time. The ports on the back include 2-USB 3.0 Type A, 2 HDMI 2.1 ports and 1 DisplayPort 1.4 port. The USB ports feed back to the PC via a USB-B cable and can also be used by the display’s internal apps – I verified this by watching a YouTube video with my Logitech headset connected. I imagine this would also work for things like game controllers as well.

Setting up the monitor is the same process as setting up a Samsung TV because it uses the same Tizen interface. You are taking through a series of menus where you connect to Wi-Fi and sign into your Samsung account. This being a smart TV you are made to agree to the various privacy policies, but Samsung tries to be sneaky and trick you into also agreeing to personalized ads and viewing data like it is required when in reality it is not. This feels deliberately deceptive on Samsung’s part and I think they need to adjust the verbage their to make the options clearer. You can of course skip all of this, but this disables a lot of the G80SD’s functionality and leaves you with an empty home screen that is constantly asking to be setup. I think there needs to be a way to jettison a lot of these features as many gamers will have no use for them.

Once all of that was setup, I connected to my PC via DisplayPort. The display itself looks great, though I wish it got a bit brighter. The display reports a maximum brightness of 440 nits in HDR and that seemed to ring true as I ran through the HDR calibration tool in Windows. HDR does still look really good on the G80SD though and the highlights don’t necessarily need to be as bright when you have an OLED display. The display is not glossy – Samsung advertises it as “glare free”, which seems to matte for all intents and purposes. It still looks great though and actually does a very good job of keeping reflections off. Ther eare no sRGB or DCI-P3 modes to speak of. You also don’t get a calibration report like many other monitors, but to my eyes the colors appear natural and accurate. Variable refresh rate is here in the form of Freesync Premium Pro and G-SYNC seems to work just fine for me. Gaming so far has been an excellent experience and I haven’t had any issues there. For some of the more demanding games I play I have turned the resolution down to 1440p and they still very good on this display at my viewing distance (~30 inches away).

The Smart TV portion so far has been pretty good. The interface is very snappy and the included remote works well enough to navigate around – it also has a little solar panel at the bottom to help keep it charged up which is neat. You can get pretty much any major streaming app on Samsung’s platform and it even includes some cloud gaming apps like Xbox and GeForce Now. It also supports Cast and AirPlay. The built-in speakers are nice to have in a pinch, but sound fairly weak. If you are using this in a small space like a dorm or a bedroom I can definitely see the advantages of a monitor that also doubles as your TV. This sometimes gets in the way of it being a simple monitor though. Every time I boot my PC and turn on the display I get the giant Samsung game bar that lingers for several seconds and even when that goes away there’s another little tip that pops up right after that telling me how to get the game bar back if I need to for a few more seconds! AND, though the display will turn itself off when you shut your PC down, it hangs on a standby screen for a full minute before it shuts down waiting to see if you want to do something else with the display. I wish I could make this monitor act more like a monitor and I’ve been in and out of every setting I could find to try and make adjustments.

The core lighting on the back of the monitor is pretty neat, though it’s hard to see unless you are looking behind it or have it right up against a wall. There’s a variety of effects you can set, including one where the lighting changes depending on what’s on screen, though I found this to be underwhelming and I liked the rainbow effect better.

The monitor includes a 3-year warranty, though it does not explicitly include protection from OLED burn-in. The G80SD is supposed to have a special cooling system built into it that I assume is meant to help protect against that at some level, but it would be good if Samsung was a little clearer about that and it included it like many other OLED manufacturers do.

Overall I’m happy with the G80SD. It’s a great-looking OLED monitor and the idea of a gaming monitor that doubles as a TV is a good one, but I think there are improvements Samsung can make and there might be less expensive options for anyone not looking for that functionality.