Samsung 55″ Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen 4K UHD 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor, 165Hz, 1ms, 4 Input Multi View, Quantum Mini-LED, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, HDR 10+, Height Adjustable Screen, LS55CG970NNXGO

Need Serious Redesign and Quality Control
I tried to love this product. I tried to like this product. I just can’t. I’ve suffered with using this monitor as a primary display for almost a year now, and I have to say that there is nothing to like about it.First, the picture quality of the display is great. Nice and clean 4k and ridiculously large.But that’s the end of nice things about this thing and where the problems start. To make a long story, the One Connect Box is faulty at a production level. The box, which is supposed to house the I/O and power delivery on high end Samsung displays was constructed with next to no quality control if the number of issues posted online are anything to go about. On my unit, the box had two issues:1. Some short on the power delivery circuit that caused the unit to boot loop due to SerDes. It would boot, then auto update, then power off, then power back on.2. The inputs (DP, HDMI, and USBs) did not communicate properly with the display, so either the ports on the One Connect Box did not work or the out port for the One Connect cable did not work.Because this is a massive unit, and not exactly easy to return to Amazon, I filed a claim on the warranty with Samsung. This is where things get worse. After a few days, I received a phone call from a number bank in New Jersey primarily associated with scam calls. I received two or three more calls from various numbers that led back to phone number banks that have a history of being used by foreign based scam call centers. Eventually, I answered one of this calls and it turns out that the calls were from whatever 3rd party company Samsung has hired to operate as Samsung Customer Support in the US. Suspicious for such a large company but fine.The CS rep gets my email and sends me a form to fill out and send back to an email address that is not @samsung.com, and includes things like a demand for the copy of the receipt/bill of sale and the full information for the payment method (card number and cvv). I fill out the form and leave those off, and explain that this is starting to sound a lot like a scam to the CS rep when I get called again. They become apologetic and tell me that aside from the receipt, the form was fine as is. So I send the receipt and wait another day.The CS rep calls again and tells me that I’m good for an authorized service company to inspect the unit and fix it if needed. All good. The next day, I’m told that there are no authorized service companies within 500 miles of me, so they will arrange for a freight company to come pick up the unit and take it to get inspected/serviced. I ask for a timeline and here’s the kicker. The freight company will pick up within one to three business days, the shipping will take up to seven business days, and then the service company will have it for up to 6 months, depending on their volume, with most service requests lasting six to eight weeks.I told the CS rep that this was unacceptable as this is my primary display on a computer that I primarily use for work, and that the only thing wrong with it is the One Connect Box. If they could just ship me another one of them, I would be happy to ship the one that I have. The CS rep asks for a little time. Another couple days later, I get another call from them explaining that Samsung technical support told the CS rep that was not possible and more than likely the whole unit needed to be replaced, but that wasn’t authorized until the service company had a chance to inspect it.I asked for another time table on how long it would take for them to inspect it, as if it was only a business week or two before I was sent another unit, I’d be able to manage that. The CS rep said the time table was unchanged.At that point, I stopped responding to CS because the amount of time that was wasted. Instead, I spent $150 on ebay for a replacement refurbished One Connect Box for the 2nd Gen Ark. And lo and behold, it worked suddenly. However, this is a refurbished unit that someone cobbled together from non-working One Connect Boxes like mine, so it has serious issues. It will randomly fall into a 10-15 min period where the box loses DP signal, or, when switching resolutions/display mode (HDR on/off, blue light mode) the power will fail a few times before it stabilizes and runs again. And I’ve been dealing with those problems since October of ’24. I might make it a few more months, but I will be replacing this soon with a LG GX9 45″. This monitor is not worth the cost, even on sale for 33% off.

– Well if you’re looking to see if this is worth your buying, then I’d say Buy It, if you have enough $ to spend. But read on if you’d like some extra info on this amazing 2nd gen Odyssey Ark 55 in Curved Gaming Screen.- TV or Monitor? — The first question that pops up for me is “IS THIS A MONITOR or TV? Amazon’s title is Gaming Screen, and Samsung is saying it’s a Gaming Monitor. A 55 inch Monitor for Gaming? For me, it can be used for both. You can use this as a TV and (if you like) connect this with a small computer attached to it for streaming, web videos, etc. And you could play your consoles with this gigantic 55 inch TV as well. But the downside of 1000R curvature is that when you view from the side or off center, it may look a little off due to the aggressive curvature nature of 1000R. But if you’re watching from the center of the screen, then it’s amazing, especially watching in 4K HDR. But this is also designed as a Gaming Monitor too. Yes, a 55 inch monitor for your computer(s). What’s great about this monitor is that you could also digitally size down the screen size between 27 inch to max 55 inch. Because of the massive screen size, you could also use this monitor for multiple monitor support for your single computer, which means you could expand up to 4 monitors to fit into this 55 inch screen. Or attached gaming consoles, another laptop/computer and have the ability to view them all at the same time. Samsung calls this Multi View. And there are 4 inputs which you can connect and set up in any way you like. There are also 2 led bars on top and bottom of the monitor/tv for added ambient lighting.- Set Up: You need 2 people to be able to carry this and to lift the monitor/TV on the table or a stand. The screen is not heavy. What’s heavy is the base. It’s super heavy. The stand itself is about the same weight as the TV, but it’s small and so you feel like it’s heavier. Total weight for everything is 41.5 Kg or 92.50 lbs. It’s done that way in order to support the rotation of the screen which you can rotate, raise/lower and tilt anytime you like. Putting the stand to the TV/Monitor is easy. Instruction is clear to understand. You will need 2 different size cross head screwdrivers in order to tighten the 6 screws properly. The way Samsung designed it so that you can install the stand while the TV/Monitor is still protected by the foam cushion is very nice and easy to do. Took me about 30 minutes to put the stand together because I was taking it slowly and carefully. But if I were to install the stand again, it would only be a 5 minute job.- 4K HDR: Amazing! I connect my Macbook Air to the display and turn on the HDR setting from my MBA, and then watch a few videos on Youtube that supports 4K HDR. The picture is simply amazing. Jaw dropping. Video is clear, vibrant and the colours are out of this world. I switch HDR off and have to say it’s a noticeable difference right away. So 4K HDR (where HDR is supported) is out of this world quality.- SOUND: While some may overlook the sound quality because mostly everyone has some type of audio system set up whether it’s their TV or Monitor set up. But I test out the Sound Dome tech that Samsung puts into this TV/Monitor and have to say it’s the best built-in speakers I’ve tested on TV and monitors. Samsung has 4 speakers on each corner and 2 subwoofers built into the screen puts out a total of 60W. With AI Sound Booster and Dolby Atmos, the sound is simply amazing. I have to say I’ve been using the Sound Dome alone without my sound bar for the last few days and I didn’t miss my sound bar at all. The speakers built-in is adequate enough, especially the subwoofers. I can feel the bass or bass drums when a music is playing when watching movies. Something my sound bar couldn’t even put out.- REMOTE CONTROLS: There are 2 wireless remote controls that come with the package. A small TV like remote and the Ark Dial. Both have built-in non-removable batteries that can be charged via usb-c, or solar. Yes. There is a small solar panel on both controls so you can top up charging the units when lights hit the solar panel. The Ark Dial is very nice and easy to use. I can use the Ark Dial to quickly access a variety of functions such as Flex Move Screen (i.e. reduce or enlarge the screen size), Multi View, Quick Settings, etc. Very convenient. And apart from the 2 physical controllers, you could also download the SmartThings app and pair your mobile device to your Samsung Odyssey Ark and be able to use it as a 3rd remote.- KVM Built-in: With this 2nd Gen Odyssey Ark, Samsung now includes the KVM feature that was missing in the 1st gen. But this feature requires USB Upstream cable, Easy Setting Box program on each PC and I don’t have a USB Upstream cable on hand with me to test it yet. But this was 1 of the features that was missing on the 1st gen Odyssey Ark and now Samsung integrated it in the 2nd Gen so kudos to them.- MATTE Display: Also a less noticeable feature or a feature that some may overlook is the matte display. With a matte display, the screen will not reflect lights from your room’s windows or lighting set-up. I was surprised at how well the display is doing in terms of NOT reflecting any light at all. I have windows and have to say I see no glare at all when compared to my previous TV/Monitors that have a shiny finish. Wow. I can say that I can comfortably set this TV/Monitor with a light source at the back without worrying about the strong light reflecting off the Odyssey Ark.- Overall this is simply an amazing screen that you can actually use for your desktop, that is if you have the space and the money for it. While it’s expensive, it’s truly worth it in my opinion, especially for those who are into gaming. Flight sims would look incredible on this monitor as well. The 2nd Gen is the new release this year (2023) to last year’s Odyssey Ark. So if you’re watching or reading reviews of the Odyssey Ark 55 inch on the net, just keep in mind that if the article or videos are from last year, then it’s for the 1st gen. This is the 2nd Gen Odyssey Ark 55 inch and I recommend it, again, that is if you have the space and the money for it.

The Samsung 55 Odyssey Ark G9 is a monster of a monitor. Even for somebody like me which has been using an LG C1 55″ OLED TV as my primary monitor for the past 2 years, it still feel more massive. I’ve used the BenQ EX3501R which is a 1800R curved screen for many years and it’s nothing compared to this. Gaming on this Samsung screen feels significantly more immersive. The best way to describe this feeling is to compare being in the game as opose to look at the action through a window. Using the G9 Ark is one step away from VR.The assembly is challenging due to the weight and size. On my scale, the Stand is 44.8 lbs and the Screen is 46.6 lbs. The total weight is around 91.4 lbs. In metric, the Stand is 20.32kg, the Screen is 21.14kg for a total of 41.36kg. We were two for the assembly and at a point had to call in a third person to move it. Now that it’s on my desk, I hope to never have to move it again. Just pushing it back by an inch is a lot of work.The picture quality is obviously amazing. The specs are well known: 3500:1 static contrast ratio, 1000R curvature, mini LED backlight, Quantum dots, 165Hz screen refresh, quad speaker and so on. In term of picture quality, the G9 only trail my 2 year old OLED when it comes to blooming and contrast. Every other aspect, the G9 fair better. Best is that I don’t need to fear screen burn in. This being said, the blooming is only noticeable when something very bright is on a dark background. If I lower the brightness of the screen to watch a movie in a dark room, there’s barely any blooming left.In term of Audio performance, it’s not as good as it claim to be. The audio lack warmth and I can feel the audio coming from behind the screen instead of in front of it. There’s an Equalizer and some adaptive audio trickery but even with those enabled, the audio performance don’t come close to the speaker of my LG C1. The sounds coming out of the 55 Odyssey Ark G9 is clear but it’s sharp and cold. The speaker lack bass and mids. As well, I don’t understand what Samsung actually mean by “sound dome” but if there’s such a thing, it’s really not what I expected. This monitor support wireless speakers and sub. Maybe Samsung expected people to add those in order to get the proper audio experience.The large curve screen is only half the value proposition. the Ark comes wiht a “One Connect” box which is the brain of this TV/monitor. There’s a single cable going from the “One Connect” box to the screen. The single cable will carry power, picture and sounds. Everything else is connected to the “One Connect” box. The ports on the One Connect box include:- 1x Display Port- 2x HDMI 2.1- 1x HDMI 2.0 (eARC)- 1x S/PdIF- 2x USB-A- 2x USB-B (for KVM)- 2x USB-C (for KVM)- 1x Ethernet- 1x Ex-Link- Bluetooth 5.2- WIFI 5The One Connect Box also act as a KVM. The 2x USb-B and 2x USB-C needs to be connected to the PC or Mac. The assignment of the USB port to specific computer is configurable via software.The Odyssey Arc support Flex View and Multi-View. Flex View is simply a way to shrink the PC output to a portion of the screen. In practice, Flex View is easy to adjust using the Ark Dial however, the output can look blurry depending on the resolution the PC is set at. For example, a PC that is outputting at 4k will have it’s picture compress to 1080p if Flex View is configured to shrink the image to a 27.5″ screen. Multi-View will allow upto 4 source to be displayed at the same time. The four source can be arranged along pre-defined pattern such as 2 source side-by-side, 1 large image on one side and a column of smaller image on the other side, picture in picture and so on. Similar to Flex View, the resulting image can be very blurry depending on the source resolution. Managing Multi-View with the Ark Dial is slow and cumbersome. Jumping from one PC to the next takes a lot of effort. I expected a tap of a button or a quick spin of the dial but instead, I have to long press a button, highlight the PC I want, select it and then confirm my selection. It’s a far cry from what I am use to but at least, it’s there. One nice feature of Multi-View is how it can output audio from two source at the same time. The audio will be positioned base on the location of the image on the screen.The One Connect box runs Tizen OS and support all the major streaming services which include game streaming such as GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming.Over all, it’s an amazing screen but it’s mostly geared toward media consumption. FPS, racing games and watching movies feels amazing. It’s definitly more immersive compared to my 55″ LG C1.

The package for the Samsung Odyssey Ark is VERY heavy so if you don’t live on the ground floor, try to get it delivered to your door. You will need at least two people if not three if you need to bring it up some stairs. Thankfully the delivery from Amazon’s own courier was amazing and brought it all the way to my apartment door on an upper floor with no elevator.I guess because the screen is curved it needs a good counterweight because this screen has the heaviest stand I have seen on a non-CRT TV in a long time. Again, you will want to have another person around when assembling and moving this screen if you do not want to damage it or your floor or toes.The Samsung Odyssey Ark boasts amazing display quality — sharp, with vivid colours, and rich dark blacks. The mini-led backlight cannot quite rival OLED but still gives beautiful, beautiful images. When they say aggressive curve they are not joking. This is really meant to be used as a one-person screen and not a family TV. If you are the former you will feel wrapped around by the display but a few people sitting around off-centre won’t have the best viewing experience.I’m still putting this monitor through its paces but will update this review shortly to add more details. But so far, I am really enjoying it and impressed with the overall craftsmanship and quality of the display.