Display Profiles for Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 – Massive Increase in Color Accuracy for the Crown Jewel of the Odyssey Series

LaptopMedia.com Reviews and Analysis Display Profiles for Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 - Massive Increase in Color Accuracy for the Crown Jewel of the Odyssey Series

From: Severin Kolakov 27 January 2024 / 15:18 | 0

Samsung keeps impressing with the Odyssey series so much, that we went ahead and got another one for a review. It’s one of the flagship models, the Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950. What sets it apart from the previous Odyssey G9 that we took in our lab is the Quantum Mini LED technology that Samsung uses for the backlight. Compared to traditional LEDs, which have casing and lenses around them to both protect them and guide the light, coming through them, the new Quantum LEDs only have a thin layer of plastic, which both protects and guides the light, whilst being thinner and more compact. This also brings a much-wanted change to the contrast and brightness, as it greatly reduces backlight bleed, as the light is more precisely guided.

The general specs of the monitor are quite good, as we’ve got a 49-inch curved DQHD VA panel. With a 240Hz refresh rate, it’s no slouch, while the VA technology should provide a pretty good response time (Samsung states that the monitor has a 1ms Grey to Grey response time).

Today we’re taking the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 in the lab, where we’ll test its color coverage and accuracy, as well as give it the LaptopMedia treatment, where we try to make it as accurate and as vibrant as possible, so you can enjoy gaming, movies, and content creation on this wide and immersive screen.

You can check the current price of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)

Specs sheet, Assembly, Design, Connectivity
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

Specs sheet, Assembly, Design, Connectivity

Screen size	49 inch (124.46 cm)
Refresh rate	240Hz
Response time	1ms
Panel type	VA
Backlight type	LED
Screen finish	Matte
Resolution	5120 x 1440 (Double Quad HD)
Technologies	Curve: 1000R Contrast ratio: 1 000 000:1 (Static) Brightness: 420cd/m² Viewing angles: H/V° 178/178 Tilt: -3 to 13° Swivel: -15 to 15 Height adjustment: 5 – 120mm VESA mount: 100×100 Measurements (with stand): 1149.5 x 537.2 x 418.3 mm Power consumption (Idle): 55W Power consumption (Stand-by): 0.50W
I/O	2x HDMI 2.1 2x USB 3.0 1x DisplayPort 1.4 1x Audio jack

Assembly

Design and Connectivity

To say that the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 is stunning would be calling it mildly. Its sheer size and the curve make you truly appreciate modern technology. The white glossy finish on the back is super slick and the Blue LED lighting makes it even better. If didn’t know this was a Samsung product, we honestly could have mistaken it for an Alienware screen.

The curve on the screen is quite, well, curvy. It measures at 1000R, which is about as high as curved monitors go. Basically, the lower the number, the more pronounced the curve is. Considering the ultra-wide panel, a more pronounced curve will help you keep track of everything you’ve got going on in this large canvas. In terms of ergonomics, the stand offers height adjustment as high as 12cm, as well as swivel movement, so you can rotate it around the stand’s axis. Just be careful not to knock over anything with the rotation, as with such a wide panel everybody’s in danger.

On the back, there are all the ports. The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 comes with two HDMI 2.1 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.4 port, two USB Type-A 3.0 ports, as well as a USB Type-B Downstream port, which connects the two Type-A ports to your PC.

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 is a flagship product, so it brings many technologies for improving the visuals in pretty much every scenario. For gaming, you get both FreeSync Premium Pro as well as G-Sync, which provide both a tear-free gaming experience and HDR support. Samsung brings their HDR solution too, called Quantum HDR 2000, which promises much deeper and more vibrant colors, with local brightness and contrast up to 2000 nits and 1 000 000:1, respectively. There are also some unique features, like the Picture By Picture mode, which splits the monitor in half, so you can have a fullscreen game on one side, and your Twitch chat on the other, if you’re into streaming of course.

The correlated color temperature on a white screen after a Factory Reset in sRGB mode is 6450K (Luminance 150 cd/m2 at 20% Brightness). The average gamma value is 2.96.

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Photographers/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 99% of the sRGB color gamut, as well as 94% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

(Fig.1) Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 covers 99% of the Web colors (sRGB)

This means that if the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950, the Average color accuracy was 6.7 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowered to 3.7 dE (Fig. 3). This is still a massive increase in accuracy, so the content will look more lifelike than before, however, you should probably stay away from any professional color work and focus on another monitor for that specific reason.

(Fig. 2) Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 with our display profiles

Comparison in the Display P3 color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

$19.90 BUY NOW

Verdict

If you can live down with the crazy price of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950, then you should absolutely get it. It’s a multitasker’s dream, with a high pixel count, incredible design, and punchy image that will pop you in your face, thanks to HDR support and the new backlighting technology. For when you’re enjoying games and movies, which will be excellent thanks to the wide color coverage, the 240Hz refresh rate, and the 1ms response time, you should also apply our Gaming and Movies profile, which reduces the shadows a bit, giving you more detail and better legibility when looking at dark scenes and environments, be it a game or a movie.

While the color accuracy doesn’t reach studio levels, even with our profile, it’s much better than the factory setting. Some QLED and OLED panels in general are trickier to calibrate, however, we believe that for general use and tons of gaming, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950 is second to none. Paired with the excellent port selection and the wide feature set, it can be the crown jewel in your gaming setup.

You can check the current price of the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 49AG950: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)