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日本Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 quick review – A breath of fresh air
Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict
The Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 brings a 25-inch IPS panel with a Full HD resolution. It is considered Retina when viewed from a distance of 39.02 inches or 99.11 cm, which is too much for any person, so you might see the individual pixels when you’re using the monitor but that’s not much of an issue when gaming. With that out of the way, we really like this monitor, as it supports both G-Sync and FreeSync, the two most popular technologies to relieve screen-tearing. They do work in a different way though, as FreeSync is entirely software-based, which is how AMD is able to provide an open-source version of it for any developer to tinker with. On the other hand, G-Sync requires a hardware module to be inside the monitor, so often screens that support the feature are more expensive.
Thanks to the IPS panel, you get very wide viewing angles, while the fast refresh rate and 1ms response time deliver smooth gameplay. Now all you need is a beefy laptop or desktop to be able to push more than 240 frames per second in your games and you’re good to go. The fast refresh rate is very helpful in shooters and esports games, where reaction time is critical.
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 G4 25BG4000 can show:
Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print/Photographers: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Movie/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 G4 25BG400: 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 100% of the sRGB gamut. However, you can see that the dashed triangle exceeds the sRGB area and spans a bit far into the DCI-P3 colors in the Reds and Blues, so overall we’d deem the monitor really good for design work, especially web-based design, as the sRGB gamut is the sole gamut used on the internet.
(Fig.1)Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 covers 99.4% of the Web colors (sRGB)
This means that if the Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 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 G4 25BG400. 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 Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400, the Average color accuracy was 4.0 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowers to 1.4 dE (Fig. 3) making it not far from perfect! The increase in accuracy is substantial, nearly a three-fold jump. Values below 1.0 are generally indistinguishable to the human eye.
(Fig. 2) Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 in its factory condition
(Fig. 3) Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 with our display profilesComparison in the sRGB 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
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.
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.
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.
Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount
Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for the Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400.
*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].
Read more about the profiles HERE.
Verdict
The Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400 brings a lot of features, with a great IPS panel and G-Sync support. It’s also suitable for any designer and artist who moonlights as a gamer, thanks to the wide color coverage and fantastic accuracy, as with our display profiles, we managed to make it nearly three times more accurate, going from a dE value of 4.0, down to 1.4.
We’re also super happy to see such adjustability from a gaming monitor, as the stand makes it so you can place the screen in almost any position possible This makes it very ergonomic as you can adapt to any person, so you remain upright and don’t slouch on your chair (your back will thank you).
The only thing that might dissuade you from completing a purchase is the price. The MSRP of the monitor is $349.99, but right now it’s on sale for $274.99, which is a very attractive price for all the tech and features that you’re getting. Also don’t forget to check out our profiles, as they ultimately transform the improve the capabilities of the Samsung Odyssey G4 25BG400.
Pros
- Ample color coverage – 100% sRGB gamut
- Almost perfect color accuracy with our Office Work and Web Design profile
- Aesthetic design
- The most adjustable stand that we’ve seen on a gaming monitor
- 240Hz refresh rate + 1ms response time
Cons
- It is pricey when not on sale
- Lacks an app for monitor control through the OS
How you gonna “review” a gaming monitor and not even include a pixel response time section? I know you guys already have the necessary tech to provide such a measurement. Have to say these “reviews” just seem lazy, and like a way to promote and sell your ‘profiles.’
Man I have the 27″ well done but auto switch doesn’t revert back to current input on, and by the way wish it had profile saved for different inputs!