Samsung Odyssey Ark hands-on: a raft of a gaming display

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Samsung Odyssey Ark hands-on: a raft of a gaming display

Samsung’s Odyssey Ark had a secret presence at CES 2022, but the 55-inch curved gaming monitor-meets-TV is almost ready to launch. It’ll be available in mid-September for $3,499.99, with pre-order reservations starting today. I got to test a prototype of the Odyssey Ark with a bunch of PC games. Surprise: Playing with my face a meter away from a 55-inch 4K display with a 165Hz refresh rate is awesome. But I was equally impressed by the wealth of features that the Ark can offer.

The Ark is Samsung’s most aggressive attempt to make its mark as a gaming display maker. Of course, the 55-inch 1000R curvature is a way to stand out. It can be easily rotated for use in portrait format with up to three video sources. The other major way is with some smart TV capabilities, namely the Samsung Gaming Hub, which allows for cloud streaming via Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. Like the Samsung M8 smart monitor I tested, it runs on Samsung’s Tizen OS – in case you want to use some streaming apps like YouTube or Apple TV Plus.

Given the high cost, there’s a good chance you’ll want to do more than just play on the Ark. This screen is big enough to easily accommodate multiple use cases at the same time. Building on the standard Picture-in-Picture (PIP) mode offered by many TVs and some monitors, the Ark includes robust screen manipulation settings that take you from simple (stack four windows, two by two) to more niche (set an input) can be 32:9, with a traditional 16:9 input on top). While the possibilities aren’t endlessly configurable, they seem ripe for some interesting use cases if you’re the type who likes to tweak settings. And that’s before you turn the ark sideways into cockpit mode.

To do this, you have to tilt the display up, set it to the highest setting that the large, minimalist, height-adjustable stand will allow, and then rotate it 90 degrees counter-clockwise. I was worried it would be a two person job but I was able to do it myself without much trouble. What’s cool is that rotating the screen also automatically rotates your source’s image. With the Ark oriented like this, you can display up to three screens stacked vertically, or stretch one from top to bottom if your game supports it. In cockpit mode, the ark looks like a wave that’s about to crash over you. Samsung’s Owen Sexton told me during the demo that the Ark is also wall mountable and will include a VESA mount.

The Ark’s mount allows it to be rotated 90 degrees into a “cockpit mode”.

Although Samsung strongly prefers the Ark to be shown in cockpit mode, I preferred playing in landscape mode, with a single source taking up the entire screen. Using the multiview mode is great, but whether it’s in portrait or landscape mode, the curvature of the screen can mean that every part of the screen gets a slight keystone effect, making some corners look crooked. That can break immersion in gaming, but should be fine for other tasks. If I were to use the Ark for work I would probably prefer to use it in cockpit mode. Similar to the idea behind the LG DualUp with a 16:18 aspect ratio, it’s easier to quickly see multiple windows just by moving my head up and down, rather than side to side like I do with multiple monitors or an ultrawide must do.

Samsung includes two remotes with the Ark, one is a typical remote for basic functions, and another, more complicated option called Ark Dial. It’s a standalone command center that controls the Ark’s main functions (power, volume, input select, and game bar) on a grand scale buttons placed. There is a rotating dial and a d-pad in it to adjust settings faster. There’s even a solar panel for charging, so you never have to plug it in.

I should note that no remote control makes navigating the monitor’s myriad menus and settings elegantly. There’s a definite learning curve to finding the settings you’re looking for, and a lot of my demo was just trying – and sometimes failing – to get where I wanted to go.

The Ark’s remote dialer means you never have to fiddle with a joystick on the display itself to make adjustments.

The Ark, like Samsung’s other high-end gaming monitors, is an amalgamation of its best TV panel tech with features deep-pocketed gamers are likely to enjoy, like HDR, VRR, and four HDMI 2.1 ports (albeit strangely no DisplayPort). . It features Samsung’s Quantum Mini-LED backlight that can reportedly reach up to 1,500 nits at peak brightness, and the company claims it’s the first 55-inch 4K panel to support a 165Hz refresh rate.

This display has a 1000R curve, and it’s both odd and cool to see the curve come back for a panel that looks so much like a TV. The scoop of the curve isn’t as deep as the 1800R curvature of the Odyssey Neo G9 (to each his own, but I think the 1000R is the sweet spot when it comes to being able to see everything on screen easily without sacrificing peripheral detail stay on the track). .

In my short time with the Ark, I played games like eternal doom and ForzaHorizon 5 seemed like a very good example of how bright and fast this display can be. There are no complaints there. The 16:9 aspect ratio meant the image didn’t exhibit any visual distortions around the edges like we’ve seen on Samsung’s Odyssey G9 and Neo G9 with a 32:9 aspect ratio. However, I wasn’t that taken aback by the contrast at Microsoft flight simulator as I had hoped. With the Arche curve and QLED screen, I expected to be more or less immersed. However, the fact that I didn’t feel that way could be due to a few factors, such as the intense brightness of the room, the Ark’s visual mode not being properly tuned for gaming, or perhaps that the tuning in this prototype wasn’t not quite finished yet.

The Ark offers an immersive gaming experience without the distortions you sometimes see on ultrawide monitors.

All in all, the Ark experience feels polished, but there were a few other quirks in this prototype. When a Samsung representative walked me through the image resizing features, some tutorial pop-ups didn’t go away. The team said this is a known pre-release issue. Also, a sliver of the top bezel wouldn’t stay seated, allowing a hint of backlighting to peep out. When I pressed the bezel, the light leak went away, but came back shortly after I released it. Maybe it’s a problem with the glue or some other problem entirely. Hopefully this is not available in shipping units.

The Ark may seem like a familiar entity at first glance, but there’s something about it that feels unique. It packs impressive gaming monitor specs into a design that, stand aside, is definitely an old-school curved TV. Given that it packs some smart features like cloud game streaming and smart TV apps, the Ark could be a great solution for someone who wants to go all out – both in terms of size and cost $3,499.99. I’m almost even more excited by the idea that this is a sign that some of these features could be coming to cheaper Samsung gaming displays in the near future.

Photography by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge

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