Samsung odyssey arc11/4/2023 Part monitor, part smart television, part streaming hub, the Samsung Odyssey Ark defies easy categorisation and indeed easy conclusions. It can be your entertainment hub as well as screen for your consoles and computers, in other words. It's another area in which the Odyssey Ark actually does justify its price, and another area where it's as much a television set as it is a monitor. Only the most particular audio enthusiasts are going to want to attach external speakers to this, as the sound output is deep and rich and clear for gaming, movies and everything else. The sound setup deserves a mention on its own as well: with four corner speakers and two subwoofers in the middle, you get a 60W 2.2.2 channel setup that's seriously impressive. It also offers a very respectable level of colour accuracy, for those working with video and image editors. If you need a smaller viewing area, there's an integrated option for that as well – so you can get the monitor to produce the equivalent of a 27-inch screen in the centre of the panel for example, if you find that suits your needs better at certain times (and for certain tasks). Quality across the panel is really good, despite its gigantic size, although the viewing angles aren't the best. Multiple views are available in landscape mode too, though only one of them can be via HDMI (leaving you with apps or screen casting for the others). Here the screen looks even more ridiculous, but it's undoubtedly a feast for the eyes: you can stack three windows on top of each other if needed, enabling you to keep an eye on multiple sources at once. The monitor can be tilted and adjusted in terms of its height, and it can also rotate around 90 degrees so it's in a portrait orientation. You need to think carefully about whether you have the right space for the Samsung Odyssey Ark monitor to shine, but we had no complaints when it came to the quality of the picture, whether we were gaming, watching movies, or typing out this review. It's not the kind of monitor that you can sit up close to on a desk, and if you're not in the best position in terms of angle and distance then the corners of the display can start to look dim. It's worth bearing in mind though that positioning matters a lot here. The bezels are nice and thin, especially given the size of the unit, and overall it's a superb viewing experience. There's a maximum 165Hz refresh rate, a 1,000,000:1 static contrast ratio, 1 millisecond grey-to-grey response time, 600 nits of typical brightness, support for Quantum HDR 2000 and HDR10+, and no fewer than 1,056 Mini LED local dimming zones. There's no doubting the quality of the display panel that Samsung has fitted here: it's sharp and vibrant, with details well retained and fast motion well handled. The on-board software and indeed the on-screen menus are well designed and straightforward to navigate around, and if you're prepared to sign up for a Samsung account then you can also control the monitor from your smartphone. Even with nothing connected to it, you can run apps from the screen: Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and others. Like the Samsung M8 Smart Monitor before it, the Odyssey Ark aims to double up as both a smart TV and a monitor. Samsung Odyssey Ark review: features and picture Overall, we're dealing with a polished yet bulky design here, and a setup process that's about as involved as you would expect for such a large and complex piece of hardware. There are two RGB lighting strips along the back of the Odyssey Ark too, which you can customise in a variety of ways. With a 1000R curvature, the idea is that the 55-inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel screen wraps around your peripheral vision. These remotes and the box are solid and well built, and aesthetically fit in well alongside the monitor. You use them both in tandem to control everything from the volume to the display mode, and they're certainly easier to use than a fiddly joystick around the back of the screen (the Odyssey Ark features one of these too). Included is an Ark Dial (which is solar as well as battery powered), plus a more conventional-looking Ark Remote. It tips the scales at a hefty 41.5 kilograms too. Overall, when assembled in landscape mode, the monitor measures a gigantic 1175 x 1102 x 379 mm – do make sure that you've got enough room to get it installed. A bit more variety in terms of display connection types would be welcome, but it's unlikely that you're going to want to hook up more than four devices together. There's also a headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and an optical output for a soundbar. Those inputs are four HDMI 2.1 ports, plus two USB Type-A ports for connecting up peripherals if needed.
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