Samsung’s Odyssey 3D Gaming Monitor Is a Promising Glimpse Into the Return of 3D

The setup is fairly simple, though it requires a few things to get started. First off, you need the Reality Hub app launcher to actually play games in 3D. It’s too bad it requires a separate app, but the software at least will scan your game libraries and display any supported games. Beyond that, you’ll need to plug in the attached USB-A cable, along with whatever you’re using for the display itself. I hooked it up to a gaming laptop, and it worked fine.

You’ll find the ports on the monitor around the back, which offer the bare minimum, including two HDMI ports, DisplayPort, and two USB-A downstream ports. No headphone jack and no USB-C. On the right of the port array, you’ll find the power button, which also serves as the controls for the OSD (on-screen display). The menu is fine, though I was annoyed by how many clicks it took to get to brightness or volume controls.

It comes with a pair of 5-watt speakers, which are decent but not anything special. They have “directional sound,” giving sound effects some added immersion. However, in my test period, the audio was clearer and fuller with the 3D spatial speakers of the Acer monitor.

Quality Where It Counts

You’ll buy this monitor for its 3D capabilities, but in reality, you’ll use it in standard 2D far more often. That’s why Samsung was smart to ensure it didn’t compromise on the quality of the display. While I do hope an OLED is introduced in the future, the Odyssey 3D uses a high-quality 4K IPS panel with a 165-Hz refresh rate to make sure that gaming in 2D is still an enjoyable experience.

Color coverage is solid (100 percent sRGB, 83 percent AdobeRGB), and color accuracy is excellent. I measured it at 0.83 with my colorimeter, comparable to OLED panels. In SDR, this is also a brighter panel than most OLEDs, reaching 487 nits of max brightness. It won’t be nearly as impressive in HDR, but as it turns out, 3D games aren’t supported in HDR anyway. Suffice to say, it’s a solid 4K gaming monitor on its own—if only it weren’t for the exorbitant price.