When Samsung announced the Odyssey Ark gaming monitor back in January at CES, many were astonished by it. The monitor may not look like much when it is in the traditional landscape position but once you rotate it, you will then be face to face with a towering gaming monitor like no other.
Samsung claimed that the Odyssey Ark is the first 55-inch 1000R curved gaming monitor in the world. The FreeSync Premium Pro monitor is equipped with a 4K 165Hz 1ms VA panel that has a matte coating and Quantum Mini LED backlighting with 1,056 local dimming zones.
Alongside the support for HDR10+ Gaming standard together with HDCP 2.2 through its HDMI 2.1 port, the Odyssey Ark which is powered by a Neural Quantum Processor Ultra also features Samsung’s own Quantum HDR 2000 technology and has a static contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. It is also a Tizen-based Smart Monitor which means users can utilize a selection of streaming services and Microsoft Office365 directly from Odyssey Ark without plugging it into any PC.
In certain markets, it can also support cloud gaming services including NVIDIA GeForce Now, Google Stadia, Utomik, Amazon Luna, and Xbox Cloud Gaming via Samsung Gaming Hub. Hence, this is why the monitor has been equipped with an Ethernet port as well as Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity.
When the monitor is in its traditional landscape position, the Multi View feature can support up to four screens. However, do note that the Multi View feature will also disable the Game Mode, Variable Refresh Rate, and cloud gaming while the refresh rate will be limited to 120Hz.
The Odyssey Ark also comes standard with a solar-powered controller called the Ark Dial that allows users to quickly access certain functions including Multi View, Game Bar, and a selection of settings. It also can be used to manage the monitor’s Flex Move Screen feature which enables users to set the screen’s relative size, position, and aspect ratio on-the-fly.
Meanwhile, we have noticed that Samsung Malaysia has recently listed Odyssey Ark on its website albeit without any pricing details. We have since reached out to the company to obtain further clarifications but we have yet to receive any response at the time this article goes live.
That being said, we actually asked Samsung Malaysia regarding the local availability and pricing for the monitor earlier this month when the pre-order for it was announced in the United States. The company then responded and said that it has nothing to announce in regard to the Odyssey Ark at that time.
Even though there’s no Malaysian pricing for it at the moment, you can expect the Odyssey Ark to have a heavy cost on your wallet considering that it is priced at USD 3,500 (~RM 15,699) in the U.S. So, if you are lusting over the monitor, you may want to make sure that you have the resources to back it up.
