★★★★★ 3
Too compromised for the price
HDR:
Windows 10/11 report 1015nits peak brightness which is its real peak luminance.
Quantum HDR2000 is a fabricated specification unique to Samsung. In real content (games/movies) it is no where near capable of 2000nits and instead barely produces over 800nits peak brightness for 10% highlight. The 2000nit figure comes from best case scenario - 10% test slide used by calibrators and reviewers to measure luminance. The monitor detects such a scenario and temporarily boosts brightness so that they can publish impressive brightness figures. Yes this is essentially cheating and Samsung has been called out recently for the same "trick" on their TV's.
Samsung could have opted to have the monitors HDR performance certified by VESA but chose not to in favor of their own marketing favorable terminology. In reality the monitor is some where between VESA DisplayHDR600 and DisplayHDR1000 due to a combination of Samsung severely limiting brightness for the sake of preventing blooming alongside possibly preventing the backlight from being overdriven to manage thermals.
Scanlines:
The monitor displays horizontal scanlines at its maximum 4K 240hz refresh rate. This is a limitation of the display driver or scaler and has been present on all 1440p+ 240hz Samsung monitors dating back to the original G7. This is not a software/firmware issue as the original G7 and Neo G9 still suffer from it to this day after over a dozen firmware updates between the two.
Dropping down to 120hz rids you of scanlines but then you have to ask, why did I buy a 240hz display? A compromise is using a custom resolution/refresh rate of 165hz but then you have to ask yourself, why didn't I save $200 and purchase the Neo G7 instead? Anything above 165hz and the scanlines get very noticeable.
Anti Reflective Coating:
The Neo G8 uses a completely different AR coating compared to the Neo G7. Its extremely thick/hazy and has a sparkly sheen to it and as a result is a huge detriment to clarity.
HDMI 2.1:
As of right now the monitors HDMI 2.1 ports are either broken due to a firmware mishap or not full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports. 4K 120hz is the max possible refresh rate using an HDMI 2.1 capable GPU and even that can be finicky at times. DSC should make 4K 240hz possible just like the Displayport 1.4 port but its just not working correctly at the moment.
Curve:
The curve is non uniform and extremely aggressive at the center while flattening at the sides. It results in a very odd almost crease like presentation dead center and takes quite a bit of adjustment. I understand the 1000R curve is done to compensate for the VA panels poor viewing angles but its just too much for desktop/productivity and warps everything you're looking at. 1800R or 1500R max would be ideal although I wish Samsung would ditch this obsession with curves and just give us flat panels.
Neo G7 vs Neo G8:
So why buy the Neo G8? Well there really is no reason unless you enjoy horizontal scanlines at 240hz. The Neo G7 has the same HDR brightness (1015nits reported to Windows), gets you 165hz scanline free without having to fiddle with custom resolutions, uses a more traditional matte anti glare coating and as of writing this review appears to have the same HDMI 2.1 limitation.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2022
