The Surprise Champion for 4K HDR Gaming - Sony Inzone M9 Review

[@wile123456]

The alien ware QD-OLED has put the max price on the market for monitors. Anything less than that monitor has to be cheaper so I'm glad 4K monitor pricing is getting its act together

[@DanielFrost79]

I, personally have always put the Alienware monitors in the OP (Overpriced) category. As with MSI's monitors.

[@wirbelfeld4033]

@@DanielFrost79 maybe before but not the new QDoled. I would pay double the asking price for that level of tech.

[@DanielFrost79]

@@wirbelfeld4033 Yeah. I also know that if you want the best it will cost more. I'm aware of that aswell.

[@liamness]

I think some people would still pick this over the Alienware even at the same price, if they needed to also use it for work.

[@VaydaladaVodalada]

I bought and returned the QD OLED monitor. It is not worth $1300.

[@skitballesnorapa]

In the sea of "influencer" KZbinrs that are "testing" monitors it is stellar to get a real walktrough by HUB. Never loose your integrity and continue the awesome work. I test monitors on a very amateurish level and I really understand the grunt work that goes into all the testing you guys are doing and it is many, many hours of work. Thank you for the great work! Also, I have subscribed to Monitors Unboxed asap

[@N0N0111]

8:03 YES, i always wanted you drawing on these charts. Please do these for other important moments it helps following the narration.

[@Lxcx311]

Ikr especially for new viewers it's very nice :D

[@MrLutijen]

HDMI 2.1 at 40 Gbps ports are curious case. Tim mentioned enabling firmware for 4K/144, but it seems more complex. 40 Gbps of bandwidth over HDMI 2.1 can support up to 4K/120Hz 10-bit RGB/444 signal. For 4K/144Hz 10-bit RGB/444 signal, full speed of 48 Gbps is necessary, unless the display chipset has DSC enabled over HDMI 2.1 FRL protocol to compress 4K/144Hz 10-bit RGB image from GPU into 40 Gbps pipeline using the smallest compression ratio 1.25:1. Please investigate this with Sony. If the monitor does not support DSC over 40 Gbps HDMI 2.1 ports, no firmware would ever help receive any image beyond 4K/120 10-bit RGB as there is not enough bandwidth for 4K/144Hz 10-bit RGB image. Only full speed ports with 48 Gbps can do this without DSC. For uncompressed images, jump from 4K/120 to 4K/144 requires additional 8 Gbps.

[@Hardwareunboxed]

Yes I should have mentioned 10-bit 4K 144Hz over 40 Gbps is with DSC enabled

[@cromefire_]

I'd imagine it's some kind of chipset limitation or they didn't bother to go to 48Gbps as the PS5 only does 40Gbps or 30Gbps AFAIK

[@WindWolf28]

@@cromefire_ The PS5 does 32Gbps.

[@manuelfunes503]

@@WindWolf28 That 32gbps myth has been debunked. PS5 has been proven to have full HDMI 2.1 bandwith.

[@thresh-]

I really am trying to decipher and understand all the technical stuff mentioned here to be better informed on the product being talked about, but it just made my head hurt :(

[@nambreadnam]

This is exactly the sort of display I've been waiting for; decent HDR performance on a 27" gaming monitor. I hope other companies now try to compete with this over the next 12 months, driving down the price and allowing me to finally buy one.

[@SuperSuperka]

Local Dimming is Fake HDR, I cannot bare it. Will prefer Eve Spectrum because of glossiness

[@RainboomDash]

It's just "okay".. bare minimum as Steve said.. I wouldn't call it decent the contrast is just way too low

[@raptorhacker599]

odyssey G7 still the best and its even curved lol no contest

[@RainboomDash]

@@raptorhacker599 it's just okay It only has edge lit dimming and HDR brightness isn't terrible but not great either The only reason it's better than this monitor is because it's VA panel so it has way better contrast Otherwise it's worse And there's way better displays out there, like the LG C1

[@lucasrinaldi9909]

@@raptorhacker599 Curved is just wrong.

[@SupremeDP]

The lines drawn on the graphs to emphasize parts of them are super useful and a great adition! Really helps to orient you on the dense graphs.

[@WereCatf]

2:50 I like the looks of the display. It's a nice, clean display with good use of contrast between the black and white, instead of the gaudy "gamer" monitors that proliferate the market. Sony has a good design there, I hope they continue in the same line in the future.

[@BrentCox2B]

Yeah I agree, it looks great. I got an Asus monitor last year and it has ths big ROG logo with RGB on the back. It looks pretty meh

[@cl4ster17]

It would be nice if you could visualize the size of the individual dimming zones.

[@runany1]

Roughly 2”x2” per zone

[@dunningkruger9]

Not sure if this helps, but he mentions that it has 8 horizontal local dimming bands or rows, so that means that the local dimming zones are arrayed in a 12 by 8 grid and on a 27" monitor, each of the 96 local dimming zones should be approximately 2 inches by 1.5 inches in size. On an IPS display with a native contrast ratio of approx 1000 to 1, you will see visible blooming in dark areas around small bright objects. I have a VIzio TV with 90 local dimming zones and I can see blooming around bright text on a black background, but since the TV has a native contrast ratio of 5000 to 1, blooming is unnoticeable to my untrained eye in most situations. I think this Sony monitor will work ok with 96 zones even thoughts it has a lower contrast IPS display.

[@photonboy999]

Just do the MATH. Assume it's a SQUARE to simplify. For one of the higher-end gaming displays it worked out to ROUGHLY just under 1" on a size but the glow extends beyond that slightly. To make LOCAL DIMMING a non-issue you'd probably need at least 100x the dimming zones. WHAT? Simple, just assume 10x smaller (square root) on each side. Let's call that 1/10th of an inch. So about 2.5mm on a side plus the bleed around that. If sitting close that MIGHT be noticeable in certain instances.

[@cl4ster17]

The numbers are one thing but seeing the zones on the actual screen and how much they bleed into the surrounding ones is completely different.

[@Oshaoxin]

I own this monitor and with Local Dimming on Ultra the glow is about 10cm in radius around the mouse cursor on a perfect black background. In-game you won't notice it so.

[@fakename144]

Finally, a reasonably sized 4k with good ppi! I'm so sick of the industry trying to sell me jumbo screens like I want to be in the front row of a theater or something.

[@wnxdafriz]

tbh... it comes down to how the main sheets are made / basically the standard sheet size makes like 8 or 10 65 inch screens and if there is a defect on any of those screens it gets cut down, also the issue comes down to who actually buys it and what is the use so a larger screen is more common or they just want a better 40ish inch monitor for gaming as the options for 40 inch tv's to console are poor compared to the option in the monitor market (focus on latency) know the biggest issue i have with this monitor is down to price if they want 900 for it... just doesn't make sense for me but supply won't go up if there isn't some sort of demand

[@ayn89928]

Pg27uq has been out for awhile and nothing compares to it

[@LummyTum]

yeah as a 25 inch user 27 inch almost seems a little big for me, can't imagine using 32 inch...

[@doltBmB]

It's just TV panels rebadged, it's lazy.

[@vigilant_1934]

@@LummyTum I went from 21.5" 1080p to a 27" 1440p (Gigabyte M27Q recommended by Hardware Unboxed). Big jump. I had to sit back a bit to get used to it. It was nice and much brighter though.

[@Brian.M]

Pretty cool. The monitor market moves pretty slow, but hey, at least it's moving.

[@Lxcx311]

It was moving so slowly for years now. Hopefully that will change with oled and mini-led being priced gor high and top tier monitors now which means that we'll see them in

[@aberkae]

I'm waiting for dp 2.0 monitors to upgrade from my oled cx 48 inches. Because the monitor vendors move so slow the enthusiast market embraced tvs due to better competition 🤦!

[@sammy10001]

96 is not much yes. But sony still used ~60 to 90 zones on last years X95J top of the line LED TV. And that low zone count competed with Samsungs ~500 zone QN90A. Sony's processing can make low zone count good. Sony just went to a higher zone count this year with the X95K with backlight master drive.

[@N0N0111]

As you see they are playing the ladder game. They will slowly release models with more and more zones, and always ask the max price. We all know they can do 1000 zones already but they want to take that max profit route as they all do in this industry.

[@johnny_rook]

Your comment shows how much you don't know about monitors or TVs for that matter. Sony TV use a dedicated physical chip to process wich lacks in this monitor. If such processor was present, this would be a TV not a monitor. About the 96 zones: the panel "reviewer" is beating the "Fake HDR because low number of zones (

[@paulcox2447]

It didn't compete very well the qn90a was definitely the better TV. Much inkier blacks and better contrast. Sony competes in the LCD market because of the name on The box. They haven't tried very hard on their LCD products in a long time. The z9d was the last thing they released that was cutting edge in the LCD market. Even the x95k is getting beaten badly outside of the largest size. (For some reason people say the 83-in model looks much better)

[@paulcox2447]

There has to be some kind of a chip in there controlling the local Dimming. Local dimming does take time to process. Neither of these are debatable

[@helloguy8934]

Its local dimming will be gimped for the sake of latency and vrr.

[@GuyFromJupiter]

I bought an Odyssey Neo G9 when it was on sale last year, and after seeing the HDR capability of it I could never go back to an SDR monitor. I'm glad to see a similar experience is finally available for people not willing to part with an obnoxious amount of money for the privilege. Let's hope the rest of the market follows suit and game developers start making HDR more of a priority as well.

[@koloyede]

I'm stuck at the moment. I want the G9 just for basic work (emails word etc) and gaming . However gpu limitations is putting me off. Do you use this for gaming and how do you find it ?

[@GuyFromJupiter]

@@koloyede I mostly use it for gaming, but it makes a great productivity monitor as well whenever I work from home a bit. The most annoying part is just that it's huge and takes up a ton of desk space with its stand. I actually ended up getting a desk mount for it to save my desk space, which basically eliminated the issue. I don't really want to tell people to go spend a ton of money on one, but for what it's worth I'm pretty happy with mine. If you're really interested though I'd go for it, or maybe a cheaper 32:9 if you don't really care much about HDR or crazy high refresh rates.

[@Im_too_old_for_this_shit]

@@GuyFromJupiter I've heard that HDR in Windows (for browsing and stuff) doesn't work well. Is that true? Also, if you set your monitor to sRGB SDR do you still have an advantage of full array local dimming or does it then become just a regular "backlight always on" monitor?

[@Kingtoby1981]

That's the way I feel about my GIGABYTE m32u

[@fanofentropy2280]

32" and an option to buy it without the stand and I'm sold. So close! Disclaimer: Huge Sony fan here. Still rocking a 19" Trinitron on a slot 1 Pentium 3 retro gaming system.

[@cromefire_]

Well you can just remove the stand from what it seems like.

[@butrosmansour2311]

Exactly my point too I need a 31 inch and it's a buy for sure

[@fanofentropy2280]

@@cromefire_ The only reason I mentioned that, is that I am hoping to get a $50~$75 discount for omitting that weird awkward stand. Not going to happen, but it's nice to have dreams.

[@derptyderp5287]

I really wish all monitors had optional stands, they waste so much damn space on the desk, I'd much rather not have to pay for it and possibly have a smaller box.

[@3jake5mee]

Trinitron CRTs are incredible

[@SPARTAN-KD21]

What going to matter if this is a good HDR non-OLED display is if the LD algorithm is worth a damn, something Sony is known for being king in the TV space. So if Sony is brining that same tech to this monitor this will still beat out other monitors if not compete directly against them that have more dimming zones because the amount of dimming zones does not always equal a better FALD display.

[@helloguy8934]

I don't know. To keep input lag down something has to give.

[@dodge2451]

You would not want there TV processing in a monitor the input lag would be horrible, and even there TVs turn off the chip when you put them in game mode.

[@BBXiong]

@@dodge2451 easy solution would have been to enable different profiles to it. TV processing with a 'Movie Mode' that focus on better image quality while 'Game Mode' for a better panel response

[@KarlRock]

Thorough review, thanks Mate!

[@pEintub]

surprise to see karl is a tech fan...much love from india

[@KarlRock]

@@alimohiuddin6722 Maharashtra bro

[@k3bab_warr10r8]

Nahi chaiye ji

[@rameezahmed3863]

Pakistan kab aarahay ho bro!

[@rameezahmed3863]

@@alimohiuddin6722 Khanay ki daawat to de do lolol

[@konga382]

A monitor that's accurate in DCI-P3 mode *should* have accurate sRGB performance while using SDR apps in Windows' HDR mode, which may be why Sony decided not to include a proper sRGB mode. I still think that's a mistake though since Windows' HDR mode can come with its own annoyances (though it's a lot better now than it used to be)

[@marsovac]

It's always on my place. LG C1. The only problem is the TV itself that dims static pictures after a while. But HDR on is fine.

[@konga382]

@@marsovac I have an HDR monitor and a non-HDR monitor connected to the same computer. Windows will sometimes go into HDR mode for my non-HDR monitor when I have a youtube video playing on my HDR monitor, regardless of whether it's an HDR video or not. It's very strange, but it's the exact kind of thing I've come to expect from Windows. This only recently started happening, too. They'll fix one thing and break another. When Windows' HDR mode works, it works great. There are too many situations where it breaks, though.

[@helloguy8934]

@@marsovac Blacks are boosted.

[@helloguy8934]

Windows boosts sdr blacks with hdr on.

[@marsovac]

@@konga382 Ah I don't know how it behaves with non HDR... I don't have mixed monitors, just one HDR OLED connected.

[@franksun4017]

I think one of the strong suits of this monitor is its type c port. People who want to hook up their MacBook dongle free for work but don’t want to have a second set up for gaming like my self would be very satisfied. Very rare do I see other gaming monitors do this. And the KVM switch with 3 USB port is a very nice feature as well.

[@althaz]

Loving that Sony got their monitor into HBU's hands in time for us to see a review at the same time they have announced it! That's *AWESOME*. Nice work Sony and HBU!

[@ssj4jamie592]

HBU?

[@theedstv]

@@ssj4jamie592 Hardware UnBoxed

[@ssj4jamie592]

@@theedstv would that not make it HUB?...

[@PainterVierax]

@@ssj4jamie592 HWUB is the acronym they use.

[@theedstv]

​@@ssj4jamie592 hardware box-un

[@vintatsh]

32“ and this monitor would be perfect. Good to see Sony bringing their expertise to consumer monitors.

[@MarginalSC]

Refreshing to see it isn't 32 inches. DQ's them for me.

[@Fruchti]

@@MarginalSC Refreshing? There are wayyy more 4k 27" with a high refresh rate than 4k 32" :D At realistic prices at that

[@MarginalSC]

@@Fruchti I like monitors that fit on a desk.

[@gamingunboxed5130]

@@Fruchti agreed 27" looks tiny. 32" is a must for 4K.

[@RobloxRandomMadness]

@@Fruchti Nah mate, the only other real HDR monitor at 27 inches is the Acer Predator X27. There is already the PG32UQX and the Neo G8, which has 4k240hz capabilities.

[@TheJubess]

excellent review of the monitor as always! it's head and shoulders above the competition

[@KellyWu04]

I thought this feature set for this price will only be available in 2023! I am very impressed.

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

I feel the monitor stand is really an important factor. Sure you are right in mentioning that the panel can be VESA mounted, but that is not excusing a bad design of the stand provided. Now I don't have any hard data, but I'm still pretty sure that at least 90% of all monitors sold are being used with the monitor stand provided as standard. Buying a monitor arm or other VESA compatible mounting solution is not something most users will do even if the stand provided with the monitor sucks. However I do agree that it's important to mention when a monitor supports VESA mount. To be honest I can't see any reason why a monitor wouldn't support this as it's a very simple standard to support that should add pennies to the cost of the monitor.

[@Kenjis9965]

Exciting! This looks like the monitor to beat under a gran. I was skeptical but glad to see Sony deliver a pretty good monitor at a good price overall for what you're getting.

[@QuentinStephens]

Pity it's not Displayport 2.0 to get 144 Hz without DSC. Not that there are GPUs with DP 2.0 available but the next generation of GPUs from Nvidia and AMD are expected to have DP 2.0 ports.

[@nickd7935]

Monitor makers are under much greater price pressure than gpu makers and won't implement new or expensive standards unless and until it is absolutely necessary.

[@QuentinStephens]

@@nickd7935 Really? How come? Perhaps that's a topic on which Monitors Unboxed might like to discourse?

[@Shannon-ul5re]

Awesome Indepth review as always Tim. Can't believe Sony is back with a new range of monitors, they had the best CRT's!!

[@oscarcharliezulu]

Yeah, Sony Trinitron CRTs we’re glorious.

[@lulkLogan]

@@oscarcharliezulu ARE glorious. I'm still rocking one. They need occasional recalibration but many are still running strong

[@aliessa8515]

Now I just wish they do a QDOLED monitor. Already doing magic with their TV.

[@Hc4697]

Amen

[@Zoranurai13]

Sony always rocks insane picture quality and reliability. Can’t wait

[@AndrewH2791]

Nice review glad Sony reached out to you to review their product that is a good sign.

[@Kenjionigod]

Wow, so the leak was true. Inzone is such an odd name, but glad to see them come back.

[@anvior45]

I got this for 500 dollars in an open box but pristine condition. For that price i think it was really worth it. I know that the risk of burn in with OLEDs is really low, but since i often have static content on screen i really did not want to worry; As i hope to use this monitor for at least 5 years.

[@Ultimate_Wasabi]

So I bought this monitor and it is going back. Yes, the screen is very good considering the price and it does have pretty good contrast considering the limited number of zones. That said, the connections are ABYSMAL. The PS5 loses the handshake when doing HDR constantly whenever the frame rate changes. I've tweaked more options that I care to list, but not one of them stopped this issue. You can be in the middle of a game, and the monitor will start searching for a signal - even after the auto switching is turned off. Sometimes in the middle of a game, it will lose the HDR handshake and you end up with a washed out screen. After looking for this specific issue online, it appears that Sony is well aware of the problem and they aren't even sending out replacements; rather they are doing buybacks and returns. From the testing I've done, it appears to be a firmware issue (which Sony has said they do know if and when a fix will be available).

[@spacechannelfiver]

Its pretty sensitive to input changes, most of the problems i've seen online have been due to input cables not within spec and it being quite slow to accept a new signal format

[@Ultimate_Wasabi]

@@spacechannelfiver I changed those too - had the same result.

[@jakekeele]

Purchased this monitor when it was released and am using it with my PS5 and M1 MacBook Pro. So far I’m loving it except for some parts of the HDR. I say some parts because when watching movies and gaming in HDR, I notice the local dimming (when set to high) causing the image to exhibit haloing that looks different from what I’ve seen in other Sony LED backlight displays. This only happens in a pitch black room with no bias lighting but it’s actually kinda distracting. To the point where I feel like turning local dimming to low is a better option with HDR content. I find it’s most noticeable with contrasty HDR movie scenes but when you know what to look for it’s noticeable with pretty much all HDR content. You get haloing in the form of squiggly white lines that move around frame depending where highlighted objects/subjects are in the frame. Not sure if it’s just my panel but given that the monitor has none of the screen defects people have been posting online about, I want to say I have a solid panel. Just wondering if anyone can add to this discussion. I love this monitor and if this is a normal backlight consequence on a 27 inch screen, I’m willing to put up with it. But if it’s a defect, then I feel like I should swap it out while the return window is still good. Thanks all 🤘🏼

[@sushimshah2896]

I hope Sony continue providing such great products in the future too!! Just came after watching Linus' A95K video (in HDR on my OLED phone)🤩😍

[@Kryptix0III]

always wondered why Sony left the monitor space, glad they're back.

[@shaneeslick]

G'day Tim, I must say that when you first showed the Monitor what took my attention was the Stand, very different to the Mainstream. Being Dyslexic I quite often find it very hard to know where on the charts I should be looking, so during the video I found it very useful at 8:03 where you added the Arrow & Circles to highlight what you were discussing on the Performance charts. Also 9:45 when you highlight the Comparison Monitors as you are speaking about them in the Bar Graphs

[@anasevi9456]

FINALLY FALD CRACKS UNDER $1K but still, 97 zones isnt enough for IPS... pretty much any FALD Array around that size should be 300+ with IPS panels or it will be a bloom fest. The best VA panels could handle it a lot better, and they can be 10bit native too. Still when someone makes a first step, many others follow.

[@riba2233]

Agreed That is why neo g7 and g8 will destroy it

[@kencult]

I'm really curious to see how LG's new 32GQ950B monitor stacks up against this as well as the Alienware QDOLED. It had an HDR1000 certification and looks promising. Hoping to see a review from you on it!

[@sushimshah2896]

Is it FALD tho?

[@noahw5887]

@@sushimshah2896 OLEDs don't have backlights so no does not nave FALD. OLEDs are better because they can control brightness of each pixel, faster response time, deeper blacks and etc. Downsides are it's much more expensive, they are prone to image retention and burn in.

[@noahw5887]

@@sushimshah2896 sorry didn't see that LG LCD monitor mentioned in your comment.

[@sushimshah2896]

@@noahw5887 I'm aware of the benefits (and downfalls) of OLED tech, I think the first OLED in our family was my dad's SG SII, after that Lumias, then a few LCDs, but now most of us are back to OLED phones (can't afford to spend on OLED TVs yet) but yeah as you noted, I was asking about that specific LG "HDR" monitor.

[@OtusOne]

I got this monitor on sale plus open box without any issues for $700 and imo I've been very happy with it for that price

[@lukeklingner6350]

Would have been great to hear some more ps5 specific information as this monitor was produced visually to pair with the console. If money wasn’t a factor, would you take this monitor over the Samsung odyssey g7. I think with the announcement of Sonys monitor we have seen a big price drop to the Samsung comparison.

[@lukeklingner6350]

@JeremyCuddles thanks very much, this was super helpful!

[@lukeklingner6350]

@JeremyCuddles in your opinion is the M9 the best monitor for ps5 now?

[@ldridgley]

In the UK this monitor is launching at £1,000 - you can currently purchase the 27gn950 direct from lg for £599 which seems better value right now imo

[@CoCo.-_-]

Basically it's not really as great a monitor as people are letting on, it's either on par if not worse than the cheaper ones, from LG to Samsung and gigabyte, the only upside it has over those is local diming and I don't think that is worth the price difference eg the Samsung 4k 144hz you can get under £500 currently and its a fantastic monitor, while the Sony monitor has a few Downsides such as the stand, the not so good response times (worse than the Samsung both using VRR) and the much higher price, is it really worth double for decent local diming? I don't think so, as in the next 2 to 3 years the monitor market is going to be insane, and spending so much for such a low amount of local dimming zones seems to be silly imho

[@georgwarhead2801]

@@CoCo.-_- maybe, but with this statemant, most HDR monitors are not worth the money ( not even talking about oled...) i think it comes down to what you prefer, if you want the best possible image for its money, that sony is a good buy, if you just want 4k for its details and competitive responstime, buy something else...and to be fair, for most "competitive" players a 1ms over a 5ms monitor would´nt even matter

[@liquidsunshine697]

Just bought a LG C1 65" OLED its absolutely AMAZING!

[@marty8370]

Overrated

[@liquidsunshine697]

@@marty8370 please elaborate, thank you!

[@yjh1004angel]

@@liquidsunshine697 Sony A90J destroyed that trash

[@kennethdavidson6508]

@@liquidsunshine697 It is an opinion. I.E worthless. If you like it, enjoy it.

[@Faisal-SR]

@@kennethdavidson6508 sony fanboys 😂😂

[@OmniGeno]

Thank you so much for your continued thorough reviews. After watching this and all your other monitor reviews for the past year or so, I decided to pre-order the Inzone M9. I already have a great 34" IPS 3440x1440 display on my PC to pair w/ my RTX 3070, and I was thinking of getting a second monitor for additional real estate for both content consumption and productivity work, which can double as a monitor for my PS5. Currently the PS5 is hooked up to a 1080p TV (I have no 4K or 4K HDR TVs at home). Also I wanted to dip my toes into HDR, and out of all the currently available displays, the Inzone M9 made the most sense for me. The Neo G7 and G8 have too aggressive a curve for my productivity work, so those are out, and the LG C2 is far too big for the remaining space on my desk next to my 34" Ultrawide. I don't need another ultrawide to be a part-time PS5 monitor, so the Alienware AW3423DW is out.

[@denisruskin348]

Pretty damn good for 900 bucks I must say. Yes, it's basic HDR but as Tim says, for endgame HDR you need to put 2K extra or get an ultrawide, both which I don't really fancy. Seriously considering this for my RTX 3080.

[@helloguy8934]

Buy a 48 inch lg c1 oled. Its 800 bucks. Perfect for you 3080.

[@denisruskin348]

@@helloguy8934 out of the question. I live in latinam. and the import tax for premium TV’s is 50%. I haven’t seen the 48” around just yet but a 55” C2 can easily go for 180% of US price. Monitor tax is much better here and I must say, 48” is just too much anyway for a monitor.

[@Powerman293]

@@helloguy8934 Some people argue that LG OLEDs don't even have "endgame" HDR since they can't hit 1000 nits. S95B QD OLED can't even do it really in real content

[@helloguy8934]

@@denisruskin348 I'm sorry my man. I hope someday you'll be able to experience it.

[@helloguy8934]

@@Powerman293 Nothing has endgame hdr. Not even a dolby pulsar. Don't know what's the point of that argument.

[@JFD62780]

I'm not sure this is relevant over half a year later, but YES, this monitor's firmware IS upgradeable. Granted I had to jump through several hoops, but if you read that tech support page carefully enough (mostly having to do with setting the KVM feature PROPERLY), even you can do it! XD

[@Dudewitbow]

I find it interesting that Sony is releasing this as 96 zones, when AUO Optronics supposedly has a mini LED panel that has 576 zones for both 1440p and 4k supposedly. Though in its credit, one of the known 4k options (Coolermaster's upcoming GP27-FUS) is priced at 1100$ so it's dangerously outpriced by the QD-OLED panels, so Sony has it beat on price at least.

[@Suicarlz]

Paid $710.00 for one of these yesterday and couldn't be happier! Thank you for reviewing it!

[@alexossan2829]

If only it was 32"... I've been waiting for FALD on gaming monitors to lower their prices ever since experiencing Mini LED on my iPad Pro. I just can't justify spending like $2000+ for "better blacks", so this looks much more attractive. Hopefully this will force other makers to start putting FALD into more monitors in the $700-900 segment.

[@Weaver_Games]

FLAD sucks. I bought a FALD TV and couldn't stand the terrible screen uniformity and vignetting. I went to the store for a replacement and they all have similar issues. Mini LED is a different story. I just want Micro LED to come and save us all from this trash.

[@search_collectibles]

I bought it because I’m a Sony fan and it looks cool with the ps5 and I wanted a decent 27 monitor with all these specs.

[@cromefire_]

This might just be the the display to get while waiting a few years on high zone count mini LED/Micro LED/Burn-in resistant 16:9 OLED monitors to become affordable.

[@LeoDavidson]

What even happened to mini/micro LED? The monitor industry is amazing for hyping new technology as if it's just about to come out, and then going completely silent on it for 5 years while very slowly iterating and releasing screens using old tech that cost a lot of money and are usually obsolete on release (which would be OK if they weren't so expensive!). I've been waiting for a good 4K VRR HDR monitor that's worth the cost for such a long time now. Am using an LG OLED for my gaming PC downstairs, but on my work+gaming PC upstairs I need something smaller and don't want to subject an OLED screen to the static elements that are there for days/weeks on end.

[@cromefire_]

@@LeoDavidson Well apparently this monitor is what happened. I'd think that high zone count MiniLED has even bigger problems with high refresh rates.

[@sermerlin1]

Holy... I am pleasantly surprised. I expected same cr*p as all the 4k monitors but this is actually the first monitor I can recommend to someone for HDR experience. Like real, obtainable monitor for proper HDR experience. No needing to spend 2000$ on a LD monitor that along the way has terrible algorithm for dimming and thus seeing awful haloing/blooming around objects as if they are "highlighted". Like watching the content where the blooming is exposed is still MEGA FINE as it compares pretty much to a high end LD TV set with outstanding HDR capabilities. The only thing that makes me scratch my head is the awful factory calibration.... Like what the hell is that? How in the hell did this pass Sonys standard? They are notorious for picture calibration out of the box... But glad to know that it can be calibrated excellently though that means in order to unlock this monitor you also have to invest in calibration hardware... But overall I'm mega impressed.

[@RainboomDash]

It does not compare to a high end tv lmao Those are VA first of all, so much better contrast natively.. second of all, way more dimming zones Even for close to the same price LG C1 is a better value.. but different panel technology.. was $800 + 10% back with Amazon card... but that was a July 4th deal, now back to $900 And a lot of VA TVs actually have great black uniformity unlike VA monitors which usually suck

[@ellypsis603]

Glad to see Sony back in the PC gaming zone ;)

[@clementcardonnel3219]

The amount of details in this review is impressive! Thank you

[@Fleur_de_lis2k]

If Sony steps out as the first offering a high refresh rate 16:9 oled monitor, they're going to seriously disturb the market. I think.

[@Lxcx311]

Well no. Most people don't pay 1k+ bucks on their monitor. But it would be a nice step in the right direction :D Mist people pay like 500 bucks max btw with most paying 300 :)

[@mojojojo6292]

Oled is just not suitable for PC monitors, that's why nobody is doing it.

[@p4p4juju]

So are you saying new AW qd oled and upcoming samsung qd oled are not suitable for pc gaming?

[@mojojojo6292]

@@p4p4juju For a purely gaming monitor sure you might get away with it. It's not good for other applications where menus and ui's are gonna be static on screen for hours. Also the pixel layout is bad for text in even the alienware. I would love one for games and movies but I use other software a lot as well.

[@falconeagle3655]

Non-curved. Any curved monitor is DOA.

[@deviousnate7238]

Why wasn't this on Monitors Unboxed? I want to support the new channel as often as possible. Still good content and way to go Sony!

[@TaimatCR]

I wonder if down the road they'll have a qd oled monitor, they are already using them for tvs, I can only hope

[@justinpatterson5291]

I'd use a tv as a monitor. Especially a QD-OLED. But, I despise smart screens.

[@TaimatCR]

@@justinpatterson5291 yeah no what I want is a qd oled monitor, like the alienware one or the upcoming msi

[@GamboTheGent]

Fantastic review. Your work is invaluable to us customers !

[@RidgeReaper2817]

Review Request: Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 4k UHD 240Hz 1ms Curved Gaming Monitor

[@mastarops]

Nice review, thanks. Monitor didn't convince me tbh, I noticed that i value high contrast much more than hdr, as I usually game, watch tv at evening or night. In theory OLED would be a great idea, but i work on it 10-12 hours a day - excel, apps :/

[@GoodXylophone]

Will you be reviewing the Neo G8? I wonder if I should save some buck and get this one and return the G8 I preordered

[@riba2233]

G8 is a class above in every regards

[@GoodXylophone]

@@riba2233 That's probably true, but if the difference is not too significant I'm okay with saving some money and desk space. I also feel 240hz is a bit overkill. I mainly just want a good minimum 144hz monitor with good HDR implementation for both my PC and PS5

[@Lxcx311]

@@GoodXylophone when you don't need 240Hz you can get the neo G7 which is basically a neo G8 but with 165Hz and a bit cheaper :) But i hope we'll see a review on both monitors from HUB :)

[@GoodXylophone]

@@Lxcx311 Might be a dumb thing to consider, but I don't like the bottom frame of the G7 lol. But yeah I want to see a review of the G8 from HUB. Always love how detailed his monitor reviews are

[@StatusQuo209]

I own an LG C1 as a PC monitor and also a Hisense U6G as a garage TV. The U6G has 32 zones on the 50 inch and still gives an impressively solid HDR experience. 96 zones on the Sony should still be solid.

[@jpJOJOrh]

Still waiting for the A95K QD OLED review. Nice work as always.

[@brigasm]

Glad you got to review this monitor

[@CoCo.-_-]

As good as a monitor it is, it seems it has too many Downsides for its price vs the cheaper 4k 144hz options that seem to have better response times, the only advantages it really has is just the 96 local diming zones vs the cheaper 4k 144hz monitors out there and tbh I don't think the price difference is worth it

[@jamesryanherrera9368]

Agreed. I was hoping this would beat the Mobiuz but I think ima still go with the mobiuz

[@SherrifOfNottingham]

On a 48 in 4k 120hz OLED at the moment Only 50 bucks more for it, with _real_ HDR and a larger screen it's hard to even consider this monitor.

[@mastixencounter]

@@SherrifOfNottingham not everyone wants a larger screen and doesn't fit for a lot of desk setups.

[@superblitz2274]

@@SherrifOfNottingham hardly few people would consider 48" a monitor worth size lol

[@LummyTum]

what 27 inch 4k 144hz monitors have better local dimming?

[@dreamglimmer]

speaking of HDR being 'big next monitor thing for gamers', isnt it a right time to start capturing/uploading at least monitor videos in hdr?

[@isamaro_j]

If Sony makes a 32 inch version, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

[@I.AMWallzy]

27 is better all rounder. Way better for competitive

[@chrisohanlon69]

27 is huge

[@I.AMWallzy]

@@chrisohanlon69 definitely not. I went from a msi 1500 curve 32 down to a samsung 1000 curve 27.

[@desireless4092]

Awww man... Missed opportunity to call this line Neo Trinitron 😣 Looks really good. Here's hope for 1440p/165hz down the line.

[@ThisIsExile91]

Looks like a nice display, but $900 for a monitor will just never be justifiable when OLED TVs double the size are just 25% more :( I can't cave in sorry Sony

[@abhishekab1]

Nice under-rated point. By the time this is becomes readily available in international markets, LG C2 42, will be around 1000-1100, and you can use it for multiple scenario's. Even the QD oled will come down by 100-200 USD

[@saitama_sensei9199]

Because those tv do not have 2.1 hdmi ports and max 60hz, so for some gaming fans this is sooo mich better

[@ThisIsExile91]

@@saitama_sensei9199 lol the LG OLED TVs all have HDMI 2.1, 120hz, and full VRR support. Did you seriously just comment that?

[@saitama_sensei9199]

@@ThisIsExile91 yes because look at the price tag of that tv compared to this, is for people like me with no money for those very expensive TV's , and something like this maybe doesn't have the image quality of that tv, but still pretty dam good, plus 144hz plus hdmi2.1 with a very much lower price tag

[@ThisIsExile91]

@@saitama_sensei9199 you can buy LG OLED C1 48 inch right now for $999 new lol HDMI 2.1 120hz full VRR

[@KAL-589]

Good review. Nothing ground breaking, rather average in performance, but the price should reduce some of the pricing of the others hopefully.

[@cako7139]

I would like to see the DELL G3223Q

[@chiron03]

Considering its edge lit. This Sony monitor will crush that.

[@Andrew-cp7mc]

@@chiron03I know there is no competition on the HDR side of things but I like to know other aspects for the price.

[@InfinityYUL438]

Seen 4k was hopeful for a >32', nope, I am sad.. Still, great video as always! Remaining hopeful for >32' review.

[@BeetjeVreemd]

I wish 32" would be the minimum display size for this kind of monitor, or at least having an option to get a 32" version of otherwise the same monitor. I don't see the point upgrading to something like this from my 27"1440p monitor. 1440p is enough for me @ 27".

[@MaDDeX93]

Subscribed to MONITORS UNBOXED! You make the best reviews!

[@jatekforditok]

Why not on Monitors Unboxed?

[@Lxcx311]

Probably because it's not worth it and they can advertise their channel for some time and then switch to the monitor unboxed channel in the future

[@DavideDavini]

Bought one. I’m very happy with it. The only thing that is not awesome is the PD of only 15w. Everything else I’m happy with.

[@theurinal]

I would gladly pay premium if it means that I get good picture quality without the cancerous edge lit method that has become the standard. Good on Sony for trying something different.

[@Jontae4288]

I just ordered the Samsung neo g8 can’t wait til next week

[@freazyknight]

I need this in 32" I am looking at Samsung Neo G8 reviews but it seems to have lots of problems. waiting for your review on this one.

[@darian1540]

should I get this or the Samsung odyssey g7 28 for my ps5?

[@ICEMANZIDANE]

This is a huge deal guys! Sony makes the best TVs in the Tv Market and their picture processing tech is industry leading (if you dont believe me just do ur own research u will see). And now, Sony is back in the Monitor market (which is not 100% true, they did build Oled Monitors but they were very expensive and aimed for Hospitals etc...). This is just huge news. Cant wait to see Monitors which will have an similar effect like the A90J or A95K on the Tv side. PS: Dont let yourself fooled by Local Dimming Zone Numbers. For example there is a Samsung Tv which has quite many more Zones than a specific LCD Led Sony Tv but the Sony literally turns circles around the Samsung. Be careful with local dimming zone numbers, they need to be well handled otherwise all the zones wont do much.

[@shawalfida6357]

i hv my ps5 for 2 years now played it on my 65 inch tv before Samsung tu 8000, its a VA panel for the 1st year . Then brought it into my office, plugged it in to an Asus Vg27aqL1a, an IPS panel. Benefit of playing it on a table for me is that i cn sit comfortably in an ikea office chair. IPS is more colour accurate, looks better than va panel and at 27 inch , less than 1m distance away, still looks sharp. I zoom in on fifa's football in replays and see no difference. The xbox series X supports 1440p resolution. Benefit of 1440p versus 4k is that, the GPU can be tasked for other things rather than pushing pixels. better shadows, less pop up textures and maybe even ray tracing at 60 fps. GT7 has frame drops during replays if it involves lots of assets at different lighting conditions. And texture pop ups during races. Meaning thr console is pushed to its limits already. Ive had frame drops during FF7 remake boss battle too , just that one boss battle ( vs reno and rude - hard mode, too many things happening on screen ) It would be nice if the Inzone line releases a 2k display along with official support for 2k for ps5. Because anybody who wishes to plug in a gaming cpu to it as well doesn't hv to splurge on a 3080 and above to get best picture quality at 4k. PS5 pro would be a true 4k machine with no frame drops and ray tracing hopefully at 60fps

[@simoSLJ89]

Hope they will release a 32 version soon!

[@KeradSnake]

now that they're back to regular monitor, I think it's time for you guys to also test trinitron CRTs and compare it to this one. Not just the FW900, but any trinitrons that you could get

[@addicz2]

CRT Master Race 💪

[@lulkLogan]

Yeah, they should do the UFO motion test on a CRT to remind everybody why LCDs and OLEDs need to have better strobing support

[@devinhatter6372]

I didn’t understand 98% of what the fuck you said to me but thank you for telling me to save my money.

[@BeardyBaldyBob]

Ugh, I just want: 32inch 4k 144hz HDR 10+ 10bit Adaptive sync. These features with a good screen would be literal perfection for my next monitor, but everything I look at has SOMETHING missing from the list. 😢

[@Medsas]

the lg c1 48" is now on sale cheaper than this, hard pass for the sony

[@Lxcx311]

48" is just too big for most desks and it fits on my desk but i don't wanna actually move my head to see the corners :)

[@Medsas]

@@Lxcx311 you can also get the 43 if you want, also dont worry about the moving the head thing, you get used to it quick, in normal desktop use you should never have to maximize any window, use powertoys to manage the size 😉

[@CodeVenomSnakes]

you can also get the gigabyte 48 inch Oled monitor is also on sale.

[@DarkReturns1]

The auto dimming is getting frustrating on my C1 for general computer use. Great for gaming tho

[@helloguy8934]

@@Lxcx311 If you move it far enough away it works pretty well. Its worth making accomadations for trust me.

[@mnap89]

I wonder why some people complaing about 96 dimming zones being not enough while the same time they say 32 dimming zones on sony x90h tv are doing great job. I have x90h and of course you can see large blooming on loading icons and subtitles but I think most of the time its performing nicely so 96 zones should be better.

[@formdoggie5]

Jesus that stand is hideous.

[@blackastranyx6532]

Right. That's why it cost 900$ xD

[@Frankonator21]

I love this but I wish they made at least a 32 inch version, I can only hope

[@EDXVA]

Sony takes the cake for the most idiotic and featureless monitor stand of the year

[@Lishtenbird]

Xbox X: "Here's a rectangular tube, with a fan on one side." PS5: "Alienware, but console!"

[@Daduu]

@@Lishtenbird pony got butthurt?? Dude not everything is a console vs console debate 😂

[@Lishtenbird]

​@@Daduu ...what? I'm merely pointing out that it's definitely not the first time Sony has put design over practicality. They do seem to like overengineering things just to make an eye candy, even if it means losing out on features. I pondered for a moment whether I had to make the comparison explicit or not, and decided not to; apparently, I chose poorly.

[@Hc4697]

Imagine being worried about a stand that you can take off LMAOOO

[@AS_Ekko]

ordered this monitor last weekend , and I should be getting it Thursday tomorrow.

[@mcb1695]

Have you received it yet? How are you liking it?

[@YulaTsheringSherpa]

Kinda wanna buy this and a ps5 just for fun, looks complementary

[@DrN0VA.]

"for fun" how much money do youy have...

[@zeitgeistx5239]

Buy the Samsung G8 with is $1200 with education discount (register with any email) and it's 1,000% better assuming you win the panel lottery and don't get a messed up panel. For $200 more you get 1100+ zones versus 96 and a wayyyy brighter backlight. 400 nits in 100% window size and 2600 nits in 10% window size. If you bother to Google you would've seen this video is a part of a PR release by Sony with the internet flooded with reviews at the embargo lift time.

[@YulaTsheringSherpa]

@@DrN0VA. PlayStation is the console that I have the most experience with, im 33years old. And I don’t have a gaming console at the moment. I’ve had the ps1, ps2 and the ps3. I love Sony too, and i definitely wanna have more fun because a lot of things are kinda boring these days

[@YulaTsheringSherpa]

@@zeitgeistx5239 I bought a 800$ LG monitor for a 3070 gaming pc two years ago, it was a very interesting experience. I now have 16 inch M1 MacBook Pro and Sony camera + lenses. I’m very very satisfied with these products. Thanks for the recommendation, gonna look into it! But right now, I think Sony is a very cool and awesome brand company so even if it’s just for aesthetic reasons, that the console matches the screen, that would be a happy reason. Although seems like there’s some console monitor working together going on also!

[@Prince_Pig]

Still the best monitor channel, subscribing to monitors unboxed.

[@dominicsandoval4116]

Still waiting for the neo G8 review. Hearing a lot of bad things.

[@riba2233]

You mean good things?

[@nKrandom]

+1

[@dominicsandoval4116]

@@riba2233 lol no. I mean exactly what I said. I'm interested in their in depth review, because I was excited about the monitor and if you do a Google search or check out other reviewers you'll see some negative issues popping up.

[@riba2233]

@@dominicsandoval4116 I read all the reviews from people who already have it on reddit, they are very happy with it, they say it is incredible

[@zeitgeistx5239]

96 zones vs 1100+. G8 is also 100 nits brighter in SDR and several hundred times brighter in 10-20% window size with up to 2600 nits in 10% window size. You risk the Samsung panel lottery with alot of people returning theres to rampant flaws. But still, Sony is a joke. The specs on this are a joke. This is a $600 monitor at best.

[@GrandSil90]

Pleasantly surprised about this. I was expecting to be overpriced.

[@Gkhn32]

Local Dimmin Zones means nothing when your algorithm is just shit ... I have q80a (va eu model) and x90j ... X90j has only 32 local dimming zones but the hdr performance and overall picture quality, natural color tones are far far superior than my Q80A. Q80A is said to have more than 300+ zones. So if your chipset, algorithm, eotf tracking skills don't messure good, than numbers by themselves do not mean anything.

[@nabieladrian]

That's marketing trick for you. Casuals couldn't care about quality and just boast quantity.

[@LummyTum]

Is it worth buying this over the LG 27GP950 just for the dimming zones?

[@cl4ssic]

Man and i thought corsair had the ugliest monitor stand ever…

[@djmerc100]

If that's the worst part.........

[@N0N0111]

@Hardware Unboxed Stuck at 1080p60 resolution, YT forgot 1440p and 4K again.

[@Hardwareunboxed]

We can select 1440p and 4K.

[@LiveBenchmarks]

The options for 1440p and 4K take a while to complete processing even after 1080p60 is available for videos published on this site.

[@N0N0111]

@@Hardwareunboxed I see now after 1 hour the 4K is present, YT was a bit slow i guess to go around the world for 4K.

[@Mustafa_9628]

I just watched the keynote and my god they are hyping up FALD as something never used before Sure for gaming monitors But they ain’t gonna reach oled levels with this tech TVs didnt Who are they kidding? The average consumer? Maybe Here is hoping this brand adopts QD oled like Alienware or at least oleds

[@WindWolf28]

Even in this review they keep praising the .... 96 (only??) dimming zones over the edge-lit displays. Comparing your product to edge-lit displays doesn't really mean much; it's like saying your child looks better than a dog turd.

[@Mustafa_9628]

@@WindWolf28 Its a new brand Just like with “nothing” brief crap about the colors and contrast They can pay these guys to hype anything in the world

[@frateris1838]

Would really like to know a release date in NZ. Need this for my PS5/PC setup. Get rid of my LG 27" 4k 60hz.

[@Astro-X]

Yo same lmfao. I'm gonna call up the Sony shop tomorrow and ask them if they will come to NZ. Wonder if we can just order from overseas??