A TV that TURNS into a work of art

2023-09-27 16:45:00

Today we are analyzing a different Smart TV: The Frame is part of a special Samsung category, Lifestyle TVs. The objective of this type of product is, in addition to doing everything that a common TV does, to go further and become a work of art when turned off. But does it really work, or is it something you use once and then never once more? Discover everything regarding The Frame in this review.

Design and construction

Samsung developed The Frame to be more than just a Smart TV. The idea is that it integrates perfectly into the room, as if it were a work of art.

In design and construction, there are three main features that make The Frame look like a painting:

First, the fineness. This is the thinnest LCD TV we’ve ever tested here on the channel. The design is straight, allowing it to stick to the wall;

The second feature is the fact that it only has one cable. This transparent wire is responsible for all TV connections, image, audio, information and energy.

The third feature that makes The Frame look like a painting is the frame. By default, it comes without, but we can buy stylized frames in different tones on the Samsung website. They sent one of these in the white version, and you can see in the image how beautiful the aesthetics of this panel are.

This TV does not have a VESA mounting standard, so the only way to attach it to the wall is with Samsung’s own bracket. The good news is that, unlike the frames, the wall mount comes in the box – the cost is already included in the total price of the TV.

Feet

Now, if you prefer to leave it standing on a piece of furniture instead of on the wall, you’ll be happy to know that the feet are still easy to assemble – the fitting is entirely done by pressure and the TV remains very firm, even in this large model. 65-inch model that we are testing. Another good news is that the feet are height adjustable, so if you want to place a Soundbar in front of the screen, you can adjust the feet to the maximum height.

Appetizer

The Frame simplifies connections using the One Connect system. With just a tiny transparent wire, you can connect all signals to the TV: sound, image, data and even energy. The idea of ​​this is to ensure easy access to the inputs, even with the TV mounted on the wall.

In this One Connect box we have one HDMI eARC input, two HDMI 2.0 and one HDMI 2.1 to connect your next generation console or PC Gamer. In addition, we have an optical digital audio output, Ethernet input, RF antenna and two USB inputs on the side of the box.

I don’t know regarding you, but I really like this One Connect idea, it allows The Frame to be mounted as close to the wall as possible, without you losing access to the inputs. And even when the TV is mounted on furniture, One Connect works very well, as it is much easier to organize the cables in a box than on the TV structure itself.

Image quality

Here we have a QLED TV with 4K resolution and 120 Hz panel frequency. For those who don’t know, QLED TVs are those that have a layer of Quantum Dots on the screen, leaving the image with greater dynamic range and more vivid colors.

But the main difference between The Frame’s screen and other TVs is the anti-glare filter that Samsung developed for this 2022 model.

Reflection

Almost all the TVs we tested here come with an extremely mirrored screen, which is very disruptive when we are watching in an environment with lots of light. But in this scenario where other screens fare poorly, The Frame shines: the matte filter completely eliminates reflections, preserving the image and greatly improving the viewing experience.

Comparing The Frame with the Q60C, another QLED TV from Samsung, we see the difference that this anti-glare filter makes. While the Q60C reflects all the light back to the camera, The Frame’s matte filter breaks up the reflection, reducing this effect.

Of course, these are extreme tests, but they serve to illustrate well how these two QLEDS deal with reflection.

Viewing angles

But not everything is wonderful, this anti-reflective filter has a price: viewing angles. If you are not watching at an angle completely perpendicular to the TV, you will suffer from a grayish image with little contrast. This is common on LED and QLED TVs, but on The Frame it is worse because of the matte screen. It does not suffer from reflections, but the viewing angles are affected.

Art Mode

On Samsung Hubs, Ambient mode has been replaced by Art Mode, and that’s the main reason to buy The Frame. Through this Hub, we can select several paintings from different artists and museums from around the world.

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After you select, whenever the TV is in Standby mode, instead of turning off the screen or showing some common wallpaper, the work you chose is exposed.

The great thing regarding this is that, thanks to the matte filter and the design of the TV, the image really looks like a painting. Of course, the pixels are still there and are visible when we get closer to the screen, but under normal conditions, those who don’t know will actually think it’s a real painting.

And that’s something very special regarding The Frame: people are surprised when you tell them it’s a TV.

I really enjoyed browsing Art Mode. It has a lot of variety, with dozens of artists, works and museums. The problem is, this is a paid service. You subscribe and pay 16 reais per month to access Art Mode on the Samsung Hub. Look, 16 reais is not an unaffordable amount, but it is very annoying to buy the TV and have functions blocked by subscriptions, especially since this art mode is The Frame’s main selling point, it doesn’t make sense to sell the TV without it built in.

The good news is that they let the user use this service for free for 60 days, at least we have the opportunity to test it without paying.

Still talking regarding cost, won’t leaving the TV on all day weigh heavily on your electricity bill? That’s a valid concern, and Samsung has thought regarding it. The TV has a motion sensor that detects when someone enters and leaves the room. After a few minutes with no one in the room, it turns off automatically.

Another thing that a lot of people ask, is there a way to use images from your cell phone gallery as art on The Frame? The answer is yes, we do this through Samsung’s Smart Things app. Just synchronize the TV with your cell phone, go to art mode, select the photos you want to use and that’s it, following a few seconds the image you chose appears on the TV.

But this function of sharing your own images is still linked to the art mode, so you do need to subscribe to this service.

In both paintings and images in the gallery, we can change the brightness by pressing the middle button on the control. Here we can also see details regarding the work, who painted it, the year and a text explaining everything. For some reason, Samsung didn’t translate this part, so you need to speak English to read the information regarding the work.

Watching TV normally:

Outside of art mode, we can use The Frame like a regular TV, watching movies and everything else – all the applications are here. The difference between this TV and others is in the image quality: in common content, SDR, The Frame works perfectly well. These are the contents that we find on open TV, on Samsung Plus channels and on YouTube, for example.

The Frame at the top and Samsung Q60C at the bottom.

As for HDR content, those that we find on Streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime, The Frame, I don’t know, performs as well as other QLED panels. This occurs because of the anti-reflection filter that ends up leaving the image a little washed out and with less detail.

To demonstrate this, I bring the Q60C back for comparison. The camera can’t capture the differences between the two QLED TVs as well, but in person, the Q60C’s colors are more vibrant and it can capture more details in high-contrast scenes.

The two TVs have the same brightness, contrast and saturation settings, with the image mode in Filmaker Mode. In this scene from the film Dunkirk we can also see that The Frame is a TV with a cold image. In other words, skin tones are much more realistic on the Q60C.

The Frame at the top and Samsung Q60C at the bottom.

Now, regarding light leakage, The Frame does not have lighting zones spread across the screen – it is a panel that uses that old edge lighting system. But as you can see in the image, the TV does not suffer from any apparent problem in terms of light leakage. At least I, who am used to using OLED TVs, wasn’t bothered by The Frame’s backlight, which is great news, as that was my biggest concern when I discovered that this screen was Edge-Lit.

Operational system

This TV is running Tizen, which is the standard operating system for Samsung Smart TVs. It’s the same system as always, separated into Media, Art and Games Hubs. The good news is that this is not an entry-level Samsung TV, so the processor can handle the operating system well – I didn’t encounter any major crashes while using it on a daily basis.

Games

It’s a subject that’s rarely covered in The Frame’s reviews, but I feel like a lot of people buy a TV like this and, in addition to watching movies and series, they also enjoy playing games on a console or even on a computer. After all, it’s a 4K panel with 120 Hz. Does The Frame work well as a gamer TV?

I always expect to see Ghosting-related issues on these VA TVs, but this one did very well in the UFO test, it has very little trace.

It also has VRR technologies, which is variable refresh rate and also ALLM, which is the low latency mode that the TV activates automatically when you open a game. Just make sure you are using the HDMI 2.1 input, it even has a controller icon so you know that this is the one we should connect to for games.

So the answer is yes, The Frame works very well as a gamer TV, which is a very pleasant surprise – I didn’t expect it to be so good in this regard.

Control

Although The Frame’s Solar Cell control is white, this is unfortunately its only difference from a conventional control. We don’t have a button to enter the art menu, activate or deactivate the frames, nothing, they just changed the color.

I like this Solar Cell control that charges in ambient light, but I miss buttons to quickly access Disneplus, HBO, and especially YouTube.

As

I left the sound for last since this is the least interesting part of the TV. Samsung mightn’t make a thin TV with a great built-in sound system, the final price of the product would be too high. It has two 20W speakers, which is considerable power, but the sound is not of good quality and the bass is non-existent.

My tip is to look for a promotion on this TV with a Soundbar combo. It’s very worth it.

Conclusion and Price

It is very difficult to place The Frame to compete once morest other TVs, as it fills a very specific market niche. In this analysis we discovered that, in addition to looking excellent on the wall as a piece of decoration, this QLED panel works very well for watching movies, series and even playing games at 120 frames per second.

Samsung QLED The Frame LS03B 65

Pros Beautiful design;Wall bracket included;Really looks like a painting;Good for games;Anti-glare filter works very well. Cons Colors not as good as other QLEDs; Art mode is paid; Product does not come with a frame.

As for the negative points, I found three: the colors are a little worse than other QLEDs; Art mode is a subscription that you need to keep paying to access and, lastly, the TV frames are unavailable to buy here in Brazil, and when they appear, the price is around 400 reais. Which is an absurd price to pay for four pieces of plastic.

Other than that, I really enjoyed testing The Frame. Our model of 65 inches It has a very high price, around R$ 7500 on the official Samsung store.

R$ 3,749.00 Smart TV Samsung The Frame QLED 4K 55´´ Inches 55LS03B with Slim Design, Single Connection and Wi-Fi
View deal

R$ 3.999,00

Smart Tv 55 The Frame Qled 4k 55ls03ba Samsung Bivolt QN55LS03BAG
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R$ 4,099.00 Samsung Smart TV 55 QLED 4K The Frame 55LS03B, Matte Screen, Slim Wall Bracket Included 55
View deal

Attention! The Frame changes specifications depending on size:

Modelo:
Resolução:
Frequência:
Preço aprox:

The Frame LS03C 32″
1920x1080p
60Hz
R$ 2.298,05

The Frame LS03B 43″
3840x2160p
60Hz
R$ 3.001,05

The Frame LS03B 50″
3840x2160p
60Hz
R$ 3.599,55

The Frame LS03B 55″
3840x2160p
120Hz
R$ 3.903,55

The Frame LS03B 65″
3840x2160p
120Hz
R$ 7.456,55

The Frame LS03B 75″
3840x2160p
120Hz
R$ 11.798,05

The Frame LS03B 85″
3840x2160p
120Hz
Indisponível

Note that the 32″ is not 4K, but FULL HD with 60 Hz frequency. The 43″ and 50″ inch TVs are in 4K resolution, but the refresh rate is 60 Hz too, so to have 4K 120 Hz, you need to purchase the model from 55 onwards.

I really enjoyed analyzing The Frame, it’s a different panel than what we’re used to seeing here on the site.

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#TURNS #work #art