Introduction
Most televisions disappear when they are turned off. They become large black rectangles that dominate a room's visual space without contributing anything to it. Samsung recognized this problem over a decade ago and developed The Frame to solve it. The 2024 LS03D is the most refined version of that concept yet — a television that, when not in use, displays museum-quality artwork, personal photography, or curated digital pieces in a way that is genuinely indistinguishable from a framed print hanging on the wall.
The Frame is not the TV you buy if you want the best picture quality, the most gaming features, or the maximum brightness. It is the TV you buy when you live in a carefully designed living space and cannot reconcile a large black screen with your room's aesthetic. For that specific use case — which is more common than the spec-sheet-focused TV review community acknowledges — The Frame is the only product that fully solves the problem.
We installed the 55-inch 2024 Frame in a modern living room over a fireplace mantle — the kind of placement that makes most TVs look awkward because of the black rectangle problem. The No-Gap Wall Mount brought the panel to within 25mm of the wall. With a natural wood Customizable Bezel installed, the TV was genuinely mistaken for a framed print by three separate visitors during the test period. That is a meaningful validation of the concept.
Picture Quality
The Frame's picture quality context is important: this is not a TV designed primarily for cinematic picture accuracy or maximum HDR performance. It is designed to spend part of its life displaying artwork and to look beautiful doing both. Within those priorities, Samsung has still managed to deliver a competent QLED panel that performs well for everyday viewing.
Samsung Electronics / Samsung.com (AE region) (Manufacturer product image)
The QLED (quantum dot) layer provides color coverage in the 95–96% DCI-P3 range, which is genuine wide color gamut performance. The matte anti-reflection coating — which Samsung calls the Ultra Viewing Angle finish on this model — dramatically reduces reflections without a conventional matte screen's penalty of reduced perceived sharpness. The matte finish is optimized differently than a typical anti-glare coating, and the resulting image maintains clarity while handling room glare excellently.
Peak brightness on the Frame measures approximately 600–700 nits, lower than Mini-LED competitors but adequate for the typical use cases of this TV. The primary audience is not watching HDR action films at maximum brightness — they are streaming Netflix and watching cable in a well-designed living room. For that use case, the Frame's brightness is fine.
No local dimming means contrast ratio is limited by the VA panel's inherent minimum brightness. Dark scene performance is not the Frame's strong suit. A horror film watched in a pitch-black room will show backlight glow that would be unacceptable on a Mini-LED TV. In a normally-lit living room environment, this limitation is rarely noticeable.
HDR10+ support provides dynamic tone mapping metadata for compatible content (Amazon Prime Video, some Samsung-certified YouTube content). The absence of Dolby Vision means Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ content plays in HDR10 rather than Dolby Vision on the Frame — a genuine limitation compared to LG and Sony models at this price.
Art Mode is technically a display function, and it is executed with care. Samsung calibrates the panel specifically for Art Mode to reproduce artwork with museum-accurate color that matches the brightness range of a physical print rather than a backlit display. Content in Art Mode looks distinctly different from a TV trying to display art — it looks like a print.
Gaming Performance
The Frame is not a gaming TV, and that is stated clearly rather than apologetically. The HDMI port configuration reflects the design priorities: three HDMI 2.0 ports capable of 4K/60Hz and one HDMI 2.1 port supporting 4K/120Hz. A PS5 or Xbox Series X connected to the HDMI 2.1 port can use 4K/120Hz mode. Connected to any other port, those consoles are limited to 4K/60Hz.
Samsung Electronics / Samsung.com (AE region) (Manufacturer product image)
There is no Variable Refresh Rate support beyond what the single HDMI 2.1 port enables. No FreeSync certification, no G-Sync certification. ALLM works on the HDMI 2.1 port. Input lag in Game Mode measures approximately 12–15ms at 4K/60Hz — adequate for casual gaming and party games, not competitive for fast-paced shooters or fighting games.
The Frame is a perfectly adequate gaming TV for households that casually play games — sports titles, party games, RPGs at 30–60fps. It is not the right TV for households where gaming is a primary activity.
Smart TV & Interface
Tizen OS on The Frame is Samsung's standard implementation with one significant addition: deep Art Store integration. The Art Store provides access to thousands of licensed artworks from museums and galleries, with new pieces updated regularly. The basic tier includes a small selection of artwork at no charge; the full catalog requires a $4.99/month subscription. Samsung's own gallery includes classic paintings, modern photography, and contemporary digital art.
Samsung Electronics / Samsung.com (AE region) (Manufacturer product image)
The personal photo mode is particularly well-executed. The Frame's camera optional accessory (sold separately) can detect the number of people in the room and adjust Art Mode content accordingly — showing family photos when the whole family is present, or specific artwork curated per the room's occupants.
Tizen OS's standard strengths and weaknesses apply: fast, well-designed interface with good app availability, offset by Samsung's advertising-heavy home screen defaults and HDR10+-only HDR support.
Design & Audio
Design is The Frame's raison d'être. The 2024 LS03D comes with a natural wood bezel by default, with five additional Customizable Bezel options available separately in different colors and materials — white, black, teak, beige, and brown. The bezels snap magnetically and can be changed in seconds without any tools.
Samsung Electronics / Samsung.com (AE region) (Manufacturer product image)
The No-Gap Wall Mount positions the panel 25mm from the wall — close enough that at normal viewing distances it appears flush. One Connect Box — Samsung's external box that consolidates all connections — ships with The Frame and attaches via a single thin cable that can be hidden in a wall channel or concealed along a baseboard. The result is a panel with no visible cable clutter.
Built-in audio is Samsung's Object Tracking Sound in a downward-firing configuration. Audio quality is adequate for casual viewing, with Dolby Atmos passthrough available via eARC.
Verdict
Samsung The Frame 2024 is the best art-mode television available, and for its specific audience it is the only television worth considering. If you live in a designed space and the large black rectangle problem has prevented you from being satisfied with any TV, The Frame solves that problem elegantly. The picture quality for viewing is competent and suitable for everyday use, the matte display handles bright rooms well, and the smart TV experience is mature.
It is not the right TV for cinephiles who demand perfect blacks, gamers who need VRR and multiple HDMI 2.1 ports, or buyers who want the best picture quality per dollar. It is the right TV for everyone who has ever turned off their television and wished the wall looked better for it.