8/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDLow-cost artwork subscription provides 5,000 images. A fantastic matte display makes artwork look ultra-clear and films look cinematic. High-refresh-rate gaming modes.TIREDA/V receiver had a few glitches when used for HDMI switching. Middling local dimming. No Dolby Vision support.Your television is more than a portal for Netflix. For years, we’ve been able to control living room lighting from our TVs with a simple voice command, punch up an Xbox game (with no Xbox connected!), and play high-res music using apps like Tidal. Now, when you mount a so-called “art television" on a wall, it can show Andrew Wyeth paintings, AI-generated artwork, and even recent vacation photos.
Is it worth spending up for an art display? Maybe so, judging from a hands-on test with the new Samsung Frame Pro. I’ve become sold on televisions that go beyond merely being black screens in the background when not playing the latest movies or shows. I wanted to see if the artwork features made the Frame Pro a unique outlier among televisions, and I was not disappointed.
Getting Set Up
Photograph: John BrandonAfter unboxing what is otherwise a very normal-seeming TV, I snapped on a set of customizable bezels that accent the black frame. The bezels are an awesome way to fool folks into thinking your TV is just matte artwork, and there are no screws, no measuring, just brilliant design. Available in White, Teak, Brown and Sand Gold, the bezels cost $199 for the 65-inch model I tested, and they snap into place in seconds.
Oddly, many of the user reviews for the bezels are negative, but that’s because people keep saying they had shipping problems. The bezels are also now interchangeable with Samsung’s original art television called The Frame, which doesn’t have a breakout box for connections like this one does (more on this later).
I didn’t mount The Frame Pro on a wall, because I don’t have the space, but the included legs are easy to snap into place. Unlike the TCL NXTVISION art television I have also been testing, you don’t need screws. The overall design of The Frame Pro is sleek and stylish, all black with no accents other than the bezels.
After the initial setup, I had a decision to make about the break-out box, which Samsung calls the Samsung Wireless One Connect. The slim black device connects over a Wi-Fi 7 signal (while the TV itself uses Wi-Fi 5 for more compatible streaming) from up to 30 feet away. The breakout box provides a lot of flexibility, not to mention fewer dangling cords if you mount The Frame Pro on a wall. You can stash the One Connect in a cabinet or by your couch, which makes it easy for the types of stylish rooms this TV is made for. Gamers might like having a PS5 or Xbox connected to the breakout box instead of connecting a long HDMI cable, and it allows you to connect disc players this way too.
Photograph: John BrandonHowever, I wanted to use the unique Micro HDMI port on the back of the TV. Both the One Connect and the Micro HDMI port connect at 144 Hz, but I wanted to reduce lag by using a wired cable. Besides, I also kept an Xbox X Series, a Google TV streamer, and an Onkyo TX-RZ50 receiver (with speaker wire running everywhere) close to the TV and the breakout box. The downside to so many devices? The Acer Nitro 60 I used for testing had to sit near the TV as well, with a long cable for my keyboard.
I did have one minor glitch: I first connected all of my devices to an Onkyo AV receiver, which I then connected to the breakout box using the eARC port. Big mistake: The TV kept turning off the receiver and behaving oddly in other ways. Samsung reps told me the preferred method is to connect all HDMI devices to the four-port Connect One box instead. I only ran eARC to the receiver for sound, and after that Dolby Atmos worked perfectly fine with no glitches.
I loved the remote, which has one main oval you use to control the television and has dedicated buttons for Netflix, Samsung TV Plus, YouTube, and Amazon Prime. For the best streaming experience, there’s an Ethernet port on the breakout box. However, with Wi-Fi, I never experienced any slowdowns or glitches during my test period.
Becoming a Collector
Photograph: John BrandonAlong the left side of the UI, you can select the Art option and then choose from about 30 pieces of art on a rotating basis. The better option is an Art Store subscription that costs $4.99 a month and includes 5,000 works of art. Many of them are masterpieces, including my favorite Andrew Wyeth (Christina’s World) and several Van Goghs.
The AI art generator is surprisingly capable (and free!). I selected a few keywords and ended up with a lush ocean scene that was entirely unique to my display. You can also load photos from your phone using the SmarterThings app in batches, but I stuck with the artwork.
Photograph: John BrandonThe paintings looked stunning on the Neo QLED matte display, which differs from OLED in that it’s backlit but also brighter and more color accurate for HDR-compliant content. In fact, the display is Pantone certified. The Frame Pro automatically dims the display slightly and goes into low power mode after a set period or if the sensors detect you are not in the room. In my walk-out basement with the sun pouring in, the artwork still looked clear and colorful.
During several HDR10 demo tests, colors looked ultra-clear and accurate, especially for skin tones. The contrast levels on the matte display have a realistic look—not overly bright, but very natural. The anti-glare coating means images on the TV often really do look like physical artwork in a museum.
Art as a TV
Photograph: John BrandonFor streaming, I fired up a few of my favorite apps to test out video and sound. Using Netflix Premium (required for 4K and Dolby Atmos), I tested Unbroken because it has my favorite surround sound sequence during battle scenes. The bright sunlight, ricocheting bullets in the side and rear channels, and deep blacks were impressive.
I watched the movie Awake (also on Netflix) because it has long sequences at night, and I noticed that Samsung's AI companion (which can optimize the display automatically) increased the brightness levels a little, which helped. You can also use Smart Calibration, which uses your phone from only an inch away from the screen to snap photos in rapid succession to adjust the display based on your actual room lighting. That feature made Awake a little more watchable, but keep in mind that OLED displays like the Samsung S95F offer richer, deeper blacks, because they have pixel-sized backlighting.
A word on backlighting: This TV features local dimming (where sections of the screen are independently backlit for better contrast), but not in the typical way that you might be used to. Rather than putting the LEDs directly behind the display, these appear on the bottom of the frame and aim up in 24 vertical bands. This means more light bloom behind bright objects on a dark screen than you'll get from more affordable modern LED TVs, which have significantly more zones.
I also tested movies using the Mubi app because I’m a fuddy-duddy film fanatic, as well as a screener for Marty Supreme. Here’s where the upscaling, matte display, and AI truly shine: Marty Supreme is like an old ’70s flick, and The Frame Pro made me think I was in a movie theater. The matte display gave the Mubi films a more cinematic look.
On an Xbox Series X, I watched the entire Predator: Badlands film using the 4K Blu-ray version. It's worth noting that though the colors look great, Samsung models don't support Dolby Vision HDR, instead going for standard HDR10+.
For a more pure movie experience that disables any optimizations or AI enhancements, I tested the Filmmaker picture setting. In one scene, you can see the individual scales of the main character, which is awesome.
The Frame Pro has plenty of built-in cloud gaming features beyond any consoles you connect locally. I tested Cyberpunk 2077 using the Steam app and also fired up Senua's Saga: Hellblade II on the Xbox app with no issues. One slight glitch is that, when I connected my Xbox controller to the TV it worked fine, but then I had to pair it again to the Xbox Series X later. It gave me a reason to buy an extra controller. When I tried a Sony Dualsense Wireless Controller with Cyberpunk 2077, it worked flawlessly. Forza Horizon 5 on my Xbox looked ultra-smooth, showing a Ford Bronco sliding around in the mud in a realistic way.
The Frame Pro supports up to a 144-Hz refresh rate from either the Connect One box or a Micro HDMI port, which makes it awesome for really smooth gaming. I tested Crimson Desert on an Acer Nitro 60 gaming desktop, and the colors, scenery, and overall clarity over the higher refresh rate looked stunning. If you have a stylish living room where you also want to game, this isn't a bad choice.
During a chaotic battle, with snowy mountains off in the distance, I felt like I had jumped into one of the paintings. In the end, The Frame Pro is a fantastic TV for art—and just about everything else, as long as you don't want the best backlighting around.
$2,098 $1,598 at Amazon$1,600 at Samsung
