Samsung The Frame 2018 TV Review

The Samsung The Frame 2018 has an excellent, modern design that should fit well in any decor. The bezel around the TV is quite thick, but this is intentional, and the available bezel kits allow you to match the TV's frame to any room design, from modern white metal to a classic walnut finish. It can be wall mounted, either using a standard VESA mount or using the included 'No-Gap' wall mount, in which case the TV should sit perfectly flush with the wall.

The stand is very simple, similar to that of the Q9FN. It supports the TV well with very little wobble, but it is nearly the same width as the TV.

Footprint of the 55" stand: 7.9" x 40.2".

The One Connect box measures 5.2" x 15.4".

The back of the Frame 2018 is very similar to most 2018 premium Samsung TVs. There are two panels that have to be removed to attach either the included 'No-Gap' wall mount or a standard VESA mount. The vents for heat dissipation are around the edges of the TV, this is to ensure they don't get blocked when wall-mounted.

The bezel around the Samsung 2018 Frame can be changed. A black bezel is included, and there are three other bezels that are sold separately.

• White
• Beige
• Walnut

Due to the frame system, the borders of the Frame TV appear bulkier than the rest of Samsung's lineup.

The TV is of average thickness, and almost perfectly uniform. This is by design, as when mounted using the included 'No-Gap' wall mount, the TV sits flush against the wall.

Excellent build quality. There is some flex in the bezel on the sides, so care should be taken when moving the TV. The TV feels very well built.

The Frame 2018 has an excellent native contrast ratio, great for dark room viewing as blacks appear black. Unfortunately, there is no local dimming feature so the contrast cannot be further improved.

The Frame 2018 doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.

Decent peak brightness with SDR content. It is slightly brighter than the NU7300. The brightness remains consistent across window sizes, except for the 2% which is dimmed by the TV's CE (frame) dimming. This behavior is similar to other 2018 Samsungs that use CE dimming, including the NU7300 and NU6900.

Sub-par peak brightness in HDR. The Frame TV is not bright enough for small highlights in some scenes to stand out in HDR. The brightness is consistent across most window sizes, but the small 2% window is dimmed by Samsung's CE (frame) dimming algorithms.

If you find HDR content too dim, see our recommendations here.

Good gray uniformity. There are some darker areas around the center of the screen and on the sides, but not enough to bother most people. In darker scenes, the uniformity is better, but there is noticeable backlight bleed in the corners.

The Frame 2018 has poor viewing angles that are typical for VA panels. When viewing at an angle the image gets noticeably darker and colors get washed out.

These results are disappointing, as they hinder the performance of the Frame's ambient mode feature to show artwork.

The Samsung LS03N has excellent black uniformity. Some backlight bleed is visible near the corners of the screen, and this could bother some people when viewing dark scenes in a perfectly dark room.

Decent reflection handling, slightly worse than the NU8000. The semi-gloss finish doesn't diffuse direct reflections very well, so it isn't as well suited for a bright room.

Decent color and white accuracy out of the box. The white balance dE is very high, so whites don't quite appear white, and color accuracy is borderline, but most people won't notice it. The color temperature is a bit warmer than our target of 6500 K. As with most Samsung TVs, the most accurate Picture Mode is 'Movie'. Gamma is very high and does not follow the target at all.

Post calibration, the Frame 2018's color accuracy is nearly perfect. White balance dE is extremely low, and colors are beyond the point that anyone will be able to tell the difference. Gamma follows the target almost perfectly; there is only a nearly imperceptible dip in brightness with a 90% stimulus.

Calibration was done with 100% windows instead of our standard 18%, as Samsung TVs are less consistent with smaller windows. This has been the case with many 2018 Samsung TVs.

You can see our recommended settings here.

480p content from older devices including DVDs is displayed without any obvious artifacts or issues.

720p content from older content or game consoles is displayed well without any obvious artifacts.

1080p content from Blu-rays or game consoles looks almost as good as native 4k.

4k content is displayed perfectly. There are no obvious issues.

The Frame 2018 can't display an 8k signal.

Good wide color gamut, very similar to the NU8000/NU8500. The EOTF does not accurately follow our target, and almost all scenes are dimmer than they should be. The PC and Game EOTFs are slightly better, but still display most scenes dimmer than they should.

If you find HDR content too dim, setting Contrast Enhancer to 'High' increases the overall brightness, as shown here. Adjusting the 'Gamma' results in no measurable improvement in HDR brightness.

You can see our recommended settings for HDR here.

Decent color volume, slightly worse than the NU8000. It can't produce bright colors across the entire gamut, and can't produce some dark colors very well.

The Frame 2018 has good gradient handling, but there is banding visible in most dark colors. Greens and grays perform the worst. Enabling Digital Clean View can help to reduce banding, but will result in the loss of some fine details.

There's no significant image retention on the Frame 2018. The test image is visible immediately after being displayed for 10 minutes, but it disappeared entirely within 2 minutes.

Although temporary image retention on VA panels is rare, it isn't unheard of. The Sony X940E, X900E, and Samsung NU6900 show similar signs of image retention.

We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.

The Frame 2018's response time is good, but it's a bit worse than the Samsung Q6FN and NU8000. There's a short motion trail visible behind fast moving objects, and the backlight flicker causes some visible duplications in motion, although this shouldn't bother most people.

The Frame 2018 uses PWM to dim the backlight, so there is flicker at all Backlight settings except 50. The 240 Hz flicker frequency shouldn't bother most people, but in some viewing conditions it could be noticeable, and it causes duplications in motion, as seen in the motion blur picture.

Unlike other Samsung TVs that we have reviewed in 2018 like the Q6FN, the backlight flicker does not change with different Auto Motion Plus settings.

The Frame 2018 can reduce the backlight flicker frequency to improve motion clarity at the cost of some brightness. It can reduce the flicker as low as 60 Hz in normal viewing modes, and as low as 120 Hz within 'Game' mode.

If BFI is enabled with a 1080p @ 120 Hz source outside of 'Game' mode, there is currently a bug which causes severe flicker, rendering the TV unwatchable. In 'Game' mode there is no issue.

BFI can be enabled on the UN55LS03N by setting Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom', and enabling the LED Clear Motion option.

The Frame 2018 TV can interpolate lower frame rate content to increase the frame rate as high as 120 fps in order to improve motion smoothness. This introduces a motion effect known as the 'Soap Opera Effect', which might bother some people.

In scenes with more motion the LS03 will show more and more artifacts until it eventually stops interpolating.

New in some 2018 Samsung TVs is a Game Motion Plus mode. This a new motion interpolation feature explicitly for gaming that doesn't introduce as much input lag.

Motion Interpolation can be enabled by setting Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom', and adjusting the two sliders. The Judder Reduction slider affects 24 fps content, and the Blur Reduction slider affects 60 fps content.

Note: The 43" Frame does not support motion interpolation.

There is some stutter visible when watching 24p videos, like a Blu-ray, especially in wide, panning landscape scenes.

The Frame 2018 is able to remove judder from all 24p sources. To remove judder, set Auto Motion Plus to 'Custom', and set the Judder Reduction and Blur Reduction sliders to '0'.

The Frame 2018 supports FreeSync Variable Refresh Rate technology. This works with a compatible PC graphics card or with an Xbox One S/X. There are two VRR modes: 'Ultimate' and 'Basic'. 'Ultimate' provides the widest range, but may have compatibility issues with some games.

Note: The 43" model does not support VRR.

Excellent low input lag, similar to the Q6FN. Even with 'Game' mode interpolation enabled the input lag is low enough for all but the most competitive gamers. Input lag is extremely low with VRR.

If you want an even lower input lag, check out the Samsung The Frame 2020.