Samsung The Frame 2020 is an overall good TV that's designed to blend into your decor and showcase beautiful works of art when the TV is idle. Like its predecessor, Samsung The Frame 2019, its borders are customizable and it can be wall-mounted to look like real artwork thanks to the included no-gap wall mount and the One Connect Box. It uses Samsung's QLED technology to deliver good picture quality and gamers can breathe a sigh of relief, as it still has extremely low input lag and FreeSync support. Contrast ratio and peak brightness are significantly improved in this 2020 model, making it a good choice for watching HDR content, but sadly, its viewing angles are just as poor and there's no local dimming. Nonetheless, if you're looking for a TV that stands out by blending in, this could be the one.
Our Verdict
The Frame 2020 is a good TV for most uses. It delivers good picture quality for most content, and it provides an excellent gaming experience thanks to its low input lag and VRR support. Its high contrast ratio makes it a good choice for dark room viewing, and it gets bright enough to fight glare. Unfortunately, it has rather poor viewing angles, so it's not the most ideal if your seating arrangement requires you to view from the side.
- Exceptional contrast ratio.
- FreeSync support.
- Great motion handling.
- No local dimming.
- Poor viewing angles.
The Frame 2020 is a decent TV for watching movies. Its VA panel has a high native contrast ratio, which is great for watching in dark rooms. It can display 1080p content almost as well as native 4k, and it can remove judder from any source. Unfortunately, it doesn't have local dimming, and its poor viewing angles make it less suitable for wide seating arrangements.
The Frame 2020 is a good TV for watching TV shows. It has a great peak brightness and decent reflection handling that's well-suited for bright rooms. Lower resolution content on cable TV is upscaled well, and there's no risk of permanent burn-in if you leave it on the news all day. Its VA panel has poor viewing angles, though, which makes it less ideal if you like doing chores or walking around while watching.
The Frame 2020 is a good TV for watching sports. Motion handling is great, so there are only short blur trails in fast-moving scenes, and there's very little dirty screen effect, which is great. Reflection handling is decent and the TV can get bright enough to overcome glare in any type of room setting. However, it's not the best choice for watching with a large of people, as its VA panel has poor viewing angles.
The Frame 2020 is an impressive TV for gaming. It has a low input lag that makes every button press feel incredibly responsive, and it supports variable refresh rate technologies like FreeSync and HDMI Forum's VRR. Its 120Hz refresh rate and fast response time make motion look silky smooth, and its high contrast ratio is great for gaming in the dark.
The Frame 2020 is a decent TV for watching HDR movies. Its VA panel has an exceptional contrast ratio and excellent black uniformity to produce deep blacks, but unfortunately, it doesn't have local dimming to further improve it. It can display a wide color gamut to produce vibrant and vivid colors, and it gets decently bright to bring out highlights when watching in a dark room. However, its peak brightness isn't enough to make HDR content look significantly better than SDR in well-lit environments.
The Frame 2020 is a good TV for gaming in HDR. It has an extremely low input lag, and it remains low even when playing in 4k with 10-bit HDR. Response time is great, so fast motion looks crisp, and there's even an optional black frame insertion feature to further improve motion clarity. Its exceptional contrast ratio makes it a fantastic choice for gaming in the dark, and the TV can deliver a good HDR experience thanks to its great color gamut and decent HDR peak brightness.
The Frame 2020 is a good TV for use as a PC monitor. Thanks to its chroma 4:4:4 support and 4k resolution, text looks incredibly sharp. Input lag is low and response time is fast, which results in a responsive desktop experience. Its viewing angles are poor, so the image can look washed out at the sides if you sit too close, but on the bright side, its VA panel is immune to permanent burn-in.
Changelog
- Updated Jul 27, 2021: Added the real content local dimming videos and retested the 4k @ 120Hz with chroma 4:4:4 support.
- Updated Mar 01, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.6.
- Updated Nov 27, 2020: We've retested the VRR, input lag, and supported resolutions with an HDMI 2.1 source and the latest firmware version 1403.
- Updated Oct 06, 2020: We've changed the status of the Auto-Calibration function from 'Untested' to 'Undetermined'.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 55" (QN55LS03TA) variant of The Frame 2020, and for the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 43" (QN43LS03TA), the 50" variant (QN50LS03TA), the 65" variant (QN65LS03TA), and the 75" variant (QN75LS03TA). The 32" model has a 1080p resolution and we haven't tested it, so our review is less applicable.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Samsung Frame 2020 doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review. Note that some tests such as the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
| Size | US | Canada | UK | Italy | Germany | Refresh rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32" | QN32LS03TBFXZA | QN32LS03TBFXZC | QE32LS03TBKXXU | QE32LS03TBKXZT | GQ32LS03TBKXZG | 60Hz | 1080p, no VRR |
| 43" | QN43LS03TAFXZA | QN43LS03TAFXZC | QN43LS03TAUXXU | QE43LS03TAUXZT | GQ43LS03TAUXZG | 60Hz | FreeSync |
| 50" | QN50LS03TAFXZA | QN50LS03TAFXZC | QN50LS03TAUXXU | QE50LS03TAUXZT | GQ50LS03TAUXZG | 60Hz | FreeSync |
| 55" | QN55LS03TAFXZA | QN55LS03TAFXZC | QN55LS03TAUXXU | QE55LS03TAUXZT | GQ55LS03TAUXZG | 120Hz | FreeSync, HDMI Forum |
| 65" | QN65LS03TAFXZA | QN65LS03TAFXZC | QN65LS03TAUXXU | QE65LS03TAUXZT | GQ65LS03TAUXZG | 120Hz | FreeSync, HDMI Forum |
| 75" | QN75LS03TAFXZA | QN75LS03TAFXZC | QN75LS03TAUXXU | QE75LS03TAUXZT | GQ75LS03TAUXZG | 120Hz | FreeSync, HDMI Forum |
Our unit of The Frame 2020 was manufactured in March 2020, you can see the label here.
Popular TV Comparisons
The Samsung The Frame 2020 is an overall good TV. However, unless you specifically want its Art Mode feature or its One Connect Box for gapless wall-mounting, there are better TVs that are significantly cheaper. Compared to other Samsung QLED TVs, The Frame 2020 sits between the Samsung Q70T QLED and the Samsung Q80T QLED. For other options, you can also check out our recommendations for the best TVs, the best 4k HDR TVs, and the best 4k gaming TVs.
The Samsung The Frame 2021 is the successor to the Samsung The Frame 2020. They perform similarly for the most part; however, the 2020 model has a much higher contrast ratio and a better color gamut. The 2021 model has slightly better response times, and its backlight flickers at a much higher frequency, resulting in less image duplication in fast-moving content.
The Samsung The Frame 2020 is a very decent upgrade from the Samsung The Frame 2019. Aside from some minor differences in their outer design, the 2020 has a much higher contrast ratio and peak brightness. Input lag is also lower on the 2020; however, it's not as color accurate. There's some improvement in terms of black and gray uniformity, but this could be due to panel variance.
The Samsung The Frame 2020 and the Samsung The Frame 2022 are similar TVs. The main difference is that the 2022 model has a matte screen finish that makes the TV look more like a piece of art, and it has much better reflection handling. It also has better out-of-the-box accuracy, and it has improved gradient handling.
The Samsung The Frame 2020 is a bit better overall than the Samsung Q60T, but they're designed for different uses. The Frame is very well-built because it's designed to look like a piece of art. It's also better for gaming thanks to its HDMI 2.1 and VRR support, which the Q60T doesn't have, but that's only available on the larger sizes of The Frame. In terms of picture quality, each TV is similar with a high native contrast ratio and great SDR peak brightness.
We buy and test dozens of TVs yearly, taking an objective, data-driven approach to deliver results you can trust. Our testing process is complex, with hundreds of individual tests that take over a week to complete. Most of our tests use specially designed test patterns that mimic real content, but we also use the same sources you have at home to ensure our results match the real-world experience. We use two main tools for our testing: a Colorimetry Research CR-100 colorimeter and a CR-250 spectroradiometer.
Test Results
Older Test Bench: This product has been tested using an older TV test methodology, before a major update. Some of the test results below aren't directly comparable with other TVs. Learn more
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