Our Brutally Honest Review of the Samsung Frame TV
All of the pros and cons about the Samsung Frame TV and how to add art, plus free downloadable still life art to display on a TV.
It’s been a little over a month since we installed our Samsung Frame TV. I wanted to give ourselves a decent amount of time to live with it before sharing an opinion on it.
(UPDATE: It’s now been nearly three years, and we still absolutely love this TV! But with a few drawbacks…)
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Why the Frame TV Hype?
The Frame is a TV that looks like art. The feature to display images to make it look like a framed piece of art on your wall rather than a giant black box is definitely the draw.
(Finally, someone figured out what decorators everywhere have been thinking for decades! A picture frame TV is what we’ve been wanting all along! A black rectangle right above your fireplace just isn’t nearly as pretty.)
But when we were looking at buying it, Robert was concerned about the display and if it would really deliver on experience quality. Here’s what we’ve discovered…
The Pros of the Samsung Frame TV
1. Gorgeous Design
Endless Art Display Choices
You can choose your own artwork to display on it or choose from the gallery in the Samsung Art Store for a monthly subscription fee. (I didn’t do the subscription because I like the flexibility of uploading public domain art I find… see the bottom of this post to snag a few art images, if you want.)
Frame Color and Style Options
The addition of an aftermarket wood bezel frame, which is sold separately and runs about an extra $150, makes it blend even better into whatever interior design aesthetic you choose.
2. Low Profile
Slim Fit Mount
The TV is slim and has a slim fit wall mount that sits completely flush against the wall like a framed piece of art. It’s seamless and only draws attention to itself when you want it to. (Ours is the 55″.)
Easy to Hide Cord
It even comes with a very thin, clear cord so that it’s easily concealed against a wall.
Concealable Box
Its One Connect Box can be stored out of sight so that you can easily manage other electronics that attach to it without having to run a tangle of cords to the TV screen on the wall.
3. Excellent Picture Quality
- The Frame has a QLED panel that amps up colors to make the picture vivid, high quality, and bright. We’ve tried out all of the different picture modes, and while our previous LG TV is 4 years old, it definitely has out-shown its 4K panel.
The Cons of the Samsung Frame TV
1. Installation
Tricky to Mount
Maybe this TV is quick and easy for some people to install, but that was not the case with us. To be fair, our Frame TV had to be hung on the wall above our fireplace where a brick chimney is behind. We didn’t have the ability to cut a hole out of the wall to feed the cable through.
(We chose to use a thin cord cover on ours since we had to run it a long length of the wall at different angles to feed it into our window seat.)
The mount was tricky, but that also has to do with its design to hang the TV flush against the wall.
Simpler Mount Alternative
You can now get an easel Studio Stand to mimic the look of an art easel without the need of a wall mount!
2. Not Quite Art
To me, it’s still very possible to tell the art display isn’t an actual painting hanging on the wall with the 2021 model.
When the lights are low in the room and you’re displaying a light colored image especially, you can still see the TV screen glowing on the art display, which does still make it obvious that it’s a TV. It won’t fool many people unless your lighting in the room is just right.
UPDATE: The new 2022 version of “The Frame” has a new matte display with anti-glare, anti-fingerprint, and anti-reflection properties to make the art look more realistic!
3. Expensive
The reason we were willing to shell out the bucks for The Frame TV was because it is front and center in our living room smack dab at the very focal point. Having the ability to display art in that spot, was a big deal to us.
But I can’t imagine buying this TV for any room where it’s not a main focal point. The price just isn’t worth that, in my mind.
How much does the Frame TV cost?
Samsung Frame TVs usually cost between $1,000 to $2,000 for a 55″ to 65″ 2022 version TV. The larger sizes around 85″ run about $3,000.
It’s worth waiting for a holiday sale or Prime Day sale, as we have found them at the best price then. Frame TVs go on sale fairly often, if you’re willing to be patient.
Difference Between Samsung Frame TV 2021 and 2022
The latest 2022 Frame TV model comes with higher performance and better aesthetic updates. The latest 2022 Frame TV model comes with higher performance and better aesthetic updates.
After purchasing this Samsung TV for our living room, we enjoyed the concept of making our regular TV look like wall art so much that we purchased the latest Samsung Frame TV version for our media room. It looks even more like a real piece of art than the older model.
We hung vintage style pieces of art in a gallery wall around the TV to look even more convincing as a real art piece. As a great option to customize the look even more, we chose to use a Gatsby gold bezel from Deco Frames.
Matte Art Display
The 2021 version has a semi-gloss finish screen whereas the 2022 version has an anti-glare, matte screen that looks more convincing as a realistic piece of art.
Anti-Glare Viewing
The latest version’s anti-glare finish also provides a clearer, more striking image. This makes watching TV from different angles in a family room more enjoyable.
Lower Profile
The 2022 version is slightly thinner than the 2021 version so it hangs more flat against the wall.
How easy is it to install a Samsung Frame TV?
You will have to drill holes into your wall to hang the TV mount, if you want the look of artwork hanging on your wall. My husband and I were able to follow the instructions, but it was a bit more challenging than we anticipated.
If you’re concerned, you can hire a professional TV installer directly through Samsung for $120.
Alternatively, you can leave the TV on the height-adjustable stand included. Or you can mount it on a TV easel to look like a painting on an art stand.
Overall, we’re completely happy with our Frame TVs, and it’s been so fun playing around with settings to add new art to it all the time.
Free Art TV Downloads
A fun feature is you can access the art store subscription to display from their database or install your own art to upload as built in home decor.
If you have The Frame yourself or if you want to use this Smart TV Art Display trick, you can get access to these 8 still life digital art prints here from Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cezanne that I reformatted to fit a TV screen. But they would be beautiful printed and placed in a real frame too, if you preferred.
(Access to the free downloadable art is in your email inbox, if you’re already a Bless’er House subscriber.)
You can download the art printables by clicking here or the button below to subscribe:
(If you’re already a subscriber, the direct download to the art images is in your inbox and at the bottom of every email I send.)
How to add art to the Samsung Frame TV
- Download the TV art images from the Bless’er House Printable Library in Google Drive to your smart phone’s camera roll. (Password is at the bottom of every Bless’er House email newsletter.)
- Launch the SmartThings app on your smart phone.
- Select your TV.
- Choose Art Mode.
- Click ADD YOUR PHOTOS+
- Click the photos you would like to add to your Samsung Frame TV and select the Save to The Frame button.
- The images will be accessible in the Slideshow setting.
- Tap on your preferred time setting then select Set.
- Tap on + to add a new image from your Gallery.
- Click on the Art Mode button on your Frame TV remote.
I prefer “no mat” on mine, but you can add one in your settings if you prefer that look.
Which piece of art is your favorite? I love that they’re all works of art that I don’t have to decide which one to display because I can change them any time I want with the click of a button!
Do you have The Frame? What are your thoughts on it? Hopefully, we can make this a helpful little resource together for anyone who’s wondered about it.
If you want to save this post for later, you can pin it here:
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the Samsung Frame TV is designed to display art and photos for long lengths of time without the risk of pixel burn out.
No, the bezel must be purchased separately from the art Frame TV. But you can buy different colors and styles of bezels from different companies like Deco TV Frames and Frame My TV.
The Frame TV is definitely worth it if the look and design of your home is a priority. Its efficient, high-quality performance allows you to make the most use of your home entertainment space. The no-gap wall mount takes up less space too.
Art can be displayed as long as a TV show is not being watched. An ambient light sensor and motion sensor detects activity in the room, so the art displays any time someone is nearby. You can always change your sensor settings, if you prefer. You can choose to set it to a black screen too (we turn off ours at night when going to bed).
Unfortunately, the picture TV’s art mode mostly still looks like a photo displayed on a screen because it produces a small amount of ambient light. But it’s as close to looking like real art as you can get. It does fool most people into believing it’s just a framed picture on the wall.
Hello, First off, thank you for all of your tips and well written posts. You have a lovely home.
We purchased the Frame TV in 2019 during Black Friday, saving hundreds of dollars. Still, it was quite a splurge, but we have never regretted it. We had it installed, thank goodness.
Like yours, our TV is front and center in our living room, over the fireplace. It makes such a huge difference looking like art rather than a TV.
I am an art history buff so I have the monthly membership of art. I love curating my own collection and changing the picture frequently. I also enjoy being able to read the facts and history of the art.
If a picture looks too back lit, I go into the settings and dim it and/or lighten or darken the hues. I’m not very “techy”, so I haven’t tried to download my own art or photos, but with your tips I will now! I can see that changing the frame looks so much better than the black, so I am going to spring for a frame. Is it just an easy snap on frame?
Thank you for all you do to help inspire others, especially for those that are budget conscious!
Take care,
Kristen in Atlanta
Thanks for this Lauren! Thanks to your guiding instructions I was finally able to get my own art up there on our frame tv. I am embarrassed to say that I have had to try this at least 10 times before I was finally able to accomplish it. Love the artwork that you supplied and love your blog.
I had never even been of The Frame TV. Love the free downloadable art. I always look forward to your blog. On another topic, where did you find your living room rug? It is beautiful!
Best design tip: be TV free! We use a projector for the occasional family movie and let our kids watch shows on the laptop. We love not owning a TV! ☺️
We just installed the Frame tv in our master during a remodel. I have never wanted a tv in the bedroom, but gave in to my husband when he agreed to making it the Samsung frame. Our home is an old, antique Cape and this tv does NOT take over the whole space. It really does sit flush o the wall and blends in with our decor.
I went for the art store membership because there was a coupon for 3 months free. I agree that few will be fooled into thinking that I have Monet’s water lillies hanging. But, the grandkids are being exposed to some lovely fine art…and appreciating it.(husband too). We do have photos of the grandkids that I was able to set up with the help of this blog.
The ambient mode provides colorful background with movement and sound. The birds in the background fooled me the first time. I thought the chirping was outside my window!
Our installers were from a high end local store. The tv tends to be price controlled no matter here you buy it, so we figured we would get the guys who know what they are doing. It took two installers all morning to install the tv (no wires showing), set up our cable box and sign us into all of usual go to sites. (They had me make a list of sites, user names and passwords the week before they arrived). We had trouble with our apple id (who doesn’t), but they helped us through all of the tech set up and even gave us a lesson on using the comcast control with the frame tv control. The installers did complain that set up and sites with this Samsung tv are often challenging, compared to other brands.
I must say, it is a incredible tv. I know it is a lot of money, but we will have this for a long time. This tv even will update itself! The picture is incredible. The sound is great, even without the purchase of an additional sound bar.
I love the tv. I do wish that we had purchased it during a price drop during the holiday. It took us until April to finally to decide we were going to “go for it.” Now, we have another problem. The Frame tv is so terrific that we now want to get another for the livingroom!
I must add that it will be fun to use Lauren’s ideas in the livingroom. This website is always an inspiration. It is the only one that I have signed up for. Lauren, thanks for all you do!!!
Thank you SO much for sharing your in-depth experience with it, Deb! And for your kind words! You are too sweet!