More contrast for Samsung's picture frame televisions

Samsung's The Frame is much more than a mundane smart TV: the stylish TV serves as a digital picture frame in Art mode. At CES, the Korean display specialist presented its Pro version, which, like Samsung's Neo QLED TVs, now integrates a locally dimmable LED backlight with diodes evenly distributed behind the LCD layer. The previous Frame models have a so-called edge LED backlight, in which the LEDs are lined up on one side of the panel. Well-designed direct LED backlighting promises more even display illumination.

The new backlight should make the displays significantly brighter and achieve higher contrasts, especially with HDR content. The Frame Pro should therefore catch up with the Korean manufacturer's high-quality Neo QLED displays when playing HDR videos. The picture quality of SDR content, for example when watching TV, has essentially remained the same, as similar optimizations have already been used here as in the Neo QLEDs.

Personal picture gallery

In picture frame mode, local dimming is deactivated and the luminance is reduced. The aim here is to make the display look as if it is only being illuminated by the ambient light. The result is astonishing: thanks to the fine matting of the display surface, you can only distinguish digitally displayed works of art from analog images if you look closely. Samsung's NQ4 Gen3 AI processor takes care of the image optimization. It compares the luminance on the screen with the ambient brightness and uses sensors to detect whether anyone is in the room – If no one is there, The Frame switches to power-saving mode.

To perfect the "digital illusion", The Frame Pro now receives the video signals wirelessly via WLAN 7 from a small One Connect Box. The WLAN box contains all the connections and can disappear into a drawer, for example. According to the manufacturer, a reliable connection of up to ten meters is guaranteed. This means you only have to run a power cable to the digital picture frame, but not a bulky HDMI cable. The predecessors were connected with a semi-transparent cable between the box and the display. The interchangeable frames also allow the TV to be adapted to personal requirements.

Even more art

Samsung has also expanded its Art Store: it now includes over 3,000 curated works of art from renowned galleries and museums such as the MoMA, the Musée d'Orsay, the Tate and the MET. The art collection will also be accessible on most Neo QLED and QLED models from this year. The TVs will be able to display over 370 works of art for free every year, while access to the entire art collection will be subject to a charge. If you want to see The Frame Pro in action: Samsung is this year's partner of the Art Basel art fair, which will use The Frame Pro as the official display for artworks.

Heise Medien is the official media partner of CES 2025.

Note: Samsung paid for the author's travel expenses to CES 2025. There are no agreements regarding the nature and scope of our reporting. (uk)