Samsung The Frame 2021 – The 2021 edition of Samsung's picture frame TV

Since 2018, Samsung shows that they can create a TV with a unique design. The magnetic frames are changeable. The “Gallery Stand” is available separately. In contrast to LG’s gallery TV, LG G1, the normal TV feet are included within The Frame.

The No Gap wall mount and a One Connect box are included with this device, making it easy to mount the TV to the wall. This eliminates an unnecessary mess of your cables and you only see the picture on the wall. Visually, the TV has changed a bit. It is now even thinner and can almost be mistaken for a picture in a gallery. In addition, there is now “The Shelf”, which can be used to frame the TV. However, at the time of writing, one size was not made by Samsung. The 32-inch version is missing from this year’s lineup.

The Samsung The Frame 2021 has not changed significantly from the 2020 model. It is still a QLED TV that relies on a VAVertical Alignment, type of LCD Panel panel. The viewing angle on the device is quite limited after all, which does not necessarily contribute to the picture look. An Ultra-View-angle layer is also not included.

Compared to the previous year’s model, the native contrast is no longer as high, but it is at 5600:1, which means that the picture is not as bright. Local dimming is also still missing. Of course, this does not mean that the picture is bad, but the true beauty only comes out in a darker environment. The Dual LED, which is now common for Samsung, has also been installed. These lights artificially increase the contrast once again. The image looks very vivid due to the wide color space and the rich, bright colors. With a peak brightness of ~540 nitsSI unit of luminance: 1 nit = 1 cd/m² – The best way of measuring and comparing a TVs brightness  , the TV is not too bright. Unfortunately, the device lacks Dolby VisionDynamic HDR-format with a color depth of up to 12 Bits and Mastering of up to 10,000 Nits, but the HDRHigh Dynamic Range – image/video with more dynamic range (contrast range) quality is okay, since at least HDR 10+ is used.

The motion handling in The Frame 2021 is pretty good. The Gallery TV uses a 120 HzHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. panel in most sizes and its response time of ~4 ms is really low, which means that only little motion blur is visible. However, this can be minimized even further with the Black Frame InsertionProcess that inserts black “blank images” as intermediate images. This makes movements appear finer and clearer. feature that can be switched on voluntarily. But the brightness suffers somewhat. The smaller variants in 43 and 50 inches have a 60Hz panel and therefore perform a bit worse in this category.

The backlight flickers with a frequencyHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second. of 960Hz, which is so fast that it should be perceived as continuous illumination by the human eye. What is really pleasing, is that JudderInconsistent time frame due to the input frequency not mismatching the TV’s frequency (e.g. 24p via 60Hz) can be removed from all sources.

The Samsung The Frame 2021 has a HDMI 2.1 port as standard – this year even for all sizes. FreeSync Premium ProVariable Refresh Rate with AMD graphics cards or consoles with at least 120fps at Full HD and HDR is available as a variable refresh rateHertz is the derived SI-unit of frequency with 1Hz=1/s – When talking about TVs this means how many different pictures a TV can display in one second., which is only really worth from the 55-inch variant onwards, since they use the 120Hz instead of the 60Hz panel. An Auto Low Latency Mode is also integrated in the 2021 version of The Frame. This allows the QLED to recognize the console and automatically switch to gaming mode.

The very low input lag of just 6ms at 1080p@120Hz and 10ms at 4K@120Hz also let gamers’ hearts beat faster. In summary, we can say that the Samsung The Frame 2021 is a very decent gaming TV.

We all know that most TVs don’t have the outstanding sound of a 5.1 sound system coming out of the speakers – that’s also the case here. The sound is okay and this year even features Q-Symphony and Object Tracking Sound, which is an improvement over the last year.

If you want to expand your setup with an external sound system or soundbar, you’ll be pleased to know that the QLED supports uncompressed Dolby AtmosObject-based surround sound format with 3D-Sound from any direction through the HDMI eARC, so you can create a truly outstanding soundscape with the right equipment. Unfortunately, DTSMulti-channel-sound-system (Surround Sound) competing with Dolby Digital is not available in 2021.

The new Samsung The Frame 2021 now also runs on a new operating system – Tizen 6.0. However, not much has changed here compared to the previous year’s version. It runs without problems, is easy to use and has a large selection of apps. Alexa is integrated and the TV is also compatible with the Google Voice Assistant and Apple AirPlay 2. With the help of the remote app “Samsung SmartThings”, you can easily control the Art Mode and thus, even in power-saving mode, display beautiful pictures that the TV has available in a gallery.

Unfortunately, The Frame 2021 lacks a twin tuner, but you still don’t have to life without the USB recording function or time-shifting.