Samsung The Frame LS03D 65"

The Samsung The Frame LS03D is a 65-inch 4K QLED designed to look like wall art when off, with a matte anti-glare finish and flush mount included. It offers solid smart home features, 120Hz gaming, and surprisingly good 40W audio. Picture quality and HDR are mid-tier at best, so it's a style-first choice over raw performance.

Let's talk numbers. This set has a 120Hz panel, Motion Xcelerator, and FreeSync Premium support. That means fast motion stays smooth and gaming feels responsive, which is nice on a TV that's mostly sold on aesthetics. Gaming performance lands around the 75th percentile, so it's genuinely good for casual and even competitive console play. HDMI 2.1 support is here too, which matters if you're hooking up a PS5 or Xbox Series X and want 120Hz output.

The audio is a pleasant surprise. You get a 2.0 channel, 40W speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support. That's better than most thin TVs, and audio scores around the 73rd percentile. Dialogue is clear and there's actual body to the sound, which isn't always the case with lifestyle-focused TVs. The display itself uses edge-lit LED rather than full-array local dimming, and that's where the compromises show. Picture quality and HDR both land around the 36th percentile. Black levels aren't deep, and bright scenes don't have the punch you'd get from a good OLED or mini-LED set. The matte coating that makes Art Mode look so convincing is the same thing that softens contrast in regular content.

The LG C5 OLED is the obvious alternative at this size. It's around the same price and beats The Frame in every picture quality metric that matters, including contrast, black levels, and HDR. But it's also a glossy, black rectangle that screams TV when it's off. Different product, different purpose. The Sony BRAVIA XR A95L is another step up, a QD-OLED that's technically one of the best TVs money can buy, though it costs far more than The Frame.

On the budget side, the TCL QM8K and Hisense U8 Series both offer mini-LED panels with much better brightness and contrast than The Frame at similar or lower prices. If you care about movie performance first, those are smarter buys. And if you're after a simple, affordable smart TV, the Roku Pro Series gets you decent picture quality without the art gimmick at a lower cost. The Frame only wins if the art-first, flush-mount lifestyle is your actual priority.

The value proposition of The Frame depends on your priorities. At USD 1,000 to USD 1,298 depending on the retailer, you're paying several hundred dollars more than you would for a comparable traditional QLED or even some OLEDs. Best Buy has listings at the lower end of that range, so if you're set on this model, that's the place to watch for a deal. For that money you could buy a 65-inch LG C5 OLED, which has dramatically better picture quality, and have cash left over. But that misses the point. You're not buying this for the spec sheet. You're buying it because no other TV disappears into a room the way this one does. If that's worth a few hundred bucks to you, the value equation works. If it isn't, there are better pure performers out there for less.

The Samsung The Frame LS03D is a 65-inch 4K QLED TV made for people who want their television to disappear when it's off. Instead of a black rectangle hanging on the wall, you get something that looks like framed art. That's the whole pitch, and honestly, it works better than you'd expect. Prices around the web sit between USD 1,000 and USD 1,298, which puts this firmly in premium territory for a TV that isn't OLED.

We see a lot of shoppers asking the same things about this model. Is The Frame good for watching movies? Yeah, it's solid, though not the best pure picture quality you can buy at this size. Is it worth it just for Art Mode? That depends on how much you hate looking at a black screen. The matte finish and flush wall mount are the real stars here, and no spec sheet really captures how different that makes a living room feel.

Samsung clearly built this for smart home folks first. Our database shows it's a standout for smart home integration at the 88th percentile, with strong scores for smart features and connectivity. It's less exciting as a pure display. Picture quality and HDR performance sit below average compared to other TVs in this class, which is the tradeoff you make for the art-first design.

Skip the Samsung The Frame LS03D if you're a serious home theater enthusiast who cares about deep blacks and punchy HDR. The edge-lit panel just can't compete with OLEDs or mini-LEDs at this price. If you mostly watch in a dark room or play cinematic single-player games, grab an LG C5 OLED instead and enjoy dramatically better contrast. Also pass if you don't care about the art aesthetic at all, you'd be paying a premium for features you'll never use. And if you're on a tighter budget, the TCL QM8K or Hisense U8 get you better picture quality for similar money without the styling markup.

Should you buy the Samsung The Frame LS03D? If you want a TV that looks like a piece of art on your wall and you're okay with very good but not great picture quality, yes. This is the best execution of that concept on the market right now. The matte display, customizable bezels, and flush wall mount work together in a way competitors haven't matched. Smart home integration is excellent, and it's genuinely nice to have Art Mode cycle through paintings instead of staring at a dead black panel.

But if your priority is chasing the best possible movie or gaming experience for your dollar, look elsewhere. The edge-lit panel holds it back where it counts, and you'll find better contrast and HDR performance from OLEDs and mini-LEDs at this price. The Frame is a lifestyle product first and a TV second. Buy it for the former, not the latter.