Samsung Frame TV Review
Let’s first start with my new TVs. We don’t watch much TV in our household, and therefore, our TVs are black rectangles 99% of the time. That’s why I was excited to splurge on two Samsung Frame TVs, which claim to turn into art when you turn them off.
Other TVs claim to have an “art mode” but don’t give you much customization, and they cycle through images every few seconds (which completely defeats the purpose of the feature, in my opinion). As far as I know, the Frame TV is currently the only TV currently on the market that can display a static image for an unlimited amount of time without burn-in while matching the ambient light in a room. The app allows you to upload your own images and customize matte colors and sizes.
To look like art, rather than a TV with a static image, the TV has an ambient light sensor that it will use to match the brightness of the screen to the room. When it works, it’s amazing, and it has convinced everyone who has come over that it is, in fact, a framed piece of art rather than a TV.
The issue is that the ambient light sensor is widely inaccurate. 30% of the time, the TV is way too dark for the ambient light in the room, and sometimes, it’s so dark that the TV actually appears to be off when it’s not.
The TV will completely shut itself off to conserve power if nobody is in the room, and it is supposed to turn back on when it senses motion, but this only works sporadically. Usually, around once a day, the TV will completely turn itself off, and I will have to manually turn it back on.
I’ve called Samsung support twice and have been all over the Frame TV Facebook group. Everyone has the same problems I have.
As a TV, it’s fine, but I didn’t buy it for that. I bought it to be customizable art, and it feels like 50% of the time I walk into my living room, it doesn’t look like art.
What’s most frustrating is that I feel like the hardware is solid, and with a simple software fix, they could make this product perfect, but it doesn’t seem like that is going to happen.
I can’t fully recommend the Frame TV, especially at the full retail price, but if you can get one on sale, the “art mode” is still better than any other TV on the market.
Real Prints
I also needed to hang some good old-fashioned prints around my home. Saal Digital offered to sponsor this project, and I ordered a range of different products from them.
Saal Digital currently sells a huge range of different photography print products, but they also sell standard prints on a range of different paper types. Standard papers include silk, matte, and glossy, but they also sell Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, Hahnemuhle Bamboo, Hahnemuhle Hemp, and Hahnemuhle Museum Etching paper.
It’s very difficult to explain the properties of these different types of paper, but all of the Hahnemuhle papers had a soft, fibrous feel. They were closer to watercolor paper than standard photo paper. Although there was something to appreciate about each different paper, if you forced me to choose my favorite, I would probably choose the good, old-fashioned matte photo paper. Surprisingly, that’s also one of the cheapest options.
Frames
I ordered a bunch of really cheap 11×17 frames on Amazon, and I got exactly what I paid for. The frames are super lightweight, and instead of glass, they came with a flexible plexiglass front panel that reflects light in strange ways. I can’t recommend them, so I didn’t link to them.
Saal Digital also sells framed prints that come ready to hang, and I purchased two of those. The frame is incredibly robust and made of solid metal, and the front is solid glass. There is no comparison between my ultra-cheap Amazon frames and the ones from Saal Digital, but you will pay significantly more for the build quality and convenience.
Gallery Prints
The most expensive types of prints I purchased were mounted to acrylic. Saal Digital calls this high-end product “GalleryPrint.” These rigged prints come with an aluminum subframe to make the prints appear to float a few millimeters off the wall. You can choose a matte or glossy finish, and I purchased a few of each.
The glossy prints look amazing, but they are the most reflective surface I’ve ever seen, and due to adjacent windows, it’s hard to fully appreciate the prints with all of the reflections. If I could do it all over, I would have purchased everything with a matte finish, but if I were mounting them in a room without adjacent windows, I would definitely choose glossy.
Now that I finally have art hanging in every room in my house, it actually feels like I’ve fully moved in. I’m not sure why I’ve been so bad about printing photos in the past. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but for some reason, I was always too lazy to do it. If you can relate, I hope I can inspire you to display your work. We’ve all worked so hard to take great photos, and they shouldn’t be destined to die alone on some forgotten hard drive. If you’re looking for a place to get high-quality prints, definitely consider Saal Digital.