Samsung The Frame 2025 (LS03F) vs Samsung Q8F

The Frame LS03F is a television that can surprise with its brightness. The maximum luminance reaches around 650 nits, which already looks solid on paper. But as we know – lab tests are one thing, and real film scenes are quite another story. When watching HDR materials in natural conditions, The Frame 2025 maintains very good results. In most film scenes, peak brightness stayed at around 550–650 nits. This is enough to feel the difference between standard picture and that in HDR quality – bright highlights, reflections on water, or moonlight look distinct and impressive.

It's also worth noting that the LS03F is a QLED television, which translates to solid colour saturation. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space reaches about 92%, allowing for vibrant, intense colours in HDR content. It's not at the level of top premium models, but for a lifestyle screen – the result truly deserves recognition.

In terms of brightness, the Samsung Q8F performs surprisingly well for a TV without local dimming. It measures up to 500 nits, which in practice means that most movie and series scenes look pleasant, and it cannot be faulted for lacking the "HDR effect." In films like Life of Pi or The Meg, the screen can burst with bright light, delivering a level of lighting effect that is satisfying. It struggles more in challenging moments—such as dark scenes with single bright points. The global dimming used causes the TV to darken the image to maintain deep blacks, but at the expense of detail brightness. This is clearly visible in the scene from Sicario 2, where the brightness of the helicopter lights dropped to around 200 nits. This is a deliberate design choice that gives the impression of deeper blacks but takes some shine away from individual elements, and one should simply keep that in mind. Regarding colour reproduction, the Q8F uses quantum dot technology, which expands the colour gamut. A coverage of the DCI-P3 palette at 91% can be considered a decent result, although it is not a record-breaking figure compared to other QLEDs.

When it comes to picture quality right out of the box, even in Filmmaker mode, which is supposed to be the closest to reference, there were some issues. In both HD and 4K HDR content, we noticed clear deviations in white balance. The picture was heavily skewed towards red and blue, giving the screen a distinctive pinkish hue. This effect was most noticeable in bright scenes – for example, in shots with a lot of white, where neutral light should naturally dominate. In such moments, the screen clearly took on pink tones, which is also evident in the attached comparative photo. As for brightness characteristics – it wasn't as bad as one might expect given such colour inaccuracies. Analysis of the gamma curve and EOTF showed a slight brightening of the image compared to the reference, but not enough to drastically spoil the viewing experience.

We decided to check out the Filmmaker mode because right out of the box it gave us the best picture. However, that doesn't mean it was perfect. The white balance had too much of a blue and red tint, causing the whites to lean towards a slight purple-pink hue. Such imbalance affected the visibility of virtually all colours, which is clearly seen in the comparison photo below. The brightness characteristics in SDR content were quite well calibrated, although in HDR materials we noticed that the TV didn't always handle its global dimming well — at times the screen was too dim, while at other times it could suddenly brighten up. Fortunately, issues related to colours can be effectively corrected with calibration tools, so we decided to get to work.

After calibration, the movie mode gained a completely new quality. The issue of the pink tint, which was previously clearly visible, especially in bright scenes, has been effectively eliminated. Colours started to look significantly more natural, and the white balance no longer dominated the rest of the image. It was no longer the same oversaturated "picture from a box" – everything took on coherence and a cinematic character. Additionally, the tendency of the TV to slightly brighten scenes, previously visible in the EOTF curve analysis, has been partially corrected. Of course, within the limits of what the design allows without local dimming – it's difficult to speak of perfect brightness management here. Nevertheless, the final effect was definitely closer to what one might expect from a mode named Filmmaker.

After calibration, we managed to correct the white balance to almost perfection. Older SDR content looks fantastic — most errors are within a value of 2, which is definitely below the threshold of human perceptibility. In HDR, we also brought the white balance to an acceptable level, but a different problem arises here. So why are there still relatively large errors in colour reproduction? This is mainly due to the limited colour palette and the way the television manages brightness. The global dimming technique used does not give the user control in the settings, so analysing the EOTF curve in HDR films, it's clear that the Q8F can modify luminance on its own. This can be seen as a limitation, but still, the image after calibration is much more enjoyable to watch than in the factory version.

LS03F is equipped with an NQ4 processor, which is responsible for improving image quality – especially in lower-quality materials. In practice, it works surprisingly well, particularly when it comes to older content and recordings with lower resolution. Activating the "noise reduction" feature delivers noticeable results. The television effectively smooths tonal transitions and removes digital noise that can appear in darker areas of the image. Compared to previous generations, there is a clear improvement – earlier, this feature often smoothed everything too much, including details that it shouldn't have removed. In this year’s model, the smoothing still occurs, but it happens in a much more acceptable way. Textures of materials, skin, or fabric details are not as heavily muted as before – the image retains more naturalness. However, this does not change the fact that film grain is still removed by the television, which may not appeal to everyone. On the other hand, it's no longer such an aggressive intervention as in previous models. It's also worth mentioning that the LS03F may struggle with very weak signals – for example, from VHS tapes or low-resolution video. In such cases, we noticed slight clipping of the image at the edges – the so-called overscan. This can lead to situations where a small part of the image (e.g., subtitles at the bottom edge) gets cut off.

Let's see how the Q8F handles older content, which often has poor quality. Starting with the positives: the upscaling works really well. The TV performs nicely with both classic television and materials from YouTube, not giving the impression that we're dealing with something completely unattractive. It struggles more with content in very low resolutions, such as 576p — the image can be cropped, and unfortunately, the overscan phenomenon cannot be disabled. Moreover, the digital processing does not look great either. The noise reduction feature, instead of removing unwanted artefacts, smooths out almost everything: film grain (which many viewers desire) disappears along with the texture of the image, and actors' faces start to resemble characters from cheap Turkish soap operas. It's hard to consider this option useful — it's best left completely off. Perhaps Samsung will refine the function’s performance in updates, but for now, it’s difficult to view it as anything other than an unnecessary addition.

The new feature in The Frame for 2025 is a 144 Hz refresh rate display. Yes – in a television primarily associated with displaying works of art, you can now not only watch Van Gogh, but also comfortably play on a console or follow fast-paced sporting events. This is a significant step towards greater versatility. In the case of Samsung movies, as usual in models with a 120 Hz display and above, it allows you to adjust motion fluidity according to your preferences. You can set a more cinematic reproduction that maintains frame rate or opt for complete image smoothing. The range of options is broad, allowing you to tailor the effect to your tastes – regardless of whether the screening is meant to look like classic cinema or a performance on a modern theatre panel.

*this part of the test refers to the model LS03FAU in sizes 55 and 65 inches, which is equipped with a 144Hz display; the sizes 43 and 50 inches have 60Hz displays, and consequently perform much worse in terms of motion fluidity.

Due to the applied 60 Hz panel, it's hard to call the Q8F a television made for gaming or watching sports. The panel isn't particularly fast, making motion blur clearly visible. If you were expecting a spectacular, almost 'stadium-like' experience during broadcasts, you might feel a bit disappointed. Fortunately, for movies and series, Samsung hasn't given up on the motion smoothing function. It's nothing more than a smoother that allows for improved fluidity of productions recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. This way, you can decide for yourself whether you prefer a more fluid, 'television-like' image or to retain the cinematic character. It all depends on the viewer's preferences, and the ability to adjust this parameter is undoubtedly a plus.

As we mentioned earlier – although The Frame likely displays images and artwork for most of the time, Samsung recognised that a Van Gogh fan could just as easily be an avid gamer. And it must be said that The Frame 2025 has almost everything to become a fully-fledged gaming TV.

Onboard, we find support for ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) thanks to the implementation of a single HDMI 2.1 port. The TV handles lower resolutions at higher refresh rates effortlessly and features an expanded Game Bar – already known from other Samsung models – which allows for quick preview and adjustment of key gaming-related settings. For this, it gets extra points from us. Noteworthy is also the proprietary motion smoother, Auto Motion Plus Game, which – and this is worth emphasising – works without increasing input lag. Samsung remains the only manufacturer that has managed to implement this feature in a practically unnoticeable way regarding delays. The result? Much better fluidity in games, especially those that struggle to maintain a stable 60 frames. This solution can genuinely improve gaming comfort in more demanding titles – particularly on consoles that don’t always manage full fluidity, especially in AAA games.

As for the downsides – the lack of Dolby Vision is already something we consider standard in Samsung TVs, so there’s not much to specifically nitpick here. However, the problem lies elsewhere. In the latest version of the Tizen system, the HGiG option has disappeared. Literally – it’s gone. This is a significant inconvenience when configuring the console for proper HDR content display in games. It's hard to understand why such a decision was made, but one thing is certain – this needs to be fixed as soon as possible. We’re talking about a brand that has set standards for gaming on TVs for years. If HGiG returns – and we hope it does – The Frame LS03F can confidently aspire to be a proper gaming TV. Not only as a decoration on the wall, but as equipment that truly enhances the gaming experience.

It's not entirely clear what Samsung has messed up this year with its TVs, but the Q8F isn't free from all the confusion with updates and shortcomings. While its older cousin, the Q67D, could still be recommended with a clear conscience to casual gamers, it's hard to find a reason to do so here. Aside from the automatic game mode and the attractively designed Game Bar, we get practically nothing that could appeal to gamers. The lack of proper HGiG implementation is a major issue, especially since the feature simply disappeared after the 1126 update. The situation with VRR is even worse. Even though it appears in the manufacturer's brochures and shows up in the Game Bar, we couldn't get it to work. The Xbox Series X console wouldn't allow it to be activated at all, and the option remained greyed out and inactive. It's difficult to praise such a TV even to casual gamers, which is a shame because Samsung has had a strong selling point in the gaming segment for years.