Samsung The Frame LS03D vs LG OLED C6 (WOLED)

Samsung The Frame LS03D really does well with brightness. Results at the level of 700 nits make bright elements on the screen look impressive and detailed, whether they illuminate the entire screen or appear as tiny points of light on a dark background. In more demanding scenes, like the fourth sequence from the film Sicario 2, the blacks perform moderately, but we have already discussed this in the section on contrast. However, when it comes to brightness – this television definitely holds its own. An additional advantage is the quantum dot coating, which is QLED technology. Thanks to this, the coverage of the colour palette has been improved, although The Frame does not stand out in this regard compared to the competition.

The HDR performance of the LG C6 is really very good. LG Display’s new WOLED panel has mainly brought a significant increase in brightness. In our unit we measured around 1500 nits and, importantly, the TV can show similar values in many normal movie scenes as well. That gives HDR real punch. Bright highlights, lamps and sunlight can be genuinely intense, and most HDR movies simply look very impressive. Of course it’s still an OLED, so brightness falls in scenes with a lot of white. The fifth scene from the movie The Meg illustrates this well, where the C6 reached around 600 to 700 nits. That’s still a very good result, but it also shows the new panel hasn’t shed all the limitations typical of OLEDs.

Colours

When it comes to colours, it’s also hard to raise major objections. The C6 covers about 99% of the DCI-P3 gamut and roughly 75% of BT.2020. In practice colours are very saturated and, importantly, stable regardless of the scene. That’s worth emphasising, because not every TV behaves the same in this respect. In some RGB Mini LED models colour saturation can depend more strongly on image brightness. A wider colour gamut today is mainly offered by QD-OLED TVs and new SQD models with a new generation of quantum dots. However, the C6 still performs very strongly here and is able to produce suitably saturated colours in most movie scenes.

Samsung offers several picture modes in its televisions, but without a doubt, Filmmaker Mode is the one that should provide the most natural representation of content. Unfortunately, as often happens with mass production, the differences between individual units can be quite significant, and our tested model did not escape a few issues.

In the case of SDR content, the white balance leaned heavily towards red, with a slight boost in blue. This effect was particularly noticeable in comparison photos – for example, in a photograph of a boy whose face was unnaturally flushed. The gamma, or brightness characteristic, also did not perform perfectly – the image was slightly brightened, which robbed it of depth.

In 4K HDR content, the white balance was once again dominated by red, this time combined with green. Meanwhile, blue clearly lost intensity, which could easily be seen on the Color Checker palette, where the colours began to "escape" in the wrong direction. The EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in HDR content, showed that the television tended to overly brighten the image, particularly in the darkest elements of scenes.

Overall, while it did not look terrible, it definitely required correction. Fortunately, Samsung offers extensive calibration options, which provides a chance for a significant improvement in picture quality. Therefore, we proceeded with professional calibration to unlock the full potential of this television.

Right out of the box the LG C6 is quite well set up, especially if you choose the Filmmaker mode. In SDR material the white balance is decent, although as brightness increases there is a slight lack of red. The image becomes a bit cooler, but not enough for it to be very noticeable during normal viewing. More is happening in the brightness characteristic. Gamma is a little low and instead of holding at 2.4, for a large part of the range it sits closer to 2.1–2.2. In practice the C6 slightly brightens midtones. Shadows are therefore more readable, but the image loses some depth compared with how it should look in a darkened room.

In HDR the situation is a bit more interesting. The start of the greyscale looks very good, but from about 20–30% brightness the white balance starts to drift increasingly. As brightness rises there is more red and a noticeable lack of blue. In the brightest sections the difference is already significant and also affects the reproduction of some colours. The EOTF curve itself is followed quite well through most of the range. The C6 only tends to slightly brighten the image, which we also saw in our film comparisons. The largest deviation appears around the brightest parts, where the TV starts adapting the signal to the panel's capabilities.

The factory Filmmaker setting in HDR is therefore not perfect, but overall performs well. The biggest area for improvement is the white balance, especially at high brightness.

After professional calibration, the Filmmaker Mode showcases its full potential. The white balance in HD content is exemplary – errors at the level of 0.5 indicate almost perfect accuracy in colour reproduction. The image now appears natural, and the colours are exactly as they should be. In 4K HDR content, the effect is not quite as perfect, but it still maintains a really high standard. The colours are vibrant, well-saturated, and the overall image quality is impressive.

So where does the problem lie, given our praise for the colour reproduction? Unfortunately, the entire experience is disrupted by the brightness characteristics. The gamma in HD content looks decent, but in 4K HDR, it’s not as good. The EOTF curve shows that the television excessively brightens certain parts of the image, which is a result of design limitations. The lack of local dimming means that the television is unable to accurately control the differences between the brightest and darkest areas of the screen. This is a barrier that simply cannot be overcome in this model.

Nonetheless, after calibration, Samsung The Frame LS03D offers excellent colour reproduction, particularly in HD content, and the overall look is significantly better than before the settings were adjusted.

LG TVs have long responded very well to calibration, and the C6 is no exception. After adjustments we managed to set the white balance practically perfectly, and most colour errors fell below 3, often down to around 2. In practice this means very accurate colour reproduction in both SDR and HDR. An interesting detail only appeared with the HDR brightness response. On a classic EOTF chart everything looks almost perfect and at first glance it would be hard to find fault. Only when we measured the TV’s behaviour using filters based on real film scenes did it become clear that the C6 has a slight tendency to artificially boost image brightness.

It’s not a huge difference and many viewers may even see it as a positive, because HDR looks a bit more striking as a result. From the point of view of fidelity to the source material, however, it’s not ideal — some scenes are simply a touch brighter than the filmmaker intended. Interestingly, this is rather unusual for LG. In previous generations the brand’s TVs typically held very closely to the reference picture curve after calibration. The C6 is still very close to the standard, but that subtle brightness 'boost' can indeed be noticed in films and TV series.

It's time to check how Samsung The Frame LS03D copes with older, lower-quality materials. We already know that the smoothness of tonal transitions is at a very high level, so we were curious to see how the TV would handle smoothing them out.

The noise reduction feature in the “Standard” setting does its job well – tonal transitions are noticeably smoothed out, and the image doesn’t lose too much detail. However, it’s worth noting that this effect also smooths out film grain, so its usage will be a matter of individual preference.

When it comes to image scaling, the TV performed really well too. The tested image came out solid – the model was accurately represented, with clear details. The branches in the background, although slightly frayed in places, generally look natural and do not stand out as a flaw.

Here the LG C6 has taken a really big step forward. The TV uses the same processor found in the flagship G6, and in terms of image processing the two models are very close. That's a big plus, because in this area LG's processor this year performs excellently. The "Smooth Gradation" function works particularly well. With heavily compressed material it can effectively hide ugly tonal banding and artefacts that often appear, for example, in lower-quality streaming. It's best to leave it on the "Low" setting. Then the improvement is clear, and the TV doesn't yet start blurring fine detail. Higher levels smooth the image more aggressively, but can already remove some of the natural texture of objects on screen. Upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is properly sharpened, edges look clean, and the processor quite effectively reconstructs fine details. In that respect the C6 is really close to LG's best TVs and the differences compared with the G6 are small.

To start off, it’s worth noting that the model we tested in the 55-inch size, along with the 65, 75, and 85-inch versions, is equipped with a 120 Hz panel. Unfortunately, the 43 and 50-inch variants of this series only offer 60 Hz panels, which is worth considering when making a purchase. In terms of improving motion fluidity, the TV offers a feature called “Image Clarity.” This is a classic motion smoother that gives users the ability to adjust using two sliders:

Blur Reduction – this controls image sharpening during dynamic scenes. The higher the value, the less blurring occurs during fast camera moves or moving objects. However, setting it too aggressively can make the image look unnatural and resemble a “soap opera.”

Judder Reduction – this slider affects the smoothness of frame playback, especially in materials with lower frame rates, such as movies (24 fps). Higher settings can smooth out motion but can also lead to excessive “plasticity” of the image.

Both sliders operate on a scale from 0 to 10, allowing for precise adjustment of the effect to personal preferences. It’s a good idea to experiment with the settings to find the perfect balance between fluidity and a natural look for the image. We recommend setting them as shown in the picture.

The LG C6 features a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz, which is great news especially for gamers using a powerful PC. For movies, sport and consoles we’ll of course be limited to 120 Hz at most, but even then it’s hard to fault the motion clarity. As you’d expect from an OLED, the panel’s response time is near-instant. Moving objects therefore don’t leave the characteristic smearing you still see on LCD TVs. This is especially noticeable in sport and fast-paced games, where the picture remains very clean even during dynamic movement.

For movies and TV, LG has also included a motion smoothing system called TruMotion. In the user settings you’ll find two separate sliders. De-Judder is primarily for low-frame-rate material, namely movies and TV series at 24 fps. You can use it to slightly reduce the characteristic judder or increase it if you prefer a much smoother picture. De-Blur, on the other hand, is useful for higher-frame-rate content, mainly sports broadcasts and 50/60 fps TV.

The Frame LS03D in the 2024 version is equipped with four HDMI ports, but only one supports the 2.1 standard with a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s. This is important information if we plan to connect more than one device that requires a 4K@120 Hz signal – for example, two consoles or a console and a gaming PC.

In terms of features for gamers, The Frame truly has a lot to boast about. We have ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and HGiG. It’s worth mentioning that HGiG has been very well implemented here, which is particularly important as the television does not support Dolby Vision in games (which is only available on Xbox consoles). In this case, HGiG turns out to be a better standard for gaming.

Samsung hasn't forgotten about features that enhance the gaming experience. Game Bar is an expanded panel for gamers that allows quick adjustment of screen settings without having to dig through the television menu. We can even change the aspect ratio from 16:9 to the panoramic 21:9, which can be a significant advantage for some gamers.

However, Samsung's biggest ace up its sleeve is the Game Motion Plus feature. This is a special smoother dedicated to games that adds additional frames of animation without significantly affecting input lag. The effect is really noticeable – the image seems much smoother, which will be particularly appreciated by fans of dynamic titles.

In summary – Samsung The Frame LS03D is a television that offers a solid set of features for gamers. Although the limitation to one HDMI 2.1 port may be a downside, the rest of the solutions make gaming on this television a truly enjoyable experience.

LG has long focused heavily on gamers, and the C6 essentially lacks nothing important. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz from consoles, and when connected to a PC it can even run at 165 Hz. On top of that there’s VRR from 40 to 165 Hz, ALLM and a properly functioning HGiG. Another big plus is support for Dolby Vision in games, so the Xbox Series X can use that format without giving up game mode. The package is rounded out by the Game Bar, which lets you quickly check key signal parameters and change settings without leaving your game. In terms of features alone, the C6 is one of those TVs it’s really hard to fault. Whether you play on PlayStation, Xbox or PC, practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming TV is available here.