Samsung The Frame Pro vs SHARP JP7765E

Samsung The Frame Pro is one of the relatively bright televisions. In synthetic tests, we managed to achieve values around 900 nits, which is quite a decent result for a lifestyle model. In full-screen scenes, such as the frame from the movie The Meg or the opening sequence in Life of Pi, the brightness maintained a level of 700–800 nits. These values allow you to fully enjoy the HDR effects and capture their cinematic magic. However, the situation complicates when smaller, point light sources appear on the screen. The edge lighting used here, equipped with the ability to local dim whole strips, does not handle them very well. It happens that small elements are overly darkened, which weakens the effect, or conversely – they become heavily brightened, but at the cost of losing black depth in that part of the image. This can be compared to light halos reminiscent of a laser beam spreading in dense fog – an effect that is visible and bright but at the same time not very natural and distracting. Fortunately, the colour aspect performs better. Thanks to the use of a quantum dot filter (QLED), the colours are saturated, and the reproduction of the DCI-P3 palette reaches over 92%. Generally, movies or series watched in HDR on The Frame Pro present a rich colour palette, even if contrast and the performance of the lighting algorithms can sometimes draw our attention away.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly, we were quite surprised at first. The TV is able to achieve over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rare result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, you can get the impression that you are dealing with really good equipment. But unfortunately, we have to return to the issue we mentioned earlier, which is local dimming management. When small, bright spots appear on a dark background (like in test scenes from the films Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it’s clear how poorly the JP7 handles these zones. The TV dims them almost to the maximum, crushing the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability means that in demanding, contrast-rich films, the image on the JP7 unfortunately loses its appeal.

As a consolation, it's worth noting that the panel has the potential to display colours well. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been employed here, which allows the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it technologically relies mainly on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles between manufacturers over what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this terminology to your judgement. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colours in this panel is simply good.

The best results were, of course, achieved in Filmmaker mode, which immediately showed that Samsung had put effort into the factory settings. In SDR content – the most commonly viewed materials – The Frame Pro performed really well. The white balance and gamma were almost perfectly set, making the image look natural and cohesive. Yes, there were some noticeable errors, particularly in skin tones and reds, which could be overly saturated, giving everything a slightly "warmed up" character, but in everyday use, it didn't hinder the viewing experience too much. For HDR content, the situation was similar regarding the white balance. It was at a good level, however, the biggest issue turned out to be managing brightness. The EOTF curve was set in such a way that in many scenes the image appeared blown out, and the brightest areas lost detail and resulted in uniform patches of light. This severely affected realism and made colours appear very oversharpened. Fortunately, Samsung provides the option for manual adjustment of the curve in their TVs, so we opted for calibration and its results can be seen below.

When it comes to colours straight out of the box, the Sharp JP7 was tested in the Film mode, which traditionally offers the most cohesive image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results still fall short of ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish hue. Another issue was the gamma – in full-screen scenes, the TV produced excessively bright images, completely robbing it of its cinematic character. All of this resulted in colour reproduction errors, especially in shades of grey, which exceeded the Delta E 10 value. To remind you: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed, but not in a better way. Here, the white balance is dominated by blue, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness, reminiscent of aggressive demonstration modes. Moreover, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasise the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the TV generates images that are significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the original content.

After calibration, the SDR mode looks almost perfect. We managed to eliminate the overly intense red saturation that previously gave the image a somewhat excessively warm character. The colours became more balanced, which translated into a natural and pleasant viewing experience for everyday content – from television to movies and series from streaming services or materials on YouTube. In HDR mode, the EOTF curve required the most work, as the factory settings caused excessive clipping of the entire image. The calibration significantly helped to "tame" this issue – the image stopped being overexposed, and details in the bright areas became more visible. Of course, the limits are set by the design of the television itself, as edge lighting reveals its limitations, and even the smallest elements of light can still appear overly bright or blend into the background. However, this is a matter of technology, not just calibration. After the correction, The Frame Pro is much more enjoyable to watch, and it is definitely worth considering if you want to make the most of the television's capabilities.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and honestly... the television gained a second life thanks to it, especially with SDR content (YouTube, traditional television, series, or older films). With our precise adjustments to the white balance and stabilisation of the gamma, colour errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye struggles to perceive discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with truly excellent colour accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the HDR content turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and interventions in the settings, the television simply refused to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any option to effectively control how brightness is managed (EOTF). Although a significant portion of the colour errors has been reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It’s a bit disappointing because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is great, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR you will have to accept a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be bypassed even with professional equipment.

Although in 4K HDR materials the fluidity of tonal transitions in the ChooseTV Pro is not a problem at all, naturally with weaker signal quality – such as with television, HD materials, or older Full HD films – imperfections may occur. Therefore, it's crucial how the television handles these limitations thanks to the image processor. The noise reduction feature works really effectively here. At the medium setting, it eliminates unwanted bands or artifacts, smoothing the image in a visible yet not overdone way. However, it's important to remember that Samsung has a tendency to be aggressive – even at the lowest level of this feature, it can "eat" film grain. So, it's wise to use it with caution and adjust the settings according to the material being watched.

The upscaling itself is of a high standard. The ChooseTV Pro effectively boosts older materials to a native 4K resolution, maintaining good sharpness and clarity. Movies and series in lower quality simply look better here. However, it's worth mentioning a minor downside – typical for many Samsung televisions. With very old sources in poor quality, you may notice some cropping of the image edges on the left side of the screen. It's not a problem that will ruin the viewing experience, but it's good to know that it may occur.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling itself – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the picture remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect, which means no cropped edges. Of course, it's not at the level of top models and at times you can notice slight tearing on the edges, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the actual digital image processing performs much worse, as aside from the scaling, it practically doesn’t exist. In the JP7 menu, we won’t find any options that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal hits the panel in a very raw form, which with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube) results in noticeable posterisation. Either this is a programming error or a very strange design decision, because in earlier Sharp models this function was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here, we are stuck with what the source delivers, without any digital support from the image processor.

The fluidity of movement in The Frame Pro is not only due to the panel itself, which operates at a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, but also the image processor and motion smoothing system. It is thanks to this that we can adjust the way movies or sports broadcasts are displayed to our own preferences. Available are sliders for blur reduction and motion judder reduction – the first function enhances the sharpness of fast movements, while the second helps to soften the effect of the "jumping" image during camera pans. Everyone can choose between a cinematic character of motion and a smoother, more "television" style.

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is quite average, and the reason is simple: the TV uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it hard to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in films with a slider called De-judder. Lower settings give a more raw, “cinematic” (framey) image, while higher ones add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, around 3-5 – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while also getting rid of the annoying image skipping. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually indicates the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it doesn’t actually enhance the image and serves more as a dummy – it looks good in the settings, but technically it shouldn’t work on this panel.

Samsung The Frame Pro doesn’t pretend to be just a “living room” TV; gamers will also find something for themselves here. The manufacturer has ensured a full package of gaming features: we have support for variable refresh rate (VRR), auto low latency mode (ALLM), refresh rates up to 144 Hz, and compatibility with both G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro. Additionally, there’s the well-known Game Bar panel, which is a quick menu where you can check key parameters on-the-fly – from refresh rates to active image processing modes. Are there downsides? Yes, The Frame Pro doesn’t support Dolby Vision in game mode, but it’s hard to consider this a serious issue – most gamers use HDR10 anyway... so the HGIG mode. Exactly. The biggest surprise was the latest software update. Samsung... completely removed this option from The Frame PRO. In practice, this means that the TV independently interprets HDR tone mapping in games, and the user cannot enable settings designed with consoles in mind. This is a step backwards, which may disappoint more aware gamers hoping for full compliance with HGiG guidelines. We can only hope that this mistake will be quickly fixed.

An interesting feature of The Frame Pro is also the unusual placement of HDMI 2.1 ports. We have as many as five at our disposal – four are located in the One Connect module, and the fifth, in micro HDMI form, is located directly on the TV. This solution is quite unusual but very practical. Samsung clearly suggests that this is the port to connect your console or computer. Why? Because it minimises any potential delays associated with communication through the wireless One Connect, and in gaming, every millisecond counts. We have written separately about input lag, but we can reveal here that by connecting the equipment directly to the TV, we get the absolute maximum response speed from it.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console still generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find here:

• ALLM mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Player menu: Which is hard to call a fully-fledged “Game Bar,” as the functionality is minimal. Aside from enabling ALLM, there’s only a dedicator for gaming which we advise against as it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when reducing the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another shortcoming is the VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to screen tearing. Very problematic is also the lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to "overshoot" the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in the highlights, we end up with an unnaturally oversaturated image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for those who game very occasionally.