Samsung Q6F (IPS) vs Samsung The Frame Pro 2026 (LS03HW)

The Samsung Q6F is, unfortunately, a very dark model. Its peak brightness in HDR does not exceed 250 nits, which is a value that is decidedly too low to even talk about any effect of “high dynamic range,” or HDR. In practice, it’s better to stick to content in SDR format, which simply looks more predictable on this television. Another problem is the global dimming technique – in scenes with a lot of black, the television drastically dims the entire panel to artificially improve the black levels. This causes the image to become even darker, and the brightness can drop below 100 nits. The only consolation is supposed to be the QLED technology, but even here it is average. The layer of quantum dots used is not of the highest quality, as the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette does not exceed 90%. As a result, the colours in HDR content may simply appear under-saturated.

One thing you cannot deny The Frame Pro is: brightness. At peak we measured around 850–900 nits, so the TV already has enough power to show many HDR scenes really impressively. Bright, full‑screen shots and more colourful frames perform best here. In such scenes The Frame Pro can make a good impression because the image is bright, punchy and has the effect we expect from HDR. In our measurements some scenes reached over 800 nits, and even in more challenging segments the TV maintained a quite respectable brightness level.

The problem starts when HDR depends on small bright elements shown on a dark background. Individual lamps, stars or highlights can be bright, but very often the black level across a larger part of the image also rises. As a result the bright point itself may look good, but the whole frame loses a lot of quality. Therefore The Frame Pro shows HDR best in scenes that are simply full‑screen. If a film or TV series has plenty of such shots, the effect can be really pleasant. In darker material the limitations of local dimming are much more noticeable.

Colours

The Frame Pro should be praised for its colour gamut coverage. The TV uses quantum dots, the solution known as QLED, which allows it to reproduce very well saturated colours. In our measurements coverage of the most important film gamut DCI‑P3 was around 94.5%, while the more demanding BT.2020 was about 72%.

These are very solid results that in most scenes allow for pleasant, saturated colours. Of course these figures are not as spectacular as in the latest screens using RGB backlighting, but The Frame Pro makes up for that with something else: colour stability. Regardless of the scene, colour saturation remains fairly consistent and there are no situations where the TV loses colour badly in more demanding shots.

We tested the television in Filmmaker mode, which showed us two completely different facets of this model. Looking at SDR content, we were genuinely shocked at how good this television looks straight out of the box. It was really difficult to find fault with anything here. Despite a slight 'muddiness' in the white balance or somewhat brightened details in the blacks (which directly stem from the design of the IPS panel), the colour errors hovered around a level of '2'. This result is not only surprisingly good but downright amazing, considering the price of this device.

On the other hand, what the Q6F displayed in terms of colours after switching to HDR mode was a very unpleasant surprise. The errors in colour reproduction and palette were so enormous that our charts literally ran out of scale. Of course, since Samsung even in such an affordable model offers very extensive calibration options, we decided to approach the issue professionally and see what could be done during calibration.

In SDR material The Frame Pro in Filmmaker mode performs quite well, though it falls a little short of perfect. The white balance is relatively even, but as brightness increases the blue component drops, so the brighter parts of the image can have a slightly warmer tint. A bigger difference is visible in the gamma, that is the handling of the screen's brightness. For most of the range it runs below our reference point, which means the TV slightly brightens midtones. As a result the image can appear a little brighter and less contrasty than it should. The colour errors themselves are not huge, but they are noticeable enough that calibration could still bring considerable improvement.

In HDR content the white balance looks similar — for a large part of the range it is fairly even, with larger deviations appearing only at higher brightness. The EOTF curve is more interesting. The Frame Pro sticks reasonably close to the reference values in the brighter part of the image, but clearly brightens the darkest sections. This is mainly due to the design of the TV's backlight. That also affects colours. With less saturated hues the errors remain moderate, but as saturation increases they become much larger. In Colour Checker measurements a large portion of samples already show high error values. The factory HDR can therefore be regarded as decent, but it is certainly not an image we would call very faithful.

After our calibration, the colours in SDR mode looked even better – the result is truly surprising, as colour errors at the '1' level are something generally seen in devices costing several thousand pounds. In this regard, the Q6F is really an excellent screen for everyday television, less demanding series or films. Unfortunately, our intervention in the HDR mode did not bring a noticeable improvement. The television, due to its poor blacks and low coverage of a wide colour gamut, still has significant issues with proper colour saturation, especially reds. This is an example of a device where HDR exists mainly as a label on the box – for everyday use, we definitely recommend watching content in SDR format.

After calibration the biggest improvement is visible above all in SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance, but the more important change was the gamma correction, which before calibration had the greatest influence on the image character. After the adjustments the gamma curve is now very close to the reference, so the picture is not as bright in the midtones and simply looks more natural. Colour errors have also been significantly reduced, so the effect of calibration in SDR is clearly visible.

With HDR the situation is somewhat more complex. White balance has been improved and over part of the range the TV stays much closer to the reference, but deviations still appear at higher brightness levels. The same applies to colour reproduction: some errors can be corrected, but not all stem from the settings alone. This highlights the limitations of the TV's design and the way its backlight and local dimming affect HDR images. Therefore, with The Frame Pro calibration makes the biggest difference to everyday viewing. Regular TV, YouTube and films and series in SDR (mainly those from the cheaper tiers of streaming services) can look noticeably better afterwards.

Q6F performs very well in upscaling lower-resolution content to native 4K. The scaling here is surprisingly good, even for such an inexpensive television from the QLED series. The only downside is the situation where we are watching very low-resolution materials, such as 576p (typical for old DVD players) – in which case the image may be slightly cropped. This is due to the fact that the television does not allow the Overscan function to be turned off, which is a typical issue with Samsung devices.

The situation is completely different when it comes to digital processing, specifically the attempt to smooth the image of unwanted artifacts. Here the television completely fails. Although there is a function in the menu called "Noise Reduction," it yields no visible results regardless of the slider setting. The only thing it manages to do is introduce undesired errors in the image. Despite its presence in the system, we definitely do not recommend using it.

The Frame Pro uses the NQ4 AI Gen3 processor, so in terms of image processing it behaves very similarly to other newer Samsung TVs. Upscaling works really well – lower-resolution content is appropriately sharpened and the picture remains clear without excessive edge enhancement. With regular broadcast TV or lower-quality YouTube material this can provide a noticeable improvement, although viewers watching even older material, e.g. from VHS tapes, may notice a slight cropping of the image on the left side (overscan).

It's a bit different when improving more highly compressed footage by reducing noise and artefacts such as posterization. The "Noise reduction" function can improve poor material, but fairly quickly it begins to alter the picture and remove fine details and grain. Therefore it's best to use it sparingly and mainly when the source truly requires it.

The 60 Hz panel in the Samsung Q6F is standard for this price range, making it rather average for dynamic sports or gaming. However, when it comes to films, the television performs quite well thanks to the motion smoothing feature. The "Motion Reduction" option allows you to adjust the smoothness of movement to your own preferences – from maintaining a cinematic character to complete fluidity.

The Frame Pro comes with a 144 Hz panel, and when connected to a PC it also supports 240 Hz at Full HD resolution. That feature is primarily aimed at PC gamers, but the TV also performs very well at the standard 120 Hz refresh rate used for watching sport or gaming on consoles. A key advantage is the low level of motion blur. For a VA panel, The Frame Pro does very well in this respect. You don't see the strong, dark trailing smears behind moving objects that we often encounter on TVs with this type of panel. As a result, fast-paced sport and dynamic games remain clear in motion. Of course there's also motion smoothing with adjustable smoothness, so for films and sports broadcasts we can tailor the motion character to our preferences. You'll find our recommended settings in the photo.

We're not going to beat around the bush – the Q6F is not a television designed for gamers. Although it features additions like ALLM (automatic low latency mode) and VRR frame synchronisation for consoles, the list of advantages basically ends there. Aside from these basics, the television offers nothing more that would satisfy those who spend a lot of time in front of a console. It’s a great shame that such a useful tool as Game Bar, which allows for quick control of game parameters in Samsung's higher models, is missing here. In terms of gaming, this model is absolutely basic and is only suitable for "casual" gamers.

Functionally for gamers The Frame Pro has a great deal to offer. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM and a properly implemented HGiG. When connected to a PC you can also use 144 Hz at 4K, and even 240 Hz when dropping to Full HD. Samsung also includes its standard suite of gaming extras. There is an expanded Game Bar that lets you quickly view and change the most important settings, and Game Motion Plus, which can improve the smoothness of games running at 30 or 60 frames per second. On top of that there is the Gaming Hub and the option to play in the cloud without needing to connect a console. The only real omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung does not support. Apart from that, The Frame Pro offers virtually everything you can expect from a well-equipped gaming TV today.