Samsung The Frame 2025 (LS03F) vs SONY BRAVIA 3 II (XR35M2)

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

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

Bravia 3 II is certainly not a TV that tries to impress with brightness. In our measurements it reached about 450 nits, so it falls well short of the brightest models on the market. That does not mean HDR is just a paper feature. Compared with ordinary SDR material, the brightest elements of the image can already come through noticeably, and reflections, highlights and stronger exposures have a bit more energy and stand out better from the rest of the scene. This is most obvious in simpler shots where the screen displays many bright elements. Then the Bravia 3 II can give a hint of a higher dynamic-range picture. The problem only begins with more demanding content, where much greater brightness headroom is required. There the TV quickly shows its limitations and instead of powerful, striking HDR we get only a competently rendered picture.

Colours

Bravia 3 II uses a QLED-type panel, although technically it does not use a classic quantum dot layer. Instead Sony has used a solution based on PFS phosphor, which performs a very similar role: it allows more saturated reds and greens and thus enables a much wider colour gamut. In measurements DCI-P3 coverage was around 94%, and the very wide BT.2020 around 74.4%. These are good results for this class of hardware, which mean the Bravia 3 II has no problem reproducing sufficiently saturated colours in HDR content. Colours do not look washed out, and more intense hues can look genuinely attractive.

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

In Professional mode the Bravia 3 II already delivers a fairly good level of colour reproduction straight out of the box. In SDR the most noticeable issue is a slightly low gamma, which makes the midtones a little brighter. White balance isn't perfect either; as brightness increases the blue and red components become slightly lacking, so whites can at times take on a marginally warmer, faintly greenish tint. These are not faults that immediately catch the eye when watching a film. Average error values hover around 3, so the factory setting can be regarded as quite good. The situation is similar in HDR. Here too there is a slight lack of the blue component, so the image is marginally warmer than the reference, but the difference is not large enough to significantly interfere with normal viewing.

After calibration, the movie mode has gained a completely new quality. The issue of the pink tint, which had been clearly visible before, especially in bright scenes, has been effectively eliminated. Colours now look much more natural, and the white balance no longer dominates the rest of the image. It is no longer the same exaggerated "box picture" – everything now has coherence and a cinematic character. Additionally, the tendency of the television to slightly brighten scenes, previously visible in the EOTF curve analysis, has been partially corrected. Of course, this is within the limits of what the design allows without local dimming – one cannot speak of perfect brightness management here. Nevertheless, the final effect was definitely closer to what one might expect from a mode called Filmmaker.

After calibration, there is particularly a lot to be gained from SDR content. The white balance was set almost perfectly, the gamma practically matches the reference value, and the average colour errors fell from around 3 to about 1. That is already a level at which differences from the reference image are, in practice, very difficult to detect. The Bravia 3 II therefore shows that, despite its position in Sony’s lineup, it has quite a lot of potential for precise picture calibration. Improvements are also visible in HDR, although here it is no longer possible to avoid all the limitations of the TV itself. After evening out the colours, it is easier to notice that the EOTF curve in film content runs slightly below the reference value in places, so the Bravia 3 II gently darkens part of the image. This is not an ideal solution from a reference point of view, but in this particular TV it also has its benefits. With no local dimming and average black levels, this behaviour slightly reduces the visibility of the backlight in darker scenes and helps maintain a stronger impression of contrast. So you could say Sony partly masks the limitations of the panel this way, instead of trying at all costs to stick to the reference luminance.

LS03F has been equipped with the NQ4 processor, which is responsible for improving image quality – particularly in lower quality materials. In practice, this works surprisingly well, especially when it comes to older content and recordings with lower resolution. Activating the "noise reduction" function yields noticeable effects. The TV 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 advancement – previously, this function often smoothed everything too much, including details that it shouldn't remove. In this year's model, smoothing still occurs, but in a much more acceptable manner. Textures of materials, skin, and fabric details are no longer subdued as strongly as before – the image retains more naturalness. However, this does not change the fact that film grain is still removed by the TV, which may not appeal to everyone. On the other hand, it is no longer as aggressive an intervention as in previous models. It is also worth mentioning that the LS03F may struggle with very weak signals – for example, from VHS tape recordings or low-resolution video. In such cases, we noticed slight clipping of the image at the edges – so-called overscan. This can lead to a situation where a small part of the image (e.g., subtitles at the bottom edge) gets cut off.

The Bravia 3 II is Sony's first TV to use the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, and there are a few changes in image processing. Starting with the basics. The upscaling itself is adequate. The TV can sensibly pull up lower-resolution material and does not have a strong tendency to over-emphasise jagged edges or other source imperfections. With regular broadcast TV or weaker streaming material the picture therefore remains quite pleasing. We have more reservations about the digital image processing. In this model Sony has replaced the well-known "Smooth Gradation" function with a new setting called "Digital Noise Reduction". Its role is essentially very similar: it is supposed to smooth unpleasant tonal transitions and artefacts resulting from heavy signal compression. Unfortunately, this function performs noticeably worse than before. At the "High" setting (the only one that had any visible effect) the TV can smooth away too many elements of the image at once, causing film grain to disappear and the texture of objects or even skin to start looking unnatural. Worse still, the effect is not particularly stable. When a scene contains more motion, the function's effect clearly weakens and at times it looks as if the TV stops intervening in the picture altogether. For everyday viewing we therefore would not recommend using it at a high level. It can help on a static shot, but the price is often an excessive loss of detail.

The new feature in The Frame for 2025 is a display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. Yes – in a television that is mainly associated with displaying works of art, you can now not only watch Van Gogh but also comfortably play on a console or follow dynamic sports events. This is a definite step towards greater versatility. In the case of Samsung films, as usual in models with a display rate of 120 Hz and above, it allows you to adjust motion smoothness according to your preferences. You can set a more cinematic reproduction while maintaining frame rate or opt for full motion smoothing. The range of options is broad, allowing you to tailor the effect to your own taste – whether the viewing experience is meant to resemble classic cinema or a show on a modern theatre screen.

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

Motion handling is definitely one of the Bravia 3 II's strongest points. The TV uses a 120Hz VA panel, a solution that, by nature, despite the high refresh rate, does not always cope well with motion blur. Here, however, Sony has managed to keep that problem very well under control. Fast-moving objects remain crisp, and the characteristic trails and blurring are reduced to a very low level, if not to zero. It is one of the least motion-blur-prone LCD TVs we have tested. Interestingly, in this respect the Bravia 3 II can even outperform the much more expensive True RGB flagship series, the Bravia 9 II.

As we mentioned earlier – although The Frame likely displays images and artworks most of the time, Samsung has recognised that a Van Gogh enthusiast could just as easily be a passionate gamer. And it must be admitted that The Frame 2025 has almost everything to become a fully-fledged gaming television.

On board, we find support for ALLM (automatic game mode) and variable refresh rate (VRR) thanks to the implementation of one HDMI 2.1 port. The television handles lower resolutions at higher refresh rates without any issues and features an extensive Game Bar – already known from other Samsung models – which allows for quick preview and change of the most important gaming-related settings. For this, it earns extra points from us. It is also worth highlighting the custom motion smoothening technology, Auto Motion Plus Game, which – and it is worth emphasising – works without increasing input lag. Samsung remains the only manufacturer that has managed to implement this feature in a practically unnoticeable manner regarding delays. The result? Much better fluidity in games, especially those that struggle to maintain a stable 60 frames. This solution can genuinely improve the gaming experience in more demanding titles – particularly on consoles that do not always manage full fluidity, especially in AAA games.

As for the downsides – the lack of Dolby Vision is already regarded as standard in Samsung televisions, so there's nothing to specifically complain about here. However, the issue is something entirely different. In the latest version of the Tizen system, the HGiG option has disappeared. Literally – it is gone. This is a significant hindrance when configuring consoles for proper HDR content display in games. It is hard to understand why such a decision was made, but one thing is certain – this should be fixed as soon as possible. We are talking about a brand that has set standards for years when it comes to gaming on televisions. If HGiG returns – and we hope it will – The Frame LS03F can confidently aspire to the title of a genuine gaming television. Not just as a wall decoration, but as equipment that truly provides enjoyment in gaming.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung televisions from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the HGiG function crucial for gamers.

Sony Bravia 3 II is a very good TV for gamers, although not everything has been implemented exactly as we would like. The biggest change concerns the connectors. For the first time in a Sony TV we get as many as four full HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gb/s bandwidth, thanks to the new MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset. That removes one of the issues that has plagued this manufacturer’s TVs for years. We can connect several devices at once and on each input use the device’s full capabilities, for example VRR or ALLM. There is also a simple Game Bar that lets you view key signal parameters and change a few useful settings, such as black level, when you want to improve visibility in darker parts of a game. However, there are two limitations worth knowing. The first is the lack of support for 1440p at 120 Hz. That will not be a problem for everyone, but people using that resolution on a console or PC, for example to get higher frame rates in certain games, will have to choose 1080p. We have more reservations about HGiG support. Sony does not allow you to disable the TV’s tone mapping on the Bravia 3 II, so the screen is always processing HDR content even when you would prefer to leave that task to the console. This is most obvious during HDR setup — the checkerboard pattern does not disappear at the point that corresponds to the TV’s actual capabilities. That does not mean HDR in games will look bad. You just need to approach the setup a little differently and, instead of relying on the pattern, manually set the peak brightness to around 450 nits. The issue can be worked around, but you should know about it before you start setting up the console.