Samsung The Frame LS03D vs Haier K85F

The Frame really handles brightness well. With results at the level of 700 nits, bright elements on the screen look impressive and detailed, whether they illuminate the entire screen or appear as small bright spots against a dark background. In more demanding scenes, like the fourth sequence from the movie Sicario 2, the blacks perform averagely, but we already discussed that in the section regarding contrast. However, when it comes to brightness – here the TV definitely performs well. An additional advantage is the quantum dot coating, i.e., QLED technology. Thanks to it, the color palette coverage has been improved, although The Frame does not stand out in this regard compared to the competition.

Now let's move on to one of the hottest topics in the world of televisions, which is the quality of HDR effect. In the case of the Haier K85F model, we must unfortunately make it clear: if you are looking for equipment to watch content in a wide dynamic range, you should steer clear of this model. The main issue is its very low peak brightness, which during our tests barely reached 250 nits. To give you a better idea of what this means – such a value is okay for watching standard SDR materials, but it is absolutely insufficient to show any real benefits of HDR. The image simply lacks the "power" to generate bright, striking bursts. All our measurements and tests on specialist patterns only confirmed this. As if that weren't enough, the television also struggles with color reproduction. In this budget model, we won't find any technologies that expand the color palette, such as quantum dot layers (known in marketing as "QLED"). As a result, the coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, which is crucial for HDR materials, is only about 80%. In practice, this means that the image will not only be dark but also devoid of vibrant, saturated colors that the director wanted to show us.

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

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

In 4K HDR content, the white balance was again dominated by red, this time combined with green. Meanwhile, blue clearly lost intensity, which could be easily noticed on the Color Checker palette, where the colors began to "run away" in the wrong direction. The EOTF curve, responsible for brightness in HDR content, showed that the TV tends to excessively brighten the image, especially in the darkest elements of scenes.

Overall, although it did not look tragic, it definitely needed correction. Fortunately, Samsung offers extensive calibration options, which provide an opportunity for significant image improvement. Therefore, we proceeded with professional calibration to extract the full potential of this TV.

Well, how does the television perform with colors straight from the factory, without any intervention from our side? The Haier K85F offers a full range of picture modes, such as Dynamic or Eco, but for anyone who wants to watch movies according to the creators' intentions, only one really matters: Film mode. This is the mode we focused our tests on, and unfortunately, its name has little to do with reality. The picture in the factory settings is far from what we could call cinematic fidelity and requires many adjustments. Let's start with the white balance, which has a clear lack of red color. In practice, this means that the whole picture has a cool, bluish tint. The situation is even worse when it comes to brightness management, specifically gamma curves (for SDR) and EOTF (for HDR). Their graph resembles a real rollercoaster, which has a disastrous effect on the viewing experience. This results in unnatural dimming of SDR content, causing details in the shadows to get lost, and in the case of HDR – excessive brightness, which further exacerbates the issue of highlights. This combination, meaning too cool white combined with chaotic brightness and excessive blue color saturation, causes enormous errors in color reproduction. Our measurements on a specialized ColorChecker chart showed errors (Delta E) regularly reaching and exceeding values of 8-9. In simpler terms: errors above the threshold of 3 are easily noticeable to the naked eye, so such a result means that the colors on the screen are simply heavily distorted.

After professional calibration, the Filmmaker Mode shows its full potential. The white balance in HD content is exemplary – an error level of 0.5 indicates almost perfect color reproduction precision. The image now looks natural, and the colors are exactly as they should be. In 4K HDR content, the effect is not as perfect, but it still maintains a really high level. The colors are vibrant, well-saturated, and the overall image quality is impressive.

So where does the problem arise, if we praise the color reproduction so much? Unfortunately, the overall experience is disrupted by the brightness characteristic. The gamma in HD content looks decent, but in 4K HDR it's not as good. The EOTF curve shows that the TV excessively brightens certain parts of the image, which is a result of design limitations. The lack of local dimming means that the TV cannot precisely control the differences between the brightest and darkest areas of the screen. This is a barrier that simply cannot be overcome in this model.

Nevertheless, after calibration, The Frame offers excellent color reproduction, especially in HD content, and the overall appearance is much better than before the settings correction.

Well, is there anything we can do about this image? Can professional calibration save the situation? The answer is: both yes and no. It must be clearly stated that there are certain things we cannot overcome. The limitations of the construction itself, namely a poor panel and its narrow color coverage, mean that you can forget about achieving meaningful HDR – we won’t sugarcoat it for you. The biggest beneficiary of our adjustments is undoubtedly the SDR mode, and it is precisely for watching such content, after calibration, that this television begins to make sense. We managed to tame the white balance in our own way. Although the TV only offers basic 2-point adjustment (instead of precise 20-point), it’s not perfect, but we successfully eliminated that unpleasant, cold "chill" in the image. Above all, however, we recorded a significant improvement in brightness management. The gamma curve, which previously resembled a rollercoaster, looks like an almost perfectly straight line after calibration. This is a sign that the TV can finally display images without artificially dimming or brightening them. The conclusion is simple: even in the case of such a cheap television, professional adjustment of the settings can achieve a lot and draw out its maximum potential.

It was time to check how The Frame handles older, lower-quality materials. We already know that the smoothness of tonal transitions is very high here, so we were curious to see how the TV would manage their smoothing.

The noise reduction feature in the "Standard" setting performs well – tonal transitions are noticeably smoothed out, and the image does not lose too much detail. However, it's worth noting that this effect also smooths out film grain, so its use will be a matter of individual preference.

When it comes to image scaling, the TV also performed really well. The tested frame was solid – the model was rendered correctly, with clear details. The branches in the background, although slightly jagged in places, generally look natural and do not stand out as a flaw.

Let's move on to digital processing and image scaling, that is, how the Haier K85F handles lower resolution signals, for example, from standard television. Right from the start, we encounter an extremely annoying and completely incomprehensible issue – the overscan feature is enabled by default. This means that the television artificially enlarges the image, cropping its edges, and this occurs on every source, even 1080p. To see the full frame, you have to dig into the screen settings every time and manually switch the format to "stretch to 16:9." It's a detail, but incredibly frustrating. The scaling of content to 4K resolution can be described in one word: acceptable. And that's basically it. The image processor does not strip the image of details, nor does it generate jagged edges or other artifacts. It simply does its job, without any fireworks. It's fine, but nothing more. The biggest and most noticeable shortcoming in the digital processing section is the absence of a banding smoothing function. This is an algorithm that could significantly reduce the annoying banding effect we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not implement such a solution, condemning us to watch the imperfections of the panel and low-quality materials in all their glory.

First of all, it is worth noting that the model we tested in 55 inches, just like the 65, 75, and 85-inch versions, is equipped with a 120 Hz panel. Unfortunately, the 43 and 50-inch variants of this series offer only 60 Hz panels, which is worth considering when making a purchase. As for improving motion fluidity, the TV offers a feature called "Picture Clarity." This is a classic motion smoother that gives users the ability to adjust it using two sliders:

Motion Blurring Reduction – this is responsible for sharpening the image during dynamic scenes. The higher the value, the less blur during rapid camera movement or moving objects. However, overly aggressive settings can make the image look unnatural and start to resemble a “soap opera”.

Judder Reduction – this slider affects the smoothness of frame playback, particularly in materials with a lower frame rate, such as films (24 fps). Higher settings can smooth out motion but can also lead to an excessive "plasticky" effect on the image.

Both sliders operate on a scale from 0 to 10, allowing for precise adjustment of the effect to one’s own preferences. It is worth experimenting with the settings to find the perfect balance between fluidity and the natural appearance of the image. We recommend setting them as shown in the picture.

The panel in the K85F model operates at a native refresh rate of 60 Hz, which already sets certain expectations for smoothness of the image right from the start. However, we must admit that we were very positively surprised when we found not one, but two separate sliders for motion control in the settings menu: one labeled "Blur Reduction" and the other "De-Judder." Such generosity in this price segment is an absolute rarity, as usually manufacturers offer at most one common option. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm quickly dwindled as fast as it appeared. It soon became clear why Haier was so "generous" – the slider responsible for blur reduction is simply a dummy. Moving it does not produce any visible effect on the screen; thus, only one of the two options actually works.

The Frame in version 2024 is equipped with four HDMI ports, but only one of them supports the 2.1 standard with a bandwidth of 40 Gb/s. This is an important piece of 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 gaming features, The Frame truly has a lot to offer. We find ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode), VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), and HGiG. It is worth emphasizing that HGiG has been very well implemented here, which is particularly important since the TV does not support Dolby Vision in games (which is only available on Xbox consoles). In this case, HGiG proves to be a better standard for gaming. Samsung has not forgotten about features that enhance the gaming experience. Game Bar is an advanced panel for gamers that allows for quick adjustment of screen settings without the need to sift through the TV menu. We can even change the aspect ratio from 16:9 to cinematic 21:9, which for some gamers can be a significant advantage. However, Samsung's biggest ace up its sleeve is the Game Motion Plus feature. This is a special smoother dedicated to games, which adds extra frames of animation without significantly impacting input lag. The effect is really noticeable – the image appears much smoother, which fans of dynamic titles will particularly appreciate. In summary – Samsung The Frame 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 TV a truly enjoyable experience.

Let's move on to the features for gamers, although we must point out right away that this is more of a proposal for "casual" players. The manufacturer boasts in the specifications about the presence of HDMI 2.1 ports, which looks impressive on paper, but in reality, it is largely a marketing gimmick. What good is a modern port when the heart of the television is a panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz? It physically cannot display a signal at 120 frames per second, even at lower resolutions, which takes away HDMI 2.1's most important advantage. That's a shame. (That’s why we mark it as HDMI 2.0 ports in our tests). Another oddity is the television's response to attempts to calibrate HDR from the console. Changes in brightness settings cause very unnatural behavior of the image, which might suggest an incorrect implementation of the HGiG standard. To be honest, however, you shouldn't worry too much about this, because as we have mentioned multiple times, we simply do not recommend using any HDR content on this screen. However, to make it not so bitter, the Haier K85F also has two significant and unexpected advantages. The first is the presence of ALLM, or Auto Low Latency Mode, which switches the television to low latency mode as soon as it detects a connected console. The second, even bigger surprise is support for VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate. Although it works in a very modest range of 48-60 Hz, its very presence is commendable. Thanks to this, the image in games can stutter less, which truly improves the gaming experience.