Samsung The Frame LS03D vs Philips OLED910

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.

OLED910 is simply an absurdly bright television for an OLED. All thanks to the new panel from LG Display, the Tandem RGB OLED, which Philips has dubbed its "META OLED." It is this panel that allows for over 2000 nits of brightness in films, which was previously completely unattainable in OLEDs. The way the television handles full-screen scenes drenched in bright light is also commendable. Usually, in OLEDs, brightness drops significantly, but here it remains at an excellent level - around 1400 nits. These are almost reference values, and combined with the great color gamut reproduction at 99% DCI P3 and 82% BT.2020, it gives us an HDR effect that can confidently be called one of the best in the world.

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.

Unfortunately, when it comes to color reproduction right out of the box, the Filmmaker mode on the OLED910 performs poorly. The television overly emphasizes the color blue, and at times it almost looks like a store mode. It gives the impression that the manufacturer hasn't quite calibrated the device properly. The result is that colors look unnatural, and the overall effect resembles a somewhat exaggerated display from a market showcase. HDR content looks much better, where aside from a slight loss of detail in blacks, it's hard to find fault with anything. The problem is that in everyday viewing, it is the SDR materials that matter the most – and on the OLED910, they simply look bad and are far from what we would expect from a television of this class.

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.

Fortunately, it quickly turned out that it was not the panel that was responsible for the issues, but rather the way Philips had calibrated the OLED910 from the factory. After calibration, the television displayed its full potential, and only then could we see what the new panels produced by LG Display were truly capable of. We primarily corrected the white balance and brightness characteristics, which allowed us to tame the excessive blue and give the image a natural look. The final effect can be described as excellent. Errors on the Color Checker palette rarely exceeded a value of 3, which in practice means an image close to perfection and colors presented in accordance with the creators' intentions. In SDR content, the effect was remarkable, and in HDR, the improvement was even more noticeable – gradients became cleaner, and colors fuller and more believable. After calibration, the OLED910 transformed from a disappointing television into equipment that can easily be called reference-level in terms of color reproduction.

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.

The previously visible color artifacts can largely be eliminated thanks to a feature called "distortion reduction." Similar to the OLED820, it's best to set it to a medium level, as it then produces quite decent results – smoothing out unwanted tonal transitions while not taking away too many details from the image. Although there may be times when the effect is a bit too aggressive, it can generally be considered a useful feature for everyday viewing.

As for image scaling, the OLED910 performs really well. The test material with the model had a characteristic soft look typical of Philips – at times even too soft – but the sharpness slider can be adjusted at any moment to tailor the image to personal preferences. It's also worth noting that the TV has no issues with overscan, which still occurs in some competing models. It's a small detail, but it's pleasing because it means that all content, even the oldest, is displayed as it should be.

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 OLED910 is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It's a bit disappointing that Philips didn't choose 165 Hz, because we know that the panel used in it is capable of that. On the other hand, such a bonus would mainly benefit PC gamers, as in everyday use, the most important refresh rate is 120 Hz, which is fully sufficient. Combined with the advantages of an OLED panel – lightning-fast pixel response time and no motion blur, the image is impeccably sharp and fast, even in dynamic action scenes. Kudos also goes to Philips' traditional motion smoother called "Motion Style." We can easily adjust it to our preferences: the "Smoothness" slider is for movies and allows you to choose between a more "frame-like," cinematic character and a smooth, theatrical image. Meanwhile, the "Blur Reduction" slider is for sports; it is worth setting it to the maximum value here to ensure that the image is clear and distinct during very fast shots.

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.

The OLED910 is excellent for gaming. It supports 144 Hz, so if someone has a powerful PC, they can easily take advantage of that potential. On consoles, 120 Hz is the most important, and everything works perfectly here. There is VRR, an automatic game mode, and even Dolby Vision in games along with an HGiG mode, so we actually get a full package of gaming features. Philips also added a Game Bar, which is a quick menu that shows basic information and allows you to enable a few useful things. It may not look as modern as the competition, but it works and serves its purpose. The only downside is the number of HDMI 2.1 ports. There are only two, which can be somewhat disappointing for a TV in this class. If someone is connecting two consoles and something additional to eARC - like a soundbar (which doesn't make much sense in this model, but we'll discuss that in the sound section), they'll need to figure things out a bit more. Other than that, the OLED910 has everything we expect from a gaming TV.