TCL NXTFRAME vs Hisense CanvasTV vs Samsung The Frame

Updated September 17, 2026 · Contains affiliate links; we may earn a commission at no cost to you.

Until 2024 “frame TV” meant Samsung. TCL’s NXTFRAME and Hisense’s CanvasTV now offer the same idea – matte screen, art mode, bezel, flush mount – for less. This is a practical comparison for someone who mainly wants the art effect and needs to know what they give up by not buying Samsung.

At a glance

Art mode compared

Samsung has the most refined art mode: per-piece mattes in many styles and colours, reliable motion sensing, brightness sensor, night mode, slideshow with intervals, and SmartThings’ upload flow. It is also the most locked down – uploads must go through SmartThings or USB, and Store art disappears without a subscription.

TCL copies the feature set closely: mattes, sensors, slideshow, a built-in library of a few hundred free pieces plus optional extras, and uploads via the TCL Home app or USB. Google TV underneath means it also does Google Photos ambient mode.

Hisense covers the basics – art mode, mattes, a free library, own uploads – with fewer settings and a less polished app. Motion sensing depends on the model year.

For your own art, all three take the same 3840 × 2160 JPEG files; everything on this site works on all of them.

Picture quality

The standard Samsung Frame is edge-lit and, for its price, the weakest of the three as a television. TCL’s and Hisense’s QLED panels are at least as good, often better in contrast and brightness. The Samsung Frame Pro (Mini-LED) is a different tier and beats both. If you watch a lot of films on the same TV, either the Pro or the TCL is the rational pick.

The frame and the mount

Samsung’s magnetic bezel system has the most options – Samsung’s own colours plus a large third-party market (Deco TV Frames and others) in real wood, metallics and ornate profiles. TCL and Hisense include a frame in the box and offer a couple of alternatives; the third-party market is thinner. All three ship with a flush mount. Samsung’s One Connect box (one thin cable to the TV) makes the cleanest install; the others have their ports on the TV.

Software and reliability

Tizen (Samsung) is mature and fast; Google TV (TCL) has the best app selection and voice; VIDAA (Hisense) is the plainest. Early NXTFRAME and CanvasTV firmware had art-mode quirks that updates have mostly fixed; Samsung’s Art Mode has a decade of refinement but its own recurring bugs (see our troubleshooting hub).

Using your own art on a TCL, Hisense or LG frame TV

All three accept the same files as the Samsung Frame – 3840 × 2160 JPEG, 16:9 – so any Frame TV art works as TCL frame TV art or Hisense frame TV art without changes.

How to upload art to a TCL frame TV (NXTFRAME): open the TCL Home app → your TV → Art Mode → My Art / Upload, pick images from your phone, choose a matte and upload. Or copy the JPEGs to a USB stick, plug it into the TV and in Art Mode choose My Art → USB. TCL frame TV art mode settings (brightness, sensor, sleep timer) live in the Art Mode menu, and seasonal sets – TCL frame TV Christmas art, for instance – go into rotation the same way as on a Samsung.

Hisense frame TV art options (CanvasTV): the VIDAA app → CanvasTV → Art Mode → My Gallery → upload from phone, or a USB stick via Art Mode → My Gallery → USB. Hisense frame TV art mode has brightness and an ambient-light setting; motion sensing depends on the model year. Hisense’s own library is free and modest; your uploads fill the gaps.

LG art frame TV (Gallery mode): LG has no upload-to-art-mode flow. LG TV frame art is shown through the Photo & Video app from USB or a network share as a slideshow, or through a streaming stick’s screensaver. See art for any TV for the exact menus; an LG art TV frame from a third party (bezel) helps the look.

For the files themselves, the free Frame TV art set is a good test on any of these TVs.

LG, Sony and others

• LG: Gallery OLEDs look superb and mount flush, but with a glossy panel, no sensor-driven art mode and OLED retention concerns for still images. Not an art TV in the same sense.
• Sony: no frame product; Google TV ambient mode only.
• Skyworth, Vizio, Roku TVs: occasional “frame” styling, no dedicated art mode worth the name. Use a screensaver – art for any TV.

Verdict

• Best art TV overall: Samsung Frame Pro, then Frame.
• Best value: TCL NXTFRAME – 80% of the Samsung experience for 70% of the price, with a better picture than the standard Frame.
• Cheapest true art TV: Hisense CanvasTV.

Whichever you buy, the difference between a TV that looks like art and a TV that looks like a screen is mostly what you put on it: painterly, muted, textured images made for a 16:9 screen. See what makes Frame TV art look real and the collections.