Important points of ZDNET
- Hisense Canvas TV is a lifestyle set that offers practical image quality and trendy aesthetics.
- The matte processed display, rather punchy colors, and a collection of free artwork is easy to appreciate.
- QLED panels are inconsistently lacking, HDR brightness, which is on the bulky side.
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For years, Samsung Frame TV has been one of the most popular lifestyle TVs on the market. The controversial idea that the remaining idols like or hate many people, and it’s still the case, is to transform the TV into framed artwork. But if there is one thing consumers can agree on, competition is beautiful. input: Hisense Canvas TV.
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Like Samsung, Hisense’s Canvas TV is a QLED set that is treated with matte, anti-reflective layers and wooden borders to get as close to art decoration as possible. It’s limited to 55-inch and 65-inch sizes compared to Samsung’s 32-85-inch range, but it’s not an issue for most homes. In fact, after testing the model for the past month, I’m sure I don’t want something bigger.
That’s because unlike another transmitter case that allows you to connect Frame TV and its one connection box, gaming consoles, speakers and other peripherals, Canvas TV has all the I/O ports and processing components built into your body, resulting in a bulkier build.
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The entire system still looks like artwork when mounted on a wall. Hisense’s Ultra Slim Wall Mount is included in the box and keeping your TV rinsed does a great job, but once you install everything and plug things in and put them in, Samsung’s approach is much more accessible. So, even if they offered it, I don’t want a larger canvas TV size.
The Canvas TV comes with a replaceable frame, but by default it comes with a walnut brown finish.
Kerry Wan/Zdnet
In some respects, the lack of one connection box means that the canvas TV looks more minimal, with one power cord hanging from underneath. (a TV Code Hider By the way, here’s your best friend. ) There is no need to force all cables and connectors into the back of the TV back box or wall conduit.
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Turning on Canvas TV instantly revealed the biggest advantages and disadvantages for me. The course with midrange lifestyle QLET TVS is really par, so I’ll start with the bad news. My Hisense model had a striking discrepancy with visual uniformity, whether it was an incomplete black person (also because this is not an OLED TV) or a variety of chunks of dark pixels.
You will notice it immediately when the TV is turned on and it is located on the Hisense Boot logo screen. If the viewing angle is not the best and it is not directly facing the center of the TV, the colour will quickly fade away.
As TV brightens up enough during the day, the effect of uniformity almost disappears as you start watching more vibrant content, such as sports, films, and gallery productions. Hisense’s Hi-Matte coating helps disperse ambient light like windows and lamps, but isn’t entirely at all invisible to the point where the white ring is not visible on the screen. The advantage of having a matte display is primarily felt when in art mode, and the illusion of staring at the actual art piece is completely effective. I’ll explain that in more detail later.
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Canvas TV doesn’t offer the same level of pop and contrast as Samsung’s Frame TV, but the quality proved plausible, especially when it was catching up with the crazy March game between Alabama and St. Francis. I was hoping that the canvas TV would almost blend the pearly ivory colours of Alabama jerseys with wooden floors and basketball, but everything was painted with excellent color separation and precision.
The included remote controls have shortcuts from popular streaming services, which feel more premium than competing accessories.
Kerry Wan/Zdnet
The Canvas TV Experience is supported by Google TV software. With testing a variety of operating systems over the past month, including Samsung’s Tizenos and LG’s Webos, we can confidently say that Google TV is the best choice for most users. It collides with the ideal balance of app availability, home screen layout, and user-tasked content.
With the exception of Hisense Bloatware, most of them are connection features that utilize your phone and companion app. You’re looking at a rather user-friendly interface.
Also, give Hisense a point about not charging a subscription to access the Art Mode content catalog. I didn’t consider myself an art lover, but seeing the various artistry on display on canvas TV and on my living room was like discovering a new hobby. I had to stand still, observe the details and roam around like another artwork my TV was hung on MOMA.
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We also appreciate the abundant settings that come with the art mode, including motion detection timer (puts the TV into sleep mode when it does not detect room movement for a certain time), rotation of the gallery, displaying default painting information, and applying digital matte boards of various sizes.
ZDNET purchase advice
For almost half the price of a Samsung frame TV, Hisense Canvas TV (currently off $400) is a great alternative that will make some things better. We recommend the model to users who want a hybrid experience of similar TV artwork but who want bulky designs (quickly get used to), lack of small and large sizes, and don’t mind. Slightly Poor image quality.
Running on Google TV instead of the more bloated Chizenos operating system is a huge advantage for TV purists, and accessing high-quality artwork for an extra fee is a victory for everyone. Of course, you can always upload your media to your TV.