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TCL Nxtframe art TV review: AI-powered art comes to your home, with mixed results
This subscription-free alternative to Samsung's Frame TV does amazing things with artificial intelligence, but there are some shortcomings.
The art-TV floodgates are opening at last. No longer is Samsung's The Frame the only game in Wall Town; Hisense recently unveiled its CanvasTV, and now TCL is dipping a brush in the paint palette. Available in four sizes, each with two frames included in the box, the TCL Nxtframe comes loaded with some excellent art and doesn't charge for a subscription. It can even leverage AI to generate new images for you, a really cool feature that's not matched elsewhere. However, there's only a slight price advantage compared with Samsung, and some aspects of the TV's art mode feel unfinished. Does this deserve a spot on your wall? Here's my TCL Nxtframe TV review.
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Available sizes (inches): 55, 65, 75, 85 | Frame included: Yes (2) | Artworks included: 350+ and AI | Dolby(s): Atmos, Vision | Operating system: Google | Smart-home compatibility: Alexa, Google | Voice controls: Push button
VERDICT: So close, TCL! The subscription-free art selection rocks, the AI is actually good and the extra bundled frame is a nice touch. But the overall picture is dim, there's no motion detection and the UI needs work.
- Good printed TV-setup instructions
- Extra frame included
- Warm, vibrant colors
- Lots of subscription-free art preloaded
- Cool AI-powered art generation feature
- Tiny TV-mounting instructions
- No additional frame styles/colors available
- Below-average brightness and contrast
- No brightness or night-hours settings for art mode
- No motion or ambient-light detection
- Art-mode interface can be confusing
- Overly large mat designs
With sizes ranging from 55 to 85 inches, the Nxtframe should satisfy just about any wall need, but it may be hard on the budget. The 55-inch lists for $1,500, same as Samsung's 55-inch The Frame; the 65-inch models both sell for $2,000. It's only once you get to the 75- and 85-inch Nxtframes that there's any list-price advantage; TCL's bigger screens run a few hundred dollars less than Samsung's equivalents.
But there's a big caveat on the pricing front: Like all TVs these days, sale pricing appears regularly. As I was completing this review, for example, the 65-inch Nxtframe dropped by $200 (to $1,300), while the 55-inch was slashed a whopping $500 (to $1,000). This makes it challenging to use price as a differentiating factor. I'll simply say this: Always wait for a sale.
Price notwithstanding, there's another differentiation from Samsung: The Nxtframe TVs all have an attractive off-white bezel — a frame — to enhance the illusion of framed artwork. And TCL supplies a magnetic light-wood bezel as well, meaning you get two color choices right out of the box. The unfortunate downside is that, for now, there are no other frame styles or sizes available. Here's hoping third-party companies like Deco TV Frames decide to add options for the Nxtframe.
TCL Nxtframe TV: Mounting and setup
Kudos to TCL for providing a decent printed setup guide, which is clearly written and illustrated and genuinely useful for novices. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the instructions for mounting the TV: They're almost laughably tiny, printed on a single sheet that's less than half the size of a regular piece of paper. Even with my powerful progressive-lens prescription, I struggled to read the print without a magnifying glass. Seriously.
The actual mount (which keeps the Nxtframe flush against the wall, framed art-style) consists of two metal brackets that screw to the back of the TV and two counterparts that attach to the wall. A printed template helps you place the latter, which I appreciated. Take note, however, that if you're looking for a tabletop setup, feet are sold separately. (TCL also sells a moveable floor stand if you prefer a more easel-like look.)
As with the Hisense TV (and pretty much all others), the ports reside at the rear; there's no breakout box like the one used by Samsung. Thus, you'll want to plan ahead: Assuming you're planning to run the power cord through the wall from behind the TV to a nearby outlet, run at least one extra HDMI cord to accommodate any future accessories. Once the TV is mounted, it's difficult to access those ports again.
I should also note that there's a remote-control sensor that's very visible along the bottom edge of the TV, just below the frame. It's not huge, but it does detract slightly from the overall framed-art effect.
TCL Nextframe TV: What it's like as a TV
The Nxtframe runs the Google TV operating system, which should be familiar if you've already owned a similar TV and/or use an Android-powered phone. I find the interface a bit cluttered and unintuitive, but it's not hard to live with.
This might be: The Nxtframe is a fairly dim TV, or at least it is compared with the Hisense CanvasTV and Samsung Frame. Even with those models set to 50% brightness and the TCL cranked to 100, the latter was noticeably dimmer. While viewing the white-hallway scenes in Mythic Quest S3, the backgrounds looked more pale than white. This photo isn't a perfect representation of that, but it gives you the idea:
Is that a dealbreaker, though? I honestly didn't notice how off-white the white walls were until I saw them alongside the other models. Indeed, I was paying closer attention to color, and enjoying the TCL's warm, pleasing palette. When I'm watching a TV show or movie, I rarely notice any aspects of the picture quality unless it's especially good or especially bad.
Viewed in a vacuum, then, the Nxtframe has a very nice picture, with multiple HDR modes (including Dolby Vision) on hand to amp up the color. The brightness and contrast could be better, no question, but this didn't detract from my enjoyment of movies, TV shows or art (discussed below).
What's more, although I'm not a gamer and didn't test the TV with a console, the Game Accelerator mode promises lag-free action by way of a 240Hz variable refresh rate.
Thin TVs like this one tend to have, well, thin speakers, and the Nxtframe is no different. The sound is okay at lower volumes but gets a little harsh the higher you go. Strong recommendation, then, for adding a soundbar; here's our roundup of the best soundbars for 2024 if you need help picking one.
TCL's remote is a mixed bag, with volume and mute controls on the side (which I like, but left-handers might not) and a dedicated art-mode button. But it lacks dedicated play/pause and shuttle buttons and has a couple confusing button icons. There are only two shortcut buttons (Netflix and YouTube). It's not backlit, either.
TCL Nxtframe TV: What it's like as an art piece
There's a lot of good news here, but also a fair bit of bad. I'll start with the good.
If you dislike the idea of yet another monthly fee, you'll be glad to know TCL doesn't charge for art the way Samsung does. There's no subscription here, just a robust collection of over 350 works of art (nearly three times the number included on the Hisense TV), plus some cool extras.
One of them is the Relax collection, a couple dozen animated screensavers with musical accompaniment. These range from decorative windows (I love the Paris street view with clouds passing overhead) to a crackling fireplace to underwater ocean life.
The Moment collection includes various clocks, photo walls and any personal photos or artworks you've uploaded. I particularly like the three-pane cutout mat, into which you can add your photos of choice. (This is something that used to be available on Samsung's Frames but has since been removed.)
But the real star here is AI Art: Within any of six categories (Monet Impressions, Watercolor Smudges, Photography, etc.), you can choose two criteria — style and location — and the TV will generate a brand new image. When done, you can save that to your library or ask it to try again if you want a different version.
This is really fun, and some of the results are pretty spectacular. In Photography, for example, I chose "Gorgeous" and "Mountain," and the image it created was definitely gorgeous. Thus, while TCL doesn't have an art store to rival Samsung's, I'd argue that it doesn't need one. You get plenty of art to start with, you can upload more of your own and you can create new art in seconds.
Now for the bad news: TCL failed to include a motion sensor on this TV, meaning it can't automatically go to sleep when there's no activity in the room and wake up again when there is. I consider that a pretty important feature, one that's included with the Hisense and Samsung models.
Similarly, although you can adjust overall TV brightness from the main settings menu, there's no independent brightness setting for art mode. That's unfortunate, because lower brightness helps to "sell" the art illusion. There's no ambient-light sensor, either, to automatically adjust brightness based on how much light is in the room.
An arguably even bigger problem is the lack of any off-hours settings: The TV will show art 24/7 unless you manually turn it off.
TCL could address at least some of these issues through software updates. Alas, sensors are hardware limitations; they'll have to wait for the Nxtframe 2.
Also in need of updating: TCL's mat selection. The slimmest of the four included designs is really thick; I don't want to give up that much of a painting to a virtual border. You do get a good selection of mat colors to choose from, plus three textures that make the mats look even more realistic. But as with The Frame TV, whatever mat you choose for one artwork doesn't carry over to the next; there's no global setting for it.
Other gripes: The art-mode UI has a learning curve. Different display settings seem to live in different places. There's no easy or logical way to navigate back to the main menu. I kept expecting to find my "favorited" selections in that menu, but they're stored in the Moment collection. And an annoying "resource is loading" message appears for several seconds — sometimes longer — whenever you select a new image or the system cycles to the next one.
TCL Nxtframe TV: Should you buy it?
This is a tough one. The default Nxtframe price is the same as Samsung's The Frame — which is to say, it's expensive — but you do get both white and wood frames. And it's clear there will be significant discounts at times. The Frame has better overall picture quality and sound, plus the convenient breakout box and a huge art selection available from its online store. That art isn't free, though, and Samsung doesn't have any of TCL's cool AI features.
This may sound crazy, but I really struggle with the lack of a motion detector. I don't want this TV to be on if there's no one around to see it. And the lack of an independent brightness setting means you don't get quite the same "art effect" as on the Samsung and Hisense TVs. Not unless you adjust it manually, which is a huge hassle.
In the end, then: I recommend it (if and when you can find it on sale) but with real reservations. We'll have to wait and see whether TCL eliminates some of those reservations with software updates.