Here’s a TV that’s meant to look good on the wall, even when it’s not switched on. What happens when designers get to make a start on a TV before the engineers? The Frame is what happens. Not the brightest images -No Dolby Vision Still, it’s a strong choice to put up on your wall. Those of you in the US will have to make do with the QN90A, though, which doesn’t come with the One Connect box. So once the screen is on the wall, there’s only one slim cable to be concealed. And thanks to Samsung’s brilliant One Connect box, all connectivity requirements – including mains power – are off-board. Thanks to a chassis that’s a consistent (and extremely skinny) 25mm deep, it sits pretty much flush to the wall when it’s mounted there. And its Tizen Smart TV interface remains one of the very best around. It’s fitted with Samsung’s anti-glare layer to minimise reflectivity. Its response times with next-gen consoles are comfortable below 10m/s. It has quite a capable audio system by prevailing standards. Its Mini LED configuration (which the company insists on calling Neo QLED), along with Samsung’s picture-quality smarts, make it a straightforward treat to watch.
Unhelpful positioning, relative to windows or internal lighting, can cause reflectivity problems, and some TV manufacturers are considerably more conscientious about reducing their screens’ susceptibility to glare than others.Īll things being equal, this is the one we’d choose. Those big screens are made from either plastic or glass, and they will all – to a lesser or greater extent – reflect light from sources around them. It’s important to consider the position of your TV in your room – and no, we don’t mean ‘on the wall’.
All these TVs have to keep their hardware somewhere – and if you look at something like the Sony A90J we reviewed recently, its at-times 6mm depth swells to a much more ordinary 41mm where all its electronics, speaker drivers and connections are positioned. And don’t forget that the much-celebrated flatness of OLED TVs, in particular, is a very qualified flatness indeed. After all, some flatscreens are considerably flatter than others - and if your new TV is one of the less flat, you may not enjoy the sight of it jutting out from your wall. Probably the most obvious consideration is the depth of the chassis of the TV in question.
Just because you can, though, it doesn’t automatically follow that you should. As long as you’re confident with a spirit-level and a drill, you can mount more-or-less any TV you care to mention on the wall. They almost all have mounting holes on the back that conform to the VESA interface standard – which means it’s pretty easy to buy a wall-bracket to fit. Yes, pretty much any new TV can be wall-mounted.