Hi, new here and new to the world of TVs so please be gentle! chronic neuro illness meant I couldn’t watch TV for 15 years, gradual recovery resulted in me buying a new TV 1 month ago. After some research I finally decided on the Samsung The Frame 49 inch – I’m in the UK and this model size is exclusive to John Lewis. I live in 1 room so need something that looks good, not just a black box on the wall and I like the art mode function. I was given wrong info about the release time for the 2019 model so ended up buying the 2018 model, 1 DAY before the new one was released. Long story short I ended up with both TVs, so had a good comparison. The 2018 model was great out of the box, art mode stunning and 4k video - which the installers play you to show you what it is capable of. However, when I began watching for regular use, I was shocked at the picture quality. Having not had a TV for 20 years (my old set produced fairly decent picture of all TV channels, SD and HD. In the UK, only 5 channels are HD the rest are still SD) I could not understand why the SD channels were completely blurred, noise all over the picture unwatchable literally. The HD a bit better. I know this is due to upscaling to 4k, but shocked that this expensive set does it so very badly. The colours also washed out and the brightness is poor, the blacks are more grey. It is a 4k UHD HDR tv but when playing HDR content (Netflix) it is almost completely dark even in daylight scenes – which only becomes barely watchable using the dynamic mode and maxing Contrast Enhancer. It also has judder, all the time, which is not resolved with the custom settings in Auto Motion Plus Settings, only if you switch on the Auto settings -but there is still some mild judder – and then add the Digital Clean View on top. Which is truly horrible! Even with these settings on, SD channels are still totally unwatchable. So, I thought the 2019 model would resolve all of this, it has the AI upscaling which I thought would improve the SD and all sources quality and that the washed out colours and lack of blacks would be sorted by the QLED. Out of the box, there is an immediate leap in picture quality – colours, depth, but the upscaling is only about 2% improved (to my eyes). The judder is much worse than on the 2018 model and even when scrolling though menus, or through collections on the art store, it judders so much up and down that it makes me feel nauseous! Applying the Auto Motion Plus and Digital Clean settings resolves some of this is viewing TV, Netflix etc, but does not improve the menu navigation. The set I received also had bad light bleed and clouding, all 4 corners but exceptionally bad top right corner, which impacted on watching any TV/ films with the top and bottom black banding, as well as the art store. The retailer accepted this as a fault and refunded the TV. So I am back to my 2018 model, but still frustrated with the picture quality and after the light bleed on the 2019 checked this screen on this one and found it also had clouding in all 4 corners, again worse top right, but is just less visible as it doesn’t have the brightness of the QLED. The retailer has now finally accepted this as faulty and offered a replacement or a refund on this one too. I use my TV for regular viewing, Netflix, Now TV, Amazon Prime etc.. as well as the art store. I like the look of the Frame very much and being able to have it as a piece of art on my wall. I would like to settle for one of these models, (albeit with a better panel with less light bleeding).

Comparing specs for the 2018 and 2019 models, I can see the 2019 has a motion rate of 100 and PQI of 2400 (compared to the 55 inch which has motion rate of 200 and PQI of 3000) I cannot find specs for the 49 inch 2018 model, but the 2018 43 inch also has a motion rate of 100 but PQI 1800, and I’m not sure if this affects the judder difference? Or are there other factors that cause judder? Are there features missing from the smaller screens in the series? I am also wondering if the ‘light bleed’ / clouding in the corners is standard and just seems more pronounced on the qled as it is brighter? Also, with the AI upscaling on the 2019 model would the picture quality gradually improve over time for lower res sources??Presumably it ‘learns’ how to do it better? Struggling to decide between these 2 tvs, the retailer is offering me the 2019 in exchange for the 2018 (which significant cost difference, so finance is not an issue) but I don’t actually know if it is the better tv unless the judder improves, the upscaling improves and the light bleed in the corners is not standard. All / any advice and responses welcomed! Thank you, Jo