What are the Samsung Frame TV's matte modes and Art Mode?
Art Mode is the Samsung Frame TV's signature feature: when you stop watching, the panel stays on and shows artwork or photos instead of going black. A physical matte (anti-reflective) screen finish and two ambient sensors, one for motion and one for brightness, make the display read like a framed print rather than a glossy television. Digital mattes, sometimes called passe-partout, let you add an on-screen border around each image in your chosen color and style to reinforce that framed look.
These features work through the Frame TV itself and the content you load into Art Mode. A browser screensaver like FrameSaver is a separate, free approach: it runs in the TV browser and rotates open-access photography without touching Art Mode at all.
What Art Mode is and how it works
Art Mode is a display state, not a separate app. When you switch away from TV input or the TV is idle, Art Mode takes over and shows a piece of artwork or a photo on the full panel. The TV uses a motion sensor to detect whether anyone is in the room: if the room is empty for a set period, the panel dims or turns off to save power, and it wakes again when motion returns.
A second sensor reads the room's ambient light level and color temperature, then adjusts the artwork's brightness and warmth to match. The goal is that the image on the screen looks closer to how a print looks under the same lighting, rather than glowing like a backlit display.
The Frame's screen surface itself is also part of the illusion. Samsung coats the panel with a matte (anti-reflective) finish that cuts glare and reduces the mirror-like reflections common on glossy TVs. The result is that artwork sits on the screen rather than floating behind glass.
Digital mattes: adding a border around an image
Digital mattes (Samsung often calls them passe-partout) are on-screen borders that appear around the artwork inside Art Mode. You can choose among several border widths, layouts, and colors to simulate the way a print looks inside a physical mat board inside a frame.
To apply a matte, go into Art Mode on your Frame TV, select the piece you want to display, and look for the matte or passe-partout option in the Art Mode settings or the on-screen toolbar. From there you can pick a color (white, off-white, black, and other neutrals are common) and a style. The border scales with the artwork and fills the remaining screen area.
The right matte color depends on the image. Neutral tones work for most photography. Darker mattes tend to suit high-contrast black-and-white images. Samsung does not charge extra for digital mattes; they are included with the TV.
What you can show in Art Mode
Art Mode content comes from three sources. First, the Samsung Art Store (a paid subscription) gives you a curated catalog of licensed fine art and contemporary works. Second, your own photos: the SmartThings app lets you upload personal photos from your phone directly into Art Mode, and a USB drive works too. Third, Samsung includes a small set of free artworks with every Frame TV.
All three sources display with the same matte, motion-sensor, and ambient-light behavior. The Art Store content is the most polished because each piece is formatted and color-graded for the Frame's panel, but your own photos look excellent once they are high resolution and close to 16:9 in aspect ratio.
How a browser screensaver relates to Art Mode
Art Mode and a browser screensaver are two different things on the same TV. Art Mode is a first-party Samsung feature, always on, using the Frame's built-in sensors and matte screen. A browser screensaver like FrameSaver runs inside the TV's web browser as a regular app: you open the browser, navigate to framesaver.app, log in once with your phone, and the screensaver takes over the browser window with rotating open-access photography.
The practical difference is control and content source. Art Mode is always on, consumes less power when the room is empty (because the motion sensor dims or kills the panel), and pulls from the Art Store or your uploads. A browser screensaver requires the browser to be open, but it can pull from much larger free libraries: NASA imagery, national-park photography, observatory space photos, and museum open-access collections.
Many Frame TV owners use both. Art Mode handles the wall-art aesthetic when the TV is truly idle. The browser screensaver runs when someone is in the room and wants rotating photography without paying for a subscription.
Entering Art Mode and applying a matte: a quick walkthrough
To enter Art Mode, press the Home button on your remote and look for the Art Mode shortcut, or switch to the Art Mode input if you have configured it. You can also press and hold the Home button on some remote versions.
Once in Art Mode, navigate to your artwork, press the center button or up on the remote to open the on-screen controls, and look for the matte or passe-partout option. Select it to open a color and style picker. Apply your choice and it saves per-image, so each piece can have its own matte.
Exact menu labels vary by TV model year and firmware version. If a label does not match what you see, check the Frame TV section of Samsung's support site for your specific model.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the Frame TV have a special screen compared to other Samsung TVs?
- Yes. The Frame TV uses a matte anti-reflective screen coating that cuts glare and makes artwork look more like a print on a wall. Most other Samsung TVs use a glossy or semi-glossy finish that reflects the room.
- Do digital mattes cost anything?
- No. Digital mattes (passe-partout) are built into Art Mode on every Frame TV and are free to use. You can apply them to your own uploaded photos as well as to Art Store content.
- Can I use Art Mode with my own photos?
- Yes. Upload photos through the SmartThings app on your phone or copy them to a USB drive and plug it into the TV. Once imported, your photos appear in Art Mode with the same matte and sensor behavior as paid Art Store pieces.
- Does Art Mode use a lot of power?
- Art Mode uses the motion sensor to dim or turn off the panel when the room is empty, which limits power draw significantly. Samsung publishes a specific Art Mode power-consumption figure in the Frame's spec sheet; it is meaningfully lower than active viewing mode.
- Can I use FrameSaver and Art Mode on the same TV?
- Yes, they are independent. Art Mode runs when the TV is idle or on the Art Mode input. FrameSaver runs in the TV browser when you open it. Switch between them by choosing Art Mode from the Home menu or opening the browser app.
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