I’ve long admired Samsung’s The Frame TV, which turns your living room into a virtual art museum when you’re not streaming the latest episodes of Bridgerton. But I’ve shuddered at the prices, which seem to run two to three times higher than comparable “regular” TVs. Enter value brand Hisense and its CanvasTV S7N, a competitor with a similar matte screen, decorative frame and built-in art gallery — all at a much more affordable price. So how does it rate? Is there finally a good low-cost alternative to The Frame? Here’s my Hisense CanvasTV review.
Update, May 12, 2025: Last September, Hisense issued a firmware update that added more mat options, which I appreciated. Last week, another firmware update addressed the asymmetrical shape of the mat, which I appreciate even more. Even better, it added around a thousand new pieces of art. I’ve noted those and other changes in the appropriate sections, below, and made related adjustments to my overall verdict.
Rick Broida/Yahoo
Available sizes (inches): 55, 65 | Frame included: Yes | Dolby(s): Vision | Operating System: Google | Smart-home compatibility: Alexa, Apple HomeKit, Google Assistant | Voice controls: Push-button
VERDICT: Hisense’s first-ever art TV was very good when it debuted in 2024, but a few key software updates have made it even better. This is now without question the best budget alternative to Samsung’s venerable Frame TV.
- Significantly less expensive than competing art TVs
- Magnetic frame included in the price
- Beautiful matte-finish screen
- No subscription required for art
- Backlit remote with customizable favorite button
- High refresh rate for gaming
- Awkward wall-mount instructions; no hanging template included
- Rear ports hard to access after mounting
- Colors a little muted
- Weak speakers
- No art store
- Only two sizes available
Hisense offers the CanvasTV in just two sizes: 55 inches ($1,000) and 65 inches ($1,300); I tested the latter. I say “just” two because Samsung’s The Frame is available in half a dozen sizes, from 43 inches on up to 85. That affords quite a bit more flexibility in terms of finding a size that best suits your space.
However, the 55-inch The Frame lists for $1,500; the 65-inch, $2,000. And that’s not including an actual frame, which must be purchased separately (with prices starting at $150). The CanvasTV comes with an attractive four-piece magnetic frame in teak; white and walnut options are available separately (at a rather steep $200). Needless to say, Hisense easily wins on price. (Watch for sales, too: The 55-inch model can often be found as low as $700; the 65-inch, under $1,000.)
Hisense CanvasTV: Mounting and setup
Though the CanvasTV was designed with wall-mounting in mind and comes with the necessary hardware, Hisense also supplies tabletop legs. I like that, because it gives you more options; maybe you want to test-drive the TV on a stand before committing to a wall, or maybe wall-mounting isn’t an option (like in an apartment) but you still want that framed-art look.
The CanvasTV comes with a magnetic teak frame that snaps on easily and creates perfect corners. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
The frame pieces snap into place with ease, but wall-mounting the TV is kind of a pain. Hisense didn’t provide a template, so I had to do lots of measuring (and math, ugh) to figure out where to place the bracket in order to hang the TV at the right height. The included print instructions didn’t help much; they’re inexplicably spread across two oversize pages and combine tiny print, multiple languages, confusing images and little actual instruction.
On the plus side, the wall-side mounting bracket consists of a single metal piece; both Samsung and TCL rely on two-piece mounts for their TVs, which makes it even more challenging to hang them perfectly level.
Before you and a helper hoist the 63.5-pound CanvasTV onto the mount, make sure you plan your cords and connections. As with any wall-mount TV, you can either look at unsightly power and HDMI cables running from the bottom or drill some holes and fish those cords through the drywall. Unfortunately, there’s no “breakout box” here as with Samsung’s The Frame; all the ports are at the rear, same as on a traditional TV. That adds some real hassle if you want to connect or disconnect accessories, as you have to tilt the TV out from the wall and carefully maneuver behind it. Even then, it’s very difficult to see what you’re doing. Anything you might want to plug in — game console, soundbar, etc. — should be done before you hang it.
The CanvasTV doesn’t sit perfectly flush with the wall, but it’s certainly close enough. I also like that the brand name is stamped on the side of the frame instead of the front. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Once hung, the CanvasTV looks lovely. It’s thicker than The Frame and TCL’s new Nxtframe, and it doesn’t sit 100% flush against the wall — but so what? Unless you’re looking really closely, it’s all but impossible to distinguish from a typical piece of framed art.
As for the actual TV, setup is no different than any Google TV. This takes 10-15 minutes depending on a few factors, like whether you already have the Google Home app on your phone and how many streaming apps you want to install at the start, but it’s fairly easy overall. (I was a bit irritated, though, that the TV interface required me to answer a handful of questions I’d already answered in the app.)
Hisense CanvasTV: What it’s like as a TV
As a straight-up television, the QLED-powered CanvasTV is mostly great. I watched a wide range of movies and TV shows, including those with especially bright and especially dark scenes (Mythic Quest and Dark Matter, respectively) and found them smooth, deep and accurately represented. Colors looked accurate, in part courtesy of five available HDR modes (including Dolby Vision, something Samsung’s The Frame doesn’t have), but didn’t really pop.
There’s an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts brightness and color temperature. For gamers, there’s a variable refresh rate that can hit up to 144Hz, along with AMD FreeSync Premium support for smooth, lag-free action. All of which is to say, the CanvasTV hits all the feature high notes and delivers a very good picture overall. I liked the picture better than the TCL’s, which I tested at the same time; the latter couldn’t seem to match the brightness and contrast (and had an inferior art mode as well).
The Google interface is cluttered and not super intuitive, but it gets the job done. (If you’re already familiar with it, you’ll feel perfectly at home.) You can use voice commands, but not hands-free: You have to push the microphone button on the remote.
I really like the CanvasTV remote, which has a sleek industrial design, an excellent button layout and the best feature of all: backlighting. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Speaking of which, Hisense serves up one of the best remotes I’ve seen. Substantial and attractive, with metallic styling and accents, it’s logically laid out and has a dedicated play/pause button, a menu button that’s actually labeled “Menu,” four streaming-service shortcut buttons and a programmable “favorite” button. Plus, it’s backlit! The buttons illuminate when you lift the clicker. Every remote should have this feature; very few do.
Unsurprisingly, audio is a weak point. The built-in speakers can get very loud, but they sound harsh, especially at louder volumes, so it doesn’t really matter that the TV lacks Dolby Atmos support. You’re likely to want a soundbar, which is where you can bring Atmos into the mix. (Here’s our roundup of the best soundbars if you need help choosing one.)
Hisense CanvasTV: What it’s like as an art piece
The CanvasTV performs extremely well as an art TV. The low-glare, matte-finish screen lends that nifty “museum quality” to images, and Hisense gives you lots of control over the display options, including brightness, motion detection, standby times (like at night) and how often to change the image. (Just take note that it won’t launch art mode automatically, as the default screensaver, from the Google Home screen. You have to use the remote to put it in that mode. The TCL Nxtframe shares that irksome quirk.)
As for actual art, the TV originally came with only around 120 pieces — but a May, 2025, firmware update added about a thousand new ones. And they’re all still free; there’s no subscription required as with The Frame.
The CanvasTV now offers over a thousand works of art, a huge improvement. There’s still no art store, though. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
Hisense divides them into five main categories: Landscape, Figures, Modern, Still Life and Others. (Now that the library has increased so substantially, it would be nice to have some additional categories to simplify browsing.) You can also switch to a nifty Immersive Atmospheres collection that adds animation and music — but there are still only five of these.
Want to learn more about whatever painting is currently on display? Just press down on the remote’s direction pad; that toggles the name and a brief description. Want to add it to your favorites collection? Just press up. (If you change your mind, you can hit up again to remove it.) This is such a little thing, but also so smart and convenient.
Even after the big artwork update, I didn’t spot a ton of famous works in the mix, the exception being a smattering of Monet. That said, I’m no art historian; there’s plenty here that might be renowned and I just don’t know it. What’s key is that I really like a lot of the selections, especially in the Landscape category. Very often I’ll walk into the living room and find myself delighted by whatever’s on display — to the point where I just stand there and admire it for a moment. And isn’t that the whole point?
Unfortunately, there’s still no “art store” where you can download additional paintings. That’s one area Samsung still has the edge; much as I dislike the subscription requirement, it’s nice to be able to toss up, say, a Mother’s Day-themed image on that day or something festive around the holidays.
You can add your own images, at least; the CanvasTV can retrieve files from a USB drive, or you can upload them from your phone using a simple but limited browser-based tool. I tested the latter, which worked well for the most part. But one of my uploads displayed upside-down, with no option to fix the orientation.
See that virtual mat surrounding the painting? It used to be asymmetrical. Now it’s perfect — and I’m just going to go ahead and take credit for the change. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)
When I first reviewed the Hisense, I was disappointed in the limited virtual-mat selections and their odd, asymmetrical design: wider on the sides, narrower along the top and bottom. It bugged me enough that I turned the mat off altogether.
Huzzah! Hisense has not only added more options — three designs, three styles and four textures — but also corrected the geometry. It all adds up to way more variety in the way you can display the art. Was it my original review that brought about all these positive changes? It’s impossible to know for sure, so I’m going to go ahead and say yes.
That’s because there’s one more usability quirk I noted that has since been corrected as well: When you mute the TV while art mode is active, the mute icon no longer stays onscreen. That’s important because if you choose Immersive Atmospheres but don’t want the sound on, you can mute without that icon sticking around. Thanks for listening, Hisense!
Hisense CanvasTV: Should you buy it?
If your decor would benefit from a TV that approximates a picture frame and can display works of art, there’s everything to like about the Hisense CanvasTV. The price is right, or at least a lot more affordable than Samsung’s The Frame TV. There’s an actual frame included, a nice-looking one at that. You’re not stuck with yet another monthly subscription. And the actual TV delivers a bright, balanced, colorful picture and comes with a terrific remote.
And now that Hisense gives you so much more art, I’m even more enthusiastic about the product. Would I welcome an art store? Definitely. Am I glad to have a ton of art I really enjoy without yet another monthly fee? Absolutely. Where before I was merely happy having the CanvasTV on my wall, now I’m overjoyed.
