With Samsung’s Frame TV, customers now have a variety of options to discretely integrate a television into a living space without disrupting the aesthetics of the room. This is an exciting new option for customers who previously were turned off by the thought of a TV above their fireplace or in their kitchen. The Samsung Frame also serves as a beautiful picture frame displaying famous art pieces with nice mattes or your favorite photos. When the TV is “off” it goes into ambient art mode, displaying artwork of your choosing (monthly subscription for around $5 with the Samsung art store for many choices), or your favorite photos which you can load onto a usb memory stick and attach to the TV’s OneConnect box.

With all of these exciting options, the Samsung Frame also poses new questions and challenges on how exactly to install and integrate this TV into your home. We’ve tackled over 50 of these Frame installs and have developed a great knowledge of how to do this, and we’d like to share that with you!

What do I do with the OneConnect Box?

Great question, we’ve come up with a few best practices here. To keep the Samsung Frame tight to the wall with zero clearance, Samsung has moved all of the ins/outs, power cord, and “brains” off the main TV display and on to a separate piece called the One Connect box. It’s kind of the size of a small cable box. That’s where you connect all the HDMIs and power cords etc. The box connects to the Samsung TV via a 15’ OneConnect cable that carries all the data signals as well as power to the display! For an extra few hundred dollars, you can purchase a 50’ OneConnect cable for longer runs. Here are our two favorite options for dealing with the OneConnect Box:

Hide the One Connect box behind the TV

In wall box used to hide the OneConnect box

This is what we usually do, we cut in a large recessed in wall box big enough to house the OneConnect box which has a knockout for a new power outlet. This works great if you’re streaming only. If you have a cable box, you will NOT be able to hide it behind the TV, as the heat from the box will eventually cause it to malfunction as there’s no where for the air to escape. You’ll still need to snake an HDMI somewhere else back to your cable box and other components if needed.

2. Hide the OneConnect cable in plastic wire molding (or in wall if your local building codes allow).

We have not been able to confirm or deny if the OneConnect cable is rated for in wall wiring or not. Our distributor says it is according to Samsung, but we’ve not seen anything in writing. Consult with your local building codes before running anything in wall. If you are allowed to run it in wall, it’s a nice thin easy to run cable. If you leave it outside the wall it’s also pretty transparent and doesn’t look bad at all. Then you can just put your OneConnect box somewhere else.

What color is the frame?

The Frame TV comes with a pretty standard looking dark grey bezel. You can add for additional cost a customization frame in a variety of finishes and colors that snaps on to the TV itself. It really helps it look like an actual picture frame.

What about the mount?

The Frame TVs come with their own mount, it hangs almost like a picture frame, just three screws with heavy duty anchors or if you’re lucky you can grab a stud, but the mount pattern is very small so you may not. The TV is very light so it should be OK with the provided anchors.

Leave us a comment below if you’ve attempted this install or have any clues on the OneConnect cable being in wall rated! We’d love to see pictures of your final install! Let us know if we can answer any questions!

Installing the Samsung Frame TV