A TV Can be more than just a box on the wall – A guide to lifestyle TVs

Remember the days when the TV was a piece of furniture in the lounge room? It sat there, with the family captivated by it and the shows on it – probably with photos of the family sitting on top of it – they were that big.

Fast forward to today and the TV has become bigger than ever, and with that, it’s presenting a host of new challenges for owners – and for the person in charge of home decorating in your life.

A big black box on the wall – that’s what my TV is for most of the day. If we’re home and having dinner, or someone’s reading a book, the TV isn’t on – it’s just waiting, ready to serve when asked.

It doesn’t need to be that way. These days there are a range of TVs that can help with the “big black box” problem, and also some that can really become part of your lounge room – a range of TVs Samsung refers to as “Lifestyle TVs”.

These new TVs are our biggest aesthetic change to Television design since we started wall mounting TVs, blending form and function and rethinking what we expect from a Television.

Samsung has two models that come immediately to mind, and each of them fit a uniquely different purpose.

The first is The Frame. The purpose of this lifestyle TV, while it still has an amazing picture and great features in terms of what you watch on it – is that when you aren’t watching anything it’s not just a big black box. It’s a work of art. Something you’ve created, or something you’ve chosen from a huge library of art from collections and galleries all around the world.

The Frame has the capability to intelligently adjust the screen brightness and detect motion in the room, so when there’s no one around it’s designed to turn off.  But when you’re home, and not watching TV – it can display art like a painting and showpiece in the home.

The second option is the recently announced The Serif from Samsung.  This lifestyle TV – again, all the bells and whistles of a Samsung QLED TV – has a very unique design.  Going back to the days of a TV being furniture, this lifestyle TV comes with legs so it can be freestanding and doesn’t require an entertainment unit.  Or, it can sit on your existing entertainment unit, as well as a variety of other places like a cabinet, shelf, desk, or even a chest-of-drawers.

With Samsung’s Ambient Mode also featured on The Serif, your lifestyle TV is part of the decor even when it’s switched off, so you can analyse the surroundings so that The Serif shows images and themes that complement the colours around the unit.

The Serif’s Ambient Mode also features two exclusive patterns, created by the same highly regarded industrial designers who penned the design for The Serif itself – the Bouroullec Brothers.

The Serif’s unique shape has a flat base, and flat top, so if you wanted to – you could even put some small family photos or ornaments up top.

Consider the Aussie lounge room; according to Samsung research, the majority of Australian homes are open planned. This can create a desire for many of us to have a TV that will blend into the overall environment of the home.

For people who enjoy entertaining, who enjoy having a style to their home decor, a Lifestyle TV like these can make a great impact on your room, or blend off into the room’s design, depending what you want and how you use it.