The Best Art TV Alternatives
Samsung, Hisense and Blackdove each sell a screen that shows art. Layer sells the art, and built a display for it: generative work rendered live, with the artists paid every second it is seen.
Four ways to put art on a wall by subscription. Samsung Art Store is $4.99 a month for still images on a Frame TV. Hisense CanvasTV includes 1,000 works with no subscription. Blackdove streams video art to a Samsung-made screen for $99 a month. Layer Curation is $99 a month for generative art rendered live on the Layer Canvas, with the artists paid for every second it is viewed. The first three sell a screen with art on it. Layer sells the art, and built the screen for it.
What an art subscription is
An art subscription is a monthly fee for a changing collection of work on a screen, the way a music subscription is a fee for a changing catalogue of songs. The screen is the speaker. What differs between services is what counts as the art, whether it is chosen for you or by you, whether it can change while you look at it, and whether the artist is paid when it is on your wall.
Samsung Art Store
$4.99 a month for over 4,000 still images on a Frame TV, with 30 free pieces a month through Art Store Streams. The Frame is a QLED 4K television from $949.99 at 65 inches, sold with a slim-fit wall mount and bezels sold separately. Art Store is a feature of the TV. See the full Layer vs Samsung Frame comparison.
Hisense CanvasTV
Hisense sells the CanvasTV in 55, 65, 75 and 85 inches with what it calls a Hi-Matte Display and an Art Mode app for uploading your own images. Hisense states it includes over 1,000 free works of art with no monthly subscription. It competes with the Frame on price. There is no subscription to compare because Hisense does not offer one.
Blackdove
Blackdove streams video art to its own Samsung-engineered displays, from $1,999 at 32 inches to $8,750 at 98, with frames sold separately. The Patron subscription is $1,188 a year, which is $99 a month, and the first year is included with a canvas. New pieces are added weekly and some are sold as NFTs. See the full Layer Canvas vs Blackdove comparison.
Meural
Netgear’s Meural Canvas was a 27-inch 1080p frame with a 30,000-piece membership library. Netgear discontinued it in 2024 and its forums report the app is no longer maintained. It is listed here because people still search for it. If you own one and want living art on the wall it leaves behind, reserve a Layer Canvas: generative work rendered live, on a display built for it, with the artists paid every second it is seen.
Layer Curation
$99 a month for over 250 works of digital fine art, hand-selected by Layer’s curators and developed with the artists, shown on the Layer Canvas. Much of the collection is generative: code the Canvas runs live on its own GPU, so a work by Casey Reas, Zach Lieberman, Leander Herzog or JERES is being computed as you watch and never loops. Art Intelligence sequences the collection to the room and the time of day. You can adjust a work and keep your variant.
Artists earn royalties for every second their work is viewed. That is the model: the subscription pays the artist, the way streaming pays the musician. See the collection and, for commercial spaces, Layer for business.
Which art subscription should you choose?
Samsung Art Store is a picture library on a television. Hisense CanvasTV is a television with preloaded images. Blackdove is a rectangular screen streaming video art. Layer is living generative art, on a museum-grade square built for nothing else, curated for you and sequenced to your room, with the artists paid every second it is on your wall. Reserve a Canvas for a refundable $99.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest art subscription?
Samsung Art Store is $4.99 a month on a Frame TV, and Hisense CanvasTV includes preloaded images with no subscription, per Hisense. Both are libraries of still images on a television. Layer Curation is $99 a month for living generative art on a display built for it, with the artists paid as it is viewed.
Which art subscription pays the artists?
Layer pays artists ongoing royalties based on ViewTime, the seconds a work is displayed. Blackdove licenses works and sells some as NFTs. Samsung’s product page does not state how Art Store artists are paid.
Do I need a special display for an art subscription?
Samsung Art Store needs a Frame TV. Blackdove works on its own canvases and other displays through its app. Layer Curation runs on the Layer Canvas, which has a GPU to render generative works live; a TV cannot execute that code.
What happened to Meural?
Netgear discontinued the Meural Canvas in 2024, and Netgear’s own community forum reports the app is no longer maintained. The device is not compared here as a current product.
Is Layer Curation a subscription or a purchase?
A subscription, at $99 a month with a Canvas pre-order. The Canvas is $6,999 plus tax, reserved with a refundable $99 deposit, shipping Q4 2026 in the US. Founder Edition owners receive three years of Curation included.
Why subscribe to art instead of buying it?
A subscription gives you a collection that changes, curated and sequenced for you, with new work arriving and the artists paid as it is seen. Buying gives you one work. On Layer you can also keep the variants you make, so the collection is yours as much as theirs.
Sources
- Samsung, The Frame TVs listing: https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/tvs/the-frame/
- Hisense, 65-inch S7 CanvasTV product page: https://www.hisense-usa.com/product-page/televisions-65-class-s7-canvastv-4k-qled-google-tv-65s7n
- Hisense USA, "1,000+ free works, no monthly subscription": https://www.facebook.com/hisenseusa/posts/get-1000-masterpieces-included-for-free-with-hisense-canvastv-our-hi-matte-displ/1527983008924598/
- Blackdove, Digital Canvas product page: https://shop.blackdove.com/products/blackdove-digital-canvas
- Blackdove, store catalogue: https://shop.blackdove.com/products.json
- Netgear, Meural Canvas II product page: https://www.netgear.com/home/digital-art-canvas/mc327lw/
- ChannelNews, "Netgear Kills Off Meural Canvas", 9 May 2024: https://www.channelnews.com.au/exclusivenetgear-kills-off-meural-canvas/
- Layer, Canvas pre-order: https://layer.com/canvas-preorder
- Layer, Curation: https://layer.com/curation