Samsung The Terrace (2026)

Design

• 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch versions
• IP56-rated
• Wall mount only

There are three versions of this TV available. I’ve got the 65-inch (QE65LST7D, £2999), but there’s also a 55-inch (QE55LST7DATXXU, £2399) and a 75-inch version (QE75LST7DATXXU, £4199). 

That’s keen pricing, and The Terrace range is cheaper than the equivalent size Sylvox Pool Deck 2.0 that I reviewed in 2025. The main reason that I can see for this is that the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is designed for installation in a shaded area, and Samsung recommends that the “TV can be partially exposed to ambient non-direct sunlight, but direct sunlight should be avoided”.

This is because direct sunlight can damage the panel. With the Sylvox Pool Deck 2.0, you can install it in direct sunlight. Part of the decision when buying an outdoor TV is working out where it will go. If you have a garden with little shade, then you’ll need to spend more on a TV that can take full sunlight.

The second choice is where to physically install the TV. As is common with outdoor TVs, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is massive with thick bezels, and it’s a chunky 36kg. 

There’s no stand in the box, so you have to wall-mount with a 400 x 400mm VESA mount. Due to the weight, I’d suggest a flat mount, as an arm may not be able to take the strain.

You don’t hear me say this often, but the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D might actually be a little too big, and the 55-inch version is a bit more manageable, particularly if you want to store the TV during the colder months. Yes, the TV is fully weatherproof with an IP56 rating, but when it’s too miserable to watch outside, I suggest taking the TV inside; for the rest of the year, use the provided TV cover.

Before mounting, you’ll want to sort out all of the cables. For weatherproofing reasons, power, antenna, Ethernet and the three HDMI inputs are behind a door, held in place by multiple thumbscrews. That’s an improvement over Sylvox’s design, which uses a screw-in panel, with loads of fiddly little screws to deal with.

Once open, you can plug in everything you want, and channel the cables through the channels at the bottom. Regardless of whether you are planning to plug in devices via HDMI, I recommend plugging in at least one cable. When not in use, wrap a bag around the end and tape it up; then it’s ready to go when you want, without having to take the TV off its mount.

Alternatively, the TV has an HD Base-T receiver built-in, so you can connect to a transmitter via Ethernet and plug in devices externally.

Samsung provides two remotes in the box. The first is its standard IR remote, familiar to anyone who’s stayed in a hotel before. It’s fine but packed with controls and seems a little outdated. 

There’s also the SolarCell Remote, a simpler Bluetooth remote similar to the ones you get with a typical smart projector. It’s also IP56 rated, so it’s dust and water protected; handy if you leave it out and it starts to rain.

I’m not really sure why two remotes need to be provided, as one is going to end up in the back of a drawer or cupboard.

Features

• Tizen OS3
• Full range of apps including iPlayer
• Interface slightly fiddly

Running Tizen OS3, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D has all of the apps that you might expect, including iPlayer. Given Sylvox’s international focus, and Google TV OS, its TVs do not have this app, so require a streaming stick to be plugged in. There’s no such issue here. 

I don’t mind the home screen, but it does have its foibles. At first, I could see recommendations for BBC content, and selecting any would launch iPlayer; but, I couldn’t see the standalone iPlayer app.

This app, it turns out, was hidden in the apps section, but it wasn’t immediately clear where to find it.

With the satellite and coaxial inputs, live TV is also available, assuming you can get a cable run from the source to the TV. It could be worth it for live sport, given the delay that streaming introduces.

Picture Quality

• Automatic brightness adjustment
• Slight tinge to blacks
• Works perfectly under bright lights

Internally, there’s a 4K (3840 x 2160) Neo QLED panel, with an anti-reflective coating and local dimming to boost contrast ratio. It’s a 120Hz panel, too, which might come into play should you fancy a bit of outdoor gaming.

Samsung doesn’t support Dolby Vision, but it does have HDR10+ where supported. Dolby Vision is better, but HDR10+ at least has dynamic metadata, so each scene is rendered with its own HDR information.

In terms of specs, then, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is ahead of the Sylvox Pool Deck 2.0.

To work outside, TVs need to be super bright, and the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is rated at a maximum of 2000nits, the same as the Pool Deck 2.0. But, with high brightness comes the issue of changing light levels.

When it’s bright outside, the TV needs to be at full brightness, but at night you want to bring that level down, as blacks start to look grey. Rather than having to fiddle around with settings, an ambient light sensor, adjusting the brightness to suit.

This feature works very well, neatly adjusting the brightness to suit the conditions. It’s a feature that I wished the Pool Deck 2.0 had; with that TV, I end up fiddling with the brightness depending on whether I’m watching during the day or night. At night, the Poll Deck 2.0 does need its brightness turning down, or it’s too bright and the backlight starts to look uneven.

Samsung is very light on image profiles. While I don’t think you necessarily need a pre-defined image profile for every possible style of content, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D has three options: Optimised, EyeComfort and AI Customisation. I found Optimised the best option.

There are advanced settings to tweak the image, including brightness, contrast, sharpness and local dimming control (I went with high). Just be careful how you tune the image, as it can be hard to tweak a TV like this: get the setting right for a football game in sunlight, for example, and night viewing can look all wrong. A bit of balance is required.

When it comes to picture quality, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is a much better outdoor TV than it is one at night or for inside. That’s fair: take one of our best buy TVs and stick it outside on a sunny day and it will be rubbish.

While you can watch anything at any time, this TV, and all outdoor models, lend themselves best to brighter content.

Take the opening funeral scene of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. When it’s dark, I could see a lot more detail in the baby ape’s face, down to individual hairs. During the day, with dark content, the screen picks up many reflections, and detail is lost. I would say that watching in a darker environment highlights a slight issue in that blacks can look a touch purplish at times, a similar issue as levelled at the Samsung Frame Pro (2025).

This issue is more pronounced on the high-contrast funeral pyre scene in Kingdom, as noted below. Again, there’s more detail when it’s dark than when it’s light, but the daylight version shows the impressive brightness available, with the flames standing out.

During the day, the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D is very capable. Watching Spider Noir, the black and white is handled well, and get a burst of brightness, such as the lightning at the beginning, and there’s a lot of detail on show. That’s impressive given that the reference photo was taken during a bright June day with not a cloud in the sky.

Watch something much brighter, such as the World Cup, and that’s where this TV starts to shine. The high brightness helps reduce reflections, and the picture is incredibly clear, even on a very bright summer’s day. 

Overall picture quality surpasses that of the Sylvox Pool Pro 2.0, with better contrast across the image, helped by the automatic brightness control and local dimming. Backlighting is much better, too.

Similarly, the ‘Flame On’ scene from Deadpool and Wolverine shows this TV and panel at its best: the scene is searingly bright, but there’s still a lot of detail. Again, impressive considering that the image below was taken on a very bright day.

Sound Quality

• Clean audio
• Loud enough for outdoor use

Audio is always an issue for an outdoor TV. Inside, there are walls and ceilings to bounce sound off, but in the great outdoors, there’s nothing but the open sky. It can make sound difficult to hear, as audio disappears into the distance, but the Samsung The Terrace QE65LST7D handles it well.

Its 40W, four-channel audio system with 360 Audio does a pretty good of making the TV heard. There’s no sense of virtual surround, but the TV is loud and clear. Putting the TV outside with no walls to the sides of it, I was impressed by how clear the audio is.

Again, there are better indoor TVs for audio, and it’s easier to have a full surround system outside, but watching in your garden is about compromises, and this TV strikes the right ones.

If you do want to boost audio quality, Samsung sells its Terrace 3.0ch Indoor & Outdoor all-in-one soundbar. Personally, I don’t really need it. I save my ‘quality’ viewing for indoors, in a more controlled environment.

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Should you buy it?