SmartThings lets you 'see' what's behind your Samsung smart TV

It's all done through the SmartThings mobile app in just a few steps. Here's how it works.

• Turn your TV ON.
• Launch SmartThings on your smartphone.
• Access your TV from the SmartThings Home or Devices tab.
• Go to the Ambient tab and tap the Camera icon. It shows up in the Ambient tab, right above the Remote Controller button. Check out the screenshots below.

• Next, point the phone's camera at your Samsung TV. Follow the on-screen instructions, but don't get your camera too close to the TV. The idea is to capture your TV frame as well as its surroundings.
• If the viewfinder frame is red, try getting further away from your TV. Once the viewfinder frame turns green, capture a photo and wait for it to be processed into a TV Ambient Mode background.

You can find your custom background photo in the Ambient tab inside the SmartThings mobile app. You can use your photo as an Ambient on its own or apply it as a background to existing Samsung Ambient Modes that support customization options.

As an example, you can add your custom background to one of Samsung's clock Ambient Modes.

Note that your mileage using this feature may vary. If you have a busy background behind your TV, the tool might have difficulties generating an accurate background Ambient.

Samsung is aware of this limitation. This is an experimental Lab tool that's still in development. If you access the info panel, you will see a message that says, “We're still experimenting with this feature, so it may not work perfectly for all walls. Improvements are coming your way!”

Samsung is now using AI more extensively across its TV lineup, and the company may eventually apply more advanced AI algorithms to the custom background tool for better results.