Is it just me or are tech companies telling us what we want?

adamdavid

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I've been a member of AVForums for a long time. I usually lurk and very rarely post but recent advances in technology and some of the Trending Topics have made me start to think.

Do we really need/want 8K TVs? Can the human eye even detect such high resolutions at sensible screen sizes and viewing distances? Why is there so little choice of 32" TVs these days? Is my house so small compared to everyone elses?

The reason for this train of thought is my current TV is getting a bit old and I decided to research potential replacements in case it packs up. I'm happy with my current TV; a 6-year-old 32" LG with a full HD IPS panel. When looking at possible replacements I found there is hardly any choice in this size/technology. Now I could stretch to a 40" or maybe even a 43" (at a push) but that would mean a major rearrangement and/or replacement of furniture. I don't really want a HUGE screen dominating my room. Money isn't really a problem, but while home entertainment is an important part of my life, it isn't the be all and end all either. Now, before any one mentions projectors I will say that I did consider that but the handful of reviews I read of projectors costing £3-4k all seemed to have picture issues of some sort and a projector would need a really major rearrangement of my living space.

Increasingly I get the feeling that tech companies are guiding (forcing?) consumers down the path they want us to take. Increasingly bigger screens when surely 40" is probably optimal for most people's homes. 4k and 8k displays when 1080P is more than good enough for most. Streaming services trying to lock us into their service with "exclusive content", meaning people end up having Netflix, Amazon and Sky/Virgin to get all the content they want. Increasingly less choice in physical disc players. Now, call me old fashioned, but I like physical media, beit music CD, movie/TV blu-ray/DVD etc. I like to physically own my media so I can watch/listen when and where I want without the content provider controlling what I can watch and when/where or tracking my media consumption habits. Physical media means I can rip my CDs to MP3 format (or WMA, OGG or anything else I decide on) at a small size to play in my car, but keep high quality formats for playback at home.

So if you've waded through my ramblings - what do you think? As the heading says; Is it just me?
 
Is it just me?

It sounds like you haven't tried these things, you're rejecting them because you don't like the idea of them.

Buy yourself a decent 55", rearrange that furniture and if you still find yourself coming back to a 32" in a couple of years then that's a far stronger argument than 'I don't think it would work for me'.
 
It sounds like you haven't tried these things, you're rejecting them because you don't like the idea of them.

You are correct - I haven't tried huge TVs. I'm not rejecting them as a product generally, it's just that I don't want one. What I want is the choice. A 32" screen is perfectly satisfactory for me.
 
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Buy yourself a decent 55", rearrange that furniture and if you still find yourself coming back to a 32" in a couple of years then that's a far stronger argument than 'I don't think it would work for me'.
I did try it, and it wasn't great. If you are using speakers you'll have to move sofa to the back of the room and ruin your sound, even if you are headphone person, it's awkward to deal with cables.
And if you are PC gamer anything larger from 43'' is unusable.
 
For big screens it depends what you actually watch on it and what kind of experience you want.

If you want a 'cinematic' experience, then you want a screen that occupies a significant portion of your field of view (I think THX recommend 40% width?). To put that 40% in context, thats about a 60" screen only 6' away.

If you just watch 'telly', that its just a case of whatever size you are comfortable with I guess.

For most of us the size we go with is a compromise of as big as we can afford / can stand dominating a room, vs as big as possible for watching movies (to THX view angle) vs also small enough to take in the entire view for random junk TV etc (watching everything on a really big TV gets a bit much at times if you watch TV alot).

Best option for those with loads of cash to throw at the problem - smaller TV and a full THX field of view projector setup.

I had a old Sony s-video projector for a long time - was great for movies. We also had 32" tube TV at the time and more recently an 32" LCD. I have to say I do really miss the huge screen of the project or movies. Just not the same without it. Were thinking of going 65" @ around 9-10ft distance as a compromise as the projector screen was much bigger than this - I guess 72-80" equiv, but we could never adequately black out the room which limited use in summer until after dark (Southern UK).
 
You are correct - I haven't tried huge TVs. I'm not rejecting them as a product generally, it's just that I don't want one. What I want is the choice. A 32" screen is perfectly satisfactory for me.
This is an AV website. There's going to be some wanting a home cinema etc.
 
This is an AV website. There's going to be some wanting a home cinema etc.

Agreed, though it depends how you define "home cinema". My understanding is that home cinema also includes surround sound, yet companies are producing sound bars for people with limited space or who don't want full surround sound systems. I might be missing something, but if they offer Audio products for people with limited space then why can't they offer Video products for smaller rooms as well?
 
Agreed, though it depends how you define "home cinema". My understanding is that home cinema also includes surround sound, yet companies are producing sound bars for people with limited space or who don't want full surround sound systems. I might be missing something, but if they offer Audio products for people with limited space then why can't they offer Video products for smaller rooms as well?
If you mount the TV on a wall, potentially you can mount on the entire wall. How big is your wall? If it's a CRT I'd say you had a point but you should be able to stick a flat panel somewhere.

My 55" is on a TV stand. It mounts on the bracket built into the stand. The kit is underneath on the stand.

If you really want a 32" TV you can have one. At present though I have 55" in the living room and 42" in the bedroom. A 32" I might put in my kitchen.
 
Agreed, though it depends how you define "home cinema". My understanding is that home cinema also includes surround sound, yet companies are producing sound bars for people with limited space or who don't want full surround sound systems. I might be missing something, but if they offer Audio products for people with limited space then why can't they offer Video products for smaller rooms as well?
Anyone who truly cares for audio won't be using soundbars. even for stereo people like me, you don't want to place speakers right up to a wall, and stick couch to back wall, that goes for soundbars as well. And here you go, no more space for large tv.
 
If you really want a 32" TV you can have one. At present though I have 55" in the living room and 42" in the bedroom. A 32" I might put in my kitchen.

Hence one of my original questions; Is my house smaller than everyone elses? :)

Some information I deliberately left out is that my AV kit is in my bedroom (I still live with Mum, Dad and sister). We have a 43" TV in the front room and a 32" in the back room. 19"ers in the kitchen, parent's and sister's bedrooms. I have bookcases filled with books (remember them? The things we had before e-books!), CDs (ditto, pre-MP3) and DVDs/Blu-rays. In my room there is also a wardrobe, a bed (obviously) and some drawers for clothes. I also have my weight bench for when I have the energy to excercise! Here's a picture of my current setup;

IMG_20171008_124241385.jpg


Before anyone asks, the left hand corner of the room houses some fitness equipment and a large computer which acts as a media centre/file server.

So, as you can see, I could squeeze a huge TV in my room, but I don't necessarily want to. The whole point I'm trying (and failing) to make is that I would like the choice.
 
I have bookcases filled with books (remember them? The things we had before e-books!)
I can't be the only one who prefers paper books over e-books right? I just love the feel of paper.

CDs (ditto, pre-MP3) and DVDs/Blu-rays
I have shelves upon shelves upon shelves of videogames (including new ones) and DVDs Blu-rays of mostly weeb stuff :p, and I still buy audio CDs although they get ripped to flac and put into boxes.
 
Hence one of my original questions; Is my house smaller than everyone elses? :)
Your choice but I don't live in a big mansion and I have two TVs bigger than yours. I also bought a projector and portable screen and I have made room and set that up in the living room as well.

If that was my room I'd buy shelving and drill it to the wall to the left. The DVDs etc could go on that. The TV could also go on the wall and be larger.

Books I don't really have. I have a Kindle for that. CDs I ripped to FLAC store on a NAS and hard drives and the CDs are actually now under the stairs.

Also even if you stuck at 32" you might find the screen area is bigger as the bezel on a modern TV is smaller. How old is your TV? Even 32" TVs now tend to be 1080p. Older ones might not have been.

Here's some big (or bigger) TV links:

BBC Today's Justin Webb reveals flat screen TV purchase left wife unimpressed | Daily Mail Online

Etiquette expert William Hanson reveals 12 items you should NEVER have in your house | Daily Mail Online

The dos and don’ts of buying a huge TV

Televisions are getting bigger

32" tends not to be a living room TV anymore so isn't so popular. I think for many, the TVs and 4K etc now starts at 40."
 
^ Thanks for posting those links, one of them had a link to:
TV Size to Distance Calculator and Science

Which I came across a while ago and been trying to find again.

About halfway down this is some info about the distance vs size at which 4K is useful.
 
Interesting links Sonic67. They do seem to imply that big TVs are tacky and for people lacking in class! My TV is a 1080p panel and is 6 years old. Same thing can be said for my blu-ray player - a 6 year old Toshiba. Both TV and disc spinner work fine. The blu-ray player stopped working a few weeks ago but I took it apart and put it back together again and it now works fine.

Research into a new blu-ray player seemed to imply they are poorly built unless you look at Oppo, Cambridge Audio etc. Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic all seem to be built to a low quality level. I guess this is because they're focusing on 4k disc players (hence the decision to look into possible new TVs).

Ironically, yesterday, my TV showed thick light and dark horizontal banding - almost as if half the edge LEDs were dimmed/off. I turned the TV on and off again and it's been fine since.

I guess the jist I'm getting from this thread is that I am most definitely in the minority... so no change there!

When my TV packs up, I'll have to have a major restructuring of my living space and go bigger.
 
I think it is because you’re in a small room. My lounge tv is 65 and fits the space well because I have a relatively big lounge.

All you have to do is buy a house, then buy a bigger telly. Sorted.
 
I think it is because you’re in a small room. My lounge tv is 65 and fits the space well because I have a relatively big lounge.

All you have to do is buy a house, then buy a bigger telly. Sorted.

:D
 

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