March 25, 2013
Experts are predicting that 2013 will be the year of the gargantuan television. Almost every major electronics company has either launched or announced their contribution to the new generation of huge televisions, which boast eye-watering clarity and the biggest screens yet.
The Consumer Electronics Show was the launch place of Panasonic’s, LG’s and Toshiba’s mammoth displays with tags such as Ultra HD and OLED (organic light-emitting diode). Toshiba has branded the huge television market as a major category in 2013, and consumers can look forward to a battle between the largest companies as they fight for supremacy in this emerging market. Combine this new TV technology with high tech TV lift furniture and homeowners will soon be facing a whole new TV experience.
As well as crystal-clear images, manufacturers have added a whole range of gadgetry and improved options in order to draw in customers. The smart TVs which have been a fixture on pop up TV cabinets all over the country in recent years have been improved upon, with innovations such as cameras on the front of the television, which recognise a member of a family and switch immediately to their personalised home screen. Touch pens allow integration with smartphones, and split-screen technology allows users to surf the internet and watch television at the same time.
With all of their extra functions and their incredible size, these televisions weigh more and are slightly less streamlined than the wafer-thin LCD screens that consumers have become used to; Sharp’s 80-inch offering weighs in at 113.6 lbs and its PN-L802B as much as 225 lbs. Rather than mount them on wall brackets, many will feel safer housing them within a motorized TV cabinet, which will not only offer a safe and supportive display stand, it will also provide a place to store and protect the expensive gadget when it is not in use.
Both Samsung and LG also used the conference to unveil their first curved televisions. The purpose of the curved glass screen is to prevent the supposed ‘fade’ effect that humans perceive at the edges of flat-screen televisions due to the edges being further away from the viewer than the centre of the screen. Consumers will also find these types of television hard to mount and view without the appropriate use of pop up TV lift furniture. The curved construction means they are very difficult to fit securely to a wall, and their high prices means that those who manage to get their hand on one of the new models will be taking every precaution to protect them whilst they are not being used.
