Concealed Screens

The Connected Life

- JOHN SCIACCA

My previous column dealt with the emergence of larger, more affordable big-screen displays in recent years. A flat-panel TV larger than 80 inches used to be a luxury purchase, but today they are commonplace. For example, just last week I saw someone wheeling around an 83-inch LG OLED TV on a cart...at Costco! You can now also buy a 98-inch Samsung or a 100-inch Sony LCD TV at Best Buy. For someone who sold one of the first plasma displays—a 60-inch model from Zenith—for just under $18,000, all I can say is, “We've come a long way, baby!"

Of course, technology never stands still, and since I wrote that last column CES 2022 happened and brought about even more changes. Whether it was LG's 97-inch OLED and 136-inch MicroLED, Samsung's expanded range of MicroLEDs, or TCL's ultra-slim 85-inch 8K Mini-LED, the show was filled with larger displays featuring new technologies capable of delivering pictures that would shame your local cineplex.

But no matter how large and thin these screens get, or how good they look while you're watching, you'll still have the equivalent of a giant black hole on the wall when they're turned off. For people looking to install a big screen in a non-dedicated room where they don't want the TV to be the focal point, that situation can pose a serious design challenge. Fortunately, there are solutions!

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