The Living Room TV As We Know It Is Over

September 25, 2022
27 Comments
Posted in: interior design

I remember the living room TV that was rarely in our living room. We had the bare-bones portable 19″ black and white and…

Cue the flashback effect…

It seems like just last week that I was a little girl watching our black and white portable living room TV.

Except ours was in our damp, moldy basement.

Geezzz… That was just like our floor in our damp, moldy basement!

Boy, that sure takes me back…

I know many of you remember this jingle. For those that don’t, you are in for quite a shocking treat.

“You’ve come a long way, baby…

to get to where ya got to todaaaaay…

you’ve got your own cigarette, now babeeee…

You’ve come a long, long waaaay….

Yes, indeed. If you have no idea what I’m talking about. It means that you were born after 1965 and missed out on a lot of fun. But, we can make up for that. (You must watch the video below. It’s both frightening and hilarious.)

Don’t forget your Metracal! Hehe… but just for lunch!

OMG! Thank God for women’s lib! The 70s can’t get here quickly enough.

On alternate blue moons in southern Indiana, we got a semi-clear picture. (and sound) But, it was constant futzing with the antenna; I didn’t care. As long as I got to stay up late on Thursday night to watch Bewitched, all was right with the world.

At some point, my brother put his foot down because he had terrible allergies, and the TV did make its way into our living room. Calm down! ;] We had no den or family room. It was a small home. I don’t remember exactly where or when. But I remember being sick and allowed to have the TV rolled into my room.

Yes, our home in Evansville, Indiana.

Years and years later, when I was a young adult, I bought my very first TV.

It was in the spring of 1986, and the last of a long string of roommates had finally moved out of my small one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.

I went just around the corner to the local branch of CRAZY EDDIE. (just before things got really crazy!)

Remember? His prices were INSANE! Eddie was also running one of the biggest scams of the century.

I got what we then called a “flat screen” and was mighty chuffed with myself. It was a Sony. But like an idiot, I got the extended warranty. No one told me those televisions NEVER die; mine only needed one minor repair 18 years later.

Television of the future?

Then, a decade later, plasma TVs came out for about ten grand each.

And then the rest— LCD, LED, and then hi-def.

Super high def

and now?

We’ll get to that in a sec.

But first…

Let me show you what the living room TV of today might look like.

via Vogue Living

Tone on Tone

from a job, we did several years ago.

Laurel? High Tech?

I DON’T SEE ANY TV in any of these rooms!!!

Yes, I know that. :]

But just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. ;]

Note: This is a companion post to “25 ways to hide the TV – the Ultimate Guide.” It also includes decorating around the living room TV, and TVs “hidden in plain site.”

For instance, we could have a living room TV behind some art that slides open manually or with a remote control. A terrific tutorial on one of my favorite sites, Minted, tells you exactly how to do this.

Martha Stewart

Or a TV behind a piece of art or mirror like this one that slides up.

The only problem with this one is that you can’t have a very large TV, and usually, the space above the mantel isn’t large enough to allow the door to slide up. Better to have it like the first one.

Yes?

Well, the mirrors you showed are HUGE!

I don’t think it would be a good idea to have them sliding.

Me neither. And they don’t have to.

The living room TV can also appear like magic behind any mirror, with a frame or not.

Above are images from the Savoy Hotel created by an English company called Magic Mirror TV.

There is technology now to do this. Not saying that it’s cheap. I’m sure that it’s anything but.

A Phillipe Starck Hotel in Venice

also has a TV behind one of the mirrors

source unknown

Tell me that’s not cool.

Please try to refrain from it would kill my neck comments. It depends on other factors such as distance and viewing position.

Moving on…

I found an American company, Frame My TV, that makes these beautiful frames that go over the TV.

Some have mirrors like the one above.

And when the living room TV is on, the mirror “disappears.”

This is from the mounting instructions and shows how it works.

Or, if you don’t want a mirror and prefer a piece of art,

they have a system where the art rolls up out of the way when the TV is in use.

This website has tons of information about the innovations in two-way mirror TVs and the fancy frames around them.

Okay, it’s time to look at the bevy of smart TVs available in 2022.

The first innovation that revolutionized how to hide the living room TV in plain sight is the Samsung Frame TV. It’s already several years old, and numerous models have been added.

Via Vienna Blog

Samsung’s The Frame.

Can you tell which ones are the art and which ones are the TVs?

If you can’t, that’s terrific.

You’re not supposed to be able to tell, and from a couple of feet away, it’s almost impossible, I understand.

There is a choice of four different frames.

And they even have an easel-type stand, if you wish not to put it on the wall.

But, I think this is an exceedingly elegant solution for a problem that has plagued us since this addictive box first entered our lives some 70 years ago.

You can also find them at the Samsung store on Amazon.

Now, I know that someone is going to bring up the fact that you can turn any living room TV into a piece of art with the various apps that are available.

Yes, this is true. However, the quality of the image might be marred by glare, and the framing effects, not be quite as good. I’m not 100% on all of that.

However, if a Frame TV is not in the budget, you can certainly make your TV look better with an art app and possibly a frame made for it. You should be able to find videos on Youtube that show how you can make an art TV from any smart TV.

However, the Frame TV is just the beginning of the new breed of television.

These days some TVs do pretty much everything but fry eggs.

Samsung is probably the company with the most innovations; I’m not an expert in that area.

But, the technology is changing so quickly. And, there are highly specialized TVs, as well. Samsung has even developed a residential TV that is meant to go outside.

Below are some screenshots I took of the various categories. Below, I’ll link where you can learn more about them.

Above are the different kinds of TVs you can get from Samsung. The amount of choice is staggering. Indeed, we’ve come a very long way from having to futz with an antenna on a 19″ black and white portable TV with a semi-clear picture.

Above are the Samsung Lifestyle TVs, including the Frame TV. You can find out more about each one here.

Not to be outdone, LG has come up with one of the most revolutionary ideas for television viewing.

No, it’s not a screen. It’s a TV that rolls up. The TV rolls up into a box.

Okay, that’s pretty cool, except for one problem. When the living room TV is rolled up, it sits in the middle of the floor in an ugly box with super sharp corners.

While the technology is impressive, I’m not buying it from an aesthetic standpoint. In addition, I see a tremendous tripping hazard, bruised shins, and worse, in my case as I’m a phenomenal klutz.

Finally, one of these death traps will set you back SIX figures.

So, I’m giving this one a pass for now.

I have no problem viewing a TV sitting in a cabinet or bookcase.

Please check out the sister post “25 ways to hide the TV – the Ultimate Guide.” It also includes decorating around the TV, and “hidden in plain site.”

I’ll leave you with a widget of various products to use with your Smart or Dumb, haha, TV. Some are cabinets to hide the TV. Some, you can put a TV over in various ways.