I know many people ascribe to the classic logic, that bigger is better. At the very least, it's certainly the mantra TV manufacturers are running with at the moment.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen Samsung, Sony, TCL, and Hisense unveil gargantuan 98-inch and above TV sets.
And to be clear, I get the appeal – big screens of course have the potential to offer more immersive viewing experiences than smaller ones. On top of that, many of the sets have incredible, and at points, atypical specs and hardware that have our team of reviewers salivating at the prospect of getting them into the What Hi-Fi? test rooms.
Running through a few highlights. The TCL X955 is a behemoth set being marketed as “the world’s first” Quantum Dot Mini LED TV. Why’s that cool? Apparently, that means it’ll be able to offer a 5000-nit max brightness.
Though I’m not convinced 5000 nits will equate to better picture quality than a top-of-the-line OLED TV, considering most flagships go at most to 2000 nits it’s at least interesting.
Alongside it, we’re also set to get a huge version of the new Hisense U8K, which is being marketed as the world’s first 100-inch Mini LED.
Not bonkers enough? Then you’ll want to check out the Samsung QN990C, which is a 98-inch Neo QLED with a next-gen 8K resolution.
Then, finally, there’s the new 98-inch Sony 98-inch X90L which, based on our experience with the 55-inch X90L, could be a great choice for serious cinephiles who care about picture accuracy over flashy stats.
They all undeniably look cool. But, like the eternal debate of whether you put jam or cream on a scone first, I have a very British problem with 100-inch TVs. Specifically, there’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to actually get one into my house.
On the one hand, this is due to the constraints put on me by my other half. Since I got married I have had to compromise my usual approach of designing the lounge around my hi-fi and home cinema setup. I barely managed to sneak a 48-inch LG C2 into our living space when we moved into our house. The chances of persuading her to let me have something double that size seem fairly slim.
And in her defence, it is nice having space for other things, such as plants and a climbing wall for our cat as opposed to my previous Spartan home cinema setup that put speaker placement and screen size above such niceties.
But the second and more serious reason is that even if I managed to put the perfect combination of words together to persuade her, I physically could not get a 100-inch TV into my lounge, let alone sensibly place it.
Having optimistically measured the space and hallway leading to my lounge I can safely confirm any attempt would lead to a reenactment of The One with the Cop episode of Friends – with my wife and I desperately screaming “pivot” at each other as we futilely attempt to shift the giant set through our narrow hallway, only to ultimately fail in our endeavour.
And that's why, despite understanding the appeal, on a personal level I can’t help but wish TV manufacturers would stop mocking me and my tiny house with their 100-inch sets.
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