Weekend Plans Post: Living in the Future

Back in the mid-oughts, I remember reading about the big showcase at CES where they busted out the newest advancements in television technology.

Here’s a fun 2005 article about big televisions:

Many attendees found themselves mesmerized by the 102-inch plasma behemoth in the Samsung booth, which the company claimed to be “the biggest TV” in the world.

On a practical level, it’s a long way off. It’s not in production yet, and company reps wouldn’t disclose a price. Samsung’s 80-inch model will reportedly sell for about $45,000 or more.

LG Electronics had a dueling sign, touting its 71-inch plasma with full high-definition resolution as the world’s largest screen that could actually be purchased today for $75,000.

Here’s a 2006 article about an 82″ LCD tv. The last line in the article? “We don’t even want to think about how much an 82″ 1080p panel would cost.”

I mostly remember reading an article *SOMEWHERE* that talked about a 100″ television that was on sale for $100,000. A television for Bill Gates, I thought. A television for the price of a house. (This was back in the mid-oughts. They had houses for sale for $100,000 back then.) I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I know that I, realistically, didn’t want one (where would I put it?) but the fact that they finally had them had me giddy. A television the size of a movie screen! Too bad it cost $100,000…

Back in 2019, I had an article about a buddy who was (FINALLY) upgrading his CRT television to a flatscreen and we googled the various televisions on the web to get a good feel for what was available. I mostly noticed the 65″ television on sale for $278.

I suppose that I can now tell my story: back in 2019, *I* got a new television. I finally upgraded my “old” 52″ television. I went to a friend and asked him if he’d be willing to trade his “old” 40″ television for my 52″ one and then I could give his to my mom to replace her old 23″ CRT. That’s what we did. Then we went out to Costco and found an 80″ television on sale for around $1100. HOLY COW! THAT IS IMPOSSIBLY LARGE AND IMPOSSIBLY CHEAP!

We got it home and realized that it didn’t fit on the old television stand. The old television had a single foot, right smack dab in the middle, and it sat on a $100 the-box-fits-in-the-back-seat stand we got from Best Buy. The new television is big and long and we had to go out and purchase *FURNITURE* this time. We got the television set up and holy cow. It was *AWESOME*.

Then we had a pandemic.

Anyway. My buddy is finishing his basement five years into owning the house. He’s been having contractor problems, though, and so there were a lot of delays here and there. The framing. The electrical. The water. The inspections. The redoing of the electrical. The drywall. Well, a couple of weeks ago, he finally (FINALLY!) got the carpet done. Sprinkle a week of nothing in there a couple of times. Drop a couple of weeks doing nothing in there.

But, as I said, a couple of weeks ago he finally got the carpet done! Which meant that he could finally get furniture down there. A desk for his new office, a bed for the spare bedroom, a couch for what would be the television room. “Are we going to move the upstairs television down here?”, his wife asked. “No,” he laughed. “We’re going to get a new one.”

They went to Costco and picked up an 86″ television for an absolutely OBSCENE price. And we spent the evening putting up a television mount and then hung the television just after the sun went down.

OH MY GOSH WE GOTTA WATCH AN EPISODE OF SOMETHING. So we watched the season finale of Strange New Worlds and noticed how amazing the colors were, how we had to turn our heads to watch something move across the screen, and… huh. Everybody is wearing makeup.

Like, it used to just be pro wrestling that was ruined by HDTV. Now it’s wrecking stuff with actual sets.

But we also boggled at how, at the distance the couch was from the television, the screen took up about as much eye real estate as the movie screen does in a theater, when you sit halfway back.

So now we’ve got “Top Gun: Maverick” penciled in for September.

And the main thing that I wanted to check was the price of 100-inch televisions. Last time I looked, it was around $3,000.

Now? You can get a 103″ television for $758.

Welcome to the future. Now all we need is somewhere to put it.

This weekend is a crazy one. I’m going in to work to get some training and to be the guy that is safe to send away to get some lunch or snacks or whatever because he doesn’t have any answers to any important questions. But the craziness passes next week and, surely, things will calm down after that. And maybe then we can go over to my buddy’s basement and watch something blow up on his gimungous television.

So… what’s on your docket?