The really big TV

This week is CES, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas which I’ll be attending and likely hating every minute I’m on the strip. Sure, the strip is exciting with all of the lights, energy and general nonsense, but spend more than 20 minutes walking around and having “citizens” click porno cards at you and you’re pretty much done. But, that’s a Vegas rant for another day and in all fairness Las Vegas is quite nice once you get away from the strip (aside from all of the desert, heat and lack of grass).

But one thing that is at every CES is the slightly larger television set from the year before. Roughly four years ago this stopped being valuable in any way. This year it’s the 150 inch 1080p Plasma set. A television that is completely useless in any home regardless of the outrageous price tag. Even in your wildest fantasy about living in a mansion, a television of this size becomes more annoying than valuable very quickly. You cannot sit a comfortable, normal distance from it without feeling like you’re looking into a giant heat lamp, and if you move 30 feet away from the set what is the point of a bigger screen?

Would you watch The Office in a movie theater? Play a game? I tend to believe that would just get annoying. So what value is the gigantic screen anyway? It starts to feel like a “who has the biggest penis” contest rather than a valuable use of technology. Better television options seem like:

1. Thinner, lighter weight.
2. Wireless.
3. Cheaper.
4. Data services as part of the TV.
5. WiFi.

How big enough is big enough? (12 inches?)