TV conundrum

This blog may seem silly to some people, but I bet there are a few of you out there who can relate! We recently got a new TV at my house and it’s just about the biggest, fanciest TV you could ask for. It’s a Samsung LED, 3D, high definition, 55-inch, slim design TV with a top of the line sound system. Now I thought this was great at the time – "It’ll be like having a movie theatre in our lounge!” – and don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool TV and has the clearest and best picture I’ve ever seen on a home television set, without a doubt. But before this starts to sound like a promo for Samsung, I do have some issues with it. My main issue is actually the very thing that the TV is supposed to do – it’s actually TOO clear. At first I couldn’t put my finger on it; I just knew something wasn’t right with all of my favourite TV shows and movies. I finally realised that the picture on screen is actually so clear and defined that it gives everything a sort of low-budget feel. You can literally see every tiny flaw on every actor’s face and you start to feel like you’re watching a home video. This even happens with the picture on the highest budget Hollywood blockbusters, so you can imagine what it does to the lower budget movies and TV shows (ahem Shortland Street). My other issue is that now, any time I am at a friend’s house watching TV on a set that is any smaller or less clear (albeit still a great and reasonably large TV) I feel like I’m straining to see and the screen is just absurdly small. I’m sure this seems like a ridiculous thing to complain about, and I guess I’m not really complaining (I’ve started to adjust to and appreciate my new TV) but I think it just goes to show that we have finally reached a level where technology may actually be advancing TOO far, to levels that are just a TAD unnecessary. Another example of this is with the new iPhone 5 concept, for which I recently watched a preview. Do we really need holographic keyboards and viewing screens projected from our phones? I’ll leave that one up for debate...