The Five Best Big-Screen TVs
They used to call TV “the small screen.” Disparagingly. Forget that. TVs these days are anything but small–not in screen size, not in resolution, not in extra features. You know what has a small screen? Your laptop. Cord-cutter or not, Game of Thrones wasn’t filmed for a computer monitor. It’s time to grow up and invest in a real TV. We suggest one of these.
LG Curved OLED TV
Cool: The screen in curved so your eye is equally distant from all parts of the screen, making for a more even, IMAX-like viewing experience.
Cooler: At its thinnest point, LG’s OLED TV is only as thick as a pencil.
55″ $4,000
Panasonic 4K Ultra HD LED Life+ Screen TV
Cool: It lets you watch Netflix in 4K HD.
Cooler: It can identify the face of the person watching and display personalized choices for viewing.
58″ $3,800
Samsung 4K SUHD TV
Cool: This TV uses nanocrystal technology for preposterously bright colours and crisp details.
Cooler: It has 64 times more colour expression than most regular TVs.
65″ $8,000
Sharp 4K Aquos LC TV
Cool: It’s got a ridiculous 4K ultra HD resolution—way better than any network is even broadcasting yet (which, yes, may mean your favourite sitcom looks like a PBS teleplay. But they’ll catch up.)
Cooler: It has a spectrum that’s 21 per cent wider than conventional LED TVs.
70″ $3,600
Sony KD-75X9405C
Cool: Comes with a glossy finish over both the screen and the frame, so it looks really great, even when it’s turned off.
Cooler: It’s also 3D.
65″ $4,600
The Way We Were
In praise of channel surfing
The first thing you do on vacation is turn on the TV. You scroll through the channels, to take stock of the available programming, to bask in the wondrous inanity of basic hotel cable. Like so many others of your generation, you don’t have cable at home. But here’s the thing: there’s beauty in watching TV the old-fashioned way. Not for any one particular reality show or sports channel or cooking demonstration, but for the sheer passivity of it all — flopping down on the couch and slouching into whatever’s on. Simpsons rerun? Sounds good. Last three innings of a Pirates-Dodgers game? Sure. The African Queen’s on Turner Classic Movies in 10 minutes? Again? Sign yourself the fuck up. If anything, turning on an episode of No Reservations on Netflix requires an extra, embarrassing layer of agency. Streaming makes your viewing habits into real, actionable choices. You have to scroll through the options, you have to click, you have to commit to joining Bourdain’s culinary tour of Port-au-Prince. We all make enough choices in the course of our busy lives. Sometimes it’s just nice to let the world come to you, one commercial-strewn half-hour at a time.
