Today as I sat down to lunch, a message appeared on the screen of my new TV.
There was a software update available for it. I selected yes, and it updated via my home Wi-Fi.

How far we have come since I bought my first TV.
It was a second-hand 21” Ecko B&W. The one with the vertical chassis, mains transformer and the longest tuner shaft of any TV ever made. And of course, full of valves.

In 1984, I bought a Philips colour television. Stereo sound, voltage-synthesis tuning, infra-red remote control, and inputs and outputs for speakers, headphones, and video recorders. I bought the 22” model as I could not afford the 26” model.

Several TV's came and went over the next few years. They were mostly European with features such as Teletext,
and Frequency-synthesis tuning.
On-screen-display, and programming via the remote control to get into the service mode. The largest was a 29” Telefunken which was too large to fit into the wall unit. It was killed off by a thunderstorm. Things inside were blown at random, and after getting the power supply going, I found another ic dead. The thing about European sets is that they usually use ic's that are obscure and VERY expensive. So off it went to TV heaven.

Next we departed the Cathode Ray Tube TV's for the Liquid Crystal Display type. Very light. Carried home from the store in a flat pack box with a handle on top.

Now we had a TV in 16:9 format. 32” is the largest size that would fit into our entertainment unit so that is what we bought. I by-passed the first generation of LCD TV's because of the flourescent tube back-lighting. We bought the one with L.E.D. Back-lighting.
It had analogue and digital tuners, USB playback, (five seasons of Hill St Blues on one memory stick) and reminder timers.

Next, and the TV that brings up to today. I remodelled the loungeroom and added TV and Data outlets on the opposite wall to the where the previous TV's had been. Some power outlets were added and a low-boy entertainment unit purchased.

Onto this entertainment unit we sat our new TV. A 55 inch, curved screen Smart TV using O'LED technology.
When I view the on-screen programming guide and see that there is nothing worth watching, I go to U-tube and find something entertaining.

I have seen TV change so much since I was a child watching a 17inch Black and white TV. which left a bright spot in the middle of the screen whenever it was switched off. Oh, and yes,took 30 to 45 seconds to come on.

Who would like to gaze into the crystal ball and predict what will be the next incarnation of the TV.? Banking from your TV?
Tell us of your thoughts.

Wayne.

There was a software update available for it. I selected yes, and it updated via my home Wi-Fi.

Tell us of your thoughts.

I guess it won't be long before such updates will contain malware, courtesy of hackers.

Any way to back them out if they don't work?

I like the new LG OLED telly with a 65in screen that is only 4mm thick. The tuner and speakers are in a separate bar that mounts under the set or inside a TV cabinet. The trick is that is costs $13,000 and can only hang on the wall. The latter isn't an issue but I will let this set come down a fair bit in price (and it will) before I place my order. OLED is a proven technology despite being originally intended for smaller screen sizes and is probably the closest thing to plasma for contrast and the fact that no backlighting is required. LCD has been around for at least 30 years in colour and whilst it has greatly improved over the first generation screens it still slightly lacks speed and the ability to go completely black due to the need for backlighting.

You made mention of the combined digital and analogue tuner. A lot of tellies now come only with a digital tuner. This isn't much of a problem for most domestic customers though in commercial MATV installations there's a problem because many, if not most, still run banks of analogue modulators and the cost to replace them with digital ones ain't small. Those who 'tinker' would probably also appreciate the analogue tuner.

When I was about 13 we got our first coloured telly and despite the 63cm screen we thought it was a monster. Back then, 63cm was pretty much considered full size but would be laughed at today.

I think the next progression is already here. Has any one here used the Samsung headsets. I tried one the other week and they are so immersive. I honestly think you will eventually buy TV receivers with the option of connecting these or ones that just wont have a screen built in to the set. And lets not forget foxtel is available to stream to smart devices and recently I bought a beaut little receiver to fit to my Samsung phone for 15 bucks and it works a treat.

I don't really remember my old televisions that well. Currently here I have a KMart cheapie flat screen fed by a set top box (the TV doesn't pick up sound on some of the HD channels). Before that was a CRT job and one day the colours went strange. I expect it just needed the deguassing circuit fixed but I really couldn't be bothered, nobody here wanted it so it went to landfill. An earlier TV was a 26 inch CRT model with a rotary channel switch and a UHF rotating knob underneath. I believe it was a Mitsubishi Thorn. It worked ok until the focus went.

The TV out at my country hut is a big CRT set that still works well. It also has a set-top box and an aerial amplifier (it's officially a no-reception area).

Isn't it strange that when we finally get set-top boxes which are all capable of teletext, that's when the TV stations got rid of it.

Some flat screens use white LEDs to backlight the LCD. And to get better blacks, the set sends essentially a low resolution version of the video signal to vary the brightness of the individual backlight LEDs. Like a large low res B&W display. In a night scene, most of the LEDs are set to a dim level, except say where there's a streetlight in the scene, in that case the LED behind that area gets set brighter.

Yes, you can pick these "active backlight" LCD displays by the flare around bright objects in a dark scene.

But who's to say they weren't like that in the original content? If it was originated on film they would be.

I'll stick with my 55" plasma for now!

the set sends essentially a low resolution version of the video signal to vary the brightness of the individual backlight LEDs. (Wa2ise)

I wondered how they did "area dimming" - thought it required exotic processing - never occurred to me that they could use low res luminance signal, but yes, of course! A big "Duh" moment for me!

I think the next big thing in TV displays might be flexible panels which can be rolled up when not being used and then rolled out and placed on any flat surface for viewing. It would be great for Caravans etc. I've heard that it's being developed for mobile phone screens so you simply pull out a much larger screen when needed. Mobile hardware/devices seems to be where a lot of R&D is being done these days. All dollar driven.

The company I work for makes and sells very large touchscreen displays - over 100" diagonal - into schools to replace projectors and interactive whiteboards. These things are a 3 man lift and an OH&S risk so I developed a mini battery/electric forklift handcart to install them.

With 4k resolution, they look VERY impressive when installed.

But I know Korea is working on flexible OLED screens that can be rolled up.

Ever read the OLED page at wiki? Oh my, a layman is lost by the out-of-this-world Chemistry & Physics. Then there's the actual execution: the extremely difficult manufacturing process - so difficult only one place does it - Seoul, Korea - a mega-city with more people than Australia.

When Taiwanese-owned Foxconn makes i-phones in their mainland China mega-factory, they use OLED screens from Korea. Same with Sony's latest TVs.

Foxconn is hunting around the globe for other factory locations, Brazil and USA. I think Taiwanese management fear near future takeover/"takeback" of the island by superpower China. They also see trade protectionism coming to almost bankrupt USA, Brazil...(insert your country here)..Venezuela has already gone under.

Foxconn, which combines two words 'fox' and 'con' , has been shopping around US states for best incentives to establish a mega-factory ("gigafactory"?) They just signed papers with Wisconsin to establish a mega plant near Illinois border that will "eventually" have 13,000 "high skilled" jobs paying "$50k+benefits" (how much was that again?) provided that the state can pony up $3B. State governor Scott Walker is confident the $3B will be approved this month, but some senators are doubtful worrying half or more of the "jobs" will be commuters from nearby out-of-state mega-city Chicago.

The factory is to make "LCD screens" (primarily for the automotive industry) (a technology Taiwan can engineer). Wait, did they just say "LCD Screens"?? The way I see it, LCD, though currently dominant, is already doomed by superior OLED, especially in cars, one would think, where high ambient daylight is a problem. Are the politicians aware of this?

It's like Elon Musk's lithium battery 'gigafactory' in the Nevada desert, built with help of $1.3B state incentives: Am I right in hearing that there are better battery technologies than Lithium almost available right now?

Elon Musk's biggest customer to date is about to be the South Australian Government - hell bent on buying the world's biggest battery, which is calculated, by engineers that are scoffing the project, to run the state for around ten minutes at the most in the event of a blackout similar to one of those suffered by South Australians last summer.

We all know that when lithium-ion (as opposed to standard lithium batteries that are not rechargeable) batteries are either poorly manufactured or are placed in hot or confined spaces, they blow up. The South Australian desert is not the place to locate them however there is no other place near South Australia's small electricity grid that is suitable for interconnecting this battery bank.

Which ever way it is looked at, a battery that can last only ten minutes maximum, is a worthless investment. Late news from the SA Government is that the battery will be cycled twice per day to maximise the life of the cells. Whilst that in itself will do no harm, if a blackout decides to occur whilst the battery is on its charge cycle, well, it doesn't take a super genius to work out that the battery will last for an even smaller time than planned. A matter of minutes, seconds, who knows?

It has been often said that Elon Musk's company survives mainly on government handouts, with a majority of these coming from the US Government. It is unfortunate to see that governments in Australia were all too pleased to throw the last vestige of local manufacturing to the lions whilst they now waste money on importing a foreign-made battery pack that will do absolutely nothing to stabilise South Australia's electricity supply. The people of South Australia are ultimately victims of the SA Government's experiments. They are being hit twice -firstly with blackouts that will become more regular due to the absence of a quality baseload power supply and secondly, due to the fact that via their taxes, they are paying for machinery that will do little to replace the two power stations that have been closed down in that state.

Isn't there a better Australian battery tech becoming available that doesn't need precious lithium? Batteries may have a place at some critical sub-stations like for central business areas.

Because the mains supply is AC there has to be suitable inverters installed as well. This is the tricky bit because like any sort of battery, the inverters only last for so long before they require replacement.

I work at a large hospital and as part of the backup for the electrical supply are two 30kVA UPSs which serve certain areas. These machines are well made and regularly maintained but we are conscious of the fact that they will ultimately only last for around ten years.

On the topic of malware :-

Checkout 'Weeping Angel' from the leaked CIA catalogue.
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/worried-cia-hacked-samsung-tv-heres-tell/

Spying on you via your TV camera when the TV is off is about as Mal as 'Ware gets IMHO.

Tom