The Picture of Things to Come

摘要

NCE UPON A TIME, buying a television set was a simple matter. You went to the store and pretty much paid by the inch. If you picked the most popular screen size―20 inches a decade ago, or 27 inches five years ago―you got the best deal. Anything bigger was hundreds or thousands of dollars more. No longer. Go to a store today, and there are still rows and rows of conventional TVS―32-in. sets in the $500 to $800 range are the most popular. But beside them are all manner of new configurations and technology: big, small, fat, thin. Their pictures are noticeably better, but their prices can be just this side of staggering.