We're not sure exactly when or where this trend started happening, but this year in particular, we've started to notice a small decline in the popularity of full wall entertainment center. These behemoths that would take up entire walls at a time are now being replaced by much simpler, mobile TV units.
This trend seems at odds with a growing demand for even larger TVs, but we imagine the large TV sizes will eventually become saturated enough where individuals start to realize that quality and proportion should take precedence instead.
Additionally, for those who are moving out from the suburbs back into the city (a popular trend that's come over from the previous year), spaces are often smaller and such gigantic furniture pieces require time to build and dismantle that it's often not worth it. Plus, who wants to carry all those pieces up a flight of stairs anyway?
Simply put, living lighter makes moving much easier and saves money for more vital furniture pieces such as the seating you'll be enjoying your movies in. Rather than shelling out for huge shelving units, purchase furniture pieces that can scale and sell.
Within the next few years (or months, depending on your geekness level), people may start to enjoy watching TV more on their phones and tablets than on the giant big screen. We imagine it won't be long until these devices play together nicely in an ecosystem that'll benefit more with a mobile approach to living without the extra-large baggage of a wall entertainment unit.
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or get rid of it entirely:
http://www.furnitureseen.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/02/reductive-design-for-the-high-line/
And we're so happy that this trend is on its way out. Entertainment units do not evolve as quickly as technology. Remember when we had non-flat screens and entertainment units to match ? The only tv I have now is a laptop: great colors, I can put it on the coffee table and take it away when we have guests, and it doubles as a computer :-)
Personally, I also love that more and more living rooms are not centered on the tv anymore. I hate it when we are invited somewhere where all eyes are on the tv and not on the other guests.
Personally, I just don't like the inflexibiltiy that comes with full wall entertainment units. It would seem that you're really limited in how much you can revamp a space by moving sofas, chairs, etc.
I think a lot of this trend can be attributed to the fact that we used to have a TV, a VCR, video tapes, a DVD player, DVD's, CD players, CD's, speakers, etc...If I wasn't so attached to my DVR I'd really just have a TV with an HDMI cable for streaming from my laptop. Three out of the six compartments on our relatively small entertainment console are completely empty now. Forget about an entire wall (which I did grow up having)!
I am glad to see the fad wane. Personally, I like a tv in an armoire. The doors can be shut when the tv or other entertainment items are not in use. I hate the look of the furniture and a room focused towards the tv. It looks like the tv is the most important guest - the "god" of the room, and it discourages conversation and social connection.
We have a simple tv set up like the one pictured above (photo 2). Why do we build shrines to something that doesn't deserve that much attention? :) while photo 1 allows nice room for storage... It's certainly overwhelming in the space. I love the tv not being front & center. Often, I'd like to get rid of it entirely, but it's nice to keep me company when my husband gets deployed. :-)
I don't think placing a TV as a focus of the living room space is a big deal - it's your home, you live in it and use it more than any of your guests. I enjoy watching television; having a TV in an optimal position is pretty important to not straining my neck or eyes. If your guests are focused on the TV and not on each other, it's the people who are the problem, not the TV. Turn off the TV and focus on conversation!
Agreed, I like furniture with casters that's small enough to clean under and behind or to rearrange solo without breaking something, pretty much the opposite of wall entertainment systems.
I think a huge entertainment center just makes the TV even more of an eyesore. While the TV itself may not be so aesthetically pleasing, in my household, it's not going anywhere, but I sure don't want to make it more of a monstrosity than it already is. And I agree with @LauraSUse, I have a playstation3 that's used for streaming, but most of the other junk has gone to the wayside. There's just not a need for that much media dedicated storage.
I'm in agreement with PI.
I also think the first photo looks great although the speakers are too far apart for optimum listening.
My old entertainment table (long and low) is now in the corner of my office holding a printer, time machine and craft supplies :-) Tv is up on the wall with a floating shelf beneath it for the cable box. No fuss, no muss.
I'm with PI,
I'm a movie and tv buff so in my home, the tv is the focus in the living room and luckily, my guest are fans as well so we gather around and enjoy it together.
I never liked it in an armoire because it always seems like the person is embarrassed to have it so they don't want people to know it's there and the height is not optimal for viewing.
I love tech and the design of it so I always keep that in mind when I'm shopping for it. I need it to fit into my space as if it were a piece of furniture.
I still need to convince my parents to get rid of their old gigantic oak cabinet. It's eating up an entire bedroom downstairs and I can't wait to see it go.
We keep our TV in the bedroom. If we have people over, I'd like to be able to speak to them...I should also mention that I don't have kids. I think the rules for TV's change if you procreate.
Hiding our TV from guests would be like hiding the fridge. it's a function peice of furniture that we all cram around, even guests, when its movie night. It can't be hidden behind doors and things because we use it allllll the time and it'd be a hassle to keep unhiding it. But with TVs so sleek and thin now, I don't think they are as bad an eyesore as they used to be when they were giant boxes needing lots of space. We have a low dark wood entertainment center that stores game consoles and dvds behind its 4 pane glass doors. Some books are stacked by the tv, along with some art. No big deal. We live in our home. We decorate our home. A tv for most of us is just another peice of furniture. But those giant entertainment centers? Those always seem so, so, soooo dusty!
I agree with PI and the others given that I have a full wall entertainment unit and I like it.
It's got great storage, a great view from the couch where I don't have to strain to see it comfortably. Sure it comands a bit more attention but it works great in my space and I agree that if you have guests over for something other than a movie, turn it off and you wont have conversation issues.
We are big geeks when it comes to electronics and the TV is definitely a prized item, but we've opted for just enough furniture to rest the tv on and to store the amplifier, DVR and blu-ray player. I fought to have DVDs put away instead of the bookshelf-type setup.
Believe me, I like the storage of a giant wall unit but it's just so overwhelming. I think it's better to redistribute you storage in other pieces throughout your space.
Full entertainment wall units used to be a necessity because not only was the TV huge and boxy, but you had tons of CDs, VHS tapes, video games and DVDs to store along with all of the components (cable box, receiver, VHS player, DVD player, game console). I believed these units were intended for family rooms, not in main public entertainings spaces. The full wall entertainment unit was a way of storing all of that stuff in a way that looked cohesive and tidy.
I don't think the trend of entertainment units have gone away because folks have decided they have different design asthetics - I think technology has evolved so that storing all that media in a physical format is no longer necessary. I stream movies via Netflix, I convert all my VHS tapes to digital format, and my home computer is also a home media center, and with my "Smart TV", I can access photographs and home movies with a few clicks of my remote control. I only use digital cameras, so all my photos are digital now.
I have a 60" TV in my living room sitting on a vintage record console. It might as well be an entertainment unit since not much else makes sense to put on the same wall of the room, with the exception of a potted plant. I love it and all my friends are jealous because its so big. Is it the focal point? Sure - but that's ok with me. My other options are the sofa or the window.
I don't need to hide my TV in order to pay attention to my guests. In fact, I entertain more at home with the gigantic TV because its better for watching movies, playing games (like Rock Band), and viewing sporting events (think Summer Olympics). During parties, I have a family/friends slide show on it so its like a gigantic changing digital picture frame. That's SUPER easy (since all the photos are digital - just read it from the media player - or newer TVs have card readers and USB ports). That is real fun when old photos pop up and sparks great conversations during parties.
I would much rather watch a TV show together as a family than have each of us in our own rooms looking at our individual computers/tablets, which is also a currrent trend.
With Kindles, IPads, Nooks, and other ereaders, it will be interesting to see if in the future folks say, "I'm so glad I don't have to get these massive bookcases anymore to store all these books I haven't read in years! Moving will be so much easier."
Problem is, a wall-mounted flatscreen is great, and with a PS3 that can handle everything the VHS/DVD/CD player used to it reduces clutter by 90%, EXCEPT... no-one here seems to have an amplifier running the 6 speakers necessary to get the surround sound to match the big TV experience! (TV speakers are consistently rubbish, and soundbars, too)
any ideas how to make all that disappear?
@lachlan I'm personally still waiting for the day when we have completely wirelessly-powered cable-less speakers.
I agree that I like this trend. I watch most of my "TV" on my laptop, and we have our TV on a dresser, which serves as storage. Living in a small space, we don't want to commit to a large piece of furniture. Hooray for downsizing!
I don't like the TV be the focus of the room, regardless of what size (although the bigger behemoth the worse it looks, IMHO). I like TV's hidden and exposed only when on. Mine is in an antique Chinese armoire (I don't understand why ModernGuy claims the height is not optimal for viewing??? - mine is exactly at my optimal viewing height - I look straight ahead, not up or down).
The other day I saw a flat TV set inside a non-functional fireplace and it looked good. I can't remember where I saw it - whether in a mag or on TV - and it was not pointed out I would have completely overlooked it, it blended in perfectly.
CANADIANMANGO,
The recommendation is eye level while seated so in most cases, viewing it above a fireplace or in an armoire can give people neck strain after a while. I think a lot of people place them at eye level while standing but, in the end, it's whatever works for the owner.
@ FELTTIPJR, do you mean that when people have kids they tend to keep their TVs out so the kids can watch? I don't have kids and I always have the TV in the living room. i've never wanted a TV in my bedroom.
I find having a TV in an ergonomic position in the room far more important than the current AT/Designer "shame" in having a displayed TV.
While my TV isn't on at all times, you can bet on it being a large high quality big screen front and centre in the lounge room.
However I don't think the majority of houses need more than 1 TV, and I seriously doubt the need for more than 2.
Personally, I like these full wall units...especially the example. A single tv stand tucked in a corner feels like an after thought or a "lets put it here because we have no where else it can go". I like that with a wall unit...everything has it's place...even the tv. It doesn't stand out with the cabnets above and below or all around. It feels neat and tidy to me. However, I do hate those tv cabnets that look like a giant standing jewelry box. Feels like a giant elephant in the room that everyone pretends is cleverly hidden behind huge, solid wood doors.
I don't like the current setup I have for my flatscreen (a crappy old TV stand and some bookshelves), and when I finally replace it, I'd like to get something nice, but I am not going to hide my thousand-dollar TV behind doors as though I am ashamed of it. I'm not, any more than I'm ashamed of my fridge or my bookshelves. And I do need a certain amount of storage for it, because I have a ton of DVDs, as well as a gaming console, a DVR/Cable box, an Apple TV, a Blu-Ray/surround sound system, and a bunch of speakers. I'd love to have all my media streaming from one box, but that's going to have to wait a few years. In the meantime, I need to store that stuff somewhere.
I decided on the same thing as AND_SCENE, a cabinet just big enough for the tv to sit on and components to be stored in. We are in the process of uploading our dvds/blu-rays to a hard drive, store the media in a closet, and use a really amazing $1.99 iphone library app to scan and log everything so we know what we have, it even recognizes obscure Japanese and Italian independent films by bar code, but for some reason did not know FRIDAY, weird. Without the wall size entertainment unit, our living room has more seating arrangement possibilities and wall space for artwork. Technology is enabling me to make my living room less tech-centric.
Another in agreement with Pi et al - there seems to be some weird obsession with hating on the TV in a living room due to it being an eyesore but as others have said, fine with giant stainless subzero fridges. I ended up custom building my entertainment wall to try and hide my speakers as best as possible but there's only so much you can do with a center, 2 bookshelf speakers and 2 subs needed to run 5-speaker surround sound (the wife veto'd the 7 speakers).
If everyone is watching TV and not conversing, it's because the TV is ON - it does turn off, and with flat panels is far less obtrusive than the tube TV's of past.
if you have a lot of components you need abig TV stand