Spherical Televisions

[DonLafontaine]

Sure, the future was supposed to bring us flying cars, truly instant gourmet dinners and, most importantly, spherical televisions. I can live without a flying car, enjoy the process of making a quality dinner and so don't have much use for instant food but where ... oh where ... are the goddamn spherical televisions? If I'm supposed to set up a futuristic spy den like "Tiger" Tanaka in "You Only Live Twice," I'm gonna need some spherical televisions, two of them to be precise. They're gonna need to hang from the ceiling and broadcast feeds of anyone trying to impregnate my den. I've got the mid-century modern task chair, the skinny mod suit with impeccably folded pocket square and the tie clip ... one million dollars seems about the right price to defuse an atomic bomb that threatens to trigger the mutually assured destruction of atomic war. I'm ready dammit ... now if I could only find those two televisions.

 

[SiBurning]

The programmers will just mess up the aspect ratio, stretching the picture to fit the screen.

 

[luvmysuper]

You could always just cut an oval in a piece of an old refrigerator box and tape it to the front of your 52 inch LCD!!

 

[Uncle Erik]

The old JVC "Videosphere" televisions enjoy some love from collectors these days. (eBay link)

 

[luvmysuper]

That looks like the disembodied head of Marvin the Android.

 

[CCMphysician]

That looks like the disembodied head of Marvin the Android.

Indeed. If you watch the second volume, you will see that he is mauled and his head is dug out to be used for a television. I don't know why it never made theaters.

-CCM

 

[Legion]

It's not quite spherical but I saw one that looked like this the other day in a vintage shop. Too bad it was a little too pricey for this little black duck. It would have looked cool in my living room.

 

[Spacegeezer]

This is as close as you're getting until OLED matures a bit:
http://www.predicta.com/index.shtml

 

[DonLafontaine]

Wow, those Predicta TVs are the best retro look TVs I've ever seen ... fantastic, thanks for the link.

 

[DonLafontaine]

While they aren't HDTVs and don't appear to have a remote, I would be partial to this one as a second TV (located in separate, vintage room, furnished with mid-century modern furniture).

 

[Spacegeezer]

Yeah, they're amazing. I hope they keep it going once OLED goes mainstream and are making computer monitors and bedroom TVs that maintain that form factor with modern amenities.

There's also something to be said for CRTs hanging around, though I don't know how long they can remain viable as a product due to ROHS and energy regulations.