TVs and projectors are bigger than ever
Everyone said home video was moving to tablets. On our installs, the screens just keep getting bigger.
A few years ago the story about home theater was all doom. TVs were on their way out, projectors were dying, and nobody was going to bother with a big screen at home. Everyone was supposedly watching on an iPad, or not watching video at all, just scrolling YouTube and TikTok.
That’s not what I’ve seen on actual installs.
5 to 7 years ago, the typical homeowner was putting in a 55” TV. 65” felt big. 75” was borderline showing off. Now we haven’t sold a 55” for an indoor install in a long time. Outside is the one place 55” is still the sweet spot, and outdoor screens are their own argument. Indoors, 65” is where people start, and we sell a lot of 83” and 85” displays. My guess is that within the next year, once 100” displays come down to what an 85” cost last year, we’ll be selling plenty of those too.
It isn’t just the screen. Soundbars have gotten bigger. Subwoofers have gotten bigger. The whole setup has grown with it.
What surprised me is where it’s happening. It isn’t mostly dedicated theater rooms. A lot of these screens are going into the same living rooms and family rooms they always did, just much bigger. The other shift is in rooms that used to get a small TV in the corner: basements, playrooms, open rec areas. Those rooms are getting a genuinely big TV now, or more and more often, a projector and a screen.
If you wrote off home theater a few years ago because you believed everyone was going to watch on a tablet, it’s worth another look. At least in our corner of Northern Virginia, people aren’t watching less on a big screen. They’re watching on a much bigger one.