Things We Don’t Need: A $6K Round 24-Inch Smart TV

April 11, 2023 by Dave Haynes

A Queens, NY company called Nova Vision is marketing what it says is the world’s first “Round Shape LCD Smart TV,” saying the $6,200 USD unit is “sure to make a statement in any room.”

Unfortunately, I think the statement it makes is that any buyers had lost their minds.

It is a 24-inch diameter display that ships with a built-in Amazon Fire streaming media player, WiFi and, just to add to its already curious nature, “a tube amplifier with 100W x 2ch and speakers on each side, providing warm and clear sound.”

The display resolution is only 848 by 848 and, as you might expect, filling the whole screen with a visual means much of the video signal to the left, right, top and bottom is not viewable. Then again, the “zoom-out mode lets you see the full screen and read the menu of invisible areas cut by the round shape, and a simple click of the button brings back the full round image.”

I suppose content could be designed to create full HD spots that factor in the missing areas and focus messaging within the circle, but why?

The idea of round displays is visually interesting, and there are manufacturers making round LED displays that are being used for things like locating airline counters at airport curbside drop-off areas. Different, unexpected can draw eyeballs.

Somewhere, someone will find this online and exclaim, “Finally, I found it!” But at $6,200 a unit, I’d suggest the total addressable market for this is probably in the single digits.

People come up with the kookiest notions.