Summary
- Small TVs are going extinct, and there’s not much we can do about it.
- Sacrificing image quality for small TVs ruins the entertainment experience.
- TVs have gotten bigger and cheaper, making small TVs less appealing.
When it comes to TVs these days, many people subscribe to the notion that bigger equals better. In many cases, that’s true. In your living room, where you spend most of your time watching, it’s nice to have something large, especially if you have a family. Even your bedroom can benefit from a larger TV because your bed might be placed on a wall far away from the TV.
On the other hand, there are many situations where having a big TV is a detriment. In small rooms where you don’t have a lot of wiggle room for seating, having a 65-inch TV can be brutal on your eyes from being too close. It might be hard to imagine, but there used to be a world where 13-inch CRT TVs were commonplace, but TVs of that size have essentially dried up.
I have a bar in my basement that could benefit from a TV that size, but aside from using a computer monitor with a Roku Streaming Stick plugged into it, there aren’t a lot of choices. I’d like to avoid using a monitor if I can, but I don’t know if there’s going to be something that trumps it.
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Small TVs are going extinct
Not much we can do about it
To be fair, there aren’t many scenarios where having a small TV is better than a big one. As TV shows and movies are often output at a higher resolution, it’s nice to have a big TV to match that. There’s no sense having a 32-inch TV in your living room anymore, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t fit one into your house in a different room.
I have a basement bar that could, in theory, fit a 55-inch TV there, but it wouldn’t be comfortable. This is where having something small that could perhaps fit on the bar itself comes in handy, and that’s where the loss of small TVs hits the hardest. I understand I can still find a 24-inch TV out there, but I’m talking about something even smaller than that. We used to be able to find tiny TVs, and under 10 inches was within the realm of possibilities. I remember that my aunt used to have a tiny TV in her kitchen to watch something while cooking, but a Google Nest Hub has essentially taken the place of that today.
These sizes were common when CRT TVs were in their heyday, and I don’t think you’ll be finding an HDTV at that size. I recently picked a 20-inch CRT TV out of the trash that’s great for retro gaming, and the screen size is perfect for what I’m looking for. The downside is CRTs are very bulky, even the 13-inch model pictured above, so they can’t quite fit where I want them to. Unfortunately, I don’t have many modern options to fit a screen size like that, and it’s hard for me to justify spending around $100 on such a small TV. This leaves one of my only options as an old computer monitor I have in my closet. I can just plug in a streaming stick and get it working as a TV, but then I have to dig up speakers for it.
It feels like every route I take has its share of pros and cons, and that’s not something I want to deal with. I just want to pick up a TV that fits comfortably at my bar without taking up the whole area. In 2025, that might be too much to ask for. It was a lot simpler when the market was flooded with TVs of all sizes, but your big box store is pretty much 55″ or up.
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TVs have gotten bigger and cheaper
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When I was growing up, I considered myself lucky to have a 20″ TV in my bedroom. Fast-forward to today — I have a 65″ TV, so I’ve come quite a long way. What’s wild about it is that you can find a 65″ TV for under $300, although it won’t be one of the best ones. What I’m saying is it’s not even something that would break the bank like TVs in the past of similar quality would. It’s for this reason that I find it so difficult to spend over $100 on a TV at a fraction of the size.
To find something smaller, I have to start looking at tablets. Tablets aren’t exactly known for their excellent picture quality and sound, so using one as a TV isn’t at the top of my recommendation list. On the bright side, you can often find a budget one for around $100, like the Lenovo Tab. However, a budget tablet like that has to cut corners, and the Lenovo Tab M9 only has a 9-inch screen, so putting it up at a bar won’t suffice. It works perfectly fine for watching something in my lap, but sitting a few feet away isn’t ideal, and that’s not even getting into the sound.
If you think back to older CRT TVs, you often found them with a set of stereo speakers built right in. I didn’t think much of them back then as that was the standard, but considering how bad TV speakers have gotten now, it feels like magic they were ever good. It seems like the quest for larger screens meant the sacrifice of solid sound. For some people, that’s perfectly fine, but it’s strange we can’t have both.
Considering TV sizes have only gotten larger and more affordable, I can’t envision a world where smaller TVs make a comeback even if I want them to. People value ease over everything, and that feels like a huge reason why physical media is rapidly shrinking in favor of streaming. If you can get a giant TV for $500, there’s really not much of a reason not to do it. Outside of niche reasons, there’s no reason to get a small TV anymore.
Sadly, I need one for a niche reason, and that’s why I’m lamenting the loss of something that was so common just a few decades earlier. It’s interesting to see how fast things change, and that 20″ TV I had in my bedroom all those years ago is microscopic compared to the offerings available today. Strangely enough, I’d love to have that TV back, but it has long since disappeared.
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