Screens are getting bigger. More importantly, the variance in available picture sizes has doubled over the last ten years, due largely to new big screens. Big screens do not only mean increased picture height. Screens will also be wider. The new aspect ratio is a significant change in picture area.
Big screens are also more likely to be accompanied by big audio.
In fact, audio improvements are even more pervasive than visual changes because they are cheaper. Televisions available today have dramatic improvements in audio fidelity, and the majority of sets have stereo sound. Many new sets also have the necessary electronics for surround sound, a means of representing the space in which sounds occur by means of five separate channels of sound that surround the viewer, adding a feeling of spaciousness to enhanced fidelity. With the exception of high-definition, all of these features are available right now. But if the availability of these features is not sufficient evidence that television is being reinvented, consider that even more spectacular gadgets will be introduced to consumers before the year 2000.