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IKEA Announces Furniture With Integrated TV, Speakers, and Blu-ray

Posted by samzenpus on from the plug-in-the-chair dept.

MrSeb writes "If you long for those balmy days when TVs looked like pieces of furniture, good news: This fall, IKEA will release Uppleva, a range of home entertainment systems that integrate a flat-screen full HD TV, 2.1 sound, and a Blu-ray player. Uppleva will come in three different designs, with a range of screen sizes starting at 24 inches. If the built-in Blu-ray player isn't enough, there are two USB and four HDMI ports down the side of the screen, and an empty 'bay' that can hold a games console, TiVo, or another set-top box of your choice. In true IKEA fashion, the whole caboodle will come in a range of colors (white, light wood, dark wood, black, and so on). Prices start at 6,500 Swedish Kroner (around $950) — presumably for the 24-inch version — which is a fairly good deal. Uppleva will only be available in a few European markets to start with, but the UK and North America should see it in early 2013."

30 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I thought we were done with this nonsense. If I want a fridge, I'll buy a fridge. If I want a TV set, I'll buy a TV set.

    1. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by Gaygirlie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And? Not the whole world revolves around your navel, there's plenty of people who would be absolutely delightled to get one of these. Without even properly thinking about it I could name a handful of households where I fully expect to see something similar soo. You see, the thing is that for many people the aesthetics is more important than getting the most technically sound solution, "good enough" is plenty when it's made pretty.

    2. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by slyrat · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is IKEA "furniture" we're talking about.

      "Good enough" means the particle board interior starts falling apart in 3 months.

      Have you actually owned IKEA furniture? I've had a set of shelves from there that have lasted me at least 6 years and two moves. They may have a lot of particle board furniture but it is well made for the materials involved.

    3. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by stewbacca · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Not to be combative, but generally speaking things like this are miserable failures. You get a bad fridge AND a bad tv, regardless if it's pretty or not. Thus, the first guy's post isn't as self-centered as you've indicated. I too lament the loss of "component" technology in favor of all-in-ones (my home stereo, for example...) but understand some all-in-one things have become so cheap, they are easier to just replace the entire thing than it is to maintain multiple parts (iMac vs. Mac Pro, for another example).

    4. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by Troyusrex · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Here's a (made up) quote from you from 2001.

      If I want a cell phone, I'll buy a cell phone. If I want an MP3 player, I'll buy an MP3 player. If I want a PDA I'll buy a PDA

      The deal here is simple, sometimes putting stuff together is a tremendous boon, sometimes not. Sometimes it depends on how well it's done. Ikea's version may stink like all the rest has, but then again it may suceed where others have failed.

    5. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by eggstasy · · Score: 2

      Have you actually owned REAL furniture?
      While writing this from the comfort of my great-grandfather's riveted leather couch, I can't help but think that my hardwood cupboard used to belong to my great-great-grandfather. 6 years? It must be at least 20 times older than that.
      I don't expect to have to buy new furniture, at all, ever.

    6. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      It really depends on exactly what you buy. I've seen things from IKEA that last 10 years, and I've seen things that fall apart in 2. Part of the problem is self-assembly. Something that isn't put together properly or with the screws a little too loose or too tight is going to have problems in the long term. Also, since when is 6 years a long time for something to last? People used to buy real wood furniture and pass it down through the generations. We currently have a table in our kitchen that my wife had in her house when she was a kid. Over 25 years old, easiliy. It wasn't even an expensive table. But it was built out of real wood, with sound construction techniques.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    7. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by janimal · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would have to disagree. In my experience, it's the opposite. About 5% is poorly built. My advice, don't buy the cheap stuff. Ikea has a lot of it on display, but it doesn't make a large proportion of the assortment.
      I furnished a whole apartment from IKEA and 7 years on and 3rd renter (yes, I rent it) and it's still fine. The Kitchen, the closets, the chairs. Honestly, just because you have to put it together it gets a bad rep. I used to collect money to get IKEA stuff. When I finally got it, putting it together was something my wife and I REALLY looked forward to. It was like playing Legos all over again. And my wife likes it! It's genius. They're the Apple of furniture. Complain all you want about your pet insignificant peeve about it, but it sells like hotcakes and the customers absolutely love it.

    8. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by nabsltd · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Have you actually owned REAL furniture?

      I own both, and the nearly 20-year-old IKEA stuff that I got in college (and thus survived numerous moves and lots of college stupidity) seems like it should last as long as any "real" furniture.

      While writing this from the comfort of my great-grandfather's riveted leather couch, I can't help but think that my hardwood cupboard used to belong to my great-great-grandfather.

      Neither of which has likely suffered any real abuse. Even fairly cheap furniture can last a very long time if it is treated kindly.

    9. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by StikyPad · · Score: 2, Funny

      I furnished a whole apartment from IKEA and 7 years on and 3rd renter (yes, I rent it) and it's still fine.

      Pardon my skepticism, but our landlord says the same thing about our fridge that won't cool below 45, toilet that won't flush straight water without the assistance of a plunger, and the vinyl tiles that mysteriously came unglued 3 days after we moved in. I'll be surprised if any of those things will be "still fine" when it's time to get our deposit back though.

      --
      https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
    10. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Not *everyone* perhaps, but you might be surprised at the cost. "Real" furniture is more expensive than Ikea stuff, but it doesn't have to be that much more expensive. Recently I looked at getting book shelves for the living room; I budgeted for the high end Ikea bookcases (which look pretty good), but as it turns out I can get some "proper" ones for a bit more, and even quality custom-built bookshelves at twice the cost. Expensive, but certainly not out of reach.

      Antiques are worth considering too; if you look around you can get some really good pieces for less than what you'd pay at Ikea (I just snapped up a nice 100yr old footstool for $20). If you know what to look for, you can pick up really cheap worn or damaged antiques and have them restored, so you end up with something nice at a decent price. Just be aware what sort of restoration work is expensive, and what is relatively cheap. I had 5 1860s chairs redone for about $2000; taking them apart and re-fitting them, replacing a few wooden parts and a light refinishing was less than half of the cost, the major part was just the upholstering (though they did that job using the original method and traditional materials rather than just stick in a foam seat cushion).

      With that said, Ikea is a good place to get furniture as well, if you know what to buy. I got bookcases and kitchen cabinets from them, and 5 years on they show no signs of wear or wobbliness. I'd avoid their beds and sofas though.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    11. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by MrAngryForNoReason · · Score: 2

      The low end Ikea furniture is squarely aimed at students and people who are just moving into their first unfurnished home. It is intended to be a cost effective way of furnishing a room or house cheaply. This allows people to furnish their house quickly and cheaply.

      This is only one part of their offering though. Their mid and high end furniture is very well designed and hard wearing. It is almost all solid wood rather than MDF or particle board and certainly rivals much more expensive furniture offered elsewhere.

    12. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by owlstead · · Score: 4, Funny

      I had the same issue, and now I use curved water which flows more easily through the pipes...

    13. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by janimal · · Score: 2

      This is a luxury apartment. Fully furnished. It's 45m square, so it's small, but it has over 20 light fixtures in the living room and 50+ in the bedroom (there are dimmable LED stars in the ceiling). The entertainment centers are built into the walls and you could only guess where the fridge is if given pictures. It's in good shape. Between tenants I prefer to invite my friends to the party pad instead of my house, because its NICER. My tenants were: a corporate real estate buff, who left a full bottle of Remy Martin XO cognac, a publicly traded company CEO, and now some expat Americans on the up take. The apartment rarely sees more than 3 interested parties before we sign the lease. But... you'll have to take my word for it :)

    14. Re:I don't want a combination fridge/TV set by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      Have you actually owned REAL furniture? While writing this from the comfort of my great-grandfather's riveted leather couch, I can't help but think that my hardwood cupboard used to belong to my great-great-grandfather. 6 years? It must be at least 20 times older than that. I don't expect to have to buy new furniture, at all, ever.

      Indeed, as Alan Clark quoted regarding Michael Heseltine "the trouble with Michael is that he had to buy his own furniture".

      Similarly, some of us live in houses that are less than five hundred years old, and cannot afford even the bare minimum number of servants for a gentleman (three).

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  2. Electronics Vs Furniture by c0mpliant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think I would go for a TV based on the fact that it matches the furniture, I choose the TV I want and then find furniture that I want to match it. I think most nerds would be the same. Chalk it off as do not want for me

    --
    There is no -1 disagree
    1. Re:Electronics Vs Furniture by SJHillman · · Score: 2

      Most nerds wouldn't give a damn about everything matching. Functionality over aesthetics. I'd buy a Hello Kitty television if it were the best damned TV for the money.

    2. Re:Electronics Vs Furniture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Nerds does not match their furniture. Period. Matching furniture is meant for latte-sipping Apple fanbois. Fact.

    3. Re:Electronics Vs Furniture by Catbeller · · Score: 2

      It's a false choice forced on us by the telcos and cable companies. Netflix could, and did, offer hi-def streaming content - until Comcast and the others slammed down bandwidth caps, for the unspoken but obvious purpose of destroying first Netflix's video and audio quality, and secondly to destroy Netflix outright by slowly ratcheting down the caps while making their own offerings cap-free.
      Netflix could offer Blu-ray quality. iTunes already nearly does. We've been screwed by the pipe owners. As I said 12 years ago right here in Slashdot, don't let the people who control the pipes own the water as well. This is what happens.

  3. battery-powered subwoofer? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    seems like a poor idea for a fixed in place TV / stand

    1. Re:battery-powered subwoofer? by janimal · · Score: 2

      And the iPhone is a poor idea for a product, because it's locked down. Next straw man, please.

  4. allen wrench. by gandhi_2 · · Score: 3, Funny

    And it comes with a book of c code to run the device, that must be typed in manually with disposable keyboard (included).

    --
    THL phish sticks
  5. new ways to fail by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So now my furniture won't just go out of style. It will literally become obsolete and have interoperability issues.

  6. Do I Have to... by Idbar · · Score: 2

    So, do I have to build the TV too? I wonder if they'll give me everything in a box... including the solder to put the TV together. Exciting puzzle that would be!

  7. Its a wonderful idea by maroberts · · Score: 2

    With the durability of Ikea furniture, they'll be able to sell you a new sofa AND a new hi-fi, tv and game system every year!

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  8. Re:Ikea is garbage by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

    If you're going that route why not just shop craigslist etc? There's a staggering amount of furniture out there that people don't want. I don't propose everyone do what we did and buy a $125 leather couch set and refurb it, but there's plenty of genuinely nice stuff out there of better quality than Krapea.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. Re:Blu-Ray? by netsavior · · Score: 2

    Blu-ray is still only about 1/4 the market of plastic coasters containing commercials and occasionally movies. DVD is still 75% (by sales). The blu-ray player does both. Online delivery is starting to break through mainstream, but isn't really firmly out of the *geek* sector yet... Especially in Europe (ikea's main market) where netflix is a joke, and bandwidth is sold by the gigabyte.

  10. Re:Blu-Ray? by EnsilZah · · Score: 2

    Don't be silly, it's a convenient master source from which pirates bring us all our wonderful movies.

  11. Re:Already tried by janimal · · Score: 2

    Says the guy, who probably slashed his fingers taking out ISA, PCI or AGP cards from his custom made tower PC.

  12. Instead of loading their crap with electronic by steve.cri · · Score: 2

    gadgets maybe they could for once concentrate on building furniture that doesn't break? Because it does, always.