With new TVs, size matters

There doesn't seem to be anything that television manufacturers can do to persuade consumers to buy a new TV.

    After falling 3% in 2012, U.S. LCD TV sales dropped another 11% in the first quarter of this year, according to technology consultancy IHS.Few saw this coming just a couple of years ago. TV sales were booming as recently as 2010, when consumers were replacing their old tube sets with flat screen LCD TVs. But by 2011, two in three households in America owned at least one HDTV. That's when television sales start to hit a wall.The trend is playing out globally, as well. Worldwide TV sales dipped by more than 6% last year and they aren't expected to return to 2011 levels until 2015, IHS has forecast. In the United States, that recovery isn't expected to happen until after 2017.Desperate to find a TV technology that will get consumers to upgrade again, manufacturers have thrown the kitchen sink at the problem. Over the past several years, they have tried adding Internet connectivity, 3-D and ultra-high definition to their sets, but consumers have met those features with a sizable yawn.