Ikea concocts TV-cum-TV-bench, calls it Uppleva
The 'all in one' TV also includes a surround sound system and a DVD and Blu-ray player.
Not content with building and renting an entire neighbourhood in London, Ikea has knocked up a range of TVs that come with the TV equivalent of the Billy bookcase stuck to them.
What has Ikea christened this one-stop-electro-MDF concoction? Uppleva, obviously. Which may or may not mean 'experience' in Swedish -- and sounds like some kind of pelvic floor exercise for pregnant women.
What's so great about a TV with an integrated TV bench? It's not just a TV -- you'll also find a 2.1 sound system with speakers, a wireless subwoofer and a DVD/CD and Blu-ray player in the (presumably not entirely flat) box.
The spaghetti junction of living room cabling is tucked out of sight behind blemish-free medium-density fibreboard. And of course you don't have to tax yourself trying to find the perfect height TV bench for your new flat-screen TV to stand on, since the TV-cum-TV-bench comes with the furniture already attached. Simples.
The TV itself is what Ikea calls an 'HD smart TV' -- which means full 1080p HD graces this LED flat screen. It's also 'Wi-Fi ready', but it's not clear what Internet services it offers (YouTube is heavily implied with that funny cat clip). Best of all there's only one remote control to control this living room behemoth. Hallelujah.
Uppleva isn't sitting on shelves in your local Ikea just yet, so don't rush out for a plate of meatballs. The company says it will arrive in stores in Stockholm, Milan, Paris, Gdansk and Berlin this June, expanding to all Ikea stores in Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Portugal this autumn.
There's no word on a UK launch for Uppleva, but Ikea does say the TV that disguises itself as a TV bench will arrive in "even more countries" during spring 2013, so fingers crossed.
Are you a little bit in love with Uppleva? Or would you rather own a pelvic floor exercise machine than an all in one TV 'solution'? Let us know in the comments or scribble with a tiny pencil on our Facebook wall.