The venerable TV has come a long way. It may not be the only window to the world but it has evolved from chunky vacuum tubes to slim and sexy devices not much thicker than a sheet of glass.

Even as manufacturers continue to shrink the telly in size, they are also finding ways to cram in more features than ever. A modern TV now has processing power, camera and storage just like a modest computer.

And at this year's Consumer Electronics Show the premiere event for all things technology just about every TV maker had something big to show off.

Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic and Sharp were just some of the manufacturers bandying about their big TVs and equally big jargons such as Ultra High-Definition (Ultra HD), organic light emitting diode (OLED) and Smart TVs.

Here's how the idiot box is shaping up.

The future in Ultra HD

The term Ultra HD was coined recently to categorise a new breed of TVs with insanely high resolutions that's the number of pixels or dots that make up an image on screen.

More pixels means more detail in every frame and an Ultra HD TV is so sharp, the images will look crystal clear even if you are just standing next to the screen.

Ultra HD comprises two resolution 4K and 8K. The 4K TVs must have a minimum resolution of 3,840 2,160-pixels, which is four times that of current HDTVs.

If the numbers are confusing, here's a simple way to picture it an 80-inch Ultra HD model will have the same resolution as four 40-inch HDTVs stacked together.

As almost every manufacturer will be been pushing 4K this year, there is no question that it will be the successor to today's HDTVs.

At CES, Samsung amazed the crowd with its 85-inch UN85S9 4K model. The floor-standing TV is so big it actually looks like a big blackboard held up by an easel.

Meanwhile, LG expanded its Ultra HD TV lineup to include 55in and 65in models to complement its 84in unit. The models will be take advantage of LG's Smart TV ecosystem which includes over 1,400 apps.

The 4K standard is not just reserved for TVs Panasonic has showcased a 4K tablet with just a 20-inch display.

Beyond 4K

While most TV makers are fighting in the 4K space, Sharp dazzled the CES crowd with the world's first Ultra HD TV with 8K resolution.

The prototype is an 85-inch behemoth with a resolution of 7,680 x 4,320-pixels or 16x times that of current HDTV's. It's one of those technologies which you have to see to believe.

Besides Ultra HD, another technology that has finally matured for use in TVs is OLED. The unique feature of OLED is that it doesn't require backlight to work which will allow TVs to produce deep black levels and yet be thinner and lighter than the current generation.

Samsung and LG's OLED prototypes have a curved screen which make images look more panoramic and immersive. It goes without saying, that the models look cool and futuristic too.