TV Technology Overview
Rear Projection TV
Rear-projection television
Rear-projection HDTVs still offer the biggest screen for your buck, although falling prices among big-screen plasmas – 58 inches and up – are forcing RPTV makers to cut prices on their own. It’s pretty obvious, in fact, that eventually RPTVs will go the way of the dodo as flat-panel HDTVs take over completely, but we’re still a couple years away from that. Rear-projection sets start at a sizeable 50 inches and go up from there. RPTV utilizes digital light projection or DLP technology that is driven by a lamp that bounces light through an assembly that produces color and then projects it onto the big screen. Upside for Rear-projection television is less-expensive at very large screen sizes than plasma or LCD TV, and able to produce good black-level performance on certain best models. The only downside is the lamp requires periodic replacement, thicker and bulkier than flat-panels, rainbow effects (on the projected light beam), less impressive off-angle performance than plasma and LCD televisions.
Guide2LCDTV 