Rear Projection Televisions!!

glennj22

Hi ya Peeps, I'm looking for a rear projection T.V as there looks like there might be some good deals out there.

Problem is, i dont know the pro's and cons of these T.V's. Obviously plasma screens are better, just by going by the price.

I'm looking for a 42 inch or bigger. The cheapest i've found is in currys where there's a Thomson 42" which is £699. I will pay up to a grand.

Anyone seen any special deals or know where i can look?

I'm stuck really, please help.

malcyplop

Glennj,
Have you considered getting a projector rather than a rear projection TV?
You can buy an Acer PD112 for £600 ish, it recently won an award in What Hi Fi sound & vision badged as a Themscene. Search the price comparison sites. You would also need a screen £200. The viewing pleasure would be fabulous.
I use a plasma & love it, prices are coming down & richer sounds have them for less than £1200. With my budget over again, I would buy the best 32" widescreen I could get for £500, Acer PD 112 for DVDs & a good screen. But I have to admit that a 42" rear projection is tempting when you can get them for C£600. ;D

glennj22

Thanks for your help. But not sure about where we would put the projector and screen.

ANybody else seen any offers for rear projection T.V's?

hoyin

Not meaning to be rude.

But I think a CRT still provides the best picture quality, then probably rear projection - Though with rear projection (my cousin just bought a second hand 48" Sony) you have a restricted viewing angle and height. Otherwise the picture appears dark.

Then comes Plasma and then LCD.

For me the Plasma picture is too pixelated and when fast movement occurs pixelation increases, though it terms of looks and size it wins. However I would be most concerned about picture quality as size is not a concern for me.

The problem with a projector (I have one) is that:

1. Bulbs can be expensive
2. If you just want to flick on the TV to have a quick look it is not possible. Turning on all the equipment takes time!
3. It is not just a projector and screen you need, but speakers, amplifier, lots of cables and a video recorder or atleast a tv tuner box to out put a signal to the projector.
4. IT also requires a darkened room to watch TV
5. In the end you end up having a TV as well (well I certainly do .. I only use the projector to watch sporting events or a movie).

So basically if you have the space and a large CRT TV is big enough for you then I would still recommend it as the best choice.

Both in terms of picture quality and value for money.

glennj22

Sorry not very technical. What is CRT?

George_Bray

My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that some if not most rear projection TVs use cathode ray tubes (a bit like a normal TV) to produce the 'light'. These should last a long time before failure, i.e, the £699 rear projection TV could last many years.

Other rear projection TVs and nearly all projectors use very expensive, very bright bulbs which fail quite frequently and cost perhaps £250 to replace.

The jury is out on how long plasma TVs will last before failure.

The best images still come from a traditional TV but there's definitely something about the 42" displays which make them desirable in my opinion.

Regards
George

George_Bray

Sorry not very technical. What is CRT?

CRT = cathode ray tube, the technology used in a standard TV.

hoyin

My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that some if not most rear projection TVs use cathode ray tubes (a bit like a normal TV) to produce the 'light'. These should last a long time before failure, i.e, the £699 rear projection TV could last many years.

Other rear projection TVs and nearly all projectors use very expensive, very bright bulbs which fail quite frequently and cost perhaps £250 to replace.

The jury is out on how long plasma TVs will last before failure.

The best images still come from a traditional TV but there's definitely something about the 42" displays which make them desirable in my opinion.

Regards
George

Yes .. and now apparently Rear Projection TVs have come back into fashion and they are making slimmer ones!

And the Plasmas look great .. if only the picture was better though. But I am sure it will improve over time! However LCDs are meant to produce a better picture (blacks are blacks rather than grey on a Plasma), but they still suffer from pixelation.

I think I will wait a couple of more years before I buy a Plasma or LCD .. or maybe LED TV!

The cheapest place I have seen to buy Plasma is richersound. Ebuyer have plasmas as well .. but the price is the same as richersounds so I would prefer to buy from a shop.

A good tip is too look on the trade counter on the richersounds website, they usually have some good deals. Saw a Sharp 22" LCD for £245!

malcyplop

A little off topic, but worth watching for the future: A breakthrough in LCD TV: Probably 2007 before we can buy one though
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/24/lcd_breakthrough/

George_Bray

We may think these 42" plasma TVs look cool but, actually we're being sold short, compared to the USA and Japan. Hey, I thought the UK claims to be the 4th largest economy in the world.

If you ask in most shops, they'll tell you these 42" plasma TVs are 'high definition TV compatible'. All that means is that they can degrade a high definition (HD) signal to fit the really poor resolution of the UK offerings, like 848x480 pixels.

True high definition TVs are 1280 x 720 (720p) or 1920 x 1080 (1080p). The pictures have to be seen to be believed. I'm waiting for one of these and am not interested in the obsolete junk sold by the likes of Richer Sounds, John Lewis and others. Source material will soon come from HD DVDs. In the meantime, you can import HD digital VHS (yes VHS) players with HD digital video tapes, of which quite a few have been released.

Examples of half decent HD sets are:
Sony 40" Wega XBR TV (cathode ray tube) KV-40XBR800
and
Samsung 46 inch LCD flat panel TV LT-P468W

See also:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1573980,00.asp

Regards
George

brummybloke

was tempted to get one about 5 months ago as i wanted a big screen instead of the 28 tv i had.

ordered one and then read up on it.
i cancelled the next day

the viewing angle as mentioned previously is very annoying, the curtains closed so you can make out the picture is also annoying.

the rear projection tv's still use the 3 light guns which unless very lucky, are out of alignment upon delivery meaning to get a good picture a person has to come out and align the guns ( it can be done manually with lots of button pressing but is risky).

i ended up getting a 32inch set (crt) which is a normal tv but still a great picture. it cost me £530 and i will wait 5 years until the cost of lcd tv's is halved.

another problem you will find with plasma and rear screen projectors is that they have a screen 'life' an internal clock tells tou how many hours the tv has been on for since new. ok normal tv's will go also but they dont cost 3 times the price.

with plasma and rear screen projectors you also have the risk of screen burn. if you have skypsports on for 5 hours per day or another sky broadcast the little logo stays in the screen at the same position. this will in time burn a feint image of the logo permenantly into the screen. not good when you have spent that sort of money.

unless you are going to buy a panasonic viera plasma tv for £1500 i wouldnt really bother with plasma just yet, finding one that has enough scart outs, component outs, etc for under 1500 quid is nigh on impossible.