Do you like your big screen rear-projection television set? Any problems with it? Recommendations?

Question

We are going to buy a new tv, and my wife wants a rear-projection big screen..but I have heard you have to replace the lamps a lot, and the lamps are expensive...what has been your experience been with these tvs? Also, I heard you can't see the picture from certain angles in the room..is this true?

Answer 1

My parents have a Samsung HD LCD rear projection one and they havent had any probs with it (knock on wood)
You can see the picture from most angles but you dont see the pic clearly if you stand beside the tv (you see the picture darker than usual) but its a good tv.
They say that TV's (Plasma) are the ones that have the gas bulb give probs and need replacing but havent heard much about the rear projection but I would recommend you buy an LCD one instead of the normal ones

Answer 2

Personally, I think they are great and well worth the money. I've had a Mitsubishi rear projection CRT for over 10 years with no problems at all. Just recently I bought this...

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/%3Cwbr%3EINTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=KDF50E2000&Dept=tvvideo&CategoryName=tv_ProjectionTVs_RearProjection_42to51TVs

Consumer Reports just had a write up on the best LCD, plasma, and rear projection TVs so you might want to look into that. Here's another one that got rated very well that is new from Sony...

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/%3Cwbr%3EINTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=KDS50A2000&Dept=tvvideo&CategoryName=tv_ProjectionTVs_RearProjection_42to51TVs

This second link has much better quality than my TV (mine is 720p and this one is 1080p).

The good thing about rear projections nowadays are that they have become much better. Take my TV for example. It is a rear projection LCD TV. That second TV has something called SXRD, which is supposedly even better. Their picture is hard to beat, compared to both LCD and plasma. The best part is, if these TVs go bad (and this doesn't happen very often), all you have to do is change the lamp, as opposed to replacing an entire plasma TV after it goes bad after about 4 years. I'd rather spend $200 on a new lamp, than drop another couple thousand on a new TV.

As for viewing at different angles, it's really not that bad. I mean, it's not like your going to be watching TV from a straight angle anyways. Most of the time, you'll hardly notice the difference and if there is a difference, it's very slight.

One more thing...STAY AWAY from DLP! The "mirrors" will etch a picture on your TV forever if you pause something. Also, if you like watching sports, the mirrors can't adjust fast enough and the picture will get blurred.

Answer 3

Have have a 52'' RCA HD rear projection TV. It's great. I've had no problems with it. I've had it for 4 years now. The only thing you have to do is clean your lamps to prevent dust build up, which causes bad picture. After doing this it's a good idea to align the convergence of the lamps though, to make sure you didn't mess them up. This is all handled in the on screen menu. The only problem you might have,as you were saying, is you can't see the picture from all angles clearly. If this is an issue for you, you might want to get a LCD or plasma screen TV.

Answer 4

I remember when the biggest picture tube was around 39" and yes the projection type were labour intensive and costly. That's why you see butt loads of them for sale cheap. Of course there's those hdtv's but again those are pricey. It also will depend upon if mother is running a DVD player often or VHS movies. Some DVD players have a decent zoom feature. I have a pricey Sony that don't. Now the reason I mention this is... older TVs and even projection TVs will have part of the top and bottom of the screen be cut off due to the movie wide screen format.

Now if she has a zoom mode I personally think the big big older style TVs will give her years of pleasure and cheaper to maintain in the long run. I have a 35" Sony trinitron with the picture in a picture. I cant really imagine needing a bigger TV. Even if I were partially blind.

Answer 5

I'm waiting for the next generation LED light engine DLP sets.

One criteria I have is operating cost. Most projection sets use a light bulb. These are expensive to replace. An LED lighting system has a long lifetime so there's nothing to replace and
there are other benefits.

Next go out and compare the power consumption of similar sized plasma, LCD, and DLP sets. This will enable you to
compare the cost (of electricity) of the sets. From what I've looked at so far, plasma sets consume the most power (factor of 2 or more compared to others).

a note to eccentrick: showing widescreen films on standard (4:3) aspect ratio screens will have the black bars at top and bottom, but you are seeing the entire picture. when you use your zoom function, you are the one cropping off the sides of the picture in order to fill up your screen, so you are not seeing the full picture.

Answer 6

You are correct.
You need to replace the light bulb every 1,000 hours or so, but then it is a brand new TV.
Not very good if there is a lot of ambient light (lots of windows), but if you can control it with curtains you are OK.
They have less colors than plasma (8 bits vs 12 for plasma).
Need to watch TV from the appropriate distance (2.5 x diagonal)
Straight-on is best, but LCD has similar problems
Can't hang it on the wall, if you care, but biggest screen size for your money.