Rear Projection TV help (1 Viewer)

[rick bie]

My Zenith 36" direct view appears to be preparing to say good bye and I am pondering switching to a rear projection tv, I was wondering if anyone has any tips, advice or reviews to offer. My budget is modest $1200.00, my HT room (living room)is only 13'x 13" and I will be altering the built-in-wall enclosure to accommodate what ever size I get. I have a Denon sound system 5.1 (can go 6.1 though).

Thanks,
Rick

 

[chuck_b]

Rear projection sets are passe.

You need to look into DLP or plasma - the Samsung DLP sets are good choices and can be shopped to fid a size near your budget. They also use less than half the depth space and are more mangeable weight.

Environmental issues (windows, sunlight, etc.) can help dictate the right technology to meet your needs and budget.

 

[rick bie]

My concern with Plasma and with DLP is cost and new technology, from what I have heard and read Plasma and DLP have life time issues (1000 - 2000 hour). And for I could afford I would be forced to get smaller display.

Rick

 

[Jack Briggs]

Guys, discuss the topic here in Display Devices, not TV/HDTV Programming. Thanks.

 

[John S]

Passe or not, I still love CRT RP.... Lots of bang for your buck.

I have seen decent 55" sets new for under $1000.00


Don't let the bad mouthing of these displays fool you, they are of the best of the best performance wise stacked up against the other newer technologies.

 

[chuck_b]

rick,

Plasma and DLP may be "new technology" compared to the classic electron tube, but they are far from immature. Both do not have shorted life spans and most of that is BS floating around dthe internet. The bulb in a DLP set will be to be replaced after a few 1000 hours of use and plasma has an excellent MTBF.

As for pricing, it is still dropping:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...tscreen_prices

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Last time I looked ... a Samsung DLP rp unit was a RPTV so how can RPTV's be passe?

You won't be buying any plasma sets at that price point so no sense in bringing that up.

Figure out what size you'd like. With CRT rp units ... you can go bigger at that budget level than a microdisplay. Like 51" versus 42" or (nothing) since you would be hard pressed to find a MD rp set for $1200.

Regards

 

[chuck_b]

Rick was referring to the classic CRT based RP in his posting.

 

[rick bie]

My concern with DLP bulb replacement is with a 1000 to 2000 hr bulb, I'd be replacing them every 12 to 18 months because this TV would be used everyday for either movies or regular viewing. What is the average cost for these bulbs and does it take a technician to replace and is recalibration necessary.

Rick

 

[Charlie Campisi]

CRT RPs have a great picture, better than Plasma, LCD or DLP imo. The problem is that they are not as bright so they may not look as good in your home. Because you're putting the tv in an upstairs room, you will have glare/reflection issues from sunlight and room lights. If you can't budget one of the newer technologies, be ready for the glare issues.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

RP MD sets have bulbs rated for up to 8000 hours or so ... not 1k to 2K ... that's FPTVs.

Now as to whether the bulb lasts that long for you depends on the bulb and your viewing habits.

Regards

 

[Jerome Grate]

I personally have a Sony CRT-RPTV. I think $1200 will get you a big one for the buck. For 1200 or so bucks, stick with the better model CRT-RPTV like Sony, Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Phillips. CRT-RPTV are brighter now and I think in some cases, (film based) the picture is better than DLP or LCD. Just my opinion. DLP and LCD do give you a fixed pixel display that I think is perfect for games and upscaling DVD players, but I have one and upscaling all video to 1080i and the picture is sweet on the Sony. I noticed the other day infact that the Sony website no longer has the CRT based RPTV models to show. Weird but I think with this HD and HD-DVD issue, a good CRT-RPTV based set with HDMI will probably get you the best picture and it will probably hold out for a few years. The only issue that might be a big one is 1080p, but we haven't reached HD-DVD yet and there are no 1080p software out there and probably won't be until the middle or the end of next year.

 

[Tim Jin]

Everyone is recently talking about the glare issue from a CRT RPTV. You can always remove that plastic glare screen off and there is no or very little glare. It's one of the best things that you can do to reduce the glare from the daylight and lighting.

Over the weekend, I made my own component cables. They turned out well. It's very straight forward to do. I don't believe in paying an arm and a leg for Monster Cables and my rack was becoming a huge rat nest. Plus, you can't buy a 2 feet cable from Best Buy either.

You can tell a difference. The picture is brighter now. 1080i looks good, but 480i looked more details, seeing the faults of the signal. 480p looks good.

The actual cables looks good. Their nice and heavy shielded. Plus, there is no more rat nest.

 

[Rich Malloy]

From a marketing standpoint only (and I presume you're speaking of CRT-based rear projection sets).

From a quality standpoint, they are hardly passe, surpassing plasma, LCD and DLP in many areas, equaling them in others, and trailing them in only a few.

From a value standpoint, they are without peer, providing a large, quality image matched only by other-technology sets costing three times or more.

CRTs currently reside in the sweetest sweetspot of home video quality and value. Get one before they're gone.

 

[Jerome Grate]

I agree with that statement with the only issue is that 1080p sets are out there and if you going new, it's something to at least think about. For me, I have a CRT-RPTV set and love it. I like 1080i which is the highest resolution that can be shown on CRT-RPTV. Any way, the best for the buck is CRT-RPTV.