Sony throws rear projection HDTV to the curb
Cheaper flat panel HDTV is killing the humble rear projector. Sony is now the latest manufacturer to drop rear projection or micro-display from its product line, following Hitachi and Seiko Epson.
It’s about time!
Q: What’s the best advice you can give to a perspective buyer of a rear projector HDTV?
A: You might want to consider the extended warranty.
Rear projection is the least reliable form of HDTV and Sony has just decided it no longer wants a part of that market.
Lenses, replacement lamps, moving parts and fan noise are just some of the disadvantages of rear projection. Poor viewing angle, thickness and weight are some other areas rear projection LCD display comes up short against its flat panel cousins.
Not so long ago a 50-inch or bigger HDTV in a flat panel was just too cost prohibitive for most consumers. The answer was a rear projection HDTV. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) rear projection produces an image on a chip that is projected through lenses and a powerful lamp onto a large lenticular screen. Compared to a flat panel LCD, rear projection is a convoluted process performed on the cheap.
They might not have been anyone’s first preference but they could save you thousands on that big screen HDTV you’ve always wanted. Now the technologies days in the consumer electronics shops are coming to a close.
The reason is cheaper big-screen plasma and LCD HDTVs that are dropping so low there is little advantage to make rear projection. Plus, new OLED technology is just over the horizon and Sony wants to be first to market with a viable OLED displays.
Sony has already hedged its bets on LCD and recently stopped making plasma displays. Now it’s focusing solely on its LCD panels and OLED. Sony just started selling the first OLED display, an 11-inch television made up of organic light emitting diodes. Sony believes this could be the future of HDTV.
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