It seems that if you are looking for a rear projection TV you’re choices are severely limited and in fact you may be faced with having to buy a second hand unit. So what’s caused the decline of these once favored large format TV’s.

Rear projection TV’s used to be available in three technologies. The first being CRT where each RGB channel would have it’s own tube, then there was LCD and DLP based technology that has developed in line with one another. The LCD and DLP technology is the same as that used in front projecting digital projectors. CRT projection TV’s went by the wayside a long time ago. Although when compared to a regular CRT TV they were much slimmer they were still very large. So the CRT technology was superseded by the LCD and DLP TV’s which allowed for a much smaller overall unit and potentially cheaper maintenance costs.

Even in their hey-day in the mid nineties rear projection TV’s received some criticism because in essence they were still projector based, which meant their picture quality and particularly the black levels was very dependant on the ambient lighting conditions. A bright room would give you very poor picture quality and a dimly lit room an excellent picture. There was also the problem of a very limited viewing angle, this wasn’t so much off an issue if you had a dedicated room to view your TV in, but in a normal home situation your chairs would all have to be positioned in a very exact position to get the best picture.

Rear projection TVs have slowly disappeared of the scene for more than one reason though, it is not just the case that LCD TV’s have come along and wiped them off the planet, because LCD TV’s ended up being significantly more expensive than the equivalent large format rear projection TV’s. In truth is a build up of factors that have caused them to disappear.

Similarly to a projector, the bulb in a LCD or DLP TV was always going to need replacing. Not only is this an expensive item to replace it is also time consuming. Digital projectors have now swamped the market and yes they need their bulbs replacing, but it’s only the case of removing a cover or hatch. The fact that the bulb was going to need replacing meant that really unless you were very wealthy (or a projector bulb manufacturer) the TV was out of bounds for every day TV watching. With CRT TV’s this issue was even worse, you had three lamps – a red, green and blue lamp – and when one of these went, it was recommended that you replaced the other two at the same time. More often than not this was not a task that you could carry out your self.

Then there was the size issue. CRT TV’s were notoriously big and bulky units, to get a 42” CRT TV meant you would have a box that was about 36” deep, if you were to get a projector TV though you’d be looking at about 17” – less than half the depth. So you can see why at the time a rear projection TV was an attractive alternative to the big CRT’s, but when compared to today’s, LCD, LED and plasma TV they’re no comparison.

In summary all of the big players in the home entertainment industry have dropped projector TV’s due to inherent weaknesses in the technology, and the advancement of other technologies such as front projectors, LCD and plasma TV’s.