RIP, rear-projection TV

Sarah Tew/CNET
Rear-projection television is dead, and there ‘s small reason to think the engineering will pull a Lazarus anytime soon. On Monday Mitsubishi confirmed it has already ceased production of its last RPTVs, and told Twice.com that inventory is about gone. ” The decisiveness to exit the class was based on miss of profitableness in the big-screen television commercial enterprise, ” according to Max Wasinger, executive VP at Mitsubishi Electric Video Sales America. “ MEVSA will honor all product warranties. Consumer relations will continue to support consumers and dealers ‘ product service related needs. ” He added that there are no plans for extra closeout price to sell off remaining inventory.

Mitsubishi and Samsung were the final manufacturers of the large, normally boxlike televisions, and Samsung exited the grocery store in 2008. As the only manufacturer of RPTVs left, Mitsubishi seems to have held on as long it could, but finally the popularity — and profit margins, reduce as they might be — of flat-panel LCD and plasma TVs won the day . A look back at the big black box
Rear-projection has been around for decades. RCA made one in 1947, but the 1970s saw the beginning mass-market examples. Up until the early 2000s, the prevailing RPTV technology was cathode-ray pipe ( CRT ), where a miniskirt projector housed in the bottom of the box lit up the screen from behind via a mirror. They offered large screens but bleary video recording quality compared with traditional metro TVs. Over the years they got a distribute better. The best CRT-based models from the likes of Pioneer Elite and Hitachi Ultravision were the darlings of videophiles and calibrators, and much required limited attention because the three tubes had to be manually converged. They had video quality that could rival and in many ways surpass today ‘s best flat panels . Epson Ten years ago, around the time I foremost started reviewing TVs myself, those tubes began to give direction to light engines based on bulbs and fixed-pixel chips utilizing DLP, LCD, and LCoS engineering. The chips improved light output and resolving power and, more importantly, allowed the cabinets of large-screen rear-projectors to get slimmer and lighter ; some could even hang on the wall. Since plasma and LCD TVs remained relatively expensive, the mid-2000s were the flower of rear-projection, with numerous manufacturers competing for share and innovations in design, technology, and dependability happening annually. RPTVs were the foremost with 1080p settlement and 3D, and were available in sizes from 40 up to more than 90 inches. here are a few of the products and trends I most remember from that period. Growing bigger and less popular
Since the former 2000s RPTVs have faded into obscurity. As flat-panel TVs have gotten larger and cheaper, RPTVs have grown to be about comically bombastic, even even remain less expensive for the most partially than similarly sized LCDs and plasma. competition is ferocious among television receiver makers, and RPTV has been on life support for a while. last year Mitsubishi had about a 1 percentage share in the north american english television receiver market, and relied on size preferably than volume in its bid to remain on sales floors. It abandoned LCD in 2010.

The smallest television in Mitsubishi ‘s 2012 batting order measured 73 inches diagonal. The company ‘s brassy 2012 RPTV, the 73-inch WD-73C12, costs around $ 1,100. The cheapest comparable flat-panel I ‘ve seen is Vizio ‘s 70-inch E701i-A3 at $ 1,700. A $ 600 difference is n’t chump transfer, but many television buyers are credibly will to pay it to avoid getting a rear-projector. The bulkiness of RPTVs besides makes them more difficult for manufacturers and retailers to ship, inventory, and/or expose. I remember walking into my local Best Buy a couple of years ago and realizing that the wall of Mitsubishis at the back of the store was gone, replaced by LCDs and plasma . then there ‘s the apparition of bulb substitute. Most DLPs run on user-replaceable lamps ( about $ 40 and up ) that evanesce and finally fail after a few thousand hours of television observation. The time-frame varies quite a bit, however. My father-in-law, who still loves the Samsung DLP I told him to buy in 2007, has never had to replace his bulb after more than five years of heavy use. Others report the bulb going in a year or less. In terms of picture quality, a modern DLP-based RPTV can actually hold up pretty well against the cheap big-screen flat panels in its class, with good light up end product, becoming see angles ( at least compared to LCD ) and acceptable screen uniformity. Black levels are relatively light, but all told my father-in-law ‘s DLP still looks pretty good. Check out Geoff Morrison ‘s excellent “ rear expulsion vs. LCD vs. plasma “ for more on how the television receiver technologies stack up. What’s next? Plasma?
The here and now a engineering category goes extinct ( HD DVD, anyone ? ) seems like a good time to wonder which dinosaur is adjacent take a meteorite of progress to the dome. I hate to say it, but I would n’t be surprised if it ‘s plasma television. When Panasonic, Samsung, and/or LG stop form plasma TVs, I ‘ll be a batch more miffed than I am today at the casual of RPTV. But the write is on the wall. Global plasma television sales were down 20 percentage year over year in the third base quarter this year. interim Panasonic, which unlike the other two has bet boastfully on plasma, experienced a 30 percentage decline during the lapp period, and along with other japanese companies is facing dangerous fiscal problems. I would n’t be surprised if CES next month saw significantly fewer plasma television introductions from all three makers than 2012 did. If I had to put money down, I would n’t bet on plasma surviving another three years. RPTV is good the latest television technology to go ; it surely wo n’t be the survive .

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