Page 1 of Are any of the £700ish Rear Projection TVs any good?

I`ve seen quite a few 40" - 44" Rear Projection TVs lately all at around £700 (LG, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony) - are they any good? They all look great, but I don`t know much about Rear Projection. One term I`ve heard a lot is "screen burn" - what exactly is this and how is it caused? I won`t be connecting any computer/gaming equipment to it - only my Sky Plus box and DVD player.

Any help/recommendations would be really appreciated!

Screen Burn is a permanant image burned on the display, like a see through "ghost" of it.
It`s caused by static images being shown on a Rear Projection/Plasma for too long, and to a lesser extent LCD and CRT`s.

If you watch Sky Sports, Sky News or any of the shopping channels, I`d say forget a RPTV unless it`s DLP (£1500+)

To give a better example of above and where you wouldn`t notice normally until it`s too late:
you`re watching Sky News on some major event.
The ticker tape at the bottom of the screen is scrolling new info constantly. All of this is ok, as all of this is moving image.
Three hours later, you realise the red band the ticker tape is on isn`t moving, and has in fact been a static image. You now have a "see through" band on your TV exactly where the ticker tape was.

That help any?

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Thanks for the info Jimbo - so would you stick with a standard 28"/32"/36" TV instead? (I`ve got almost £800 saved for it). :D

Are Rear Projection TVs (without DLP) a no-go zone!?

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Are Rear Projection TVs (without DLP) a no-go zone!?
I wouldn`t say a no=go, but care *must* be taken if you plump for one.
They allow much bigger screens, much lighter cabinets and lower pricing, so 3 very good "plus" points, but allow screen burn and have worse viewing angles (two very heavy negative points :/ )

The choice is yours mate, there`s apparently a Toshiba DD 5.1 being shouted about for £800 on the other forums (think it`s in bargains) and if it is the DD model, it`s a steal....it`s huge, but it`s a steal! Lol

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

Hi there, I got a Samsung rear projection 42 inch off a friend at a bargain price, unfortunately I was not aware of screen burn and now have a permanent interactive arrow in the top right corner. Also the actual screen isnt glass, it is a soft material and I have already scratched it. Picture is brilliant though. My sister has bought and LG plasma which I know is alot more but she is really pleased with hers, maybe worth saving a bit more??

Unfortunately plasma TVs are also susceptible to screen burn, though not as badly as CRT rear projection TVs. If you view much material with static screen logos these are really not a good idea either. DLP is the best bet if you want a large screen size with minimal weight and space requirements. The LG 44" DLP set can be had for £1200 from Unbeatable.co.uk. I think this is currently the cheapest model but I suspect there is much room to reduce prices of these with higher production capacity as only LG, Toshiba and Sagem / Optima seem to currently market this technology.

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Unfortunately plasma TVs are also susceptible to screen burn, though not as badly as CRT rear projection TVs
I`d disagree with that Mike, a Plasma will burn after two hours on a static image, usually a bit longer for an RPTV.
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The LG 44" DLP set can be had for £1200 from Unbeatable.co.uk. I think this is currently the cheapest model but I suspect there is much room to reduce prices of these with higher production capacity as only LG, Toshiba and Sagem / Optima seem to currently market this technology.

£1200 is the lowest I`ve seen yet for LG, but currently on the market are (insert drum rolll here:)
50" Sagem/Themescene @£1999, 46" Toshiba @£1999, 44" LG @ £1499 (or £1200 as above), 50" Samsung @ £3499, 46" Samsung @ (I forget! Lol)
Coming later this year, apparently, is another Toshiba, another two Sagems and another two from Thomson.

Should be a good year for DLP :)

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

I have owned a Toshiba 40" widescreen rear projection set since December 2000. It is a basic model, 50Hz and Nicam Stereo only (no 100Hz/Prologic etc) and probably comparable to the £700 sets available today.

The set has been connected to Sky Digital since I have owned it. It has also been used with a Philips DVD recorder, Pioneer DVD players, a Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube over the years.

4 years on from purchase it has no screen burn at all and the picture is as good as the day I first took delivery of it. The only problem I find with the set (apart from just 1 scart being RGB but I knew that when I bought it) is that the convergence in the corners of the screen tends to drift over time. This has always been sorted though by the friendly engineer from the local electrical superstore that I purchased it from under their service plan that I took out - don`t usually bother with these but it was a major purchase for me at the time.

I can honestly say that the set has provided much enjoyment and proved to be excellent value for money, and still performs well to this day.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards, Steven

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I can honestly say that the set has provided much enjoyment and proved to be excellent value for money, and still performs well to this day.
Which, at the end of the day, is what ultimately matters.
doesn`t matter a stuff what myself or anyone else thinks of any unit, if the purchaser is happy with it :)

But, I`m curious at you having played games on it with no issues. That and Sky, but when you "game" do you restrict the time on it?
And on Sky, are you watching channels with static points, or the likes of SkyOne (the logo disappears every time the ads come on :D )

Jimbo : oÞ

"Making Teenagers depressed is like shooting fish inna barrel"

I have never consciously restricted the time that the set has been used for gaming - it has only been limited by my attention span at the time. When playing through GTA III and Vice City on the PS2, for example, many of those sessions were pretty long!

With regards to Sky, the most frequently watched channels in our household would be any of the childrens ones, the music channels, Sky One, UK Gold and E4.

I would estimate that the set has been used on average 7-8 hours a day over the last four years.

BTW, the model number of the set for anyone interested is a 40PW03DB - not that it is available new any more, but may help you to identify the current equivalent Toshiba model.