Rear Projection HDTV

High definition television service began in Britain in August of 1936, followed closely by France with their high definition television system in 1938. These were monochrome (black and white) systems in both Britain and in France. The United States joined Britain and France with their own high definition service in 1941, which was also a monochrome system. Color television broadcasts started in the United States in 1952 and in Europe in the 1960s. At that time the color was added to the monochrome systems. Early in the 2000s the United States and European widescreen high definition transmission was adopted and considered standard HDTV systems. In Australia however, the digital system is recognized as high definition in an official capacity.

Today, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and plasma television are most popular; however, they are very expensive and most people can still not afford them. This has resulted in the sale of the lower priced rear projection television; which is not just lower in its cost but offers a high performance as well. .

Traditional television video as well as film is projected from the front as in a movie theatre; where the rear projection projects the images from in back of the screen. Rear projection tv has five elements o construction and they are:

• The specific variation of the projector that is used to produce the image.
• The lens specifications that is used to enlarge the image.
• The use of a mirror to change the orientation of the image.
• The type of screen needed on which to project the image.
• A box in which to compact and seal all of above elements.

There are 3 types of technology most used for rear projection television and they are: LCD, DLP and CRT. The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) is no longer in use by the general public although some of the older units and may have it available. When rear projection television first came on the television scene its technology was dependent on the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT).

The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) should not be confused with the flat panel LCD television. The rear projection LC passes a light through an LCD chip of pixels that show the moving image and pass that image from a magnifying lens onto a mirror that send the picture to the screen.

The LCD chip is smaller than the tubes that are needed in a CRT rear projection television and is therefore thinner and lighter than the CRT rear projection television. Unlike the LCD flat panel however, you cannot hang it on a wall. The LCD rear projection television is less expensive that the LCD panel television and you can larger screen sizes. Although you cannot hang it on the wall you have the advantage of more floor space because of its size. The LCD rear projection television is also eco friendly because it uses less power to operate and is therefore, an energy saver.