Rear Projection TVs

[Disco_Dale]

Been offered one for nowt by a friend of a friend who's recently moved and needs the space.
It's a big bugger by all accounts, a 50" Panasonic which I've worked out won't fit in my estate car, so having to borrow a van.

Being the cynical b*st*rd I am, there has to be a catch, right?
Doing a bit of googling reveals the lamps need replacing periodically and Panasonics appear worse than most.

Anyone got any experience of these? Decent suppliers for lamps cos I'm sure it'll need one soon enough even if it doesn't now.

• me imagines how good racing sims are gonna look on it*

[CooperS]

Friend of mine brother has one and his bulb died rather prematurely... panasonic replaced it under warantee but the cost of new bulb is in its hunreds to replace he's had his 3 years...

[danrc]

My friend bought one about 7 years ago and is still going strong on the original lamps.

AFAIK - Lamps cost about £150 each. There are 3...

They take up lots of room and the picture quality is not great.

If I were you, I'd take the tele but be prepared for it breaking and save up for a 50" Panasonic LCD in the mean time...

[claypigeon60]

Disco_Dale said:

• me imagines how good racing sims are gonna look on it*

Not very, would be my guess. Screen size isn't everything, and the alignment of these can be tricky to get right I think. Also, the viewing angle isn't always that great, you need to be looking at them straight on - that might not be a prob if it's just you playing games on it.

[jazzybee]

I have a 50" Sagem DLP rear projection, and the picture is fantastic. Better than any Plasma and LCD screens that were available at the time. I was not aware of any Panasonic ones that were selling well on the market at the time, other manufacturers were Sony, Samsung, an LG and Optoma. I took a 5 year Comet warranty on mine, knowing that the lamps go. I've had the screen coming upto 3 years now and had my 2nd lamp change a couple of months ago. For my TV, the lamps are around £300 - but I understand they are much cheaper on the continent and you can get them main order from German and French suppliers. Sorry, thats all I can help with.

[RedLeicester]

If it's a boggo RP-TV then prolly not worth the bother. Thinking of the van, remember they must be transported upright, so make sure you get a big enough one!

If it's 3LCD (sony) or DLP (Sagem and others) then they're really pretty good - not plasma quality, but near enough for the normal viewer. I bought a 3LCD Sony Bravia when they were £800 for the 50-inch and the equivalent plasmas were still £3k plus - for the cost delta, I was more than happy with a slightly lower quality.

Oh, one other advantage, they don't burn your eyes out of their sockets like some cheapie plasma/LCD TVs can so they tend to be less fatiguing to watch.