How do Rear-Projection TVs Work?

Like many people, you may be filled with a burning curiosity to understand what makes an RPTV function. To tell the truth, it’s largely done with smoke and mirrors. (Only joking – if you have smoke inside your RPTV you have a problem!)

How it works is this: a video image is projected via a projectors lamp inside the TV, then a system of lenses and mirrors direct the image onto the inner surface of a see-through screen.

When this technology was first developed, CRTs (cathode-ray tubes – the things that made old fashioned TV sets so bulky) were used, and it worked well. The down side to this was that the tube made the chassis extremely heavy and, often, a floor standing cabinet was needed to house it.

So, as screens grew bigger, and the industry began to adopt the new, wider 16:9 aspect ratio (the ratio of height to width), those old CRT cabinets gradually became replaced by new models which provide high-quality pictures in light, compact cases.

Rear-projection TVs come ready with high definition capability these days. This is an important point – they are equipped to handle everything high-definition broadcasting and discs can throw at them. And make no mistake – High Definition Television will deliver wide screen images in much better clarity and detail than we are accustomed to from traditional broadcasting. In addition to tuners for cable and analog television – not to mention the ability to receive digital cable signals without requiring a set-top box – HD tuners are included in all modern rear projection TVs, which means they can take full advantage of all the exciting television improvements which will be upon us soon.

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