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Mitsubishi Drops Bulky DLP TVs: End of an Era
An anonymous reader writes "Mitsubishi was the last hold-out in the big-screen rear-projection display business after Samsung left the category in 2009. Now Mitsubishi has dropped the dinosaur. Every big-brand CE manufacturer got their start in the big-TV business via rear projection sets from CRT to DLP to LCoS, eventually replacing them with modern-day flat screens. Mitsubishi did develop LCD flat-screens for a time, but dropped out of that market to focus on rear DLPs after Samsung gave it a monopoly. The author, a CE editor, takes a nostalgic and amusing look at her 15 years with three Mitsu rear pros, the only big-screen TV she's known."
Seriously? I didn't realize DLP's were still manufactured/sold. Go Mitsubishi!
I've got one, unless you're in a location without sufficient space or money is no object they're great. 1080p, 3d support, great appearance, 65". Couldn't come close to that with any other product out there for the $800 it cost brand new.
Yeah, as long as you can sit directly in front, they do work pretty great. Had one for years. Too big to haul away, so I sold it with the house when I moved.
Too big to haul away? My 60" DLP was 90 lbs and and about 15" deep at the deepest point. One guy could lift it by himself, although it was a lot less awkward with two.
The average dining room table, love seat, recliner, dresser... is far more difficult to move.
As for viewing angles? They were fine; you could sit anywhere in the room and see it just fine. The only bad viewing angle was if you were too high looking at a substantial downward angle which would only be a problem if you sat on a baby's high-chair 2 feet away from it.
But its nice to actually be able to see what you are eating and drinking in a Sports Pub these days without them having to dim the lights just so that people can see the rear projections screens mounted like a sword of Damocles over the bar.
For sure, the thin/flat superbright plasmas and LCD/LED screens are far better suited to that mounting arrangement.
But unless there's an actual game on I just wish they'd turn the fuckers off. They are annoying distractions. If they were just in dedicated sports pubs it wouldn't be a problem, but they seem to be everywhere these days. Family restaurants, fast food restaurants, and so on, the volume is turned off, the content is just mindless drivel -- bowling and tennis highlights, commercials for gum... Nobody wants to watch this crap, but its bright and shiny and it moves so your eyes are drawn to them.
I'll stick with my good old analogue television. I just don't like the brittle, compressed pictures on these new "digital" TVs.
Of course I'm still trying to figure out where to find some of that good, old, warm, analog TV signal to feed it.
Three Squirrels
Why companies need to save a few bucks on capacitors on a $2000 television will never make sense to me.
The manufacturers take cheap components that they use in cheap products and design expensive products with them. Those components, like capacitors, are often purchased in large volume. An engineer sometimes doesn't even have a better part in the database. Often the engineer doesn't even know what part will be purchased for this or that position - as long as they are all similar the buyer will make that decision. When the time comes to buy parts the PHB will always point his finger at a mountain of compatible components that is already in the cage instead of going out, researching and negotiating a new set of prices on a new part - which may have its own problems.
Same here. Even the 83" my parents have isn't a big deal for two people.
Agreed. So far, I have better luck with good off-axis viewing on my DLPs than any LCD I've seen yet. Then again, I didn't buy sucky DLPs. ;)
Not to mention that most of the DLPs were using bulbs way past their service life and lenses that had been in a smoke-filled bar their entire lives. (Ever seen a lung? Yeah, lenses are worse.) There are some bars up here that have old LCDs and they're worse even than the old DLPs.
Now find the balance between cost of production, and people returning products - there is a point where cheap parts (with a predicatable failure process/rate) end up making a better profit.
There are many reasons why that would be the case. For example:
That's just the most obvious scenarios. One could, of course, wonder why manufacturers don't want to maintain their good name. But that's because who makes TVs - LG, Sony, Samsung and a handful of other players. You are stuck with them no matter what, and they all cheat this way. You may get angry at Viewsonic and buy LG, but another customer is angry with LG and buys Viewsonic. It's like airlines - there are too few of them and they are all bad. Smaller Chinese companies simply don't care, there are enough customers for them in the world. They can also sell under any trade name you want, even if the device is made at the same factory.