Will the demise of rear projection tv's--formerly a major market for TI's dlp chips (DMD's)--make the price of DLP projectors fall? I.e., with RPTV's essentially disappearing, in favor of flat panels, what other market does TI have than front projectors? Won't this mean that they will have to decrease the prices of their dmd's in order to be more competitive with LCOS and LCD projectors? Or is the price of the DMD not a major component of the price of SIM2 or Marantz, etc., projectors; I certainly don't know. Does anyone more knowledgeable than me have any insight into this issue?

Not sure of the market trends - but would be curious as well. I assumed while LCD/Plasma certainly had the lion share, the absolute number of DLP RPTVs was still growing?

One cool thing I noticed in RPTV DLPs is Samsung's LED powered one (HLT6187s is one model). Less power, no moving parts. One LED for each color - RGB. I am looking to get one as my daily use TV. Would love to see if the same technology can be used in a projector to keep the fan noise down.

I would imagine that with the demise of RP DLP, the price of FP would actually go up. I would imagine that for every chip TI sold for FP, that it sold 10 for RP, thus spreading the cost of R&D and production on the RP side. If you loose the bigger RP market, that means that the cost of the chips will fall directly on the FP market, making the chips more expensive

Thats simple accounting. How much more it would add and what percentage are the chips compared to the total cost in building a FP, I dont know

Not sure of the market trends - but would be curious as well. I assumed while LCD/Plasma certainly had the lion share, the absolute number of DLP RPTVs was still growing?

All I know is that when one walks into MagnoliaAV, CC, BB, etc., it's hard to find ANY rptv's being displayed. It's all lcd and plasma flat panels. I just get the impression that rptv is dying totally; but I could be (and usually am) wrong!

And the corollary to this was that it would seem that a major market for TI's dlp dmd's was drying up, so that front projection (incl business pj's) might be their main market.

I would imagine that with the demise of RP DLP, the price of FP would actually go up. I would imagine that for every chip TI sold for FP, that it sold 10 for RP, thus spreading the cost of R&D and production on the RP side. If you loose the bigger RP market, that means that the cost of the chips will fall directly on the FP market, making the chips more expensive

Thats simple accounting. How much more it would add and what percentage are the chips compared to the total cost in building a FP, I dont know

Ouch! but a good point.

I would imagine that with the demise of RP DLP, the price of FP would actually go up. I would imagine that for every chip TI sold for FP, that it sold 10 for RP, thus spreading the cost of R&D and production on the RP side. If you loose the bigger RP market, that means that the cost of the chips will fall directly on the FP market, making the chips more expensive

Thats simple accounting. How much more it would add and what percentage are the chips compared to the total cost in building a FP, I dont know

I have to agree with Daniel.

I'd also like to add that if demand decreases (as well as the profitability of this technology), TI would be less inclined to invest in R&D efforts for DLP... Which would reduce advancements. :(

Wouldn't RP declining affect all tech, i.e. price increases?

ted

Has LCD panels been able to approach the contrast ratios of DLP or Tube RPTVs? Didn't Sony make RPTVs that were LCD based?

With broadcast going completely digital, I think cheap TVs of big screen size and low depth of any form will sell well for a while as masses replace their old NTSC color television.

A person buying an RPTV at Wal-mart may not know that the bulb will have to be replaced... that is the sad part.

A couple of days ago I read a report here on AVS that said RPTV had a health 12 % increase over last year.

Thanks for all the comments--very good to get all these perspectives. My thoughts were strictly anecdotal, based walking into B&M's and seeing hardly any rptv's on the floor. The point made by several of you, that fewer dlp rptv's may be bad for FP's--because of lack of economy-of-scale in dmd production, and also less investment in future developments--makes a lot of sense.

Will the demise of rear projection tv's--formerly a major market for TI's dlp chips (DMD's)--make the price of DLP projectors fall? I.e., with RPTV's essentially disappearing, in favor of flat panels, what other market does TI have than front projectors? Won't this mean that they will have to decrease the prices of their dmd's in order to be more competitive with LCOS and LCD projectors? Or is the price of the DMD not a major component of the price of SIM2 or Marantz, etc., projectors; I certainly don't know. Does anyone more knowledgeable than me have any insight into this issue?

I don't think the demise of RPTV's, if there is one, will make DLP projectors fall.

Isn't there already a flat planel DLP TV? Sure it costs $40k now, but there will be improvments and the price will come down to consumer levels. TI and DLP TV manufacturers are not going to give up on DLP TV's.

I just don't see RPTV's disappearing for flat panels. Plasmas are garbage in IMHO, and while LCD's are okay, for a TV that isn't a bulky CRT-tube, DLP is the way to go. And DLP RPTV are still quite thin, only 12-13" deep.

Believe me I want right now a sub $5k 3 chip dlp 1080p PROJECTOR with vertical AND horizontal lens shift that isn't too big and bulky with plenty of input options, but I don't see it happening for a while, and certainly not because of any perceived decline in RPTV purchases.

Don't forget business front projector market, in units sold it's about 10 times the size of the home theater market.

"Isn't there already a flat planel DLP TV?"

I can't imagine how that would work, since they reflect light.

"Isn't there already a flat planel DLP TV?"

I can't imagine how that would work, since they reflect light.

Pappy may be referring to the now discontinued "Thin Displays" Infocus sold under their brand name and rebadged as RCAs. Best Buy actually stocked the RCA branded ones. They were basically really thin RPTVs which could be wall mounted.

http://www.infocus.com/Support/Products/ThinDisplays/SP50MD10.aspx

The LCOS in your above quote must be transmitting, but DLP cannot be.

Dlp will be dead within 10 years in its CURRENT FORM.

It will thrive there after but in a new format.

DLP RPTV thrive in bigger screen sizes. 60+ inch DLP RPTV are miles less expensive than similar size Plasma or LCD flat panels.

So if LCOS can, why can't DLP?
LCOS cannot either.

Neither technology has been used to produce a RPTV that is smaller than 6" deep.

If you haven't seen it yet, here (http://www.audioholics.com/news/industry-news/dlp-losing-ground-lcd) is Clint DeBoers take on this. I think eventually TI and their remaining OEMs will start producing lower priced three chip projectors to compete. Given similar price points in the $5-$10k projector market three chip DLP would be very competitive with LCOS and LCD. For what ever reason TI has chosen not to do that... yet.

Very interesting reading (that I had not seen); thanks for pointing it out.

As discussed in other threads, rear projection TVs are not dead in the large sizes.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/laser-tv-plasma-killer-launch-delayed/2007/11/27/1196036860110.html

Lasers will be used by both Mitsubishi and Samsung to extend the life of DLPs, which will have a great increase in contrast ratio soon anyway. If you want to get a 73" diagonal picture at an affordable price, you will have to go rear projection.

IB

Is that link talking about laser flat panels? That's a new one on me.

Or maybe they're just making a false comparison between plasma and larger sized laser RPTV's.

Don't forget business front projector market, in units sold it's about 10 times the size of the home theater market

thats is correct, but while they use the same technology, they dont use the same chips. Why put a 1080p chip in a business model when you get put a much cheaper and less resolution chip.