Rear-projection televisions

Round-up by: Guy Cocker

Last updated: 08 Mar 2006

All the fuss over flat-screen TV has taken the limelight away from the humble rear-projection television. Rear-pro's physical similarity to the CRT TVs of old mean it's less attractive than its plasma and LCD contemporaries, but rear-pro is still the best way of getting a huge screen at an affordable price. The high contrast and cinematic picture quality mean that these TVs are perfect for movie lovers, and all the sets below are also HD Ready.

We've been seriously impressed with Sagem's recent rear-projection TVs, and the HD-D45H is the best one yet. The company is one of the few seriously committed to projection technology, and while the new HD4 DLP chipset is slightly weaker than the HD2+ for picture performance, it's still miles ahead of most flat screens. The television is stylish and well featured, with a Freeview tuner and two HDMI inputs. And given the size of the screen, it's amazingly good value.

Sony's catchily named KDF-E50A12U is light on features but its slimmed-down chassis makes it attractive to the style-conscious buyer. The picture quality is excellent and the connectivity will fulfil all your high-definition requirements, while there's an integrated Freeview tuner with support for the seven-day electronic programme guide. High-definition pictures are unbeatable, and the 3LCD chipset may not be popular, but it still produces good standard-definition results.

Samsung's SP-50L7HX has been one of the company's flagship TVs for some time, and its unique design has won it more awards than any other rear-projection TV. It certainly looks amazing, and it will also please the gadget fans thanks to its HD Ready badge. Samsung's DNIe image-processing system produces great results from standard-definition sources, although the lack of digital tuner means that you'll have to buy your own. The viewing angle is slightly more limited than the other TVs in this roundup, but if you want to make a style statement, there's nothing that matches this Samsung.

Toshiba's 52WM48P is ageing now, but it still offers high-definition compatibility, excellent connectivity and a really bright picture. It's more mundanely designed than Samsung's effort, and the picture quality is slightly grainy, but it looks fantastic when you run movies through its component video inputs. It's also a great price for its 52-inch screen size -- only the lack of Freeview tuner and occasional rainbow effects could be rectified with an updated model.