TVs & Projectors

The new 50PY2DR plasma HDTV from LG comes with a bright yellow insert explaining in all caps that the set's CableCARD and TV Guide On Screen electronic program guide eliminate the need to rent an outboard box from your cable company.

For some time, I've been perplexed by the huge price gap between HDTV and EDTV Digital Light Processing (DLP) front projectors. It just never added up that models with Texas Instruments' high-definition 720p (progressive-scan) display chip, most of which cost $8,000 or more, should be priced so much higher than their enhanced-definition cousins costing $1,500 or less.

The HDTV market is heating up, especially for microdisplays - rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) that use LCD, DLP, or LCoS chips to produce their high-resolution images. These sets are essentially video front projectors stashed in a box, so it's no surprise that a projector and printer maker like Epson would want to get in the game with something that sets them apart from the competition.