• The New York Times, Monday, January 21, 2008 10:45 AM

Sony and Philips announced that they were getting out of the rear-projection TV business last month but Texas Instruments--the chip maker that developed the digital light processor most commonly found in rear-projection TVs--says improved technology will give it new life.

At the Consumer Electronics Show last week, the company displayed smaller chips that TV makers could use to create slimmer sets with brighter, high-contrast pictures and smoother motion in the images. It also showed--behind closed doors--projectors tiny enough to fit in a cell phone.

The biggest rap against rear-projection TVs is that consumers cannot hang one on the wall as they can with L.C.D. sets. It does not matter that most buyers never mount their TV on a wall; they want to think they can. To mimic the "hang-on-the-wall" concept of flat panel TVs, Texas Instruments has developed a lightweight prototype set that is less than 7 inches deep, not much different from the depth of today's flat panel TVs.

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