Thank you to Argent and Dlr for your help.
To clarify... the vertical viewing angle of rear projection tvs are limited. They generally have a base where I assume the projector is housed and are setup to be viewed while sitting on an average couch or chair. Placing them above something like a fireplace will compromise the vertical viewing angle. CRT flatpanels are generally too small and plasmas are expensive and prone to room light fading. I've also heard that plasmas generally have loud fans which is not attractive to me.
To clarify... the vertical viewing angle of rear projection tvs are limited. They generally have a base where I assume the projector is housed and are setup to be viewed while sitting on an average couch or chair. Placing them above something like a fireplace will compromise the vertical viewing angle. CRT flatpanels are generally too small and plasmas are expensive and prone to room light fading. I've also heard that plasmas generally have loud fans which is not attractive to me.