Seiko Epson said it has halted production and sales of its rear-projection TVs, becoming the latest company to distance itself from a technology once seen as a promising rival of LCD and plasma televisions. Seiko Epson will focus resources on front projectors, but it is not withdrawing from the rear-projection TV business and will continue its research and development activities for rear-projection models, the company said on Thursday.

Hitachi also withdrew from the North American rear-projection TV market earlier this year and Sony in October cut its rear-projection TV sales target for the year to March by 43 percent to 400,000 units.

Seiko Epson started selling rear-projection TVs in 2004.