the old crt's would diminish the apparent size of the reflections because of the curvature of the front glass, so i guess this is the reason reflections seem larger on a flat panel, and also the much larger panel sizes.
I think JB has a good observation here. Any flat surface will reflect light. The degree to which light is reflected depends on factors such as surface colour, light angle and surface properties (hardness, opacity, etc.).
I've seen some plasma tvs with a 'non glare' screen that have more reflectiveness than some original LCD panels mounted on the same wall. But a CRT with a curved surface greatly reduces the surface area affected by light angles creating the glare. The glass surface however is far more reflective than today's plastics.
Going into a store to buy a flatscreen with the idea of looking for non-reflective properties is impossible since they almost all setup the tvs in a darkened room, no where near windows.
All rear-projection sets, including "modern" DLP sets like my Samsung, use a plastic screen that has virtually no reflections, one of the advantages of those sets. The only manufacturer still building DLP rear-pro sets is Mitsubishi.
Again any flat surface...
Although i haven't seen alot of DLPs, i actually have a picture of some we saw at a home show years ago as a lighting source to the left of the units reflected off the screens.
It was the first time i saw a large screen HDTV and was impressed, by everything except the glare.
They were Sony DLP sets.
