Thanks again to all. I agree CC and BB are AWFUL places to shop. I just grab the remotes and fix the TV set up, then the teenage salesmen walk by and say "dood, that TV is like, weird or something. The people, they're like flesh tones and stuff. We should like, crank the color temp back up so they look like colorized films of George Hamilton."
FWIW, I went with a CRT based RPTV. I have good light control in my room, and while the slimness of the LCD and DLP RPTVs would have been nice, I can deal with a TV cabinet that's 28" deep, the puny 32" that is being replaced is 24" deep on its stand anyhow.
Why didn't I buy DLP? Well, basically it was price. I don't think that the DLP gives you more of what I wanted, and it's way more money. DLP is bright, no doubt about it, but I'd just be turning it down most of the time, reference comments re: light control. The room will be dimly lit, the TV calibrated to a film-like color temp, so why do I need the ability to go super bright? I also didn't care for the blacks on the Ssmsung DLP, as someone else noted, and found the moire not terrible, but there. I also don't like the idea of buying a $320 bulb, and the insidious, yet inevitable, decrease in light output as the bulb ages.
Why didn't I go LCD? Pixels. I don't like looking at them, and I don't like it when they fail. With my luck, I'd get a failed pixel dead center of the screen. What's the manufacturers' standard for when a pixel failure becomes a warranty issue? Sales dood told me 6 pixels TOUCHING each other. That means if 6 go, and they aren't in a clump, you get no warranty. Man, would I be peeved.
I went with the 57" Hitachi Ultravision, which for my money stacks up quite well. It was purchased at a Video Only in Portland for just a few bucks over $2000. So, for my initial desired TV budget, I also got a progressive DVD player, and will be getting an HD satellite box with built in off air HD tuner, and an antenna to go with. THat will still leave me a few $$.
