If you go the projector route, just make a mental note of one item (which Alan mentioned in the course of his extremely good advice):
Projector bulbs.
These suckers are expensive. Our AV dept here at the university where I work has to buy dozens of them a year for academic presentations. The cost can be breathtaking, and cheaper knock-offs from China don't last nearly as long as they are supposed to. If you can afford projection, great, but do you really want to be breathing down your couch-potato roommate's neck about when he can and can't watch a movie on your system? You could alternately charge viewing fees.
Now, I've never had the budget to contemplate a DLP, so take my opinion with that grain of salt, but personally I still think an outstanding and large CRT (screen and lighting budget being a consideration) is the way to go at this time, and Alan mentioned some great manufacturers. Toshiba's CRTs always please me as well -- and even one of their less expensive 32- or 36-inch sets would be a good purchase now -- get you a great picture today with the chance to wait out the tumult over future standards without becoming an overpaying early adopter. (Note that this early-adoption concern has persisted for the last five years ... we are still in the midst of some volatile screen-format wars. Are you ready to vote with your wallet?) As an aside, I've noticed Toshiba's sometimes look pinkish in tint alongside Sony's and Panasonics in the storeroom, based on their default settings, but that can be adjusted of course.
Your sitting distance is also very critical in this decision. We sit 8-10' back from a 32-inch Toshiba CRT and it's great. After we bought this set for $560, my dad splurged about 2 grand on a Phillips flat wide-screen TV, HDTV ready I think, but he placed it in a little viewing room. It's ridiculous. At 4-6', where he sits, the thing looks worse than my sub-$600 Toshiba no matter what the source. Now, at 10' back or so, it looks great. But that distance is a critical part of the decision. Personally I would not spend the money on the Philips no matter what the viewing distance, unless I was sure NO ONE would have to sit too close to it, that's how lame it looked at closer viewing distances. This is not a knock on Philips, just on the practicality of larger screens in everyday watching environments.
Sometimes saving money and procrastinating (here, on choosing a lane for future screen formats) are the best answers.
Birdman
