I don't know much about HT (not much compared to you guys, that is), so bear with me please. Rear projection TVs have always seemed very blurry to me, much more blurry than you'd expect from magnifying a CRT image to 60" diagonal. I understand that RPTVs should be properly calibrated for convergence or something like that (so the 3 guns are aligned correctly), so maybe all the RPTVs I've ever seen were just neglected.

So basically I'm asking if a rear projection TV can look as "good" as a CRT, with "good" referring to sharpness, clarity, color, etc. I guess this question applies to front projection too, which I may want to consider too. What the hell... Can we add plasma to the list? Right now I still prefer the look and brightness of CRTs over LCDs.

you might be failing to take into account the resolution of the input signal. The projecters at school here are fully capable of displaying a 1280x1024 signal, that looks just like the scaled image on a crt monitor.

You are looking at HD sets or SD sets?
I agree with you with regards to most Standard Definition RPTV's.
Most (probably all) High Definition RPTV have internal line doublers. That helps a lot. I really like the way most HD RPTV's display DVD and TV.

A SD RPTV is in IMHO really outdated and I would never consider purchased one new.

I ditto the comment about SD TV's should not even be in consideration for HT. I have installed several HDTVs: one using digital cable and the other Direct TV, both via S-video. The picture is clear as you want it to be. One was a 40" Toshiba 16:9, the other a 65" Hitachi 16:9.

DVD video is via component cables and the picture looks like a photo. You get what you pay for and of cource, the collatteral components must be of consistant quality to the end you are wanting to achieve..