If I were forced to buy today I'd probably get a good CRT set. It's old technology but that also means it's mature technology. I doubt CRT will be getting much better whereas these newcomers are advancing rapidly. In a few years I suspect CRT will be the lower cost but obviously inferior way to go.

Shortly after that the new will wear off the new guys and CRT will probably start getting dropped.

Personally I think right now is a bad time to buy if it can be avoided. I'm making due with my older IDTV until this newer, rapidly improving HD technology begins to stablize. For me there is very little pressure, since I don't really like TV and movies aren't HD yet. Once the HD-DVD format is released and titles are readily available I'll have to reevaluate things. I'm hoping by the time there's something to watch the imaging devices are up to par. Wouldn't that be a change?!?!

One thing I like about the various non-CRT sets I've watched is the 'look' is more like what I see in the movie house. I suspect the color gamut for the non-CRT systems is closer to film or something. The football game I watched in HD on an DLP front projector was striking in that the colors looked almost perfectly like what I'd see if I was in the stands. It was an interesting experience. Why not get DLP now? I also saw pixels and lots of motion artifacts from scaling 1080i to 720p, so I can't have that.

If you have to buy now there are lots of good CRTs out there. The non-Elite Pioneers are pretty good to my eyes and a lot easier on the wallet, have a look.