Avi,

First off... Nobody knows how many % of people see 'rainbows' on DLP projectors. There's never been a legitimate test done, and most people have never even seen a DLP projector to comment on it.

My wife saw rainbows like crazy on that Piano (with, as you know, the current fastest color wheel). I saw them somewhat, but not much. Enough to be annoying though.

Maybe the new spiral color wheel TI developed will finally fix rainbows, but who knows, it ain't out yet.

So how am I wrong if you think I am -which you seem to imply, but don't actually say ANY details that would make your case.

You agreed with me that CRT RP's in general are cheaper, and more user friendly.

You must disagree with my other points I guess, so I'll clarify them...

Far more dependable and longer lasting...

Well, ok your Sony RP tanked out early on you. That's not the norm though and you probably know it.
Well over 10,000 hours is typical.

You haven't had your Piano long enough to discuss it's longevity, but let me know when your bulb burns out. The max is 1000 hours, and that sucks IMO, and that's if it doesn't pop early which happens. Careful replacing it too. One fingerprint on the new one and it'll pop instantly.That's a fast way to blow ~$350!

My Mitsu. easily has well over 1000 hours on it, and it's in perfect working order -which is obviously quite common for all CRT RP's.

Also, lots of people have DLP's w/ stuck pixels. Search around on the forums, and you'll see. It's NOT uncommon at all. I hope it doesn't happen to your Piano, but it could. it's just a tiny static elec. shock making each of the hundreds of thousands of micro-mirrors physically move back and forth millions of times. Chances are better that one will get stuck than none ever getting stuck.

I've never seen a DLP RP or FP that hasn't had a stuck pixel othe than the new Piano I had for 10 days.

Sometimes people can get the pixels unstuck, but not usually.

The one you might have the most prob. with is me saying....

Better pic. quality -

Well, obviously the contrast in a room with any daylight will make a digital FP lose easily (CRT FP too, but that's not the point). Most people don't want to watch TV in the dark at all times. Probably somewhere near 99% of people if I had to bet on a number.

Lots of FP owners will use their systems in daylight (say watching a football game w/ friends, etc..) and just accept the washed out picture during that time.

I have a dedicated HT room and total light control, just in case you think I might have stray light in my room that I can't get rid of and makes me anti-FP for that reason.

Some FP owners only use their FP's for movies because of the bulb cost and the 'room must be dark' issue (that's what I was gonna do).

Let's say you have a totally black velvet walled room (very nice decor you vampire!! -heh), and you only compare your FP to a RP in the dark ('cuz we both know it'll flat out lose otherwise)...

Unless you compare FP's way over the price range of the best CRT RP's (the well over $10K JVC LCoS FP's for example), you can't get a pic. as sharp, solid, perfect color, or as high contrast as you can from a high def. CRT RP.

You can get a 'bigger' pic. though, which I already admitted, but 'size' isn't a matter of 'quality'.

In your Piano's case though, it's max 80" dia. size is not much bigger than my 65" Mitsu., and since most likley your screen is against your wall, and my RP screen is 3' in front of my wall, the sizes are probably much less of a diff. than even the small 15" difference looks.

You might be using a larger screen, but you'd easily lose a pic. quality contest if you do that. The Piano isn't bright enough to go bigger than ~80" dia. without degrading the picture.

I know I can get closer to my high-def. Mitsu playing a DVD than you can get to your Piano's screen before I see pixels or other projector system caused artifacts.

That Piano was not better in ANY respect to the 65" Mitu. I bought the following week after I returned the Piano, and for the same exact price.

What's your point of reference as to what's the BEST in picture qual.??

A lot of people say 'a movie theater' since we're usually talking about playing movies on either a FP or RP.

They'd be wrong though (even more-so if they say 'movie theater sound' is a reference point, but that's a diff. topic).

A lot of people say they like FP better 'cuz it looks more like 'film'.

It does look more like a movie theater than a RP image, but that means worse not better pic. quality -something I learned duringthe process of getting the Piano and the Mitsu RPTV.

The point of reference should be (as w/ sound) 'real life sound and vision', but ok, lets step back a little 'cuz no technology's close yet vision-wise (luckily sound's a lot closer), and just say... 'best 2D image'.

That'd be a photograph.

But 'Ah-Hah!" some say... "That's made from film like in a movie theater!", but the photograph itself is NOT film.

In a movie theater, bright light passes through film and is degraded as the light eats away at it and the film wears down.

You don't get that damage w/ a digital FP, so in that respect it's a better reference point than film projection, but it's resolution is currently worse, and room light still bounces back onto the screen washing the picture out.

Say you could take that movie film and instead of blowing it up w/ a bright light, optics, and a reflective screen.... you developed the film into giant screen-sized photographs, and replaced the photos at 24 photos per second.... you'd see the greatest looking movie you've ever seen -the best your eyes would be capable of seeing!

Now I'm just being silly 'cuz you'd never be able to change the photos that fast, but the photos could (in theory) be made at that size, and the point (yes there is one -heh).... is that they would be made "from the original movie film" meaning that projecting that film like a movie theater does is NOT the reference point of picture quality of ANY movie.

It's "how to turn the original negative into the closest thing to a giant photograph".

A CRT RP will be the closest to doing that since the image is projected in it's own box instead of the room always being a flawed projection box in a FP design.

Plus all the other benefits I've already mentioned.

IMO, the best image (that we may actually be able to buy someday not too far away) will eventually be an upconverting 1080P (probably LCoS) digital RP w/ a bulb source that lasts a very long time (which current RP DLP sets already have far longer lasting bulbs than FP's), and an extra high contrast Scramtech screen (see www.scramtech.com for more on that).

Plasma's close, but it's pixel structure sucks (you have to be way too far away before the pixels blend together and then you're blurring the image anyway), and they're waaaay overpriced and have a very questionable life span.

CRT FP is great for movies, but it costs too much IMO, isn't usable in any daylight, and is too dang BIG to set in front of you or hang from the ceiling (for most people).

A HD CRT RP is the current best picture you can get -period.

All of these displays including digital FP blow away any film based movie theater except in size, but again -that's not pict. quality.