Thinking on buying a Projector...Is CRT "9" a good bet to have the best quality?

Go for a 9 inch CRT if you have the room (ceiling mounted) and passion for that technology.

Barco Cine 9 is the flagship !

ElTopo

Hello

Any projector is best viewed in a darkened room. If you keep to a reasonable screen width say 84" then the nine inch crt will outperform any digital in recreating the film experience with no distractions. The image will have a 3D quality on HDTV and BluRay programs, accurate deep grays and black, and years of reliable performance. Digital projectors will need costly lamp replacements every year; they only exceed crt in sheer light output.

Hello

An 84" wide screen is not a 100" screen....Tim means keep the image no more then 84" wide.... A screen thats 84" wide is actually a 96" diagnal screen ( 16:9 )

The world of home theater and 1080p is allowing us to go way bigger then that. Now of course room size factors in, you dont put a 120" screen in a 10X10 room.....But if your looking for a bigger screen then CRT problably wont be what your after as a digital will have the brightness to throw a bigger screen. CRT's are conciderbally dimmer then digital.
Trade offs trade offs...

Ive had many CRT projectors with my 92" screen and now after switching to a DILA I can go bigger in my room and the projectors placement and ability now allow me to have a bigger screen where I was stuck with the screen I had due to the fact I couldnt move the CRT projector any further back then it was. So concider the size of a the High end 9500LC to see if its footprint will even allow for such screens your contemplating.

Speedmaster..

I was going through a similar dilemma several weeks ago, only my budget was somewhat less than yours.

Ended up purchasing a 9500LC. Stunning pic. This is my third CRT. Last was a 7inch Ampro 2000 that I had for 13 troublefree years.

I bought the 9500LC hoping that I can have that experience again.

I researched the Sonys LCos and JVCs D ILA because I liked that technology. I can't watch DLP because "I see rainbows"...
The pjs that I saw that used the technology looked good, but I still saw artifacts and things I didn't like about the pictures. Take into consideration my budget was much smaller than yours considering the pj you are looking at.
I was hoping that this time would be the one where hanging the pj was going to be a one man job.... not so....
CRTs are not for the faint of heart. It took three of us to hang the 9500LC. Approx 190 lbs. with bracket. I have it shooting on to a 106" diag screen 92x52 16:9. My old screen was 100" diag. I was told by the guy I bought the pj from (see DraganM for posts), that this is the ideal size for this pj, based on the HD 10 lens. It is a throw distance of 118.7"

I bit the bullet on the 9500LC because I never thought I would be able to afford a pj this nice. and because dependable troublefree affordable digitals still don't seem to exist.

The set up for the Marquee is considered to be the easiest of the CRTs, but don't fool yourself, it's not as easy as a digital. It took a couple of days, but I feel like I've got it dialed in now, and the effort was worth it.

Hope this helps...

I just calibrated a JVC X7, and to be honest, it's the first digital projector I've personally seen that I could see putting in my own theater. The image quality is very nice.

I would almost never recommend a CRT projector to anyone, unless they had previously owned a CRT and understood the time it takes to really make it look its best.

As far as CRT goes, my preference would be the 9500, only because I currently have and love an 8500 in my theater now.

old sources like VHS and LD will look awful on any pixel based device.

It's funny you should mention the cost of the tubes.... That's exactly the reason I went back to CRT. I had my last one for 13 years... same tubes the whole time, and I bought that one used as well. I'm paranoid about having to replace a $300-400 bulb every 2 years. I was hoping that LED would be here by now. No such luck...

Well, if price isn't much to look after, i would prefer the x9

I own Ã* 9501ultra myself, but without an expert you ever get the best out of any crt.

I've owned and sold many CRT projectors, including 9500LC's and Sony G90 and G70's, all liquid coupled projectors. I also own a JVC RS35 D'ILA projector, as well as old D'ILA projectors. I can tell you first hand that in terms of longevity, CRT projectors will outlive digital projectors nearly 3 to 1. The MOST important thing is tube condition. If you start with new or like new tubes, you'll be using your CRT LONG AFTER your digital has bit the dust. While digitals throw more light on the screen than digitals, a CRT used in a darkened room and properly setup and calibrated will provide a picture with enough Foot Lamberts to satisfy the most critical user. Remember, the bulb on a digital will lose nearly 30% of its after the first 300 hours. While still providing enough output, it will require a re-calibration. The BIGGEST problem with a CRT projector is its weight, especially a 9" LC unit. As for versatility, 9" LC projectors can use 3 different focal length lenses (10L, GT-17 and GT-26), so throw and picture size shouldn't be a problem for nearly any application. The MAIN advantage digital for me has been the ability to use an anamorphic lens for Cinemascope (2.35:1) movies and the ability to mount the projector OUTSIDE the seating area (e.g. in a rear projection booth). Of course you will need some type of HDMI to analog adapter, so you can run Blu-ray discs on a CRT projector, but they're easy enough to obtain.

I would be VERY cautious if considering a Sony SXRD digital projector because of all the problems they've had with their optical blocks. A while back, a calibrator here on the forum said he was seeing similar problems on some Sony front projectors. Since in over 3 generations of SXRD rear screen TV's Sony has been unable to solve their OB problem (and discontinued their RS SXRD TV's), I would be VERY careful in choosing an FP digital projector . The reason that OB problems on Sony front projectors hasn't been more widespread may be because FP's don't get the same type use or hours that TV's get.

So far, the JVC digitals haven't exhibited OB problems.

If tweaking is your thing, go with CRT.

Here's a review of Sony's newest product:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ