Great info Jake. Wow - UI sounds like if has one HELL of a set-up. Play the IMAX whales or Dolphins and you are THERE I bet...1
One can assume you have it all budgeted Mike, but keep in mind all the other goodies that make up your HT - dolby receiver/amps, speakers, cables, DVD player, scaler, ext. interlacer, mounts, screen etc.
I wanted a solid "starter" system for ~$4000 that would keep me happy for a long time, and I found it (fingers crossed for reliability) HTPC is still an option, but for now this is what I've got:
$2200 on a Sanyo XW-10 XGA, LCD 800 lums pj. Could stand a little brighter, but it doesn't take much drape drawing to be fine. No dead pixels, excellent color, very decent scaling, (compared to other pjs observed: Proxima 1300 lum LCD, Sanyo XP21), quiet, zoomable. comp/VGA inputs.
www.avp-inc.com Mike Goebel is happy to work a deal.
$400 for a ($1500 new) 2 yr old Yamaha RXv-2092 receiver off Ebay, Klipsh cnt $80, Infinity rear $100, sub woofer $100 uBid (slow shipping) looking at DVDO or Quadscan for re-interlacing cable/interlaced DVD (decent non-prog player incl in pj price, borrowing a Panny RP56 and it is NICE), Acoustic research cables.
When the V4 DVDO comes out the V3s should drop in price (component in and improved chip over V1, V2).
If you've got $4000 to spend on pj alone, your will mainly be able to get >1300 lumens, maybe MLA (not an expert but hear good things), digital in, great stuff...
Good luck - let us know what you do!
Kurt
Trenton, NJ
mail is slower than usual - but I can wait