ok, here's my experiences so far, hope it may help.
decided in Jan. that i wanted to create a good enviornment for movie watching in the basement. we were nursing an ill relative and they pretty much dominated the upstairs tv, so i figured now would be a great time to create a space to go and relax and watch my movies in comfort.
i knew that i wanted a BIG screen. anything over 36" i considered big, but had questions of how a big set would dominate the room. i decided on getting a 53" sony after putting several brands thru their paces in the store.
all the brands seemed to handel digital signals well, and of course looked great playing dvds of digital animation.
the sony took over on lower grade signals like vcrs, cable, etc.
although i was getting the tv primarily for movies (and most are widescreen), i wanted to supplement my viewing so as to avoid crt burn-in from the lbx bars. since i would be getting bars either way i went (16:9 or 4:3) i went with a 4:3 Sony 53HS10 which gave me a 48" 16:9 and a 53" 4:3 picture. and saved me money from going with a 16:9 set which were considerably more at the time.
I loved the sony. after becoming relaxed to the little imperfections of RP (halos, glare on the screen saver if there is ambient light in the room, + a bit softer pic on the sony as compared to other brands) and after a few tweaks (making mattes was the best bang for the buck and made the perception of the picture on widescreen movies increase dramatically) i was extremely happy(!) with the set.
the ONLY thing i didn't like was going from a very large 4:3 picture to a still large, but much smaller 2:35 widescreen image. the 'special' feeling that kind of movie is meant to inspire at that ratio was kind of lost.
i also realized soon, how drastically my viewing habits changed. once i saw the spectacular picture from dvds thru anamorphic mode (you almost didn't need a progressive scan player w/ this set), cable and vcr just looked really unfulfilling.
i would end up leaving the tv on a 4:3 feed and just leave the room for a few hours to balance things out since i watched so many letterboxed films the rest of the time.
to make a really long story short.
the Sony has been the best tv i have ever owned. its PQ has been and is still the best i've seen. but it's also 'just' a tv.
the LT150 i now have is not perfect and its flaws can sometimes be very frustrating and as of yet its PQ doesn't really approach the RP,
but i'm trying to sell the RP.
i'm infatuated now w/ the LT, warts and all, because it has added a new dimension to going downstairs to watch a movie.
i'm not watching a movie on a tv anymore. i'm watching a movie projected on a 90" wide screen.
after you balance out all the pluses and minuses, thats the experience i've always wanted at home.
and i'm still optimistic that the image from the projector can be improved with the purchase of a few little acsessories (screen, HTPC, etc).
also- with tax i paid $3000 for the TV.
the cost for the pj + all the material for the screens, velvet for the masking drapes and the purchase of an authentic theater chair, is about $800 LESS.
this absolutely blows my mind.
at the time i bought the tv...the only projector i knew about or saw was the sony VW10HT at $7000.
nothing about it made me crave the prjector experience at that price point and for the quality i saw (of course it wasn't set-up in the most ideal circumstances, but even so...).
your at least several steps ahead of me at this point.
you know there are alternatives available,
its up to you to determine what your viewing habits will be ( these may change anyway), and what the viewing circumstances will be (in regards to ambient light etc).
if these are conducive, and you love movies, go with the FP and buy a cheapo 19" tv to watch cable on.
jmho
