Gojira,
I can't get a response from the link in your post, but I'd love to see it...... thanks for responding.
Amelia,
I'm a "newbie" here but have followed your posts and the attendant replies with great interest. lets face it, theres no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers ! Here's hoping my answer isn't too stupid; I'm sure Gordon or one of the others will put me right if I make any boo-boos.....
CRT consists of three mini TV screens which put out very very bright images in Blue, Red and Green. These three bright images pass through three individual lenses and are individually focussed, and converged together on the screen. It has the best contrast ratio and black level available, because where the image is supposed to be black, the projector doesn't send out any light.
LCD and DLP are different insofar as they use a very bright light source to shine through three LCD panels, or in the case of DLP to bounce off one or three DLP Chips, which are tiny devices whose surface is covered in tiny mirrors controlled by the chip.
DLP uses a rotating colour wheel alternating red, blue and green filters which th light from the DLP chip passes thru on its way to the screen. DLP generally is capable of greater black levels that LCD, because it is possible to place the mirrors on the DLP chip closer together than pixels on an LCD panel.
The cause of the "greyness" of black or dark scenes from LCD in particular is that when LCD puts out a black image, its supposed to let no light through. However, because of the gaps between the pixels on the LCD panels, some light does get through, causing the grey image.
DLP proj can give rise to a "rainbow" effect on the boundaries of bright and dark images - some people are more sensitive to this phenomenon than others - to the visually sensitive it causes headaches.
LCD, as you know, when in sharp focus it is sometimes possible to see the individual pixels that make up the image.. This is commonly referred to as "screendoor", it being similar to a fine net mesh being stretch infront of the screen.
CRT suffers from none of these issues, and once properly installed, calibrated and converged and fed with an approriate signal (with data grade CRT projectors, from a HCPC, progressive scan) are capable of throwing an astoundingly filmic image. They also have a life of 10,000hrsor more, and are capable of being serviced and upgraded comprehesively. When new (8 or more years ago) top models sold for £10,000 or more depending on the model. They are now available often at prices £1000 and less. The downside (for some if not most) people, is that they are large, some very noisy, do require maintenance of their convergence, and can look very intrusive in a conventional residential setting. But make no mistake, in my opinion, CRT does create the best image by far when properly set up - it really is the benchmark.
I'm sure that there is much more detail which could further explain the differences, and the amounts of money I've mentioned above are intended for guidance only - I hope one of the CRT gang spots this post and fills in any gaps or corrects any errors.
I am well committed to my AE100 though - for us it gives the best compromise between cost, convenience and picture quality. We've just finished watch Monsters Inc. with my daughters, and Black Hawk Down (visceral stuff !) on our own, and the image I get from the laptop on which I'm typing this post, with a slight lens de-focus is gobsmackingly beautiful, from a box with a footprint smaller than a sheet of typing paper which will go carefully back inits carton when its finished cooling off and can be kept well out of harms way.
Sorry for the long post.
Regards,,,,
Sean G.