a few years ago, my roommates bought a commercial NEC CRT projector (much like the one pictured below) on ebay. I believe they spent $1500 for the unit, which was 15 years old and retailed for $25,000k to $30,000k (new) when it was still on the market. I told them they were crazy, that there was no way the thing would be selling for that cheap if it was in working order (as described in the listing).
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Sure enough, when the behemoth arrived, it was a 250lb coffee table-sized lemon. when powered on, it kept saying (error XXX - Fan 3)... then it would shut itself off. What is funny is that after replacing all of the fans with cheap computer case fans, the error screen went away.
I remember spending days, literally, calibrating that projector. After about 30 hours and a few cases of beer, I was completely blown away by the picture quality. We had a 300 inch screen going on a wall that wasn't a whole lot larger, and a sweet SLI-gaming rig hooked up to it.
I think I watched "finding nemo" 20 or 30 times over the course of a month... not because I even care for the film, (i hate kids movies), but because the colors were so incredible. I have still yet to see a display that I thought looked more natural, including a megabuck DLP projector I saw in a private theater a few years later.
I definately think you are making a wise choice by going with the CRT. Once its properly calibrated, you will have no need for 3D capability.
