No, LCD and DLP will never be as good as CRT, but what's the big deal? Ever since I wrote the column on the Perfect Projector, I've been getting lots of phone calls, letters, and e-mails. It seems it sparked a lot of conversations and thought. That's good. But, what isn't good is that the "pro-CRT" folks out there may have misunderstood my column. I wasn't bashing CRT; in fact, to the contrary. I'm a huge fan of CRT projection and have always been and always will be. I wish I could get a CRT projector for my house that is small, easy to use, and doesn't require convergence touch-up every month. Until then, I'll put up with the hassles. Why? Well, right now, CRT gives me the perfect image.

But, that's because I'm an image perfectionist [snobby, huh].

But, not everyone is.

And, that was the point of my perfect projector column. There are bunch of people out there that will accept "good enough" quality for many, many applications. Sure, the image may not be perfect, but who can tell? Heck, most of us tolerate extremely poor quality TV through cable and off-air antennas and don't complain. OK, we - meaning the ProAV population - complain, but the average consumer doesn't. And, they don't even notice what we notice, sometimes even after we point it out to them.

Why is that?

Well, the fact is, LCD and DLP technology is good enough for most applications.

*Conference rooms, Boardrooms, and Training Rooms:

The majority of the ProAV installation market is this kind of application. Hundreds of rooms are completed every day where the typical system consists of a DVD player, a VCR, a few computers, and maybe even a VTC (Videoconferencing) system where everything's being routed to a projector either hanging in the ceiling or mounted behind a screen. In the old days (you know, three years ago), the ONLY option here was a CRT box. LCDs were just not good enough to duplicate the video quality demands of a permanent installation, and the additional brightness an LCD delivered (only two times that of a CRT back then) just wasn't worth it. And, DLPs were just coming out, and they needed lots of help. So, the CRT ruled. But, now, the LCD dominates this kind of installation. And, it's because you can install a projector that's 10-times the light output of a CRT (so you can teach with all the lights on), and the quality is awesome on computer data and darn good on video. So, the LCD rules.