I think the use of gray bars would cause a decrease in the enjoy of the 'movie experience' by creating too much ambient light. I am just now getting to enjoy the awesomeness of front projectors. I bought one on ebay a couple of weeks ago for 365 US. Both the HV and the switching power supplies required repair but with the use of an oscilliscope and about 5 dollars worth of parts I now have a CRT based front view projector. It's awesome. You guys are right about the CRT's. I was lucky enough to buy one with no burn. The blue CRT does have a very slight amount of wear on it but it is so little that unless you look for it you don't see it. It is in no way obvious. I purchased a tensioned dalite model B matte white 80 X 60 that I am very happy with. On the subject of burn, as I understand it. This is a process of degradation that happens over the long term. Since I intend on using this projector for movie viewing only, in all aspect ratios I doubt I will see much in the way of burn as long as I don't move the projector in some manner that would require the use of more of the phosphor area than it is set up to use now. As these tubes are rated for between 10,000 and 15,000 hours and have about 3000 hours on them now I would expect that they will work fine for the life of the projector. The only thing I would wish is that I could get more light out of it. CRT's are predominately less bright and it must be used in a darkened room.

I hope you get your projector soon. They are awesome!