I've got a Hitachi 43" CRT rear-projector. It's now about five years old and still going strong. I think I originally paid $2500. Now-a-days, you can find these things for much, much less.

Convergence is a real issue. Even though my set can "automatically" converge itself, it's still never quite right. I read the service manual (found the PDF online) and it turns out that they're deliberately defocusing the blue gun. It's fuzzy by design. The DLP or LCD rear-projectors look much, much sharper, and the cabinets aren't as big. You still have off-axis viewing issues, but that goes with the rear-projector territory. To fix it, you have to go plasma or LCD panel. The LCD panels are just beyond beautiful, but they're extremely expensive. If you had $6000 to drop, I'd go for the Sharp Aquos 45" LCD. If you're looking to spend $2000 or less, then the DLP/LCD rear-projectors are a very attractive choice.

In terms of content, I'm very happy with my HD-TiVo and DirecTV service. I think Sony has a HD DVR now that does over-the-air and maybe cable-card, and there's also some kind of Dish HD DVR solution. It was a pain to put the big weathervane antenna (~$100 ChannelMaster) on my roof, but now my HD-Tivo gets HD locals and HD satellite and the TV in the bedroom gets OTA standard-def at no extra charge.