I am suprised people complain about TV's costing twice as much. I know for a fact that any good TV someone purchased 15 to 20 years cost $500 to $1500. The funny thing is, those older TVs can't do anything caparable to the TVs we have now. I think people complain just for the sake of complaining.
No... most TV's purchased during the pre-HD era in that time (like 1985-2000) were $100-400. Yeah, some people had huge rear projection 4:3 SD sets. Some even had those huge front projection sets with the red green and blue lights projecting onto a screen. However, most folks bought 19-27" tubes. 30" or above were considered huge. I had a 19" Symphonic last for 20 plus years. I had a 13" Sanyo break after 2 years during the 1980's. My 27" Panasonic is nearly 10 years old and still kicking.
BTW, the older tube TV's do one obvious thing better than any HDTV (front projection, rear projection, CRT, plasma, LCD, etc.) out there--display SD content. Sorry, but those old tube TV's blow away every plasma and LCD out there when it comes to displaying SD content. (They do for black levels and viewing angles, too. But that's another discussion.)
Scherrman, if your HDTV lasts 10-15 years then congrats to you. I've already replaced at least one bulb w/ my rear projection DLP. I knew that going in. But the bulbs are still $100 a piece. People who bought flat panels have to deal w/ image half life that lasts 5-10 years tops. RP CRT's reliable? I've seen burn-in on those, geometry chips burned out, and a myriad of other issues. Many of these sets sold for a lot more than your $1500 ceiling. People have the right to be miffed about $3k and $4k paperweights. That's just MHO.