How much more maintenance is a RPTV compared to a direct view?

Todd, I do not know what level of maintenance you are talking about but for me it is relatively easy. I put in Avia every nine months or so, sometimes six months and run the tests. I don't know if it has to be done this frequently, I just kinda enjoy it in that sick hometheater way. I would say you should get it calibrated after a few months of break in and then its really just test patterns here and there. So in summary, my personal experience says they are not a pain at all. Take care.

 

Greetings
How much more will the maintenance cost on my car every year compared to a bicycle?
Once the RPTV is set up properly ... maintenance costs per year amount to $0 ... nothing. You simply go into the service menu every 2 months and touch up the convergence. Takes 5 minutes and you are good to go.
Obviously the initial proper set up will cost you either time or money or both depending on whether you do it yourself or hire a pro to do it.
At the most every couple of years, you might want to redo grayscale ... so figure $200 every two years. Of course this applies to both a directview tube set as well as the RPTV.
Regards

 

What about dust on the mirrors, lenses, and tubes? Is that really a problem?

 

Greetings

Dust ... depends on the home. If you have a dusty home ... yes.

Same goes if you are a smoker ... it gets in there over time and results in a brightness drop.

Most don't notice and no big deal to do a yearly cleaning inside.

Regards

 

As my 5-year service contract was nearly up for my 50" Mitsubishi TV, I called for service/cleaning for the first time.

I expected dog-hair/dust, but when the Tech opened the unit up, there was very little dust on the bottom and the lenses were very clean.

Very little maintance over 5 years. I'll never go back to a tube.