I mean what do you consider consumer? Is a $10k projector consumer? LCDs also don't have "true blacks" but people buy them by the truckload. There are tradeoffs for EVERY type of television out there. There is no perfect solution yet, and the projectors are no less of an option than the others.
Typically but not always are the majority of projectors that can be purchased at a home theater store, a Best Buy, etc are consumer grade. Some professional projector brands (not all) include Barco, Eiki and Runco to name a few. Consumer projectors would be BenQ, InFocus, Sony and Panasonic.
You're right that the different varieties have different drawbacks like the LCD true black as a good example. If you compare the pluses and minuses of the three we're talking about here (lcd, plasma, projector) then I think you'll find the projectors to have an overall much larger list of drawbacks when compared to the other two.
I admit it would be cool to get a 150" screen no doubt. But isn't it a little fishy that you could find a consumer projector that could create such a screen size for less than a plasma or lcd?
Fishy? No. Because the projector can create a 150" picture just as easily as a 50". That's just how the technology works.
Let me reword it then.
"I admit it would be cool to get a 150" screen no doubt. But isn't it a little fishy that you could find a consumer projector that could create such a large screen size in addition to a smaller screen size or comaprable screen size for less than a plasma or lcd? "
Isn't the whole draw of alot of projectors that you could have a larger screen size than other options? I mean would you really consider a projector over a lcd/plasma if you were going to view at say 50" (<-- example size)
I think in theory they are cool. In real world they just don't look as good as the same or larger screen size. If I was as anal about my video as I am about my audio a projector would not even be in the conversation.
Again the easiest way to get a handle on it is to go and compare the different forms. But when you do make sure that your environmental conditions are the same for each.