There is no question that direct view is hands down, the PQ king.
THe reference monitors in edit suites are always direct view (and almost always Sony, by the way) Mind you, these are not consumer monitors I am talking about.
A Sony BVMF24U, for example is a 24 inch 16:9 CRT monitor that retails for almost $36,000!
For home use, Loewe has to be one of the best I have ever seen, best looking, and a great picture. They are also the most expensive, and as with all CRTs, deep! A 27 inch TV is deeper than my Toshiba 56 inch RPTV! Which, by the way, has been going strong since 1995...I just checked!
So no service agreement and almost 10 years without a problem!
One of the most important things to keep in mind when purchasing a new RPTV is that the first thing you need to do is calibrate.
When you use Avia or Video Essentials, the levels are set correctly, which is MUCH lower than where the factory, looking to make sure the display is nice and bright to compete on the sales floor, set it. Lower brightness and contrast setting translate into longer gun life, less chance of burn in, etc.
VE or Avia are important no matter what you use for a display, as is professional calibration. And not a month later....it is the first thing you do right after you take the thing out of the box! I am convinced my old girl is still looking great because of it. It was so long ago...I first did the calibration with my Video Essentials LASER DISC...