Don't bother with 4x3. Get a set capable of projecting 16x9 HDTV.
Suggest you go to the AVS forum
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=60e46b89c2b8a684e6428037909ccbdd&daysprune=30&forumid=63 and look at the recent "What should I buy?" threads.
This is the largest and by far the best, most knowledgeable HDTV forum on the net.
General and very broad consensus for some time has been the Hitachi xwx series for picture quality as well as a number of other factors such as build quality, mfgr support, and tuneability.
Given you are on a budget, look at the Hitachi swx series which will essentially be the same set but without a built-in HDTV special tuner and with slightly larger-necked CRT's. As is, you will be able to use the swx's non-HD tuner for local reception and will be able to view true HD movies from a DVD player which are now quite cheap. If you have a cable box that has HDTV output, you will also be able to use that on the swx and get true HDTV. To find out your local situation for OTH (over the air) local HDTV go the reception section of the AVS forum and read the FAQ with links. BTW, within the swx/twx/xwx series, all of the screen sizes have the same CRT's and chassis. Thus, getting a smaller screen gets the same quality and a slightly briger picture since the lumination is spread over a smaller screen area!
To get HDTV reception from local stations at some point, you need an additional HDTV tuner. This is built-into the xwx series but can be added as a SetTopBox (STB) to the swx just the same way as you plug in a DVD player. Having an external HDTV STB tuner is not all that bad an idea at the moment because: it will often be cheaper than having one built-in, the technology is still evolving and you may actually be able to get a better external tuner, and you may not need it right away. Local OTA (over the air) HD is now from cloned stations that have UHF signals. You can find out more about your local situation (as mentioned above) by looking at the reception FAQ and forum section of the AVS forum linked above.