Epson EH-TW3200 LCD projector

The EH-TW3200 is big: it measures 45cm (18in) across, 36cm long and stands nearly 15cm (6in) tall.

Many projectors we review use DLP technology for displaying the image, while the EH-TW3200 uses LCD technology, and unlike cheaper projectors this one can display high-definition video at the highest resolution, 1080p. Both factor into the size difference.

Like most projectors it can be ceiling mounted, and it's not overly heavy at 7.3kg. There are controls on the side rather than the top, which only has two dials for ‘lens shift' and an input selector.

The lens shift allows quite a lot of freedom of placement for the projector: you can use the two dials to physically move the lens a long way either horizontally or vertically. Combined with the ‘keystone' correction for when the projector is placed diagonally to the plane of the screen and the image would otherwise be out of shape, these controls allow the Epson EH-TW3200 to be placed out of the way and still display a perfect picture. Unlike DLP models, this one also has a very large zoom range, so you can control the size of the picture on the wall or screen.

It has two HDMI inputs (though they are not the latest version of HDMI so it can't display 3D Blu-ray images), component, s-video, composite and VGA inputs. It came with a fairly stylish white remote control, matching the main unit, but not an HDMI cable.

Relatively quiet for such a large projector, its resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels meant it displayed both the computer desktop and Blu-ray movies in spectacular detail. Close-up, especially when zoomed-in, it was possible to see the ‘mask' or black grid that all such projectors produce, but this could be reduced by moving it slightly out of focus, or moving further away.

The settings menus were quite detailed, allowing minute adjustments to colour balances and brightness, or you can select one of the preset modes, which include an ‘x.v.Color' which produces better colour from the Playstation3 and some computer video files.

Overall picture quality and brightness were excellent and, with the zoom control, you can get a very large screen from not-too-far away. Projectors at the 1080p resolution are not cheap, but this model justifies its price.