One of the best ways of modernising your home entertainment setup is to buy a television with a huge display, such as Samsung's 50in SP-50L7HX TV. Unlike most plasma screens and LCD TVs, the SP-50L7HX uses a completely different technology, known as DLP rear projection, to display images.

As with all screens of this size, getting it out of the box can prove something of a struggle. Once we wrestled it from its packaging, we were quite impressed with its looks. It has a very contemporary design, thanks mainly to a metallic stand and a glass base.

No actual buttons are used on the front-facing control panel. Instead, Samsung has opted for touch-sensitive areas that control channel selection, volume and the like. Unfortunately, these can be difficult to use, because the lights behind the control panel dim automatically, making it hard to see which button does what.

We were more impressed with the rather funky, if ultimately superfluous, circular LCD display below the main screen. This shows little information of value, but it has some fun animations that add to the television's aesthetic appeal. The projector itself, meanwhile, is mounted vertically inside the central pillar below the screen.

Some DLP televisions can have quite saturated, or faded images, but we were pleased to see that the SP-50L7HX has a rather high contrast ratio. This means it's able to show dark areas just as well as light ones, allowing it to produce very clear pictures, even in movies with night scenes.

Colour reproduction was also very good. Skin tones looked realistic, and there was no evidence of the problems that are usually inherent in displays of this type. Colour bleeding (where one colour spills over into another) was absent, and there was no apparent flickering in fast-moving scenes.

High-definition displays have a tendency to be very harsh, as was the case here, but after slightly reducing the sharpness via the on-screen menu, we were very happy with the overall picture.

Not all aspects of the display are without problems, though. The screen has a rather limited vertical viewing angle, meaning that pictures can look faded unless your line of sight is level with the centre of the screen. The horizontal viewing angle isn't particularly wide, but you'll still be able to watch movies in a large group without having to huddle together.

Given the relatively high cost of the SP-50L7HX,we weren't surprised to see a large number of connectors at the rear. It's one of comparatively few displays to have a high-definition HDMI connector, the likes of which will be used by Sky TV for high-definition broadcasts in the near future.

It also has standard component inputs and outputs, a VGA port for connecting a PC and three Scart ports for DVD players, games consoles and so on.

The only real area of disappointment is the audio playback quality from its integrated speakers, and discerning users will rue the lack of bass. If you're spending a lot on a screen such as this, you'd be wise to invest in a separate set of surround-sound speakers and an AV receiver to accompany it.

There's no denying that the SP-50L7HX is a very good display. Its image quality is superior to many of its rivals, but you'll need to shell out a large sum of money for the privilege. If money is no object and you want a large TV that will work with future high-definition broadcasts, it's definitely worth the investment.

Specifications:

• 50in DLP television
• 1,280 x 720 resolution
• 720p progressive scanning
• 2 x 30 Watt SRS TruSurround XT speakers
• DVI,HDMI,DSUB,SCART and component inputs
• 16:9 / 4:3 aspect ratio
• Picture in picture
• Remote control
• Child lock
• On/off timer