If you like the idea of a big, high definition screen but don't fancy having a massive plasma or LCD TV sitting menacingly in the corner of your lounge, you might want to consider opting for an HD projector instead.

The new XV-Z3000 from Sharp is a DLP HD projector with a native resolution of 1,280x768.

Thanks to the HDMI port, it will hook up with your HD source (for example a Sky+ HD receiver or Humax HDCI-2000 ). You can also connect it to non-HD equipment via component or composite video. Should you want to hook it up to a PC, the DVI socket is available.

During testing, the 1,200 ANSI lumen XV-Z3000 was bright enough for us to watch it during the day without having to black out the room. Although the 6500:1 contrast ratio is impressive, we had to play around with the settings to get decent solid blacks.

Colours were well saturated and lifelike and when supplied with HD content the projector really comes into its own.

Projection sizes range from a modest 40in, right up to 100in - perfect for watching the big game. If you're looking to use the maximum projection size, you'll need to make sure the projector is at least 3m from the projection screen/wall. At 1.8m, a screen size of 60in is possible, which is pretty impressive.

Most features are accessible using the array of buttons on the projector itself, but for full access to the menus Sharp provides a compact remote control complete with backlit keys. Should you be projecting at an angle, the horizontal and vertical keystone correction lets you adjust the position of the display.

The 5x speed six-segment colour wheel is designed to eliminate the rainbow effect (the flickering of colours that's noticeable when you shift your view from one area of the projected image to another) that often plagues DLP projectors.

Although we found this rainbow effect to be vastly reduced, it was occasionally visible in very small amounts. Some won't notice it at all.

In terms of operation noise, the XV-Z3000 runs at a quoted 33dB in its standard mode, which will be audible during quiet sections in movies. If you can bare dropping the brightness down a little, you can activate the Quiet mode - this drops the noise levels to 30dB.

The XV-Z3000 is a good performing HD projector with a decent range of features. It takes a bit of playing around with the settings to get a decent picture, but it's definitely worth the effort.

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