Panasonic PT-AE700

An all-round cracker. Hard to find better

The problem with most home cinema projectors is that they're so noisy it sounds like there's a hurricane blowing at the back of your room. If you don't care much for neighbourhood harmony, you can always crank up the volume of your surround sound system, but for most people it's a serious issue.

But where other projectors are louder than a bunch of surly teenagers at the local Odeon, the PT-AE700 whispers its way through movies. In low-lamp power mode (which reduces brightness slightly, but also extends the lamp life), it's so quiet that even with the volume turned down low on a movie soundtrack, you'll hardly hear it.

In other areas too, the PT-AE700 shows off its home cinema credentials. Around the back, you'll find a standard Scart socket for hooking up your DVD player or digital TV box, and there's now also an HDMI port for connecting high-definition sources (the Panny has an HD-compatible, 1,280 x 720 resolution) or posh DVD players.

None of this would matter if the pictures were ropy, but thankfully, movies projected from this box look fantastic. The improved contrast ratio and extra brightness this model offers compared to previous ones in the range really do make for stunningly realistic images that draw you into the picture.

It's easy to set up too, thanks to the lens-shift lever on the front - which enables you to project straight images even if you position it off-centre - and the short-throw lens that means you can project massive images even in small rooms.

With this machine, Panasonic has set a bang-for-buck performance benchmark other manufacturers will surely find hard to beat. If you love movies, you'll love this projector.