Sony VPL-HW15

The best home cinema of 2011: a round-up of 2011's best home cinema products from blu-ray systems to home cinema projectors.

Excellent contrast and black levels ; Almost inaudible fan ; Slick styling

Limited lens shift range ; Not the brightest image ; Expensive technology

An excellent all-rounder and a highly persuasive alternative to the DLP or LCD options available on the market

A strong and quiet performer that’s superb value and ideal for those who like to tweak their picture

The Sony VPL-HW15 is quite keenly priced for a 1080p projector, so in the world of projectors, it’s relatively entry-level. However, it produces such excellent image quality it really is worth a second look.

Good black levels and contrast performance in light controlled environment ; Good greyscale performance out of the box with acceptable colour ; Excellent calibrated performance for greyscale and colour ; Video processing is very good ; Good value for...

2D RCP is only adequate ; No anamorphic stretch or auto zoom for 2.35:1 screen use.

Some of the best blacks and contrast levels going ; Great picture quality out of the box ; Straightforward set-up

Lacks some positioning flexibility ; Pricier than a lot of the competition ; Relatively expensive to run

Spending more bucks can well be worth it and this Sony is one such projector than equates more outlay into higher quality HD pictures. Its size and slightly limited lens shifting makes it less flexible with placement than some, but if you've the room...

Fantastic picture quality and contrast ratio, excellent support service.

Very expensive; image isn’t as bright as some other high-end models, very large and heavy.

If you want one of the best units on our list, and are not afraid to shell out the cash, this is the unit for you.