Benq's W20000 is a home theatre projector that offers fantastic image quality and a wide range of settings, allowing this projector to work well in a variety of situations. This projector's only flaws are a slightly noisy fan and a high price tag.

It's no secret that as projectors get brighter and more capable, they get larger. The W20000 is no exception, weighing a hefty 9.6kg and measuring almost half a meter wide. This makes placement difficult if you don't have a dedicated home theatre room.

The W20000 has a wide range of connectors that allow it to be integrated into existing or new home theatre setups. There are two HDMI ports, as well as component inputs, a series of BNC jacks (meaning the projector can be connected to an RGBVH signal), and both S-Video and composite inputs. It also features an RS-232 port for a wired remote control and a 12-volt trigger port for activating a powered projection screen when it is turned on.

The W20000 is a 1080p projector, and has the additional functionality of supporting a 24 frames per second 1080p signal for cinematic-rate video. For the true home theatre buff, a 2.35:1 panamorphic lens attachment can be purchased to get the correct cinema aspect ratio.

The latest HQV image processor is running the show. (It's starting to become more common, appearing in competing units like the Mitsubishi HC4900.)

BenQ rates the W20000 at 1200 ANSI lumens, which is on par with other premium home theatre projectors. The contrast ratio is a class-leading 20000:1. This rating from BenQ isn't a constant ratio, however — it's based on the figures given when dynamic processing is active. This system monitors all incoming video signals and automatically calculates the best brightness setting, resulting in great high-colour scenes and equally well-contrasted dark, shadowy scenes.

There's also manual adjustment for the brightness, with Cinema, Dynamic, Standard and Photo modes available. All up, there's an incredible amount of automatic and manual adjustability, meaning that the W20000 can excel in a wide range of situations.

Picture quality from this model is spectacular. Watching a Blu-Ray copy of The Fifth Element in a dark room using a Samsung BD-P1000, we were incredibly pleased by the image created.

With the dynamic iris control activated, black levels are very deep; however, this doesn't take away from the brightness of whites and colours. In dark scenes – using the introduction of Casino Royale on Blu-Ray as an example – you can see that shadowed areas of the screen have noticeable detail, while quality is still maintained for the brighter areas.

Colours are exceptionally vivid, giving the projector's image a more lively look than the natural picture created by a model like the Sanyo PLV-Z2000. Clarity is excellent, with crisp edges and no visible aberrations. The unit particularly excelled when paired with a high-definition player. Standard-definition content was a little less impressive, with some noticeable noise and artefacts; this is to be expected from a 1080p unit.

Lamp life is on par with other models: 3000 hours in Economy mode. In this mode, fan noise from the projector is only slightly audible. When full brightness is required the fan can get a little loud.

If you need a full HD projector with the ability to display vivid colours while still being versatile enough to handle dark scenes, then the BenQ W20000 is a solid choice.