Hitachi has gone for the throat with its latest home cinema projector. Not only does the PJ-TX300 support a 1280 x 720 pixel HD resolution, it also sports an HDMI input so it's fully ready for HD DVD, Blu-ray and HDTV.

You get plenty of other connectors in the shape of Component, S-Video, Composite and VGA and there's a Component-to-SCART adapter in the box so you'll have no problem plugging in your Xbox 360 or DVD player. The only other connector we could have asked for would be DVI, as laptop users will be limited to using VGA, but that won't be a major drama as the PJ-TX300 is very much intended to stay in one place since it weighs 4.7kg and measures 340 x 298 x 113mm.

The enormous chassis is finished in piano black and looks quite gorgeous. The bulk has a benefit as the Hitachi engineers have been able to cool the projector while also keeping it very quiet. In regular mode the 150W bulb gives a brightness of 1,200 lumens and a noise level of 28dB, which is barely audible. Switch to Whisper Mode and the brightness drops to 960 lumens while the noise drops to 24dB, which is as near silent as makes no difference.

This triple LCD projector has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and uses 10-bit colour depth to provide a total of 1.07 billion colours. The picture looks very good, with one major reservation, which is that the 1,200 lumens simply aren't bright enough unless you have a blacked-out home cinema. Forget about leaving lights on or pulling the blinds: you need to draw the curtains and turn the lights off to get an acceptable picture from the Hitachi. Play the game by Hitachi's rules, though, and you'll be impressed by the picture and quiet operation.

The vertical and horizontal lens shifting feature is very useful if you can't place the projector square in front of the screen, but we found that Auto adjust and keystone adjustment were far less efficient than on many other projectors. You can expect to spend some time getting the Hitachi set up to your satisfaction, so it's just as well that the remote control and set-up menu are exemplary.

It's worth the effort because this is a cheap projector. If you go by Hitachi's SRP it's quite good value but do some digging and you may find it on sale for a fair discount, which makes the PJ-TX300 something of a bargain.

There's plenty to appreciate in the PJ-TX300. The range of inputs is superb, the HD resolution is ultra-desirable and the quiet operation is a real boon, but on the other hand we'd have liked a brighter picture. Mind you, it's so cheap that you'll be able to afford a decent pair of curtains.