Used during daylight with the Cinema Day mode in operation, the TW3800 turns in a hot and noisy performance as it projects a thoroughly decent image from an Xbox 360. Colours remain bold and well saturated and detail is exemplary. The TW3800's high brightness makes this an excellent choice for gamers, who probably won't notice the hum.

Movies are less impressive during the day, not just because of the distracting noise, but also because contrast inevitably suffers.

Dim the lights and power-up a Blu-ray player if you want to get the best from the TW3800. Natural, HD or Silver Screen modes supply a much less bright (and therefore quieter) operation that showcases the TW3800's improved abilities with blacks levels.

In a total blackout there's plenty of detail within dark areas of our I, Robot test disc, with Detective Spooner's leather jacket always rich in detail. Blacks aren't as profound as those you'd expect from an equivalent DLP rival, but the TW3800 does a convincing job all round, with little in the way of detail-deadening motion blur or jagged edges.

It's always a sharp, clean image, though horizontal pans do see some judder creeping into the picture, and we did detect some picture noise in backgrounds. Crucially, neither problem is acute and the overall impression is wholly cinematic and exacting enough for Blu-ray discs to shine.

A thoroughly respectable projector that successfully addresses 3LCD's traditional weaknesses of poor blacks, the TW3800 is nevertheless expensive. However, it is easy to operate and can cope with daylight well enough to be used with games consoles, so it's worth looking for the inevitable online discounts if you've got Blu-ray and gaming ambitions. Do that, and you've found an impressively versatile way to upgrade to full HD.