Simply one of the biggest projectors we have seen in the Test Centre, the PE8700 has dimensions of 400 x 347 x 116mm and weighs approximately 7.5kgs. The PE8700 is targeted at the home theatre enthusiast after the ultimate home setup, and can be fitted to any ceiling via the mounting holes on the underside.

With a throw ratio of 80" from 3m distance, the maximum brightness level is 800 ANSI lumens, but brightness can also be reduced to 500 ANSI. The lamp has a reported life of 2000 hours, and we found it very easy to change.

Ports at the rear of the projector include S-Video, composite and component video (RCA), DVI-I (PC) plus RGB/HDTV progressive scan input. The bundled remote is great for taking advantage of some features, such as picture-in-picture or picture-on-picture or adjusting the keystone correction.

At the time of writing, BenQ had just released a newer model: the PE8700+. The PE8700+ uses a more advanced DLP chip, has 1000 lumen brightness, an increased contrast ratio of 2500:1.