Epson has long been a player in the digital-projector world, but the new Epson PowerLite TW100 Multimedia Projector ($5,000 street) marks the company's debut in the home-entertainment segment. With a robust set of features, the TW100 is sure to please the novice user and the serious home-theater enthusiast.

Setting up the TW100 is a piece of cake, especially when you consider how intimidating a $5,000 home-entertainment device might be. Because of its intuitive interface and logical menu progression, we had the TW100 up and running in less than 10 minutes—without looking at the instructions. If you can set up a VCR, you can set up the TW100.

The projector accepts both digital and analog feeds,. At only 700 ANSI lumens, it's not very bright compared with other multimedia projectors in its price range. Most other PowerLite models have between 1,000 and 3,000 lumens. Even so, the projector is bright enough for a darkened living room.

At 9.3 pounds, the TW100 is not too heavy to take with you to presentations, but we would recommend leaving it home. Although you can purchase a variety of carrying cases, the TW100 is simply not built for traveling: It's too heavy, and the 700 ANSI lumens aren't enough for most conference rooms. (If you want a projector you can tote around, visit our Projector Product Guide.)

The projector comes with a full-featured IR remote control and provides 720p HDTV resolution, along with progressive-scan DVD capability. The five inputs—component video, DVI, RCA video, S-Video, and VGA allow for easy integration into your home entertainment system. We recommend higher-end cables such as component or S-Video. After all, if you are willing to spend $5,000 on the projector, why skimp on the cables?

The 600:1 contrast ratio provides clear images, and console video games didn't tax the system as much as we expected. Using high-definition media, however, we found problems with text, and the unit also produced artifacts. , Also, some scenes had bright flashes of light, and at high resolutions, these caused images to be distorted. Unfortunately, most projectors seem to struggle with these issues.

The projector's 16:9 aspect ratio allows for a true home-theater experience. The TW100 lets you watch movies at home as they were meant to be seen: without the letterbox frame. This, combined with HDTV resolution and DVD compatibility, will have you thinking twice about ever returning to the local Cineplex.