For homes where you want a big picture in a small space, Sony's short-throw VPL-VZ1000ES projector has you covered.

There was a time when projectors offered the only way to get a decent big screen experience in your home, but as the price of big arse televisions has fallen they've eaten into the low-end home projector market. Yet some people are demanding even larger screens while opting for ever smaller homes, meaning there's still a tipping point where a short-throw projector is the best tool from the job.

Rather than hanging from the ceiling or sitting at the back of the room, Sony's short-throw VPL-VZ1000ES is designed to snuggle up alongside the wall – casting a picture on a projector screen or straight onto the wall. It's a bulky box, almost a metre wide and tipping the scales at 35kgs, but it can throw a 100-inch picture when sitting only 15cm from the wall.

In Sony's defence, the projector is 40 per cent smaller than last year's model, yet 25 per cent brighter. When you consider the price tag on the monster 80+ inch  televisions, the $31,000 asking price for this projector actually doesn't seem too unreasonable. If you live in a townhouse or apartment, the projector and screen are also easier to get into your home than a giant television and they won't dominate the room like a hulking great behemoth television hanging on the wall.

Admittedly the giant black projector box isn't the most attractive of appliances but you can sit it out of the way on a low sideboard or perhaps order a custom piece of furniture to hide it out of sight. It has four HDCP 2.2 HDMI inputs on the right-hand side, hidden under a panel, so you'll want to keep your AV components like an Ultra HD disc player in the sideboard.

Of course your budget needs to allow for speakers, perhaps a soundbar to sit below the screen or a full surround sound system with speakers around the room. If you'll be watching television during the day with a lot of ambient light you'll probably also want to invest in a projector screen – such as the $10,000 screen used at the media demonstration which is designed to only reflect light shining up at it from below.

As for picture quality, the projector offers Ultra HD resolution with support for High Dynamic Range movies and HLG broadcasts. It uses the 17:9 aspect ratio favoured by Sony cinema gear.

The projector pumps out 2500 lumens brightness thanks to Sony's Z-Phosphor laser lights combined with SXRD panel technology, although it can still look a little dull in a brightly lit room – Sony's product shot above is somewhat misleading when it comes to brightness. Also keep in mind that any projector's picture grows dimmer as you move it further from the wall to create a larger image.

All up the picture looks impressive, with plenty of detail and good colours but, considering that you're shining a bright light onto a white screen, you shouldn't expect the phenomenal contrast and overall picture quality of a top shelf LG OLED or Sony's Z9D Full Array backlit LED LCD television. In some ways it's an unfair comparison, considering that you won't find a 100-inch LG OLED, while a 100-inch Sony Bravia would struggle to fit in your average living area, not to mention your average home entertainment budget.

If you value picture quality above all else then you might frown upon this projector alongside the world's best televisions, but if you're more concerned about cramming lots of screen real estate into a small space then Sony's VPL-VZ1000ES might be a good fit for your lounge room.