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A projector gives far more screen for the money. A hundred-inch picture from a projector costs a fraction of a hundred-inch television, and a large picture at the right distance is easier to watch for two or three hours. In a room that can be darkened, a projector is the better choice.

Light is the problem. A projector reflects its picture off a screen, so any other light in the room competes with it. A television makes its own light and overpowers the room. In a hall with large windows where the family watches at four in the afternoon, a bright television will look better than a projector costing twice as much. We will tell you that, even though the projector is the bigger sale.

How to decide, practically

Look at when the room is used. If most viewing happens after dark, or the room has curtains that genuinely block light, a projector is the better buy. If most viewing is daytime and the windows are large, go with a panel and spend the difference on sound.

If the use is genuinely mixed, there are two options. A brighter laser projector with a screen made to reject room light will hold up in moderate light. Or a television for daytime and a projector for evenings, which is common in houses that have both a living room and a separate cinema room.

Screen size and seating distance

Bigger is not automatically better. As a working rule, sit about 1.5 times the screen width away from it. At 2.5 m from the screen that means a picture of about 100 inches. Closer than that and it stops being comfortable to watch.

For gaming

Either can work. Check the screen genuinely supports 4K at 120 Hz, and that it does so on the input you will actually use. Many list the feature but provide it on only one port, or drop to 60 Hz once HDR is switched on. It is worth checking on the actual screen.

A current console can put out 4K at 120 Hz. Getting that to the screen means it passes through a cable, usually a receiver, and then the display. Each one has to be able to carry it. If any single link cannot, the console drops down, usually to 60 Hz, and carries on as though nothing happened.

The cable

Look for a cable rated 48 Gbps. Under about three metres most decent cables manage. Above that, uncertified cable starts to cause trouble, and it shows up as occasional black flashes or dropped frames instead of a clean failure. That makes it hard to trace. On long runs we use fibre-optic HDMI.

The receiver

Check which inputs actually support it. Plenty of receivers advertise 4K at 120 Hz and provide it on only two of their seven HDMI ports. Some early models had a known fault that produced no picture at all from certain consoles.

There is a simple alternative. Connect the console straight to the screen and send the sound back to the receiver down the same cable. That keeps the receiver out of the picture path altogether, costs nothing in quality, and removes a whole set of problems.

The display

Confirm 4K at 120 Hz works on the port you are using, and that it still works with HDR switched on. Then turn on game mode, which switches off the picture processing that adds delay. The difference is easily noticeable in anything competitive.

Audio latency

This gets less attention and still matters. A long sound processing chain delays the audio behind the picture. For films the receiver's lip-sync setting corrects it. For competitive play, where hearing a footstep at the right moment counts, we keep the sound path short.