Pimp your TV: Goggle box gadgets and gizmos

Blinged up audio a must

Of course, if you're really short of connections, one option is to treat yourself to an AV amplifier. Not only is it a great excuse to add extra speakers for better sound, but a well chosen one could make it much easier to use old devices with your new TV.

All too often modern sets are badly lacking in analogue inputs. Still want to watch your old VHS tapes, or Lasersdiscs? If you don't mind last year's model, Yamaha's RXV677 is available for £249 from Richer Sounds and will upscale analogue inputs to 1080p or even 4K. That's cheaper than some single input analogue to HDMI adaptors.

A modern AV amp will boost your sound, upscale your analogue content, and provide streaming audio

The latest version, the £479 RXV679 adds Bluetooth support to an impressive roster of options that includes built in access to services like Spotify and Pandora as well as DLNA playback over your home network.

Adding a networked upscaling AV amp like one of these is a good way of keeping your old devices going, while seriously beefing up the sound capabilities of your TV.

Picture this

Of course, who says you have to have a TV in the first place? Projectors are pretty good these days and if you want a full on experience, why not go for something like Viewsonic's new PJD7830HDL. It's designed for home cinema and is a full 1080p, with impressive brightness.

Get the bigger picture - a full HD projector no longer has to break the bank

You can quite happily watch indoors during the day, and we managed a whopping 70 inch picture on a white wall. More typically, a fifty inch image can be produced from just five feet away.

There's support for 3D, and USB playback, but it's probably best hooked up to an AV amp to provide decent sound - the build in speakers are ok, but that's all. Surprisingly, it comes in at under £600, too - though replacement bulbs are, as with many projectors - pretty pricey.

For something more portable, the PLED-W800 we reviewed a few months back is easy to set up and move around - and the lack of a fragile bulb is a bonus too.

In fact, if you put one of those in the bedroom with a Roku 3, and some speakers plugged into the Roku's remote, you'd have a big screen experience with nothing more than a Wifi connection and some kit that would fit in a shoebox. In fact, thanks to the catch-up players, you'd have access to most of the main channels too. So do you even need that bulky TV any more? ®