LG DVD with memory card slots, upscaling capacity

With the Blu-ray / HD-DVD legions in order of battle and the looming shadow of yet another (but breakthrough!) format that goes to 300GB from the Inphase/Hitachi-Maxell alliance, (see our article) turning to upscaling could be an alternative.... Better to walk before to run, i.e. see who wins before buying your next Betamax, and trying to sell it off a year later! We've been there before haven't we?

The LG LGDVB418 is one of those machines. They can "up-convert" to higher defnition outputs, thus "uipscale" a standard DVD to 480p, 780p, and 1080i resolutions. This way you could use an HDTV, it simply necessitates some signal processing and take advantage of HDMI, component video or DVI inputs.

Another idea is, in addition to a large range of format compatibility, to propose a storage capacity in the form of memory cards.

Compatible DVD Media:

DVD video DVD audio DVD-RW DVD-R DVD+RW DVD+R

Compatible CD Media:

SVCD Audio CD CD-R/CD-RW audio titles, MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX

Compatible Memory Cards:

CF MD SD MMC SMC MS MS-PRO

What about the machine? Well, an attractive and good looking black and silver device, the LGDVB418 is very slim, actually 1.52" (less than 4cm) tall, and looks even slimmer thanks to a recessed lower front. This area is where the memory card slots can be found.

At a 480P resolution the Component Video, the video quality is very good. When you're playing copy protected DVDs on the component video, the LGDVB418 will not output higher resolutions than 480p, so that you'll go for the HDMI output to compare 480P, 720P, and 1080i. Most reviews state that there's only a small improvement in the video quality. Same remark when playing your camcorder.

The CDR-R can be used to play JPEG from a CD, with slide show functionality etc. But there's this memory card capacity. It is slower than the CD-R reading, but it works, and it is a functionality that should attract those who have already turned to digital cameras.

Specs

Video

Video Output System PAL • NTSC TV Resolutions 1080i (1125i) Video DAC 10 bit / 27 MHz Video S/N Ratio 110 dB Picture Control Zoom

Audio

Audio DAC 24 bit / 192 kHz Audio S/N Ratio 110 dB Surround Sound Built-In Dolby Digital Decoder • Built-In DTS Decoder • Virtual Surround

Connections

Outputs Composite x 1, S-Video x 1, Component x 1, HDMI x 1, Analog Audio x 1, Analog Surround x 1, Digital Audio Coaxial x 1, Digital Audio Optical x 1 Memory Card Slot SD / MMC • Memory Stick • CompactFlash • SmartMedia Card

Dimensions

Depth 9.5 in. Height 1.5 in. Width 17 in. Weight 4.4 lb.

Visit LG website here

Any comment? email didier@cinenow.com