LG DVD-3200, £200
Past experience
has shown that most manufacturers coming into to the DVD market really get into
their stride after the second or third model range. On that basis the next
budget DVD we see from LG should be a real cracker. Unfortunately the DVD-3200
marks only a relatively small improvement over its first entry-level machine,
the DVD-2330, which appeared late last year. The 2330 actually did fairly well
and came across as a decent enough machine selling for the then reasonable
price of £250, but LG’s timing was a wee bit unfortunate. The 2330 reached the
shops at about the same time as the floodgates opened with a wave of ultra
cheap decks, many costing less than £200, several of them with high-end features
like on-board Dolby Digital decoders. LG responded quickly and the price of the
2330 has since fallen to around £190, but the arrival of the DVD-3200, priced
at just under £200 still puts them a step or two behind the budget leaders, in
a segment of the market that LG has traditionally been a force to be reckoned
with in other home entertainment technologies.
Although the
core specification has changed very little from its predecessor the new machine
has been given a facelift and it now looks quite smart in its silver livery and
slimmed down case. There are number of welcome additions to the feature list
and these include 3D sound and NTSC playback. The range of trick-play modes has
been improved as well and now provides four slomo speeds (x1/16, x1/8, x1/4 and
x1/2 normal speed in both directions) and four bi-directional picture search
speeds (x2, x4, x16 and x100). It also has a two stage picture zoom (4x and
16x) and a 5-scene bookmark but the question is, are they enough to make it
stand out from the crowd?
Many machines
in the sub £200 price bracket have easily hackable region code locks, or none
at all; as far as we are aware the 3200 is fixed on Region 2 playback. At the
time of going to press none of the usual web sites have any details about how
to change that situation. It shouldn’t matter but it does and for some this
lack of flexibility will count against it.
Operationally it is quite well behaved and easy to use; on-screen
displays are confined to a simple menu bar that appears on the left side of the
screen Available options include language and soundtrack settings and switching
3D sound on and off. One small bonus is the fact that you can switch to the
high-level deck set-up menu without exiting playback; the picture is blanked,
but once you have made changes you can return to the point where you left
off.
One thing that
hasn’t changed is the lack of an optical bitstream output, not in itself a big
problem, but some may find this inconvenient. The coaxial bitstream output is
now dts compatible though. A new remote handset is included with this machine
and it is markedly easier to use than the one that came with its predecessor.
Picture quality
hasn’t changed a great deal since the 2330, overall it is quite good though we
feel that skin tones are still a bit flat and it doesn’t fully render all of
the subtle variations in shade that some of the better players are able to
manage, nevertheless colour accuracy is fine and images look reasonably
natural. Resolution is generally okay but on our sample some fine detail was
lost when there was a lot of activity on the screen. The picture’s dynamic
range is fair to middling though shadows and dimly lit scenes manage to obscure
some picture information. We didn’t see any processing artefacts and layer
change is about average, taking just under a quarter of a second on most of our
test discs.
The mixed
stereo output has a wide and flat response with plenty of room for Dolby
Surround soundtracks. Background hiss is adequately well suppressed; low-level
sounds and dialogue are clearly focused and there’s sufficient bass to drive
big action blockbuster effects. It
stacks up quite well as an audio CD player as well, comparable with mid-range
players and systems in it ability to extract fine detail in most types of
music.
There is no
doubt that the 3200 is an improvement over the 2330 and we are pleased to see
new features like NTSC playback and the revamped remote, but little things,
like the lack of an optical bitstream output continue to irritate. Visually it
looks a lot better and it doesn’t look out of place alongside players costing
significantly more. However, whilst LG has done a lot to improve this machine
the fact remains that rival manufacturers continue to up the ante with cheaper
and better-specified players that will inevitably make them look like more
attractive propositions. The LG brand simply doesn’t have the same kudos as the
better-known Japanese and European brands, which is a shame because there’s
nothing intrinsically wrong with this player; it’s just not very interesting.
Contact LG
Electronics 01753 500470
BOX COPY 1 –
REMOTE VIEWING
The remote
handset supplied with the 2330 was a bit of a dog and we are very pleased to
see that it has been replaced on this new machine. As you can see it is on the
large size but the layout has been well thought out and all of the most
frequently used control and transport buttons are large, clearly labelled, easy
to identify and fall readily to hand. We even quite like the number shaped buttons,
though past experience has shown they attract crud like mad and quickly become
sticky, so don’t forget to wipe your fingers if you’re eating pizza…
BOX COPY 3 –
AROUND THE BACK
Although not a
huge problem -- and most users probably won’t miss it -- we reckon the lack of
an optical bitstream output is a bit short-sighted. Otherwise the back panel
has a fairly routine selection of socketry. The single SCART socket can be
configured for RGB or S-Video output, this option is on the player’s set-up
menu. There are separate S-Video and composite video outputs and the analogue
mixed stereo output is carried by a pair of phono sockets. NTSC output is
selected using a small switch next to the video output phono.
THE HARD FACTS
LG DVD-3200
OUTPUTS
SCART Y
S-Video Y
RGB out Y
Component N
Optical digital N
Coaxial digital Y
5.1 decoder N
EXTRA FEATURES
Region 2,
PAL/NTSC replay, dts compatible bitstream out, multi-speed replay, 2-stage
picture zoom, 3D sound, 5-scene marker
GOOD POINTS
Average to good
AV performance, improved features and styling
BAD POINTS
Lacklustre
specification, no optical bitstream output
Ease of use 4
Picture 4
Sound 4
Features 3
Overall 3
BUYERS GUIDE
EXTRA INFO
Price £200
SCART 1
S-Video 1
Digital out coaxial
Decoder none
Good Points
Average to good
AV performance, improved features and styling
Bad points
Lacklustre
specification, no optical bitstream output
Rating
3
---end---
Ó R. Maybury 2000, 0207
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