LG DV388 DVD player

DVD players seem here to stay, at least in our country. The big brands that regulate and give the electronics industry some direction are the ones responsible for its immense popularity, such as LG, who are still innovating and releasing newer DVD players. Of course a lot has changed over the years, and now the player is not only used for DVD discs, but also more interesting and convenient stuff like USB DivX playback and even Karaoke. This particular model has both the latter categories as features, and more. It’s called the DV388.

Design
Bundled with the unit is an LG DV 388Remote (single AAA battery), Audio Video Cable(RCA) and manual. There is no HDMi cable included which is bad, as everyone, including other models of LG itself have one thrown in. The design of the unit is no doubt good. This is something the LG brand really concentrates on in their products, right from their TVs to these players. The chassis is black sheet metal, with a smooth finish, while the front panel is a separate module attached on seamlessly, comprising piano gloss finish and metallic silver illustrations. This panel is convexly curved when viewed from front, and funnily I could not find the power on button, as it is located in the lower curve, and also it is camouflaged due to its black color. The tray is on the left side too, and is a very regular looking plastic black tray, I’m not too impressed. The build looks like it can be bent out of shape, but of course we won't try that.

The right side of the façade consists of a stout silver knob protruding out, meant for controlling the volume of the 2 ¼-inch style mic inputs, which are located to the knob's left. The USB slot is also in the same row, covered by the regular rubber flap with the USB logo cut out. A thin silver line runs through the convex front panel. It adds to the décor factor, giving the player a futuristic look. The green LED display won't get noticed unless the player is on. It's absolutely seamless with the gloss surface.

Features
The unit supports 1080p up-conversion, acts as a USB Host and is able to play DivX/XviD files. It has Quick Play function and supports the following formats: DVD/VCD/CD/MP3/JPEG/WMA. It cannot play wmv9, no higher res DivX files, and does not read my NTFS portable HDD, connected via USB cable. There is a note in the manual too, that says the player might not play USB devices connected via a cable. An 8 GB flash drive was recognized though. The number of individual files should not be more than 650.

This player has Karaoke feature, thus the mic inputs in the front. When connected, you can insert Karaoke CDs and play with regular Karaoke features like backing music or vocal duets with the original vocal tracks. All these options are accessible via the karaoke menu. Connections are plenty, with a Component Video out, Optical/Co-axial Digital Audio out, 5.1 ch. Analog Audio out. And of course an HDMI out. The unit has Dolby Digital decoder and DTS Decoder also.