The DivX Player Shootout

LG’s offering to us today is a black matte finished chassis bearing a high gloss front panel, slightly tapering in shape. There are the usual logos of supported features like DivX, USB etc., lined up on the right end. Looks wise this player too doesn’t disappoint but could it do without the gloss. There are 2 huge gaping TRS inputs for microphones, meaning only one thing: Karaoke. Besides, this product comes with a flurry of features, more than any other model listed here. There is an HDMI out, a discrete 5.1 out and USB 2.0.

Connected via HDMI, and upscaling set to 1080p, we inserted our DVE test disc and ran the patterns and montages to see what the DACs are capable of. The load time of the drive and buttons was quite prompt and swift, being 8 seconds for the former. The picture did not have any major faults, especially in static image characteristics like brightness and color reproduction. But, the colors were banding in small amounts, though only in certain scenes. Motionwise the picture was quite smooth, very little jaggies and edge blur were present. It might be tolerable if the eye is not discerning.

The DivX playback was almost perfect in terms of smoothness, but in some instances the LG did cough out a few frames. Scenes in which the visuals change fast and dynamic range shifts, there was a little framing, on closer observation. Overall, the performance is OK but his player has a great many features, which might impress some.