REVIEW
David Shapshak
LG DVD 3251P
The only problematic thing about owning an MP3s collection is that you can only play them on your computer. The highly popular music file format, which reduces an average song to a 10th its size, has taken the world by storm but playing them is very limited outside of a computer environment.
It’s something of a problem if your PC is not in the same room as your lounge or far away from your dining room when you’re entertaining. It’s even more of a problem if you want to play MP3s in your car. The only other option apart from a computer is a portable MP3 player, which is usually restricted to the person using it.
While several innovative car systems are slowly making their appearance in the United States and Europe, a home entertainment solution has handily arrived bundled with a DVD player.
DVD machines have been able to play their audio CD cousins for a while, but the new LG DVD 3251P goes one step further. The 3251P has caught the crest of a technological wave and lets you play the popular MP3 format too. The interface may be somewhat less flashy than the nifty ones found on PC-based MP3-playing software, but it does the trick.
The DVD machine is a stand out player in its own right, enhancing the MP3 quality through its superb sound outputs. It has six-channel Dolby Digital AC3 surround sound that, for the unmusically minded, means it sounds good from all around you. If the music you are playing it handles CDs as easily has extra sound dimensions, it reproduces these well.
Of course, this sound feature is at its best when using the DVD player for its prime function. It is a multi-zone player, so it plays a variety of movies. The display is crystal clear and, to check the veracity of the press release, I tested the pause and freeze frame quality repeatedly. It was flawless.
The player has a useful feature that lets you “jog” backwards and forwards in this pause setting should you wish to find Brad Pitt spliced into scenes of Fight Club, for instance or read those impossibly small “based on a true story” blurbs that might be readable on a big screen but are unintelligible on a TV. Thankfully, for the myopic, the machine also has a zoom function (4x and 16x) that lets you enlarge a section of the film.
Being able to play MP3s is becoming something of a status symbol in the electronics world. No self-respecting device launches without the ability to play them. Recent new models of digital cameras, personal digital assistants and cellphones have appeared with them, while plug-in players for the last two are the new accessory for your accessory. Nothing these days is “just” a device.
The LG DVD 3251P retails for about R2599, in much the same price range as other DVD players that don’t play MP3s.