ON TEST / DVD SYSTEM

Verdict Approx price 270

LG HT902TB

BOutrageous value for money, sounds great, simple to use EImposing looking subwoofer, picture quality has room for improvement
Big sound makes this single box system one heck of a bargain
CONSIDERING THE VAST number of AV products weve reviewed over the years, its understandable that it takes something genuinely amazing to take our Test Lab by surprise. Step forward LGs HT902TB: a mighty all-in-one system that leaves jaws dropping in its wake. amplication. Whats more, the front and rear speakers arent the puny little cubes you might expect, but rather full-sized (over 1m tall) oorstanding affairs that promise a level of audio delight far beyond what youve any right to expect for such a low price. As if all this wasnt enough, the entire packages design is little short of dazzling, with a delightful high-gloss black nish unifying all the various elements to seriously stylish effect. The only trace of inelegance in the whole package is the subwoofer, which looks a bit brutish compared with the slender chic of everything

The rivals

/ Pioneer DSC-363
Need a more compact system for the same money? look no further. Reviewed: Issue 326

Features

How such an audaciously priced system (a mere 270) can deliver so much while costing so little money simply beggars belief. Amazingly, this bags you a full allin-one home cinema solution complete with DVD player, 5.1 speaker set, and multi-channel

/ Samsung HT-X200

A stylish 2.1-channel alternative for around the same price. Picture quality is decent, but the sounds not as good. Reviewed: Issue 324
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else. But then a bit of brutishness in the bass department is often a good thing, sonically speaking. You can always hide the sub behind a chair or under a table if its chunkiness proves overly offensive. Shifting our attention to the HT920TBs connectivity, its pleasing to nd it sporting an HDMI through which the system can output your DVDs upscaled into 720p or 1080i. Theres no 1080p, but this is easily forgiveable on such an affordable system. Scart and component video output options are also on hand. Additionally, youre provided with a digital audio input, so that an external source like a PS3, Xbox 360 or SkyHD box can reap the benets of its audio talents. Heading into the HT920TBs menus, it has to be said that the feature nery rather dries up. The only discoveries of note are a test tone facility (to help you balance the speakers correctly) and an adjustable audio delay (to help out in the event that your display introduces some lag between its pictures and sound). Still, all the things weve so far described are already enough to make the HT920TB better specied than wed have dreamed possible for just under 300.
rooftops, wed forgive you for thinking that our rating for the picture is a mistake. But, the rating reects the fact that this LGs pictures really arent all that great when compared with the very best standalone budget disc spinners such as Denons awesome DVD-1740. That criticism made, theyre certainly decent enough by the standards of rival affordable all-in-one systems. The main problem here is the amount of zzing noise in the picture. Its not truly horric, but if youre using the HT920B with a large TV or projector, youll certainly notice the frailties. And it persists even if you upscale the picture to 720p or 1080i. On a more positive note, colours are reasonably rich, motion is uid enough, and overall the picture is quite sharp, especially when its being upscaled.

Fact le

/ HDMI output / 720p/1080i upscaling / Tower speakers / Digital amp / Digital audio input

TECH LABS

/ Time in Lab: 3 days / Serial No: ME234671801
Playback Test Reading Rating Video jitter: 4ns Audio jitter: N/A S/n ratio: 78.8dB Chroma am: -70.1dB Chroma pm: -66.4dB Chroma N/A Crosstalk: Frequency response at 5.8MHz S-video: N/A Composite: -3.5dB Component: -1.9dB Power consumption: Standby: 1W Idling: 25W Playing: 27W

1,200mm

Sound
The speakers that partner the DVD deck are so slim and affordable that, despite their tower style, we didnt expect them to be up to much. How pleased we were, then, to have that particular preconception blown clear out of the water. Particularly astonishing is how clean and detailed the soundstage is. The speakers avoid distortion even at loud volumes, and manage to portray lots of subtleties, especially in the treble register, without sounding tinny or harsh. And they do this while also delivering a really open, rich mid-range that does vocals proud. Transitions from front to back and steering from left to right, meanwhile, are smooth and believable thanks to each channel having exactly the same speaker /// design, while lower frequencies are delivered with authority by that big old bass bin. Yet the sub still blends with the towers really very well considering this is such an affordable system. All in all its nearly impossible to fault the HT920TBs audio given how little it costs.

Spec check

HDMI/DVI output: Yes/no Prog scan output: Yes DVD-A/SACD: No/no Dimensions: Satellite speakers: 280 (w) x 1,200(h) x 280(d)mm; Centre speaker: 450(w) x 102(h) x 161(d)mm; Subwoofer: 258(w) x 401(h) x 406(d)mm Weight: 34.9kg (total) / What it plays: CD, DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVDRW, DVD+RW, VCD, SCVD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3CD, WMA, JPEG Viewer, DiVX 5, XViD / Sockets: HDMI output; Scart output; analogue audio input; USB input; speaker jacks, composite video output; component video output; mic jack; digital audio input / Contact: www.lge.co.uk

Ease of use

Here again the HT920TB does the business. Building the tower speakers, for instance, is a simple case of sliding a top part onto a bottom part, with no screws required. The speaker cables are all
Given how little this all-in-one system costs, its impossible to fault the audio performance
colour coded so that you marry the right speaker to the right output, and the onscreen menus while ugly as hell to look at are at least foolproof to use. Finally, the remote control puts in a better performance than most when it comes to handling the multiple disciplines inherent to any all-in-one system.
If you can live with the speaker size, youll struggle to nd a system that offers better value for money

Value

LG could have quite comfortably charged twice as much for the HT920B and wed still have recommended it. Its quite simply the bargain of the year so far Z
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Picture

Considering weve been singing the HT902TBs praises from the

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