Value for money LG home Cinema System (LG HT353SD)

Member Name: baker85

Product:	LG HT353SD
Date:	24/09/08 (2551 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price, options, quality, style

Disadvantages: none

I was looking for a good quality, not to expensive home cinema system and found this one. Saw LG HT353SD in Sainsbury's for just £79.99 and was not sure. I checked all the other prices online and details on manufacturer's website. Same day decided to go for it and bought it next day. I have it over one week now and am totally satisfied. It does exactly everything what should and does it great. This home theatre system is very nice looking and nicely designed. Stylish I would say as each speakers surface reflects. Cables are absolutely long enough (even rear ones) as in some other sets they are simply to short. This time Lg's done a good job.
Using remote control you are able to control everything. Batteries are included.

Installation

Instruction and a manual are included in box and are simple and easy in use.
This went quite quickly and easily. After unpacking and removing protective foil from each speaker, untied cable and connect each cable to DVD player according to colours (red and black). It is almost not possible to connect it wrongly as on each cable end there are small labels describing each speaker.

I have my DVD player connected to monitor by scart but it is possible to do it by component video (able to carry a HD signal of up to 1080p but most of monitors do not support it through such a connection) or composite (analogue) connectors.
Whole device has a power consumption of 50 Watt when working and under 1 Watt when off.

Sound quality and speaker details

For this price range there is no point to expect miracles but this set plays movies and music extremely well.
An interesting option is VSM (Virtual Sound Matrix) which can create 5.1 channel effect out of 2.1 and 10.1 out of 5.1 channels. VSM can enhance your listening pleasure without any distortion or exaggeration on original sound.

Total output power of this speakers is 300 Watts which is absolutely enough for medium size rooms. Centre speaker has power of 40 Watts (4 Ohms). Exactly same parameters have other speakers except of subwoofer which has power of 75W (3 Ohms).
LG HT353SD is compatible with DTS, Dolby Digital, VSM, DTS ES, natural EQ, auto HQ, Dolby Prologic, DSP mode and 2Ch Stereo (By-Pass) sound effects.

To adjust each speaker settings you need to go to on screen menu by pressing enter and choosing sound option. In there you can adjust all properties like distance from speaker to source or signal strength (according to your own preferences) plus/minus 6Db.
On the same menu you can test if everything is connected and sounds as it should.

You can play your most favourite songs from CD's or even stick USB drive into it and play your stuff. Yes - LG HT353SD has an USB port. You can copy some Divx movies, pictures or songs from computer, connect it to USB port and watch them all. Another interesting way of enjoying music if your MP3 player has no USB -is to connect it using jack-jack cable (included in box).

Radio

I live in a poor radio reception area so have only 3 stations with RDS and another one without.
Most important is that this device can read RDS signal (Radio Data System). To say it in easier way - some radio stations broadcasts in their signal some other information's like name of audition, station or song and artists detail.

This home theatre system can read:

- PS (Programme Service) this is simply an eight-character static display that represents the call letters or station identity name. Most RDS capable receivers display this information and, if the station is stored in the receiver's presets, will cache this information with the frequency and other details associated with that preset.

- PTY (Programme Type) this coding of up to 31 pre-defined programme types - e.g. (in Europe): PTY1 News, PTY6 Drama, PTY11 Rock music, - allows users to find similar programming by genre. PTY31 seems to be reserved for emergency announcements in the event of natural disasters or other major calamities.

- CT (Clock Time) can synchronise a clock in the receiver or the main clock in a car. Due to transmission vagaries, CT can only be accurate to within 100 ms of UTC.

- RT (Radio Text) this function allows a radio station to transmit a 64-character free-form textual information that can be either static e.g. station slogans or in sync with the programming such as the title and artist of the currently-playing song.
Almost forgot to mention that 75 Ohms antenna (cable with plug) is included in box.

Tuner type is PLL which stands for (Phase-locked loop). IT generates stable frequencies or recovers a signal from a noisy communication channel. Pll system is widely in use in electronic devices.
It has Tuning Range of 87.50~108.00 MHz (50 kHz). It offers as well 50 (random) stations preset.

Altogether radio sounds very good and I am absolutely satisfied with it. Quality is brilliant and there is no noise. Searching for stations is very quick and easy. There are no disadvantages.
DVD/CD/VCD player

It has been equipped with Progressive Scan system for PAL and NTSC signals.
This one is s a method for displaying, storing or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence.

Main advantages of having it are:
- Frames have no interlace artefacts and can be used as still photos
- Offers much better results for scaling to higher resolutions than equivalent interlaced video
- Absence of visual artefacts associated with interlaced video of the same line rate
- Higher vertical resolution than interlaced video with the same frame rate

Main unit of whole device is well designed and good looking when lying under monitor. It is not small but I think thanks its black colour is less visible.
LG plays all these disk formats: CD,DVD-R,DVD-RW,DVD+RW
CDG,VCD,SVCD,CD-R/CD-RW,MP3CD, WMA,JPEG Viewer,Divx 5.0,Xvid.
To say it briefly - plays everything.
Another interesting option in this set is recording (ripping) music from CD's directly to USB drive. It is useful when computer is not working or is busy. Only one minus is that it goes with maximum bit rate of 128kbs. It is very easy in use and to do it press rec button on your remote controller.

DVD reader works perfectly and reads most of DVD's within 2-5 seconds. Since I have it, did not happen to jam or image to freeze when watching movie.
Works as it should.
Altogether

LG HT353SD is a good Home Cinema System for a reasonable price. It is not easy to find another set with competitive properties for such a price. It is a bargain I would say. I can recommend it to anyone as it is a good product and is worth recommendation.

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Summary: very good, value for money set. Good enough for medium size rooms

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