LG RH-299H

By Philip Wong, CNET Asia
Apr 13, 2007

Unlike HDTVs, home video recording has not evolved significantly since the arrival of the digital recorders. While newer visual technologies the likes of LED and laser backlighting have been developed for TVs, the DVR camp has been relatively conservative, chasing numbers with models offering ever-increasing storage capacity. A much belated breakthrough is definitely in order and the introduction of HDMI-CEC (more on this later) is just a small incremental step toward that direction. The new LG RH-299H DVR is an example of the next-generation with such capability.

Upside: The RH-299H is a super-multi recorder that records on just about every DVD-recordable format available on shelves. With the exception of DVD-R Dual Layer, you can burn on all popular flavors of +R, -R, and even -RAM for up to 11.5 hours of video footage. For extended recordings, there is the onboard 400GB hard drive which stretches the timing to a whopping 1,171 hours with a choice of either MPEG-2 or -4 encoding. The latter also enables digital photo albums and jukebox functions for centralized multimedia storage.

Backed by LSI Logic Corp’s DVFX video-enhancement technology, the recorder promises more refined large-screen pictures utilizing a suite of tightly integrated pre- and post-processing functions: TrueView Pro, PerfectView Pro, TrueScan Pro. These address noise suppression inherent in analog content, optimized video compression and deinterlacing with special emphasis on motion reproduction. In addition, there is also advanced time-shift with a generous 6-hour buffer, applicable for both active recordings and live TV broadcasts.

Connectivity-wise, there are digital HDMI and USB on top of the standard analog jacks and sockets. The former is 1080i-enabled to match the high-resolution flat panels and HDMI-CEC-compliant (Simplink in LG’s terminology) for one-remote operation across all compatible A/V boxes. Though the press release and spec sheet we received did not explicitly list out USB device compatibility, it did nonetheless confirm direct MP3, WMA and JPEG playback support and external storage-to-hard drive transfer functionality.

Downside: So far, our initial impressions of this high-end recorder were generally positive. However, we were puzzled over the Korean company’s decision to go without an inbuilt card reader found on its past premium offerings. Take the RH1999WS. We wouldn’t say this is a glaring omission or a deal-breaker since it's afterall a nice-to-have addition. That said, it will surely be a nice touch from LG and an attractive carrot if one is included for the RH-299H at the same price.

Outlook: With the RH-299H, LG has effectively upped the ante by rolling out one of the first 400GB DVRs with feature-rich HDMI functionality. It may be insignificant in your opinion, but if implemented properly this should minimize the hassle of juggling between a battery of remote controllers. A word of warning. We found the small print on Simplink LG-only compatibility disturbing, but we will know its true potential once more HDMI-CEC products trickle into our market.

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