LG HT33S review: LG HT33S

For watching movies in a smaller room, such as a study or bedroom, little 2.1-channel home-cinema systems like the LG HT33S can be a great addition to your set-up. The HT33S' extra inputs make it a good choice if you want to hook up a TV, iPod or other MP3 player. In short, this is exactly the sort of machine you might buy for someone heading off to university or to keep your teenagers away from your expensive 7.1-channel surround-sound system.

7.5

LG HT33S

The Good

Pleasant design; movies sound terrific.

The Bad

iPod integration could be much slicker; music sound quality isn't what we were hoping for.

The Bottom Line

Overall, we're well-disposed towards the LG HT33S. It's not the most powerful system, so it will be best used in a smaller room, but it does a terrific job with movie soundtracks. We have to say, though, that we don't really rate the performance of the HT33S when it comes to music, and the iPod dock and menu system is rather clunky

You can get your hands on the HT33S for about £300.

In the box
We always dread unboxing home-cinema systems for one simple reason -- we have to box them up again once we've finished reviewing them. Because these systems have a number of components, that's generally quite a mission. The same is true with the HT33S. In the box are several layers of polystyrene, each containing different parts.

In the first layer, you'll find the main DVD unit, as well as the remote control and speaker cables. Lifting the first layer of packing material out of the box, you'll find the left and right speakers. Beneath all of this, you'll find the huge subwoofer lurking at the bottom of the box. Getting everything out and wiring it up took us less than 20 minutes, and it's really straightforward.

We like the fact that the sub is powered, and in turn sends power to the DVD player via a specially designed cable. As well as carrying the power, this cable also sends the decoded audio from the DVD player back to the subwoofer, which in turn sends the stereo audio to the front speakers and, of course, keeps hold of the low-frequency effects for itself.

Remote control 
The supplied remote is of a similar size to most LG controllers. You'll find the buttons sensibly laid out, and they're large enough for most people to use. Some controls are slightly confusing, though.

In terms of DVD playback, the HT33S is simple to use. We wanted to switch our test disc from a Dolby Digital soundtrack to a DTS one, which is possible via the illogically named 'info' button. You can adjust other things in the same way, such as the multi-camera angle that no-one ever uses on a DVD, and subtitles.

Movies
Our test DVD, a remastered version of The Terminator with DTS 5.1-channel surround sound, looked and sounded utterly glorious. The '80s soundtrack has plenty of different aspects to delight the senses -- explosions, dialogue and cheesy synth music. The HT33S seems to manage movies with considerable skill. DivX videos are similarly enjoyable.

Picture quality is also very good indeed. Although The Terminator is getting rather long in the tooth now, the remastered picture looked terrific. We were impressed by the overall clarity, and, although upscaling isn't generally worth much in our book, the 1080p output from the HT33S is pleasant to look at.

If movie viewing is your primary purpose for buying one of these systems, we have no problem recommending the HT33S.

Music
Although the movie performance of this system is very impressive, we aren't so keen on the musical performance. This has a fair amount to do with the subwoofer, which seems to be slightly too keen when it comes to music.

Although the HT33S manages pop reasonably well, its abilities are less impressive when it comes to anything more involved. Our first test track, Girls Aloud's Untouchable, sounded okay, with the vocal at the start coming through loud and clear. As soon as the track got busier though, the clarity really began to suffer.

Worse still, the live version of the The Veronicas' track Revolution sounded like someone had sabotaged the MP3. Although this particular track is tricky for surround-sound systems, it sounded much better on our headphones. However you look at it, music isn't the HT33S' strongest area.

iPod playback
As is the trend these days, the HT33S includes an iPod dock, into which you can place most modern iPods. You can use the dock in two modes. The first is typical, with whatever you play on the device coming out of the speakers. This works fine, but bear in mind our opinion on the musical performance of this machine.

With the second mode, you can navigate the contents of your iPod via an on-screen display. Sadly, the interface is very basic -- it's the sort of thing that would make Steve Jobs spit out his green tea. Navigating around an iPod with plenty of music on it is a pretty slow process. The system just isn't as responsive as we'd hoped, and it makes using the on-screen navigation more of a chore than a pleasure.

Conclusion
We really like the LG HT33S. The decision to make it a glossy black, finger-grease magnet is idiotic, but, if you never touch it and rely on the remote instead, you won't have any problem with that. The black surface is also reasonably easy to scratch, which could prove really annoying if you've just spent your own money on this machine.

The sound, however, is very good. We like the fact that it takes an optical input from our TV, and the improvement in sound is very worthwhile indeed. We're also big fans of the HT33S as a DVD player. The future, of course, is Blu-ray, but there are plenty of people out there with loads of DVDs and no desire to replace them all with high-definition versions. For such people who are seeking improved sound, the HT33S is a very worthwhile device.

Edited by Charles Kloet