The new LG LU7000 LCD TV was launched at IFA back in September 2009 and we’ve had the 22” version on long term test for 6 weeks now, so how’s it performed? Read on and find out……

First Impressions

The LU7000 is finished in a very classy looking piano black, has a DVD player tucked away in its sloping stand and looks a million dollars. A thin transparent section below the frame finishes the TV off nicely.

The TV can be mounted on a standard bracket or you can use the inbuilt stand. A small base plate is slipped on to the slopping DVD to make the bottom flat when using the stand. This keeps the TV looking neat when it is hung from a wall.

The viewing angle from left and right is good however, as usual; it’s not so good from below. The LU7000 isn’t full 1080P HD and isn’t 720P either it’s the rather unusual, for TV at least, 1360×768. It does produce some damn good pictures though.

Setup and Menus

As with almost all modern TVs the first time you switch it on it automatically scans for both analogue and digital TV channels including digital radio. All very simple and clear so far but how about the menus that are used to tweak the TV after initial setup?

I’m pleased to report that LG have used a very simple and clear icon based menu system allowing you to easily make adjustments to settings on the TV without the need to move closer. As always inputs can be labelled to make selecting the correct input a simple operation.

One pointer to the intended audience are the clock settings that allow you to specify an on and off time along with a channel and volume level making it the perfect alarm clock for the bedroom.

Integrated Freeview

The integrated Freeview picture quality obviously relies on the quality the channel transmits at. Overall the LG handles Freeview well and the resulting picture quality is bright and sharp with only the occasional artefact.

The EPG is clear and simple and the only real negative is the slight pause when you switch between channels. The LU7000 is not Freeview HD compatible but then there aren’t any other TVs out there at the moment that are either.

Integrated DVD

The integrated DVD player is built into the TV stand and has a novel sliding door mechanism rather than the more usual side mounted slot loader. DVDs are upscaled to 720P and look sharp, bright and vivid. The DVD player isn’t region free and despite searching I couldn’t find a hack to unlock it. Obviously I’ll update this post if I find one.

MP3s and JPGs are handled well although unfortunately DIVX and XVID videos can’t be played. Response and loading times are pleasingly fast and the DVD mechanism is very quiet in operation, you can hardly hear it even when the TV is on mute.

The blue lights around the disc flash on loading and ejecting but fortunately are left off during playback.

HDMI picture quality

The picture quality when using an HDMI source is simply gorgeous whether playing videos or gaming. For reference my source was an Xbox 360 and I couldn’t detect any obvious motion blur during games or video playback. The Xbox correctly identified the 1360×768 resolution of the TV. 

Sound

In common with most with most flat panel TVs there are no obvious speakers on the front and LG use Invisible Speaker technology to achieve this. Sound through the invisible speaker system is good without being great although it is a small TV so this is understandable and there’s an Optical Digital audio output if you want to connect to a more serious sound system.

ECO function

The remote has a dedicated ECO button that allows you to set the level of power saving from minimum through to screen off if you’re listening to music. Also available from the same button are picture mode, sound mode, audio mode, aspect ratio, sleep timer and USB eject as appropriate to the input you’re viewing.

Connections

The LU7000 sports a plethora of connections which is especially impressive considering it’s a relatively small TV. 

Rear connections

• 1 x RGB in PC plug and play.
• 1 x Audio in (for RGB in).
• 2 x HDMI
• 2 x Scart (1 full)
• 1 x Component
• 1 x Composite
• 1 x Optical Digital Audio output.
• 1 x RF Antenna In.

Side connections

• 1 x USB 2.0.
• 1 x CI slot.
• 1 x 3.5mm Headphone socket.

The connections make this an ideal student TV as it can be used as a PC monitor, Freeview TV and games console screen with inputs to spare. When using the screen as a PC monitor the resolution is detected correctly and results in a very usable PC display.

Pros

• Integrated DVD.
• Stylish looks.
• Connectivity.
• USB input.
• Front loading DVD is neat and saves scrabbling around the side for the more usual slot loader.
• Nice remote.

Cons

• No DIVX/XVID from the USB or DVD.
• Slight pause before a Freeview channel is displayed when stepping through channels.

Conclusion

The LG LU7000 LCD TV is a very competent all rounder with excellent connectivity for digital and legacy equipment making it the ideal student TV. It’s also well suited to smaller rooms such as kitchens and bedrooms.

On the negative side it’s a shame that it doesn’t handle DIVX or XVID files like the LG TVs launched at the same time as the LU7000. It is rather a lot to expect from a TV of this size and price though.

All in all if you’re after a TV in the 19 to 22” size range then you should take a serious look at the LU7000. Expect to pay around £300 for the 22” and a little less for the 19” version. 

SPEC

• Size 19 and 22” widescreen (16:9).
• Built-in DVD player.
• Invisible speakers, 10W.
• 1360×768.
• HD ready.
• Digital Audio Out.
• SRS TruSurround XT.
• Freeview.
• USB 2.0 (JPEG/MP3 Playback).
• Energy Saving Recommended.

Yes, USB memory sticks really are old news but occasionally somebody comes up with a design tweak that makes it worth reporting. In this case the “somebody” is Sony and the tweak is the spring loaded click-top mechanism for retracting the USB port.

Think ballpoint pen. It’s a simple and effective way of protecting the connector without having a separate cap to get lost. Plus it has a glowing light. Who doesn’t like glowing lights?

The Microvault Click is available in capacities up to 32GB and comes pre-loaded with “Virtual Expander” compression software to increase the available storage space.

Head on over to Amazon to pick yours up.

This new drive from Verbatim managed to catch my eye thanks to its front panel display that shows free space. A simple idea, the always-on LCD shows the drive name and free space even when it’s not connected to the PC.

Handy, if you have a few external drives that aren’t connected all the time.

They’re available in the US at the moment priced at $150 for the 500GB model.

Chainsaws will occupy a special place in the heart of anybody who’s been around long enough to remember ID Software’s genre-defining game, Doom. (or, indeed, any fans of the Evil Dead series)

With the advent of the i.Saw USB chainsaw you can bring your space-marine/zombie hunting fantasies one step closer… or at least you might be able to in September when they actually start shipping the things.

It looks like a working, scaled down Husqvarna and is cool, in a “WTF?” kind of way – but when you get down to it the only thing it uses USB for is power so it’s not really that connected. Personally I prefer USB gadgets that actually interact with the computer in some way, like this cool missile launcher.

But since when has practicality ever had anything to do with gadgets?

This cool flight-sim addon made a brief appearance in the form of a “coming soon” press release at least a year ago, if not more than that. Since then we’ve heard nothing but recently it appeared out of nowhere on Saitek’s website.

What you’re looking at is a USB connected 5” colour LCD screen that can replicate the dials and displays in an aircraft. You can choose one of 6 dials to display (Altimeter, artificial horizon etc) and you can plug multiple units in at once if you want the whole cockpit feel.

Out of the box it’s compatible with Flight Simulator X, although it’s programmable so theoretically any flight sim could be made to talk to it (don’t hold your breath though, it depends on the publisher being interested…)

It’ll be available at the end of the month from the Saitek online store for £129.99.

You probably won’t have heard of Pogoplug – they’re only just releasing in the US and (as yet) aren’t available over here. Which is a shame as it’s got to be the easiest way yet of making your data available anywhere. Plug the Pogoplug into your router and a USB hard drive and voila – hard drive appears on your laptop as a standard windows (or Mac) network share, wherever in the world you happen to be.

As of Saturday morning the iPhone is added to the device list, meaning you can open and save files and photos from the connected drive on an iPhone.

Cute – all we need now is a UK version!

If you’re going to leave your data on the train then this is is the drive enclosure for you.  The Icy Box IB-220RFID is a standard 2.5” SATA external hard drive enclosure with a unique selling point, RFID.  Data is encrypted on the drive and can only be written and read while the RFID token is in close proximity to the enclosure. 

The enclosure has a USB 2.0 interface with an LCD display showing; power, encryption and de-encryption status.  Icy Box include 2 RFID tokens just in case as well as; a Y-power cable (if required), a USB cable, Screwdriver, leatherette pouch, CD and manual. 

If you don’t trust yourself not to lose an RFID token then Icy Box also do the IB-225-STU-FP 2.5” SATA drive enclosure with Finger Print authentication.  I’m hoping you won’t misplace a finger but just in case you do the enclosure can register up to 10 finger prints.

The RFID enclosure is selling for around £22 and the Finger Print version is going for around £32 not including hard drive.

The Flip Mino is a parent-proof, pocket sized point and shoot camcorder recording to internal memory. The original Flip has been around for a while but there’s a new HD version in town, and it comes to Firebox UK on Monday.

Keeping the form factor and ease of use that made the flip a global smash, the Flip Mino HD adds 720p recording (making it the smallest HD camcorder in the world*) and keeps the 60 minute recording time of the original thanks to upgraded storage.

Part of the flip’s appeal is its ease of use – it recharges and connects to a PC via USB and also comes with built in editing / sharing software (for Windows and Mac) which installs when you connect it, so you’re never without the ability to cut your films together or upload them to youtube.

Yours for £170 from tomorrow morning.

*OK, so the press release said it was the world’s smallest HD camcorder at the time it was released, which was October last year in the US. We can’t keep on top of everything so somebody, somewhere may have launched a smaller one between then and now.

I’ve recently bought an Asus EeePC901 which runs an Asus version of Xandros as standard. All very nice and simple but I wanted to take a look at some of the replacement Linux distributions that are out there without actually having to install them, at least until I find the one that works for me.

The thing is this means creating a bootable USB memory stick which takes time and gets a little technical. It was while I was looking at the various distributions that I stumbled across the Unetbootin utility which automates the entire process for you whether you run Windows or Linux on your PC.

The usual warning about messing with your OS applies: you do this at your own risk so don’t blame us if you accidentally trash your main hard drive!

Having said that, the process worked for me so if the warning didn’t scare you away, read on…

Unetbootin knows about various standard Linux distributions out of the box – choosing one of the known distributions from a drop down list allows you to then choose from the various versions and types available for that variant. In my case I chose the Live versions which allowed me to boot directly from a USB stick rather than install the distribution. Once you’ve picked a distro, Unetbootin downloads it for you.

Alternatively if you’ve found a distribution online download that and tell Unetbootin where you’ve saved it.

All that remains is to point Unetbootin at the USB stick, HDD or SD card that you want to make bootable and click on the OK button. Bootable images are created very quickly allowing you to easily try a number of distributions. I finally settled on the Remix version of Eeebuntu as it has all the drivers required for the ASUS and works well with the small screen.

With the economy the way it is at the moment, everybody’s looking for a bargain and this USB TV receiver from bizarrely named technology company August international might just hit the spot.  It needs a fairly strong signal for the best reception but if you have that then it’s a cheap and simple way of getting your Big Brother (shudder) fix on your laptop.

It comes with a remote control (fine if you’re using it on a living room PC, not so much use if you’re in front of a laptop) and an indoor antenn with magnetic mount. It’s about as plug and play as you can get and will also record programs if you have hard drive space to spare. Not bad for £20.