LG LH-T9654S HTIB By John Higgins   •   December, 2006

• $350
• Attractive speakers and player have distinctive look
• Wireless-surround-speaker ready with wireless adapter (sold separately)

The LG LH-T9654S does its best to differentiate itself aesthetically from a menagerie of cookie-cutter HTIBs. The attractively shaped speakers are glossy black soft-cornered triangles with silver linings. The subwoofer, as well, is very distinctive, with a cut-corner design. It's also glossy black with silver accents. The player continues the sleek design with its relatively bare front panel—it's limited to the disc tray, the LCD, and a headphone jack. The navigational CD buttons are located along the top of the player.

Functionally, the LH-T9654S has plenty of options. The DVD player reads a multitude of burned-disc formats, including WMA, JPEG, and DivX. You can output the video through either a component output or an HDMI connection. When you use the HDMI output, the player also upconverts to 1080i. If you have a second audio source, you can connect it through the optical connection. A USB port also allows you to play multiple audio (WMA, MP3, WAV, and MP3 VBR) and video (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and DivX) formats, as well as JPEG photos.

To use the system with wireless surround speakers, you'll need the 2.4-gigahertz wireless adapter (model ACC96WK).

www.lgusa.com