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LAS VEGAS -- In April, South Korea's LG Electronics will enter the competitive U.S. market for portable media devices with three products. All three can play video and one can directly record video, the company said today at the International Consumer Electronics Show here.

The new models are the PM70, a portable media-center device that has a 30GB hard drive and video-recording capability; the hard-drive-based JM53 player; and the flash-media-based FM30 player. All three support MPEG4 video and several different audio playback formats. The PM70 can record MPEG4 video directly from a composite video input, according to LG.

No FairPlay

In entering the market, which is dominated by Apple Computer's iPod line of players, LG hopes to win market share by emphasizing its players' support for a range of formats. The iPods use Apple's proprietary DRM (digital rights management) system, FairPlay.

"There is a high-end segment of the iPod market that doesn't want to be locked in [to a particular format]," said Bob Perry, vice president of consumer electronics sales and marketing for LG's North American unit. "Once people pay for their video, they want the flexibility to move their media around."

LG's devices will likely be based on Microsoft's Janus DRM system. They are currently undergoing certification for the PlaysforSure label. Perry said that LG is committed to leaving control of content in the hands of consumers and that the company will look to add other DRM systems to the players if doing so makes sense.

"LG is better positioned than some smaller companies like Creative [to compete in the portable media device market]," said Richard Doherty, research director of The Envisioneering Group. Companies like Archos have enjoyed success with devices that let users record video directly into them, he noted.

The PM70 ($549) runs the second version of Microsoft's Portable Media Center operating system and has a 4.3-inch wide-screen display. Besides being able to record video, it has a video-out capability so users can hook it up to a television. The JM53 ($299) has an 8GB hard drive; and the FM30 ($199) has 1GB of flash memory.

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