 "Really enjoying the Netflix streaming" | 2009-11-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: AD5K6NECAW955 |
I bought this player for its Netflix and home media video streaming. I have it connected to my 42" standard def plasma TV that I'd been using mostly to watch DVDs and some HD OTA programming I capture on a PC. Before buying the player, playback of that OTA programming was a hassle because it involved attaching my laptop to my TV and fiddling with resolution setting each time I want to watch something. I'd occasionally watch Netflix streaming on my laptop, either connected to that TV or just on my 22" desktop LCD monitor, but had been unimpressed with it (probably because because it's hard for streaming to look good sitting 1.5' away from a 1920x1200 resolution screen which is going to expose every digitization artifact).
I'm really liking the player and its Netflix support. I'd been plowing my way through "Lost" on Netflix rental disks and now I'm watching them streaming at an even faster rate. The picture quality (now 8' away from that plasma TV) is generally excellent, although Netflix will occasionally drop the resolution down from (what they call) "HD" to something noticeably worse. I have a Verizon FiOS connection, so it's unlikely that the bandwidth limitation is at my end, but who knows how many places between my house and the Netflix servers might be getting bogged down. (Welcome to the cloud.) At the lower bandwidth, pretty serious digitization artifacts show up in fast-moving scenes. This is almost certainly due to the limitations of the data, not the player itself. It'd be nice if there were some sort of button that allowed me to say "Hey, maybe that bandwidth problem was transient; please try to go to HD again".
I didn't know this before I bought the player, but wasn't surprised to find out that it also can play back audio files off my PC, which is convenient. If it also had support for Pandora and Internet streaming (I listen to various actual radio stations via Shoutcast and work and in another room at home using the Logitech Squeezebox Boom), I'd be really happy. Maybe eventually it will. Hulu support would be great too, but I haven't heard of any devices that do that yet.
I haven't actually put a Bluray disk in the player yet and don't expect I will for some time (no point really, since it's connected to an SD TV). It plays regular DVDs fine though.
The one serious gripe I have with the player is that when playing back video files from my PC, there's no fast-forward capability. This means I must run a time-consuming commercial scan and remove package over my recorded video files before watching them. |
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 "Really enjoying this LG Blu-Ray Player" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: ADKGE078JK8K7 |
Bought an LG 55" LED TV.
Had a very good Sony "upconverting" DVD player.
Had absolutely no plans to buy Blu-Ray.
HOWEVER, PBS broadcast the truly exceptional full screen HD version of the Walt Disney Concert Hall LA Philharmonic, and the next day I was ordering this Blu-Ray player from Amazon.
(Link to story about LA Philharmonic concert! [...])
I've no real comparison to other Blu-Ray players. This one had excellent top reviews, and CAN share a controller with the new TV.
I have seen some "artifacting." That might be from the Blu-Ray compression, or the player, or the TV. Who knows? Only the most exasperating critic would object. Blu-Ray movies play with exceptional clarity. I think it is POSSIBLE that the up-conversion of standard DVDs may be better than the 18 month old Sony I gave to daughter, but, boy, that would be hard to say with certainty without some kind of video tests. If you have a library of standard DVDs, this player will do very well by them as it upconverts to 1080p.
My only disappointment is the wireless streaming. The player is Wireless N. My household is Mac, Apple Airport Extreme. I have an AppleTV which works very, very well on Wireless N set at the 5ghz feed.
The LG player will not run at 5ghz. So I had to set the Airport Extreme (temporarily) at 2.4ghz. Then I had to take down the password to mate the wireless signal to the LG player. When I did that, they found each other, and the result was inadequate.
I tried streaming a NetFlix instant movie over the 2.4ghz Wireless, and it looked like really, really bad YouTube, and the Player gave me a message that I had a really slow internet connection.
Maybe really slow for Korea, but I have the fastest cable internet (25 Mbps) our local provider offers. So the message about "slow" was really about the 2.4 ghz Wireless.
Started over with an ethernet cable dragged to the Blu-Ray Player, with much, much better results.
I'm happy with this player, and think it should definitely be on your "short list." |
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| "Great Player" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A31CTEZLFKZDRS |
This was my first Blu-Ray player and I am real impressed. The picture quality is much, much better than regular DVD and it was very easy to set up. It has wireless network (802.11n) built in and it was easy to set up.
Great Blu-Ray Player!!! |
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| "Delivers as promised" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1SXGFN325WN49 |
| Ordered my LG BD390 from Amazon.com and received it in 3 days. Setup was simple as I opted to use HDMI and connected to my LG 60PG60 Plasma Flat Screen. Decided to try the wireless to my uverse Home Gateway. I was astonished how easy the whole setup was. Connected to Netflix and have been streaming movies ever since. This product is a must buy in my opinion. |
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| "Great Wireless Bluray" | 2009-11-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2I25UD71DZGNC |
| Just awesome! Works great on my wireless network for streaming Netflix. No compatability issues with my home theater either! |
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| "Worth every penny!" | 2009-11-11 |
| - Reviewed By User: A8XDU1X2PIEGM |
I did a lot of research before I bought this product, my first blu-ray player. I read all the reviews online, watched the video ratings on CNET, and checked out dozens of different vendors. It was woth the effort! Great picture, both on Blu-ray but also on upscaling regular dvds. I am quite impressed with the picture quality,
Some reviewers were disappointed with the loading speed for blu-ray discs, but this is a non-isue for me. We're talking seconds, and so any delay is miniscule.
What really knocked me out was the ability to connect to streaming media, such as YouTube and Netflix. I hadn't even considered such an option when I started my research, but I'm glad I opted for this unit. My wireless router is upstairs and on the other end of the house from my player, but I've had no connection issues. Setting up the portal was a cinch, even for a Luddite like myself, and the picture quality on netflix has been superb.
Amazon was cheapest by far, and the unit came in record time with no issues. I'm sure the price has dropped since I bought this unit, but don't wait for a better price -buy this and you won't be disappointed. |
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