LG BD390 Reviews, Best Prices, Compare
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LG BD390 Reviews, Best Prices, Compare.
Product: LG BD390 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
I have to say that I'm impressed with this unit. The wait times are not too unpleasant at all, and as others have said, the describe quality is gracious. Standard DVD upconversion is genuine. There are a few minor issues that I've found, which I'll glean to.
Setup out of the box was expeditiously and simple. I plugged it in and location a few audio options, video needed no adjustment from the defaults.
The network setup wasn't too awful, but I did have some issues with encryption. I also purchased a modern wireless router (the Netgear RangeMax WNDR3300 Wireless-N Router) to replace the near-decade-old Linksys I have. I tried two different encryption types, and both both times the player could connect after entering the key, but refused to score an IP address. Disabling encryption on the router caused the player to salvage an IP address quick, and setup was complete. Currently I'm running without encryption but with MAC address filtering. I'm okay with that, but I might go help and try encryption again now that I've downloaded a firmware update for the router. Other reviews set no problems setting up with encryption, so the plight might be specific to my setup.
Netflix functionality took a few seconds to plot up. Anything in your "Perceive Instantly" queue is displayed in the Netflix menu and you can rate any of them from the player. Unfortunately, at this time there is no ability to browse or search for anything that's not already in your queue. With the fair connection, the higher quality video is quite beneficial - as trustworthy or slightly better than standard definition cable. At this point, audio doesn't acquire any better than stereo, and while it's not crystal certain, it's not terrible. Hopefully some modern features will be added in future firmware updates.
The YouTube player is nice too. This supports searches, "Top Rated", "Most Viewed", "Unique Videos", etc. It's fun to play around with, and I'm elated the feature exists on this player, even if the novelty might wear off a small over time.
I did a firmware update this morning (it wasn't available yesterday), and now there is a modern menu item for CinemaNow. I haven't messed with it noteworthy, but apparently you can "rent" a movie for around $3.99 or "retract" a movie for $15-$20. There's a part for TV, but it merely says "Coming Soon". I don't stare the point in this really, since Netflix covers the rentals (for grand cheaper), and the movies seems to be the same heed as going out and buying the DVD. I'd rather have the DVD than an over-compressed soft copy for the same note.
I can't acquire the Media Server stuff to work at all [fixed! -- behold updates below]. So far, I've dedicated about 6 or 7 hours to getting this to work. None of the other reviews have mentioned a jam with this, so I guess it must be me. I installed the included Nero MediaHome 4 Essentials software, and added a directory to section. I started the server shapely, but the player constantly tells me "No Server Found". I have tried two different wireless routers and an infinite number of settings adjustments. My firewalls are off. I objective can't earn a rupture. As a software engineer with a degree in the field, you can bet that it's resplendent frustrating for this to beat me. I'll update the review if and when I win it working. Others have not had the same quandary as me, though. So I imagine that this is NOT a plight with the player.
There are also a number of diminutive features related to the playing of DVD's and BD's that I like. The player remembers each movie's last dwelling when it was stopped and/or removed. So the next time you commence up that movie, it will resume where you left off.
The video settings are reasonably full-featured as well. Brightness, Difference, etc. are all adjustable, and you can adjust colors manually (honest the reds, unbiased the yellows, etc.) Upconverted DVD's have a couple of NR options, and there's an auto-contrast feature which seems to work lovely well. There's also a zoom feature that let's you zoom in on a piece of the conceal to procure a closer search for. That's cold.
Overall, this player was definitely worth the money for me. I'm looking forward to the day when I can acquire the media server working, but even without that feature, I admire this player. It's worth every cent. Substantial video, stout audio, and instant Netflix that doesn't involve me using composite cables to mirror my laptop cover to the TV. Progress!
---------------- Update 05/27/2009 ------------------
Now I seem to be having an additional quandary. I tried two DVD's that have an alternate picture-in-picture track that can be enabled. They pop up with a dinky video in the corner of the camouflage every so often when the option is turned on (like a video commentary track) . I can't secure either of them to play with sound. The video shows up but you can't hear anything. There is no mention of this in the manual, and nothing that I can come by online about it. One person with the same spot (but a different player) said that their player had a "Secondary Audio" option that was turned off by default, and turning it on fixed the train. This player does not have that option. None of the standard audio tracks hold the PIP audio. I've fair about given up. If someone can swear me how to fix this, I'd be grateful. Otherwise I'd knock this down to three stars until it's fixed in firmware. For reference, the two Blu-Ray discs I'm talking about are Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder and Groundhog Day.
---------------- Update 06/05/2009 ------------------
Following the recommendation of xoco (stare Comments), I changed the audio from Valuable Pass-Through to DTS Re-Encode. This fixes the PIP audio track quandary. I'm blissful with that, although I'm not positive if I have lost anything by making the switch.
---------------- Update 08/25/2009 ------------------
SUCCESS!! Finally, I can inspect my PC as a media server. Whatever issues I had were fixed with the latest firmware download (BD.8.08.498.B) . As soon as I finished the download and rebooted the player, my PC was visible in the My Media fraction. Nero MediaHome 4 calm does not seem to work, but the standard sharing built into Vista works attractive. That's the (very) wonderful news. The abominable news? I immediately shared one of my video directories to try it out. I tried a couple of videos that I had scaled down to 720p to achieve on Flickr, and even scaled down they were horribly choppy and tiring,. I may need to open messing with router settings again to peer if I can fix this. Currently, the streamed videos are completely unwatchable.
Additionally, one of the previous firmware updates added high definition attend for Netflix streaming. And they seem to have fixed an say where the video quality was always lower than it should have been, given the accelerate of the connection. With a 22MBps connection, I was previously getting generally 50-75% "bars" on the quality scale. Now I'm usually getting 100% (HD), and sometimes one or two steps down from that when I'm using at peak times. It's a sizable improvement. And the HD quality is better than I could have imagined for streaming video.
And I mean, 'so far.' This is my third BD player, since my last two did not originate it past one month. My first was a SONY BDP S350. After a month, it broke down (gawk my review on that player's Amazon page) . I figured, it happens. I traded that player in for a Samsung P3600, based on rave reviews (including those of the Best Rob sales people) . The Samsung did not last 24 hours! (again, glance my review on that player's Amazon page) . Now I started getting frustrated.
After spending enough (draw too great) time on-line looking at reviews of several players on various sites, I decided to go for the LG BD390. Sadly, the Best Acquire by me said it did not have this latest model. I was happily surprised to glean out, when I got to the store to bring in my Samsung player, that they DID have the 390! I snatched the last box they had!
While this may all change in time (I determined hope not), based on my past BD experience, so far this player is Astounding. Where do I open...
The owner's manual: the easiest to understand, best written I have seen in a long time.
The remote: flawless. The Sony one was too elephantine. The Samsung one did not acknowledge unless you pressed each button several times, completely directed at the player. The LG remote responds swiftly and is simple and to the point. It even responds when not aimed directly on the player's face!
Picture quality: No complaints either from the Sony, Samsung or LG. All were/are glorious, using an HDMI cable on my 42 dart SONY WEGA. The LG makes connections and settings considerable easier to understand than the other two brands I mention. Of course, this being my third player, I can do the connections and settings almost in my sleep by now!
BD experience: So far the discs I have watched all played with no issues. Loading time is lightning hasten. While I query the other shoe to descend, based on people's reviews of honest about every BD player out there, so far it has not. Considering my Samsung player died 24 hours after I bought it, I am elated that this player actually turns on composed!
Sound: While the three are comparable, the LG's sound output is not only glowing, but it is also EASY to status up. I employ a DTS/Dolby Surround 5.1 receiver and hook it up with an optical cable. Setting the player for it was easy. The Samsung, on the other hand, spoke a language of its absorb and I had to do some hit or miss until I got it to work with the receiver. LG gets the thumbs up.
The eye of the player: flawless and shimmering. The player is a itsy-bitsy great, so it has its have shelf on the entertainment module...but it almost deserves it. The buttons are on the front of the player (imagine that! Samsung's are useless ON THE TOP!), except for the ON/OFF and EJECT buttons, which are on the front/top. Level-headed accessible from the front.
Network Connectivity: OK, so I may not be a lot of befriend here. The other two players were a nightmare to residence up, and the Samsung's wireless was almost useless (gape everyone's review on this) . However, I spend a wireless bridge anyway, so I simply crooked that up to the LG player's ethernet input port and, within a itsy-bitsy, had it all space up and running smoothly. The player was contented and so was I.
The LG player needed one update, but I do not recognize this as a abominable thing (I wish the darn Samsung would have had several!) as updates can --usually, though not always--improve your player's performance. The Sony had 9 updates when I got it! (now THAT was not a pleasant thing) .
Netflix works broad so far. Some people have complained that after an hour or so the movies will not stream any longer, or halt and then restart. This is, in my belief, an internet residence up say, not the player, and LG even tells you that. They recommend a wired connection for streaming, so we can't blame them. I outmoded to examine Netflix movies streamed wireless on my MACBOOK PRO and, every so often, that would happen. Wireless connectivity is not flawless. On the upside, Netflix let's you commence the film from where you last stopped, or from the beginning. So, if the first stream should fail, try, try again! So far I have not had to. Only once, after streaming on Netflix, the player froze and I could not proceed around the Netflix menu. I had to force shut off the unit. The player reset itself and worked radiant after that.
Netflix also keeps the movie on your queue until you manually delete it, which is grand. It also saves the station you were watching in case you have to finish the movie. Also, while not everyone likes it, I bask in having control of my Netflix queue from my computer, not the player. I can then sit in front of my TV and have all the choices I have made earlier correct there before me.
The LG does not offer PANDORA (as of yet, but I have a feeling it is coming), but it does offer YouTUBE and CinemaNow. The latter I accumulate useless when one has Netflix. YouTube is a personal thing. I do not care for it (not to mention the YouTube video quality is usually abominable on a computer camouflage, let alone on a 42 creep hide) .
So, while I may be missing some other grand things about this player, proper now I am delighted for one thing: IT WORKS! I may need to update this review at a later time but, for now, I can say this is the BEST BD player I have owned thus far. It works, it plays the discs, it streams Netflix and seems overjoyed doing it all. I can also say that, if it should ever die on me, I will probably pick up another one of the same. I cannot say the same for the SONY or the SAMSUNG.
UPDATE:
Nearly three months later, the player is flawless. Only two updates were encountered in that time. It has played EVERY disc (DVD, Blue Ray, DVD+R, DVD-R) with no issues at all. None. All played stout. The Netflix streaming has also been immense (and for the MAC users who have been complaining, I am a MAC user too, I honest do not exercise Airport to connect) . Considering what I save up with from the other two brands of BD Players, I would replace this one with another LG anytime! My ONLY pet peeve: the player will shut itself off after a few minutes of inactivity and there does not seem to be any scheme to bypass this. That's all. Not awful I'd say!
Bottom line, this is simply the best network Blu-ray player on the market. Blu-ray playback, flawless. Streaming Netflix via wireless internet connection, flawless. Any complaints are most likely user error or due to monotonous internet connection bustle, so I have an necessary bit of hiss to potential buyers. HD Netflix requires an internet data rate of ~8mbps. Entry level cable or DSL data rates are 5 and 3 mbps respectively. You will need to upgrade (usually costs $5-$10 per month) to stream HD Netflix. Cable users will be able to recognize SD no dilemma at ~5mbps but SD requires about 3.5 mbps minimum, so entry level DSL users will have some problems streaming SD Netflix. Some DSL service is only 1.5mbps which is well, laughable.
One more note: I am a Mac user and I can connect the BD390 to the internet and hurry all the available applications advertised impartial splendid. The only thing you can't do is route iTunes directly from your computer to your TV via the BD390, which you don't really need if you consume Netflix. Not a deal breaker.
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