LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

• Blu-Ray Disc player with BD Live and BonusView
• Netflix instant streaming ready with Netflix subscription
• Full HD 1080p output via HDMI with Cinema mode at 24 or 60 frames per second
• Superior audio performance with 7.1 channels with Dolby Digital Plus & TrueHD & dts-HD
• LG Simplink connectivity of other LG products using HDMI connection

I just received my player a few days ago, so there are definitely some out there in the market. So far, I am very impressed. Netflix setup is easy, and the quality of the streaming video is better than I expected.

Blu-Ray and standard DVD's play great.

My only nickpick so far is that standard 4x3 DVD's are stretched to fill my 16x9 screen, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn that off. (Netflix 4x3 content is correctly displayed with sidebars.) Hopefully they'll fix this with a firmware update. Oh, and firmware updates are pretty much automatic, directly through the internet.

Update 11/23/08: This weekend, the player downloaded a firmware update. The aspect ratio problem described in the previous paragraph has been fixed!!!

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January 19, 2009 addendum -I bought this the first week of November, and I truly love it. However, in the past two weeks (January 2009), the unit started having intermittent trouble connecting via the Internet to Netflix. Finally last night, it failed to find the network connection at all. Reinitialized the unit, connected it to a new cable and known-good ethernet plug to no avail. Now not only is the unit not finding the Internet, but Network Magic is no longer finding the unit. So I called LG's tech support, which was adequate and after a little "did you buy it from an authorized dealer" (the answer was "yes" if you bought it through Amazon -but you have to have the dealer's zip code for LG to verify it, so SAVE YOUR BOXES -that's where I had to find it). I got an RME, which disappoints me. I know things fail but if it had failed two weeks later, it would have been OUT OF WARRANTY, so I highly recommend you consider buy the extended warranty on this item through Amazon. I would probably change my rating from 5 to 4 stars based on this, but "stuff happens."

This is a joy and will change your viewing habits when it's working though. The glossy black unit has a thin and elegant, understated look that should not clash with other equipment.

Setup is simple and for me required 3 cables -the power cable, the HDMI cable, and an ethernet (CAT-6) cable to my network. This unit will not work with wireless networks, as far as I know, because the streaming video quality would suffer on a large screen TV. You should also have a USB thumb drive of 1GB or over capacity for the system to download enhanced DVD content from the internet. Plug the thumb drive into the front panel (there is a hard to see door with a latch that will flick down with a fingernail) after the unit does its self-test and upgrades its firmware.

Blu ray picture quality seems quite good. As a medium, the improvement in picture from a DVD is quite pronounced. Even fast action sequences are crisp and smooth, with no artifacts on any disc I've played. The improvement in audio sound is more subtle -on most action movies, I haven't noticed it. I will await some opera or concert blu rays to make a judgment.

However, I compared regular DVD pictures to my Denon DVD player that cost about 3 times the price of the BD300, and the blacks were a little more defined on the Denon than the LG. On the whole, it plays DVDs that I use for comparison (The 5th Element, Kingdom of Heaven, Sin City) in an acceptable way, and the picture is quite crisp.

This blu ray picture loads pretty fast -about 20-40 seconds, so that is a real improvement over the earlier blu ray generation, and the remote is satisfactory if difficult to read in low light. This would be the only complaint in my book.

When you turn on the unit, and it's hooked into your ethernet network (no wireless), it automatically uprgrades its firmware and software first -once again, this was seamless and only took a couple of minutes.

Now, what makes this unit so special is the NetFlix features, which having set up your account online, you activate on the unit from a 4-character code which you input into your Netflix Account via your PC. You must select "instant view" movies from your Netflix Account on the PC before they will show up as available on the BD300. Activating blu ray discs on your Netflix account will cost you an addition $1 per month.

Having everything set up, you can select the streaming to search for your Netflix Instant View features. You select the feature, and then it gives you a choice of starting them where you left off (if you were interrupted) or from the beginning. You can also rate the feature from your BD300 or remove it from your Netflix Queue. The quality of video you will see appears in the new firmware on a fuel gauge that at its highest setting displays "HD" for high definition video. About 10% of the programming appears to be HD so far, with television series leading the way. The quality I receive over my DSL Cat-6 gigabit switched network about 10% of the time is about the same as blu ray -very high indeed. All streamed movies seem to be stereo audio only, and no subtitles are available. About 75% on the gauge is the equivalent of good DVD picture and I get that about 60% of the time. One is not concious of any tradeoffs in picture quality. A half-gauge is acceptable for all anime and many movies where there is not a lot of fast action or dark scenes, but you notice a loss of detail in those circumstances. The background can be a little blocky, but the picture will look about like regular definition TV viewed on a high-def device. Less than half-gauget has a very blocky background and darks are pixelated and un-defined. If I get less than half-gauge, I stop the movie and hit replay, and then we see if the connection speed increases. If it does, I stick with the movie. If not, I wait until another time.

You will really enjoy a Netflix subscription much, much more with this unit.

December 23 Addendum -after around seven weeks, we are loving this more and more. The regular firmware/software updates online have made this better and better. There is a fuel gauge display now on quality, and we are receiving some movies in true HD quality (I can't say for sure the limit is on the movies so offered or on the network speed), but the true HD streaming of Netflix Instant movies is awesome. I also forgot to note that it has an effective shifting screensaver that will prevent burn-in on succeptible plasma displays. It just keeps getting better and better. Thank you, LG, and especially thank you, Netflix.

Read Best Reviews of LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Here

. The player itself is awesome, as it is really easy to setup and it has a great picture; thou the disc load time is a little long as with all Blu-ray players.

. But the major flaw is that the player itself has very minimal internal memory, according to LG's customer service it is barely enough to stream Netflix and from my experience this is only when your internet connection is fast and flawless. As I noticed when you have a connection glitch the quality of the movie you are streaming is affected as the picture is diminished and the audio can even get off; thou otherwise I was very impressed with the picture as it was equal to or better than my HD cable channels.

. This brings me to my warning that without any memory, to speak of, you are not able to use the BD Live functions which the player is supposedly equipped for. I could not figure out why I was unable to use it on any of my Blu-ray discs (that offered it) so I called LG's tech support. After about 30 minutes the tech told me that you had to have your own USB Drive with a minimum of 1 GB storage in order to use this function as the player itself is not fully equipped for it. This would not really be an issue, EXCEPT the only usb drive is located on the front of the player so there goes the sleek design that you pay all the money for as you would have the drive sticking out and completely visible at all times (or you would have to go through the hassle of plugging it in every time you wanted to use it).

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My wife and I got in the habit of using netflix's streaming service. I just got tired of hooking up my laptop to the plasma everytime we wanted to stream. Then I saw this on LG on the netflix website. It seemed like the perfect solution as I was looking for a blu-ray player for the living room anyway. And it was!! I have now owned it for 4 weeks.

Love the easy setup. It took literally 5-10 minutes before it was hooked up and streaming netflix. The blu-ray player is exceptional. I am comparing it with my PS3 which I love as well and it is as fast if not faster at loading blu-ray discs. The quality of dvd's is truly exceptional via the hdmi. The remote control is easy to useeven my wife who is technically challenged loves it and uses it frequently with no issues. The streaming quality is goodlooks like really good SD signal, but it is fine for watching and really convenient. Once you add shows or movies to your watch it now queue online they will show up on the LG BD300 when you access the netflix from "home." The setup for the streaming involves hooking up a ethernet cable to the back of the player and putting in a code from your pc where the player tells you to (it gives you simple directions in the set up including the web address to get the code). Point being they have made it real easy for just about anyone to hook up and use this baby.

The only cons I can think of is it has no wireless solution and there are no real attachment cables worth anything in the box. You will need your own hdmi cable, ethernet and whatever else you need for your system. But those are minor as the pricing is still pretyy competitive for what the player does and is does it all very well.

I bought the LG BD-300 about a month ago from Circuit City for $349. I can't say enough about the machine. I LOVE IT! Let me tell you about the features.

First, the blue-ray player is first class. It has a very short start-up time. I have heard that other "cheaper" players can take several minutes to startup. I use a HDMI cable to connect to my 42" LCD HDTV. The picture is ultraclear. To me it seems better than the HD picture from DirecTV (and that is saying a lot). The blue-ray discs play flawlessly and easily. I used the BD-Live feature once and it was fun. Not all movies have this feature.

Then I tried my old DVDs to see how they look and I was very impressed. They seem to be almost HD in clarity. The manual says that the DVD clarity is only enhanced using the HDMI cable, so be aware of that. I bought a $25 HDMI switch on Amazon to go between my DirecTV and the BD-300. It works fine. Another option is to buy a newer surround sound receiver that has a HDMI switch built in so you switch audio and video together. This is the best way to go if you have the bucks to do it.

Now the fun part. I've had Netflix for a long time and I've watched many movies on my little computer screen. Not the best experience for movie watching. This feature will definitely change the way you use your TV. If you are new to Netflix you must select your movies online first and put them in your "instant" queue. Once you have selected some movies to watch you can choose one of those to view on your TV. Some people are upset about not being able to browse any movie from Netflix on the BD-300. But I already had movies set-up in my instant queue and I was ready to go. I have about 40 movies to choose from at any given time. Choose a variety to fit a mood you might be in. One thing that is disappointing the player does not have WiFi. I hard-wired the BD-300 to the router. This might be the best way to go in the long run because the faster the connection the better the video quality. Big difference between the highest and the second highest quality setting. This is selected automatically by the BD-300 and it depends on the quality of your broadband connection. If you have a slow DSL connection you may be disappointed.

A LITTLE ADVICE THAT CAN SAVE YOU TIME. IF YOUR ROUTER IS HAVING TROUBLE FINDING THE BLUE-RAY PLAYER -REBOOT THE ROUTER WITH THE BD-300 ON AND RUNNING. I DID THIS AND IT WORKED. I READ THIS IN A REVIEW HERE, THANKS AMAZON.COM

Audio is great! I use a fiber-optic cable to connect between the BD-300 and my receiver. It features surround sound even using the Netflix streaming. This was a surprise because there was a review here that said the BD-300 had only stereo capability. Not True!

In short, I love it and recommend it.