- Enjoy 3D Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p
- Smart TV enables an easy way to access limitless content, thousands of movies, customizable apps, videos all organized in a simple to use interface
- Integrated Wi-Fi Connectivity allows you take advantage of Smart TV from any available Wi-Fi connection
- Standard DVD Up-Scaling delivers exceptional image quality from standard DVDs with 1080p up scaling via HDMI output. HDMI Cable is NOT included, 1 year parts and 90 days labor
- Dolby Digital Plus lets you experience all of the enveloping surround sound that Blu-ray Disc, high-definition (HD) broadcast, and streamed and downloaded media make possible, Region (DVD: 1, Blu-ray: A)
- Smart TV enables an easy way to access limitless content, thousands of movies, customizable apps, videos and browse the web all organized in a simple to use interface
Chose this model because it had streaming, DLNA, and wireless built-in (you don't need a separate dongle). I have not been disappointed in any of its functions. Wireless connectivity was a breeze setup was straightforward and this model accepts a 32-character WPA2 security key (unlike previous LG TVs and Blu-ray player models which were limited to 18-20 characters, as I discovered when I bought a wireless dongle for our TV!). The wireless connection seems to be much more stable than with the other wireless devices we have. I occasionally have to turn off and on again to get a connection on startup, but this is unsurprising given how flaky our router is ... :-)
Blu-ray playback is really good. Our first Blu-ray disc looked grainy and I was concerned until I read various forum discussions that criticized this movie transfer. Many Blu-ray movies are apparently intentionally grainy because this duplicates the "film" experience that the director intended. You can use the movie mode on your TV to reduce graininess as this lowers the sharpness setting. Our second Blu-ray disc was really smooth and detailed, as were most of the other discs. Playback resolution is excellent, you can see every pore on someone's face and the depth of field is amazing. There were no stutters, freezes or glitches with any of the discs we have played. DVD upscaling is also good I decided it is not worth replacing any DVDs with Blu-ray discs as the upscaled playback in 1080p looks just as good as Blu-ray playback.
Wireless streaming from Netflix was absolutely painless, once I worked out that the "Netflix ESN" that the player provides in the network setup menu is NOT the code that you need to use for Netflix connection setup. You need to select the LG Premium menu icon which accesses premium streaming services, select Netflix and get the connection code from the setup menu there. Enter the code once on the Netflix website ("Activate a Netflix ready device" in your account settings) and Netflix streaming works automatically after that. Hopefully my experience will save other people hours of trying to connect with the wrong code! Netflix streaming is excellent quality, much better than broadcast TV for most shows. The player seems to stream seamlessly from Netflix with almost no stutters or degraded resolution issues, even for HD movies. The only issues I have seen are when my internet connection is congested (Comcast net access is pretty bad on Friday evenings and Saturdays in my area). I am impressed. [UPDATE: Netflix changed the registration procedure, so that you go into Netflix in the Premium menu option, then enter your login details. The player remembers this login, so you only have to enter this once. I am leaving the previous information up, as you may have to still register the device not sure as mine is already registered!]
A recent firmware update (April 2011) added Amazon Video on Demand, which also works great! It is really cool to have these services. The device also offers Vudu, Pandora, etc. but I haven't used those. Firmware updates are easy, although these do take around 5-10 minutes to load via wireless connection you need to keep your nerve and not turn off the player, thinking nothing is happening. Eventually, you get a message saying that the download has loaded and the player turns off and on again. If the download fails (which did happen once), the device is not affected (good design).
[UPDATE: there seem to be two sorts of update firmware updates seem to upgrade the disc playing features; software updates seem to upgrade the Internet access software, for premium services such as Netflix, Hulu+, or Amazon VoD. Don't blame LG for clunky interfaces on these services, as they just use the software supplied by Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. The YouTube interface is *really* annoying difficult to locate specific videos and it plays the current, teeth-grindingly irritating video-of-the-day all the time you are trying to find what you want. But that is Google's fault, not LG's.]
I was really impressed by how painless it was to set up media streaming from a PC using DLNA. A copy of Nero Home Media Server essentials was supplied on CD I installed this, the player automatically detected my PC and presented me with a list of files I could play from the media folder. This was *so* easy! DLNA file-streaming has worked brilliantly: I only experienced problems with one, huge (10 GB) home movie file that stuttered and stopped. Then I discovered the USB connection on the right-front panel of the player. I had been so taken with all of the streaming solutions that I overlooked the easiest way to play media files, which is from an external hard drive or flash drive! The BD670 played the huge file from an external hard drive with no problems. Since then, the player has played everything I have thrown at it: AVI and MKV, etc. using lots of different codecs. With 3 firmware updates in the month that I have owned it, I have a lot of confidence that it is being updated constantly to play all of the latest disc and file formats. So I am a very happy bunny indeed!
UPDATE: Had this for over a year and I still LOVE it. This is the most fun I have ever had with video services. The quality of Blu-Ray disc and DVD playback is stunning. The streaming video services are alone worth the price of the player. I don't for a minute regret purchasing the BD-670. I uploaded two photos of the Internet entertainment services that you can access from this player. See the customer photos at the top of the item page to see what services are available as of April 2012.
UPDATE2: There is a known bug with the software just occasionally, if you play a (DVD or BluRay) disc and then attempt to stream a video from Netflix, the Netflix player will return an error message "We're sorry, but we cannot play this video just now" (or words to that effect). Talking to LG support, there seems to be a fix for this, but LG have not yet released the software update. You need to unplug the player for 30 seconds, then plug it back in. The player will reboot and this will fix the problem.
Buy LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Now
I bought this player a month ago and wanted to wait and get some ample use time with it before I left a review. The LG BD670 is my second standalone blu-ray player, where my first was the LG BD390 (2009 model). (It also really says something when in 2009 I paid $330 for the BD390, yet only 2 years later pay only $154 for the BD670.) I decided to go with LG again because of my experience with past performance and they give all the features I want. As with most blu-ray players like this one firmware updates are a must, so as soon as I got the player connected to my network (wireless) I got it updated to the latest firmware. So far I am pretty impressed with most, but not all aspects of this player. There are 3 main viewing methods I use to watch videos with this player: discs (30%), USB (30%) and streaming/wireless (40%). I'll give detailed reviews of these since they're what I use.* DISCS: With both the ability to stream AND watch video files via the USB port (as with the 390) I don't watch as many discs as I use to. There are now of course 2 types of video discs, DVD and blu-ray. What some people don't understand is that DVD and blu-ray are 2 completely different formats, each with there own disc format. The only thing that they have in common (besides playing A/V streams) is that they both have the same SIZE disc.
Blu-rays: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** When I first watched a blu-ray on my BD390 paired with my (then new) Vizio 42" 1080p 120Hz HDTV I definitely saw the improvement over DVD with a much sharper, clearer picture with much more detail. In fact it sometimes sucks to have that much detail for some of the older/low budget movies that I have on blu-ray because it allows you to see just how bad some of the special effects were (wires, etc.)! I thought the picture couldn't get any better on my Vizio because I thought that what the BD390 was giving it was as good as what the TV could produce. Well, when I watched some of my blu-rays on the same TV with the BD670...it turned out I was wrong! This player gives noticeable improvement when it comes to playing blu-rays when compared to the BD390. The picture IS actually even sharper/clearer and the colors are more vibrant; not in any grand, vast improvement kind of way, but it is noticeable. I've played about a dozen or so blu-rays on it thus far, but it's been able to play them all without any problems whatsoever...say for one title (so far). "Daybreakers". I know this title plays just fine because the disc would play in the 390. When I put this disc in to play in the 670, it starts to load up the main menu with its movie icon/progress bar, but then stops about 3/4 of the way through. However the sound will continue to play for the trailers with just a small patch of the video on the screen showing beside half of the logo. I "next track" all of the trailers to try and get to the menu (pressing the "disc menu" button only gives me the "circle cross" icon telling me it can't do that), but once I'm past all the trailers and the menu is suppose to load up...nothing. It just sits there and doesn't load up anything. I called LG to make them aware of this problem and the woman I talked to said she would pass along this info to their firmware dept. and look into fixing the problem. (Who knows how long that might take though?!) Hopefully this one title is a rarity, but it makes me wonder out of the over 100 titles on blu-ray I do own and have yet to play on this machine, how many of those might encounter this same kind of problem?
DVD's: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** Surprisingly, this unit DOES have a slight problem when it comes to playing DVD's! You think the one thing they could get right for this player is to play DVD's with no problems whatsoever, but sadly no. The audio/video plays fine, but every chapter change there is a half-second skip in the play (more for the audio than the video). It's barely noticeable, but it IS noticeable. It's not enough to really bother me, but I can understand other people being bothered by it. If it happened more often in the play, then it would probably get on my nerves more. This is a problem that LG is already aware of and says is working to fix in a future firmware update, but still I contacted them via email about this just to add my complaint to the list. Other than that there is no other problems I've experienced. The audio/video quality is great and every single DVD loads up and plays, even some region 0/PAL DVD's I got from Australia.
* USB: This is the main reason I bought and have stuck with the LG model blu-ray players. I have plenty of USB flash drives, not to mention external HD's where I have all my media files backed up on, other things I download from various sources. I just transfer them to a flash drive and plug it into the port and start watching. This player is a bit different from the 390 in that the USB, not the disc source is the main source it defaults to. I can have a disc already loaded in the unit when I turn it on, yet if you have a USB drive plugged in, it will ask if you want to play something from that first instead of loading up the disc. So far, it has played every single video file/format (.mkv, .mpeg, .avi, .mp4, .m4v) I've thrown at it with no problems at all. I LOVE this ability.
* Streaming/Wireless: Not only does this unit have the USB port up front to play video/music/picture files off of external drives, but with the wireless it has the ability to use DLNA to stream media from your computer (which I haven't messed with yet.) This unit has dual-band wireless, meaning it uses both 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz bands. This is especially useful for those who have a dual-band router (such as myself), so there is less chance of a dropped connection or decrease in connection speed. Mostly all of the streaming I do with the 670 is from LG's Premium service, i.e. Netflix, Pandora, etc. This is definitely where the 670 has improved over the 390 with a lot more services and better interfaces. The interface menu for Netflix has VASTLY improved from the 390 with more choices to look up movies and easier navigation of the "instant queue". The only other Premium service I've used so far is Pandora which is nice too. I have yet to try out any of the other services, and don't plan to for the foreseeable future. I will note that when I first did the firmware update (no problems) then loaded up the Premium service, it started to do an update for the program, but said it failed and just loaded up Premium as normal. The second time I loaded it up it attempted the update again and was successful. All of the movies I've streamed have played fine with no dropped connections/rebuffering and the quality has been at least DVD or better.
Overall, for the time being, I'm satisfied with this player; but only with the understanding that the problems it has will be fixed in future firmware update(s). As these blu-ray players get more and more complex with all the different features they have, it also means there's more chance for various and unforeseen bugs like the ones this player still suffers from will pop-up, hence the need for the firmware updates. I know a number of people believe that they should be like the old DVD players and just work straight out of the box and I wish they did too. In a perfect world they would, but this is far from a perfect world isn't it? These players are becoming more and more like computers, various hardware and software meant to work together to perform certain tasks without errors or conflicts. However ANYONE with a computer knows that it's not that easy. I modify/upgrade hardware and some programs (software) on my system all the time and sometimes these changes cause conflicts. A change in hardware, even with the latest drivers can cause unforeseen problems with other hardware or software. A new update to a driver can cause the hardware it's suppose to improve to work less efficiently or program update can cause conflicts with other software. Most of the time this doesn't happen or can be easily resolved, but sometimes it does. This is the same for these new players. A firmware update meant to fix one issue can cause another. The companies that manufacture these players can only do so much beta-testing before they have to release them into the real world. That is when we, the consumer whom these devices are intended for, put them through their real world paces that the manufacturer simply can't do. There are so many variations (different DVD's, blu-rays, vidoe files, streaming, etc.) made by different studios and other companies that all use various manufacturing/specification standards that it would be virtually impossible for the manufacturers to try and test them all on these players, when they themselves have their own standards and specifications. Read reviews for any other blu-ray player out there right now and I defy you to find one single player that has no complaints against it. I'm not trying to defend this players shortcomings, I'm just saying I understand (more than some people) why they exist and at the same time am trying to make other people understand why they exist.
With this review I am trying to inform you, the consumer about this player. It is a good player and will be an even better one once these small problems it has are fixed in firmware updates. If you buy this player now, be aware of the aforementioned problems and be patient for the firmware fixes. If you are turned off by these problems I have experienced and/or problems mentioned by other reviewers which I have not experienced; either wait until these problems have been addressed to purchase or simply look into buying a different player. Once firmware for these problems have been released and fixes the player, I will update by review accordingly.
**UPDATE: 6/15/11**
After contacting LG a couple times and browsing the AVS forums, it seems that the DVD skip was introduced in the latest firmware update that was put out in late April. It should be fixed in the next update along with a few other little things. So the fault lies not in the player, but the latest firmware. (Just so people will know.)
**UPDATE: 6/20/11**
A new firmware update was released just after my last update. It didn't come up automatically, I went into the "Setup" section to check (like I do every few days, just in case). I updated to this newest version to see if any problems were fixed. For the DVD "chapter change" 1/2 second skip problem, I can say it's been fixed for the most part. I've only watched 3 or 4 DVD's so far (a couple movies and a TV series episode) and I only experienced the skip intermittently or not at all. For 1 or 2 of the movies the skip happened like once in the beginning and a few times closer towards the end, for the other movie and the TV episode I watched, I didn't experience the skip at all. For that particular blu-ray title problem "Daybreakers", this has been fixed (or maybe it was half my fault from the start)! What I discovered is that the reason "Daybreakers" wouldn't load up in the first place is because I always had a USB drive plugged into the front when I tried to load the movie! I don't know why this interferes with this particular title ONLY (so far) and not any other I've loaded up, but it does! I want to say that before this newest update I HAD already tried having the flash drive unplugged from the front to see if it made a difference, so I'm not sure if this update had anything to do with it or not. If you are having trouble with a particular blu-ray (like "Daybreakers") not loading up AND you have a USB drive plugged in, THAT could be the problem! I updated the rating for my review to 4 stars since LG is starting to release firmware updates that are making improvements and are getting the player to proper working order again.
**UPDATE: 6/25/11**
Yet another update was released on 6/21 which, it appears, COMPLETELY fixes the DVD skip problem. I watched some more DVD's and I haven't experienced it on ANY of them, so I guess that problem has been squared away. Since any of the problems I've experienced have now been fixed I'll stop doing these updates, especially since their making my review even longer than it is already! (Can I get an "Amen"?!)
Read Best Reviews of LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Here
The only problem I've had with this unit, is that it loses it's wireless settings 50% of the time after you turn it off and then turn it on a day later.I'm an engineer. There's nothing wrong with the wireless network in my home.
Even if there was, and say the wireless network went up and down now and then, why why why doesn't this device remember the network and password you've spent time typing in on the on-screen keyboard and automatically reconnect ?
Instead, it prompts me that it isn't connected. I then re-select the Network (which it finds first time), and re-enter the password, and then it always connects sucessfully.
If the Network is there and available, why doesn't the box re-connect on it's own !!!!!
Seriously do the engineers (and worse the QA and management team) over in China who wrote this software think it's OK for a user to have to re-enter their networking credentials everytime they want to watch TV ? Imagine if you had to do this with your PC. At least on a PC you have a keyboard: on this device you have a four-corners remote control and a onscreen keyboard.
--Update ---
Contacted LG tech support. A CSR (whose first language wasn't English) offered this:
" sincerely apologize for the inconveniences, but regretfully, we do not have a firmware for this, since the unit most keep the information at all times, I will suggest you to send us the player and have the technician correct the problem."
So I ordered a replacement from Amazon. It does the exact same thing.
LG 1) fix this stupid bug, 2) hire some decent CSRs.
--Update 2 ---
LG apparently fixed this bug in a subsequent SW release. After taking a download one day, this issue no longer happens. Upgrading my review to 3 stars. (-1 for awful customer service, -0.5 for letting this bug out in the first place, and -0.5 for a slow UI). I want to give it four stars... maybe when I get over the first awful bug.
Want LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV Discount?
Upsides: Pandora works nicely. Some other nice internet radio options.Netflix interface decent.
The best thing here is the SAMBA, CIFs or Windows file sharing (Whatever you call it) is nice. Works fine with Linux, works fine with MediaTomb upnp server. Couldn't find right transcoding options, but didn't need it... good with mp4's ripped h.264 and does mp3. plays flip video files natively no problem. Pause, rewind, fast forward over streaming (cifs or upnp).
LCD display shows timecode when playing streams from samba or upnp.
Bought device to have single device for netflix and home media serving.
Plays mp3's nicely.
Better than ROKU for me since it does SAMBA and UPNP for home streaming, wasn't clear if Roku did that.
Wi-FI, wired.
Oh, and it plays BD's too, I tested one, but not my primary reason for purchase.
Unit stays cool, is nice and small and does what I need.
Downsides: no screensaver in pandora, fearing burn-in.
Menus kind of laggy.
No progress meter when updating firmware. LCD indicates updating but should have separate downloading and applying progress when installing firmware. Have seen samsung do this better with progress meter.
I'd like to add a special item here. LG you did this correctly --you have a sticker for support on the device. Wow. I love you. I called, human answers. No hold time. Sat, Sun, no problem. I had an issue with firmware 268.E within 3 days there was a new 270-something to correct. 268.E added Amazon VOD for me and the other nifty items. Support was very friendly, apologized and was pleasant to work with. I've never owned home electronics where they actually had a support line with humans. And the humans called you back with updates on your problem!
First LG device I own... mad props for the useful human support!
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I am having two issues with my BD670. First, when streaming Netflix, the device randomly freezes anywhere between five and 25 minutes into a movie. Second, the player randomly loses it's wireless settings. When this happens you need to shut off the player, turn it back on, reload your wireless settings, go back and find the movie you were watching, and fast forward to where it stopped.I called LG. They had me troubleshoot the device, and download the latest software update (which I had already done). The problem happened again.
I called LG a second time. They had me download and burn the same firmware off their website, onto a DVD, and load it onto the machine via that method. The problem happened again.
I called LG a third time. They told me to call Netflix. After I explained that I was not experiencing the issue on my other LG blu ray player, Sony blu ray player, laptop, or desktop, they agreed to service the unit. They only needed a copy of the invoice, because the warranty is 90 days on labor.
I found the invoice and called LG a fourth time. They asked if I had troubleshooted with a tech over the phone. Yes. They asked if I had downloaded the most recent software. Yes, twice. They asked if I had called Netflix. No, this is not a Netflix issue. They asked if I had my invoice. Yes, I purchased the unit seven weeks ago. THEN it was explained that there is a known issue with the BD670 that is exactly what is happening to my player. They do not have an ETA for the fix, and asked me to please be patient for the next firmware update.
I asked about the warranty which expires (for labor) in six weeks. I was told not to worry, since they have all my notes it will be covered if the unit fails after the next software release. I asked the tech why, if they knew of this issue, was I put through the four phone calls of troubleshooting. He said it was standard procedure.
I am returning this, and buying another brand.
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