LG Electronics BP530 3D Smart Blu-ray Disc Player with Wi-Fi

• Easy access to thousands of movies, customizable apps and videos.
• Wirelessly send the audio from your TV to your smartphone so you can hear the TV without disturbing those around you.
• Perfect for playing all your 3D or 2D Blu-Ray and DVD movies.

I bought the LG 3D Blu Ray player because of quality and price. Also it has wireless updating which eliminates having to hook a network cable to it to update the software. One surprising thing I found is that it will play regular Blu Ray discs that are made for Region 2/B which is Europe, the Middle East, Africa and so on where as Region 1/A is the USA and Canada. I accidentally bought a disk for Region 2/B and it wouldn't play on my regular Blu Ray Player so I upgraded the player and it still wouldn't play it. I put it in the LG 3D Blu Ray player and it played great. I suspected it was for the wrong region since it didn't play after upgrading my Sony Blu Ray. I looked on my orders from Amazon and sure enough my disc was for Region 2/B. I am pleased that I didn't have to return the program. I usually look at the region but usually Amazon sells Region 1/A but this time I didn't check and sure enough got a program for the wrong region. Enough on that. The 3D picture produced by the LG Blu Ray player is second to none for a passive 3D machine (you don't need wired 3D glasses. It uses the same 3D glasses as theaters use for 3D features). I have it connected via a HDMI cable to my 3D Toshiba LED 240hz tv which puts out the best tv picture I have ever seen. I found out you have to be careful about 3D LED tvs because a lot of them are 120hz which is a slower refresh rate and produce a lesser quality 3D picture. All in all I am even more pleased with the Blu Ray player since it will apparently play any region disc.

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I noticed one reviewer pointed out that this player, doesn't support Amazon's streaming service. I wanted make people aware, that when you go into their premium services option, that there is a Amazon logo reporting that sometime in the future they plan on making that an option. I choose this player as LG has always been very good with supporting many codecs, and is a real solid player if you use DLNA, basically the ability to play compressed video and audio files on your computer's hard drive to your TV via you wireless network. I have a lot of family home video's video's and video I've downloaded from YouTube that I like having access to watch on my big screen TV. Another feature and I haven't tested this out, is in the past I found in previous LG players I've owned, you could often play DVD's that where in recorded in PAL, I have a few DVD+R with video encoded in PAL, which is basically the standard that most European countries particularly the UK use. So if you have friends living across the pond this feature can come in handy. I haven't tried playing any of my PAL dvds with this player, so it's something you might want to check out if that is your reasoning for choosing this player.

As far as speed this players is very responsive compared to a Samsung player I bought a few years ago, and it's faster loading the Netflix app that than my VIZO TV, and my former Samsung Blu-Ray. It does have the latest Netflix interface which is nice, so this is a very solid player. If I had a complaint regarding this player, it has a very limited number of apps, and services that you can choose from compared to other players. So if your looking for a fast solid not to expensive Blu-Ray player and plan on using DLNA, you could do worse. Sony I've heard is good at DNLA, Samsung is OK although the DNLA software that comes with it is very annoying as it goes in and relabels all your xvids and other compressed video files with an additional file extension that is very annoying if you choose to change to a different brand for your DLNA uses, because you have to go in a relabel them to make them play properly.

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A few years ago we stopped paying for cable, so video players became our main source of television watching. Our family always seemed to be watching shows on Netflix and we bought lots of DVD/Blu-Ray disk sets of television series, so we decided to cut the cord with out overpriced cable company. Turns out our TVs still pick up many of the local channels, but we still hardly ever watched them. So for the last few years, pretty much everything we've watched has been on Netflix, DVD or Blu-Ray.

So when I received this LG player, I was eager to set up the wi-fi in it to see how well the Netflix steaming played. Keep in mind this player does not come with a HDMI cable, so you'll need to buy one or use one you already have. After plugging everything in, I turned it on and it prompted me to go through the simple wi-fi set up process. It detected my routers signal and I just entered the password to connect it.

I then navigated to the video streaming section of this player's home page and opened up the Netflix application. After logging into my Netflix account, everything from my watch lists came up. It streams video well and I had no issues with buffering or lagging. After the movies load up, it plays from beginning to end without any freezing.

We play both DVDs and Blu-Ray disks on this player all the time, and they've been working perfectly. The only problem I've had is with the remote, when using it at different angles. If the player is set up higher than where you're sitting at using the remote, the player doesn't always receive the signal from the controller right away. The sensors need a good line-of-sight to one another, and if you're using the remote pointing upward at the player, you'll find you need to raise your hand (that's holding the remote) up to get the player's sensors to receive the signal of the remote. The two need to be close to level with one another for everything to work best. However this is a very small gripe I have with it, and I still enjoy how well this player streams videos and plays disks. The positives I've found using it outweigh the angle issues I've had with the remote control. I've had a lot of luck with LG products, and this one has done a nice job of living up to my other experiences with the brand.

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The first unit I received (from Amazon) worked for about 20 minutes. I hooked everything up and when connected (via WiFi) to the Internet, it showed an icon to upgrade the software (firmware?). I click on this and the download proceeded normally. When I went to power off, the unit tried to update the software (a second time?) and locked up about 80% through the update (status bar is the only indicator). I waited 2 hours and the status bar did not move. I could not power off. I ended up pulling the plug. That killed the unit. It would never again power up.

I contacted Amazon and they sent a replacement unit right away (Prime customer) and I sent the defective unit back.

The replacement unit works fine, but I am leery of updating the software again. For now I will just leave the update process alone.

The unit plays DVD's flawlessly. Nice output. I have yet to purchase a BluRay disk as this is my first player.

The TV control buttons worked without additional programming of the remote (TV is a Olivia 37" from 2006). The HDMI worked with my old TV just fine. The unit is compact and easily squeezes on top of my TiVo.

I gave the rating of only 4 stars because of the software update seemed to be the reason the first unit died.

Hint: how to test an infrared remote. Use a digital camera. Hold the remote in front of the lens and press any button on the remote. You should see the light emitting from the remote displayed on the camera's viewer.

I think I got a defective unit.

I was thrilled to get this blu-ray player, because my old one, a Samsung, is noisy when it loads up a disc. This unit is smaller and quieter but it doesn't always work. When I first got it and plugged it all in, I tried turning it on with the remote. Nothing. I fussed with all the cables, and pressed the buttons on the front of the unit. Twice I got some static on my screen. Bizarre that there's no power button on the front of this thing (at least none that I could see!). I took out the battery that came with the remote and put in a new one I happened to have (AAA) and finally managed to turn on the blu ray player. There was some lag using the remote. Sometimes when I chose an item, it would respond quickly. Other times, it would sit there. Or pause. Annoying.

It loaded up a Blu Ray just fine and the quality was good.

I also chose the menu item which allowed you to play other media, and it did a software update. Then on the main menu I noticed at the bottom of the screen it had the blue button displayed with "Software update" next to IT so I did that too.

I have a hard drive that plugs into the wall for power, and I tried to use this blu ray player with it but it wouldn't read it. As soon as I plugged the hard drive into the USB port on the front of this unit, the blu ray player would power off. It did this again and again.

One feature I do love is the ability to listen to the audio via your iPhone. That's very cool. I downloaded the app(s?) it's not clear what apps to download I ended up downloading two from the itunes store but once that was done I managed to get it to work. You can control the blu ray player from your phone, but not control everything. I couldn't see where you would fast forward or pause a movie. But the audio portion is cool. As long as your phone is on the wireless network that the blu ray player is on, you can listen to the audio on your phone (I use good headphones I have). That's pretty awesome.

One thing I could not figure out for the life of me is the part of the remote that claims to be for the TV. The bottom part of the remote has 4 buttons dedicated for the TV power, input, volume up, volume down. They don't work and for the life of me I cannot locate ANYWHERE online where to find out how to program this remote so it will work with my TV.

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To summarize, I would not recommend this player because:

1) Remote doesn't always work for me

2) Unit is unresponsive at times and either pauses when you make a selection or simply doesn't turn on.

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Although I think the audio-via-iphone feature is great, if I can't quickly turn on the unit, I'm not going to use it. Also if I can't get that TV portion of the remote to work, then I have to keep the old TV remote around, which I didn't have to do with my old blu ray player.

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UPDATE

So after looking at the manual online I do now see where you can progam the bottom section of the remote. YAY. They don't include a manual with the blu ray player: they include a DISC but you need a computer to use it. Anyone here use a computer anymore? Don't we all use iphones and ipads? No CD drives on them!!! Anyhow it was incredibly frustrating to not be able to program this part of the remote when I first got the unit. I did stick the CD it came with into the blu ray player hoping they would have included a version of the manual that you could view via the blu ray player but no dice. Still, the unit responds sporadically if at all, so I can't recommend this unit.

*****

UPDATE 2

I was watching a movie on Netflix via this device and halfway through the film, it started stuttering and freezing and stopping and starting. It was incredibly annoying and didn't resolve itself. I switched to my Roku box, which also has Netflix on it, and resumed the movie almost immediately with no more issues.

This device is really far too buggy for me to recommend that you purchase it.