Buy LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

This is a good player. However if you face a problem with the unit, you may find yourself chasing LG customer service that is totally disoriented.

The player plays discs very well. Netflix also works beautifully well over a wired connection. My unit has issues with youtube videos. I only noticed it with the long video programs that run upwards of 1 hr. There are dozens from yale, mit and such edu's. I tried nearly two dozen videos from both yale and mit. In every single one of them about 14-25 minutes into the program the audio cracked. Thereafter it keeps cracking once or twice every minute. These videos play without any issues on the computer, as well as a wii console connected to the TV.

I have contacted LG customer service 3-4 times over the phone. Every time the response is different. The first time, after having me verify all the settings on the device, the agent concluded that since netflix videos are playing without problems, the unit is good. The second time, the agent asked me to reset the settings by pressing the power button for thirty seconds which should clear any issues. Did that and that didn't have any effect. When I called back, the third agent diagnozed that the problem is not with LG or the player, but it is a problem with YouTube and I need to call up YouTube customer service (whose number the agent wasn't able to provide, anyway, and google also doesn't seem to be keeping a customer service number online). As per the agent, Youtube maintains a separate queue for BD390 and there may be problems with that and he expects the customer to take up the matter with Youtube customer service. I have given up on their phone customer service and am now in touch with support over email. Their response is awfully slow. After about 8 days or so, we are still at the stage of verifying settings on the device. I have just made sure everything is as per the email agent's specs, verified the problem persists (every time I have used a different video to verify the audio issue and it occurs every time), and have replied to the agent.

Bottom line - unless you have a lot of time and patience, you can't get things sorted out with LG customer service. My unit is just under a month since I bought it from amazon, as of this writing. I have been in touch with LG customer service since about the second day of installation (installation was a breeze, though - the whole thing was up and running in less then 5 minutes). This audio issue has been very frustrating, dealing with LG customer service even more so due to the inconsistency of their diagnosis and the unreasonable stand that customers should follow up with their business partners. In my most recent email, I have asked customer service to take the unit and test it themselves. Hopefully, I will receive a response in a week, at the pace they seem to be working.

Oh, to add insult to injury, when the unit was bought less than a month ago the price at amazon was $289. Now amazon is selling it at $239. Their policies do not allow any kind of compensation or price match! Way to go, amazon!

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Update 10/22/2009:

Replaced the unit. The new unit also has the same audio issue! Customer service hasn't gotten back yet on the previous email. Going by the complaints about customer service in general in recent times, I wonder if this level of service is the new norm.

Good luck if you are planning to buy!





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