And I mean, 'so far.' This is my third BD player, since my last two did not make it past one month. My first was a SONY BDP S350. After a month, it broke down (see 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 Buy sales people). The Samsung did not last 24 hours! (again, see my review on that player's Amazon page). Now I started getting frustrated.
After spending enough (way too much) time on-line looking at reviews of several players on various sites, I decided to go for the LG BD390. Sadly, the Best Buy by me said it did not have this latest model. I was happily surprised to find 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 sure hope not), based on my past BD experience, so far this player is AMAZING. Where do I start...
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 bulky. The Samsung one did not respond unless you pressed each button several times, completely directed at the player. The LG remote responds fast 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 beautiful, using an HDMI cable on my 42 inch SONY WEGA. The LG makes connections and settings much 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 speed. While I expect the other shoe to drop, based on people's reviews of just about every BD player out there, so far it has not. Considering my Samsung player died 24 hours after I bought it, I am happy that this player actually turns on still!
Sound: While the three are comparable, the LG's sound output is not only gorgeous, but it is also EASY to set up. I use 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 own and I had to do some hit or miss until I got it to work with the receiver. LG gets the thumbs up.
The look of the player: flawless and smart. The player is a little large, so it has its own 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. Still accessible from the front.
Network Connectivity: OK, so I may not be a lot of help here. The other two players were a nightmare to set up, and the Samsung's wireless was almost useless (see everyone's review on this). However, I use a wireless bridge anyway, so I simply hooked that up to the LG player's ethernet input port and, within a minute, had it all set up and running smoothly. The player was happy and so was I.
The LG player needed one update, but I do not see this as a bad 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 good thing).
Netflix works great so far. Some people have complained that after an hour or so the movies will not stream any longer, or stop and then restart. This is, in my view, an internet set up issue, not the player, and LG even tells you that. They recommend a wired connection for streaming, so we can't blame them. I used to watch 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 start 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 move around the Netflix menu. I had to force shut off the unit. The player reset itself and worked fine after that.
Netflix also keeps the movie on your queue until you manually delete it, which is great. It also saves the spot you were watching in case you have to stop the movie. Also, while not everyone likes it, I enjoy 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 right 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 find 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 awful on a computer screen, let alone on a 42 inch screen).
So, while I may be missing some other great things about this player, right now I am happy 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 happy doing it all. I can also say that, if it should ever die on me, I will probably get 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 great. The Netflix streaming has also been great (and for the MAC users who have been complaining, I am a MAC user too, I just do not use Airport to connect). Considering what I put 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 way to bypass this. That's all. Not bad I'd say!
Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.
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