Monday, April 5, 2010

LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Best Quality


This player is unbelievable. You can stream all of your Video, Music, and Pictures wireless from your PC with the included Nero software. The WiFi is built in no need for a wireless dongle - sorry Samsung - LOL.

The menus are easy to use and fun. It is like having a second computer in my living room. I love this player so much that I am going to buy the extended warranty today so that nothing happens to it. I am an electronics geek. I have had the samsung 1600, 3600, and LG BD370. This one takes the cake. I don't care that I paid full price. I would have paid another $150 for this unit. Trust me you WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! I am in love with this unit. LG you blew me away with this player.

I have been having so much fun with this unit I can't explain. Do your selves a favor and buy this unit. You can respond to my review and I guarantee you will agree.Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

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I would just like to warn everyone considering purchasing this player, that it is NOT compatible with MAC/Apple hardware! When I asked LG, their response was, and I quote; "LG does not support the MAC OS. You will not be able to stream anything over the BD390 since LG does not support your OS"!

From what i understand, it is a great player, but if you are going to connect it to a MAc computer, it will not work! I don't know if the Samsung BD-P3600 will work with a MAC, but I doubt it! Just a word to the wise!Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Buy Now


Took this unit out of the box, plugged it into my TV. Powered it up, and went through the easy, relatively short menu to set it up, including getting it to talk on my wireless network. My network needs to be set up more thoroughly (our original computer - the 'server'- has died and we haven't quite figured out how to get the new one designated as the server), so I haven't been able to stream stuff from my computer yet, but YouTube is readily available.

Most importantly, it sends a GREAT image to my TV. I only have a 1080i unit at the moment (1080p coming soon!), but the Planet Earth BluRay DVDs are incredible!Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

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After one problem after another with a less than a year old Sony blu-ray, I purchased this unit and could not be happier. There is no comparison. Set up was a breeze--within 5 minutes I was laughing at my favorite You Tube clips, hooked up to Netflix and was set to go. Don't hesitate, these units will not stay on the shelves so get yours NOW! Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Decide Now


Bottom line, this is simply the best network Blu-ray player on the market. Blu-ray playback, flawless. Streaming Netflix via wireless internet connection, flawless. Any complaints are most likely user error or due to slow internet connection speed, so I have an important bit of advise to potential buyers. HD Netflix requires an internet data rate of ~8mbps. Entry level cable or DSL data rates are 5 and 3 mbps respectively. You will need to upgrade (usually costs $5-$10 per month) to stream HD Netflix. Cable users will be able to watch SD no problem at ~5mbps but SD requires about 3.5 mbps minimum, so entry level DSL users will have some problems streaming SD Netflix. Some DSL service is only 1.5mbps which is well, silly.

One more note: I am a Mac user and I can connect the BD390 to the internet and run all the available applications advertised just fine. The only thing you can't do is route iTunes directly from your computer to your TV via the BD390, which you don't really need if you use Netflix. Not a deal breaker.Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

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I have a Vizio GV47L 1080P LCD TV, and this LG DG390 will not work with it. I just get noise for the picture. I called LG and Vizio. The Vizio Tech. told me that they been having issues with the LG players not working with older TV's with a older spec. HDMI interfaces. I have tried the TV with a new Panasonic BD player, the DMP-BD80K with no issues. I am not interested in trashing LG in any way, just to warn folks that this unit may not work with your older TV. When I took the player back to BB and we connected it to a new Sony, the LG BD390 looked fine. I think the menu looks nice. I like all the features. I am very disappointed with LG for being incompatible with a older TV like mine, the mfg date on the Vizio is Nov 2006.

I am giving LG a one star for releasing a product which should work with a wide variety of TV's out there. My TV was made in late 2006, it is a 2.5 year old TV. I feel that the customer should not have to run out and update their TV just 2.5 years after buying a TV. or is this something which has to be done when you buy a new BD player?

I think LG needs to do a better job with QC. Again I like all the nice features the LG offers, too bad it will not work with my TV. Bottom line is they lost my business. Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Lowest Price LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player


I bought this unit from a local retailer and had high hopes for it. So far, all my expectations have been met. Although I have a network connection at my TV, I decided to go the wireless route since I did not have a spare LAN cable handy. I entered in the SID of my wireless-N router (it is not broadcast), entered my WPA2 (AES) code, and the unit acquired an IP address without any issue. I then went to the Netflix setup on the BD390, where it provided me with a code to enter on the Netflix website. I entered that number via my laptop and bingo, I could watch any instant movies already in my Netflix queue. The YouTube was just as easy; I entered my account name and password, and my favorites showed up. On my Windows XP desktop, I ran the Nero MediaHome 4 CD that came with the BD390 and installed the UPnP server. It took forever to index 20 GB of music but now that is also available on the Home Media network icon on the BD390. One interesting thing is that the BD390 also found my DirecTV HD DVR. It could list all the shows I stored on that unit but unfortunately could not play them. So far, we have played regular DVDs and the picture on my Samsung LCD (1080p) has been fantastic. I used an HDMI connection to the Samsung TV and an optical connection to my Onkyo AVR. Sounds great. I have yet to try a Blu Ray disk but I just added Blu Ray to my Netflix subscription and look forward to that. Also, via the setup menu, you can check for firmware upgrades, which I did. All set there.

Pros: Easy menu. Easy to set up. Supports hidden WiFi SIDs (WEP, WPA, WPA2, AES and TKIP security options). Fast loading (faster than my Onkyo DVD player). Access to home media files on a PC. Netflix. YouTube. Can connect my 2 TB Western Digial Mirror drive via the USB.

Cons: No USB in the back. Ejected DVDs are really hot.

Wish list: Pandora music (maybe in a future firmware upgrade). Ability to browse instant Netflix titles and add to my queue.

As you can see, the pros greatly outweigh the cons. Get this one over the Samsung 3600 and you will not be disappointed.Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Low Price LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player


This player is simply awesome! I only have a 1080i Olevia hdtv but the picture is super clear and I'm now starting to collect blu-ray movies. The LG BD390 even plays dvd-rw which is a plus and plays a variety of different formats such as .avi which is a surprise since it was not listed in the specs. This is also an upscale dvd player and will make your dvd movies look even better! For some movies (Into the Blue) the LG BD 390 will resume where you last left off even if you eject the movie out and play it again at a later time.

The menu is very user friendly and I was able to connect to my computer wirelessly in minutes so that I could stream movies and music to the tv via the LG BD390. Connection to Netflix and Youtube.com was a snap.

This is my first Blu-ray player so I can't compare the load speeds of other players but to me, it loads pretty fast...it takes about 10-12 seconds to get to the menu screen (I used Transformers as an example).

For $379.99 it might be pricey for some but if you love movies in high def...this is a must! Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Save LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player


I have to say that I'm impressed with this unit. The wait times are not too bad at all, and as others have said, the picture quality is excellent. Standard DVD upconversion is excellent. There are a few minor issues that I've found, which I'll get to.

Setup out of the box was quick and simple. I plugged it in and set a few audio options, video needed no adjustment from the defaults.

The network setup wasn't too bad, but I did have some issues with encryption. I also purchased a new wireless router (the Netgear RangeMax WNDR3300 Wireless-N Router) to replace the near-decade-old Linksys I have. I tried two different encryption types, and both both times the player could connect after entering the key, but refused to obtain an IP address. Disabling encryption on the router caused the player to obtain an IP address quickly, and setup was complete. Currently I'm running without encryption but with MAC address filtering. I'm okay with that, but I might go back and try encryption again now that I've downloaded a firmware update for the router. Other reviews state no problems setting up with encryption, so the problem might be specific to my setup.

Netflix functionality took a few seconds to set up. Anything in your "Watch Instantly" queue is displayed in the Netflix menu and you can rate any of them from the player. Unfortunately, at this time there is no ability to browse or search for anything that's not already in your queue. With the right connection, the higher quality video is quite good - as good or slightly better than standard definition cable. At this point, audio doesn't get any better than stereo, and while it's not crystal clear, it's not bad. Hopefully some new features will be added in future firmware updates.

The YouTube player is nice too. This supports searches, "Top Rated", "Most Viewed", "Recent Videos", etc. It's fun to play around with, and I'm glad the feature exists on this player, even if the novelty might wear off a little over time.

I did a firmware update this morning (it wasn't available yesterday), and now there is a new menu item for CinemaNow. I haven't messed with it much, but apparently you can "rent" a movie for around $3.99 or "buy" a movie for $15-$20. There's a section for TV, but it merely says "Coming Soon". I don't see the point in this really, since Netflix covers the rentals (for much cheaper), and the movies seems to be the same price as going out and buying the DVD. I'd rather have the DVD than an over-compressed soft copy for the same price.

I can't get the Media Server stuff to work at all [fixed! -- see updates below]. So far, I've dedicated about 6 or 7 hours to getting this to work. None of the other reviews have mentioned a problem with this, so I guess it must be me. I installed the included Nero MediaHome 4 Essentials software, and added a directory to share. I started the server fine, but the player constantly tells me "No Server Found". I have tried two different wireless routers and an infinite number of settings adjustments. My firewalls are off. I just can't get a break. As a software engineer with a degree in the field, you can bet that it's pretty frustrating for this to beat me. I'll update the review if and when I get it working. Others have not had the same problem as me, though. So I imagine that this is NOT a problem with the player.

There are also a number of little features related to the playing of DVD's and BD's that I like. The player remembers each movie's last position when it was stopped and/or removed. So the next time you start up that movie, it will resume where you left off.

The video settings are reasonably full-featured as well. Brightness, Contrast, etc. are all adjustable, and you can adjust colors manually (just the reds, just the yellows, etc.) Upconverted DVD's have a couple of NR options, and there's an auto-contrast feature which seems to work pretty well. There's also a zoom feature that let's you zoom in on a part of the screen to get a closer look. That's cool.

Overall, this player was definitely worth the money for me. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get the media server working, but even without that feature, I love this player. It's worth every cent. Great video, great audio, and instant Netflix that doesn't involve me using composite cables to mirror my laptop screen to the TV. Progress!

---------------- Update 05/27/2009 ------------------
Now I seem to be having an additional problem. I tried two DVD's that have an alternate picture-in-picture track that can be enabled. They pop up with a small video in the corner of the screen every so often when the option is turned on (like a video commentary track). I can't get either of them to play with sound. The video shows up but you can't hear anything. There is no mention of this in the manual, and nothing that I can find online about it. One person with the same problem (but a different player) said that their player had a "Secondary Audio" option that was turned off by default, and turning it on fixed the issue. This player does not have that option. None of the standard audio tracks contain the PIP audio. I've just about given up. If someone can tell me how to fix this, I'd be grateful. Otherwise I'd knock this down to three stars until it's fixed in firmware. For reference, the two Blu-Ray discs I'm talking about are Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder and Groundhog Day.

---------------- Update 06/05/2009 ------------------
Following the recommendation of xoco (see Comments), I changed the audio from Primary Pass-Through to DTS Re-Encode. This fixes the PIP audio track problem. I'm satisfied with that, although I'm not sure if I have lost anything by making the switch.

---------------- Update 08/25/2009 ------------------
SUCCESS!! Finally, I can see my PC as a media server. Whatever issues I had were fixed with the latest firmware download (BD.8.08.498.B). As soon as I finished the download and rebooted the player, my PC was visible in the My Media section. Nero MediaHome 4 still does not seem to work, but the standard sharing built into Vista works fine. That's the (very) good news. The bad news? I immediately shared one of my video directories to try it out. I tried a couple of videos that I had scaled down to 720p to put on Flickr, and even scaled down they were horribly choppy and slow. I may need to start messing with router settings again to see if I can fix this. Currently, the streamed videos are completely unwatchable.

Additionally, one of the previous firmware updates added high definition support for Netflix streaming. And they seem to have fixed an issue where the video quality was always lower than it should have been, given the speed of the connection. With a 22MBps connection, I was previously getting generally 50-75% "bars" on the quality scale. Now I'm usually getting 100% (HD), and sometimes one or two steps down from that when I'm using at peak times. It's a vast improvement. And the HD quality is better than I could have imagined for streaming video.Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.

Discount LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player


First, let me state that I am not an expert. Just an average consumer. I just received this player about two weeks ago. It shipped quickly and was in perfect condition on arrival. Set up was easy and I had no problems. I was able to connect to my wireless network easily. I just entered my password and it connected. I have it connected to a SONY KDL-40S4100 40 inch LCD HD TV. The Blue-Ray discs load quickly (about the same amount of time it took for my regular DVD player to load). Image quality is incredible with the blue ray discs and my old DVDs look a lot better on this player. I have a slow DSL connection but I don't have any problem playing YouTube videos and Netflix movies. My connection is too slow for HD movies or cinema now movies. I will probably upgrade my DSL. I would highly recommend this player based on ease of use and quality of the images.Get more detail about LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player.