LG BD 390 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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.

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Blu-ray Disc Player w/1GB Memory, 7.1 discrete analog output, BD-P, Netflix HD, YouTube, CinemaNow Full HD 1080P Output via HDMI, DVD 1080p Up-conversion.

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LG BD 370 Network Blu-ray Disc Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Of the new model year '2009' Blu Ray players, we own the LG BD370, Samsung BD-P1600, and a PS3. By far, the BD370 is the nicest for Blu Ray content. Loading is FAST and the drive is completely silent (this is not the case on the BD-P1600 by Samsung). Piano Black finish on the face is plastic, and looks good. We have found that it does not scratch easily too! The rest of the case is black-ish metal and sturdy.
One of the great things about the LG BD370 is you can customize the look of the interface on your TV. There are 4 themes and all are in high-definition. The remote on the BD370 changed from the BD300, and I feel it was a step down. It's got a faux-leather finish on it - why? No idea. The one improvement is buttons that don't get used much are hidden behind a panel on the remote.
Netflix 'Watch Instantly' is very cool and the setup is literally 30-40 seconds if you already have an account. Just after we got ours, it alerted us that a firmware update was available! It added CinemaNow - we hadn't used CinemaNow before, but a quick registration on their site and connecting was just as easy as Netflix. Rented a couple movies to try it out - VERY cool. YouTube is also available on the player and it's AWESOME. I'd easily compare it with an AppleTV, though believe it or not, the BD370 is a bit faster at searching and playing YouTube videos - it also does them in Full Screen, no problem.
One odd thing we've noticed... with Netflix and CinemaNow and YouTube we have only watched 3 or 4 movies on Blu Ray. So much other content available that this player is really a STEAL - it's a fantastic Blu Ray player (audio and video as good as you imagine it would be), but WOW is it awesome to have a player that does so much other stuff.
No wireless on this player, nor does it have built-in memory for using BD-Live. Neither of these items should be cause for concern - I haven't seen a BD-Live feature YET that has been worth while... all the good stuff is usually already on the Blu Ray disk itself.
The thing that makes it just a bit better than our Samsung BD-P1600 is the front display. The circular button assembly on the front glows a soft blue when playing Blu Ray, soft red when playing DVD, and purple on certain Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow video. The main display is also helpful, showing 'NETFLX', etc and most importantly, you can SEE the display (the Samsung player's display is so dim you wouldn't believe it).
For the price and feature set, I don't think there's another player I'd even consider after having used them all!

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Blu-ray Disc Player w/ BD-P, Netflix HD, YouTube, CinemaNow Full HD 1080P Output via HDMI, DVD 1080p Up-conversion.

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VIZIO VBR100 Full HD Blu-ray Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought one of this when they first came out early last fall from a large discount store. I was really impressed as I unboxed it - it looked very nice and had a nice "hefty" feel to the case (unlike so many other players). I hooked it up to a 37" Vizio 1080p TV. The Blu-Ray quality was decent - nothing to write home about though. While it was better than an upconverted DVD of course, it didn't have the crispness to the image that I was expecting. I ran about three recent movies through it and all had the same result - good enough, but not great. Then I tried upconverting standard DVDs. That's where it really fell down. The image quality was much worse than my upconverting DVD player. No depth, fuzzy, stuttering in fast motion. Other disappointments were the weak sound quality with both DVDs and Blu-Rays and a very short range for the remote. I literally had to be in front of the player to activate it. The DVD player or TV had no issue with the same angle. All in all a weak effort from Vizio (and it went back).
Black Friday I grabbed a Toshiba BDX-2000 from Amazon. It has more or less the same specs as the Vizio but its performance is like night and day better. Sharper Blu-Ray, better upconverting (still not as good as my DVD player though), much better sound and greater remote range. I thought maybe I was being too harsh on the Vizio, but after having the Tosh for a few weeks I can see that I wasn't.

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VIZIO's VBR100 High Definition Blu-ray disc player places you in the center of the action. Featuring full HD 1080p playback, you get razor sharp, life-like picture quality you never thought possible. It also features 7.1 multi-channel audio via HDMI that delivers a surround sound experience that's so crisp you'll feel as if you're sitting in middle of the scene. Owners of the VBR100 get all this packaged in a sleek design with an illuminated touch panel that disappears when the player is off and includes an easy-to-use, intuitive remote control.

Technical Specifications
Compatibility Add full 1080p high definition playback and 7.1 multi-channel audio to your home theater experience.View larger.

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ElementTM EDBCO11 Blu-ray Disc Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It is a decent blu-ray player. That is why I gave it one star instead of none at all, but there will be no way I will get another blu-ray player or anything else from Element Electronics. The support sucks!!! We bought the player at the end of June and by November the remote didn't work anymore. We tried putting new batteries in - nothing. I called the companies support number and they took my home address and said they would send a new one. It never came! During the time the remote worked for a while and then quit once more. I called on Jan. 18, 2010 and they once more promised to send out a new remote. They took my address again and just like before no remote showed up. The funny thing is that the old remote sometimes works and then quits and nothing will get it going. I again called on 3-16-10 and left a message. Nobody EVER called back. I called again on 5-30-10 and was once more promised a new remote and again nothing!!! I left another message on 6-4-2010 and again never heard back from them. I get the feeling that I'm getting strung along until my warranty is up in a few days and then I'm told that I am out of luck.
It is a major pain if you have to run to the player and have to push the buttons every time you don't understand something in the movie and want to go back a little, or if you want to pause the movie for some reason. Not really something I want to do after a hard days work...
I will probably have to go to a store and buy me a universal remote and hope it will fix the problem.
NEVER AGAIN WILL I GET ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!!!
Just wanted to add this: As of today (9-1-2010) I still don't have a working remote control. The warranty is up and I am out of luck - just like I thought it would end....

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Watch movies with incredible resolution - up to 5 times greater than standard DVDsPlays Blu-ray movies in stunning 1080p resolution. Take full advantage of your 1080p HDTV and bring the movie theater experience to your own home!HDMI interface provides an all-digital connection for the highest quality audio and video. HDMI port will "upconvert" your standard DVDs to 720p, 1080i or even 1080p.Plenty of other connectivity options. Includes 1 stereo audio, 1 composite video, 1 component video, 1 digital optical audio and 1 digital coaxial audio port.Digital Dolby Plus audio offers crisp, booming sound that fills the room. Also plays music CDs and lets you view your photos on the big screen. Compatible with BD-ROM discs, DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD and CD-R/RW discs, MP3, WMA and JPEG formats.Includes a remote control with 2 AA batteries and a composite A/V cable.

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Sony DAV-C900 DVD Dream System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had this machine for a little over six months. The sound is excellent, looks great. Great feature set for the money.
Lately, however, most dvds stop playing part way into the movie (CDs work fine). Only brand new discs play. I cleaned the player using a special dvd cleaner disc and this did not help.
Now I'm back to a $99 combination dvd/vhs player I bought last year which seems to play any dvd no matter how scratched or beat up.

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Sony's DAV-C900 DVD Dream System consists of six speakers and a 5-disc DVD/CD/SACD changer with 10-bit video digital-to-analog converter for a host of entertainment at your fingertips. It comes with a 2-way center speaker with dual 2-3/8-inch woofers, 3-way surround speakers with dual 2-3/8-inch woofers, and a subwoofer with an 8-inch driver. Listen to the difference our Digital Cinema Sound System makes as you immerse yourself in the magic of Sony DVD.
The DAV-C900 has 450 watts total system power, and offers built-in Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Pro Logic decoding. The Digital Cinema Sound system recreates the acoustics of Hollywood dubbing stages, and you'll be amazed by the Headphone Theater mode. The DAV-C900 also offers an AM/FM receiver with 30 presets (20 FM, 10 AM).
Tech Talk
Dolby Digital: This sound format for movie theaters is more advanced than Dolby Pro Logic Surround. In this format, the rear speakers output stereo sound with an expanded frequency range, and a subwoofer channel for deep bass is independently provided. This format is also called "5.1" because the subwoofer channel is counted as 0.1 channel (since it functions only when a deep bass effect is needed). All six channels in this format are recorded separately to realize superior channel separation. Furthermore, since all the signals are processed digitally, less signal degradation occurs.
Dolby Pro Logic Surround: As one method of decoding Dolby Surround, Dolby Pro Logic Surround produces four channels from two-channel sound. Compared with the former Dolby Surround system, Dolby Pro Logic Surround reproduces left-to-right panning more naturally and localizes sounds more precisely. To take full advantage of Dolby Pro Logic, you should have one pair of rear speakers and a center speaker. The rear speakers' put out monaural sound.
DTS: Digital audio compression technology that Digital Theater Systems developed. This technology conforms to 5.1-channel surround. The rear channel is stereo and there is discrete subwoofer channel in this format. DTS provides the same 5.1 discrete channels on high quality digital audio. The good channel separation is realized because the all-channel data is recorded discrete and processed in digital.
SACD: Super Audio CD (SACD) is a high-resolution digital audio format that promises vast sonic improvements over the current audio CD format. Super Audio CD discs can be played back on dedicated Super Audio CD players or combination SACD/DVD-Video players. Certain SACD discs feature a conventional audio CD layer (hybrid SACDs) which can be played back by any CD player or computer with a CD-ROM drive.
What's in the Box DAV-C900 home theater receiver/DVD player, 5 speakers (2 front, 2 rear, and 1 center), 1 subwoofer, AM loop antenna, FM wire antenna, speaker cords, video cord, remote control (RM-SS900), 2 AA batteries, and printed installation instructions.

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VIZIO VBR231 Blu-Ray Player with Wireless Internet Application, Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I just bought this at Costco.
It wasn't hard to set up but there is no display on the actual unit so you can't quickly see how much time you've watched, the buttons on the remote are hard to press and don't always take and there is no manual in the box (you need to go online and download a 28 page manual). In addition, I'm not savvy enough to be able to reprogram it every time it loses Internet connectivity so it's going back.

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The VIZIO Blu-ray Player with Wireless Internet Apps delivers full 1080p HD video, 7.1 surround sound and has built-in 802.11n dual-band wireless for easy access to movies, TV shows, music and more from the Internet.*. Also get 3 free HD movie rentals on VUDU, the online service that delivers 1080p HD movies!

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LG LHB953 1000-Watt Blu-ray Disc Home Theater In a Box Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This system is great. What I was most concerned with in buying this system was the convergence of the Web, television and music in our family room. This system seemed to meet all my requirements on paper and I was satisfied when I received the box.
Setup was simple and everything you need is in the box except for one thing: it needs to be near your router so that you can network it. My router is upstairs so I got around that through powerline networking which allows you to send your network through your power outlets. Works like a charm.
The bottom line is that I get my Netflix movies directly through the BluRay player...no waiting for the mailman for most movies. I also get FM radio and Pandora as well as my cable TV.
Great product. I recommend it.

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LG's NetCast Interface lets you easily access a vast array of internet content. This model comes with two tower speakers.

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Sony DAVFX80 5-Disc Progressive Scan DVD Home Theater Dream System Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I chose this theater system to go with my new 50" HD plasma TV because it has the HDMI output and the upconverting function. The picture quality is quite good; many of my DVD's look noticeably better than on the Sony DVD player it replaced (it is not a huge difference but you can see it). Although the HDMI output looks the same as the composite output, it does free up your TV's composite outputs for other things such as an Xbox. The sound quality is also good (for the price), and having both the DVD player and audio system in one unit is less clutter. There are however two things about the system that could be improved. First, the loading/unloading of DVD's and changing between DVD's is very, very slow. Much slower, for example, than a typical car CD changer. Second, the remote control that comes with the unit is not particularly well designed. It works fine, but the buttons are not organized in an intuitive order and it is cluttered. You have to look at the remote each time to make sure you are pushing the right buttons, even when using just the play, stop or skip buttons, because they are the same size as all the other buttons on the remote. Most of my other components are Sony and their remotes are much better designed. Overall I am happy with the purchase and would recommend it.

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Dream a little dream with the DAV-FX80 Dream System from Sony. With S-Master Digital Amplifier, Digital Cinema Sound System and 5.1 Speaker System with sleek front standing speakers, you too can now bring the theater experience to your living room. Additional features include CD-R/RW, Super Audio CD (Multi), MP3 & JPEG Playback1, 5-Disc DVD/SA-CD/CD Changer with Progressive Scan Output and CD/SA-CD Text.

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LG HS201 Slim LED Projector Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As a retired professor volunteering in a senior citizen's program, I must tote what I need to teach cultural history. That includes equipment to show films and images and to play reasonable quality recorded music, as well as to lecture. The LG HS201 is ideal for my purposes. With 200 lumens it is the first LED projector that I have seen that is sufficiently bright and that has a usable built-in stereo sound system, although I do augment its meager 2 watts with external speakers. The USB port facilitates set-up and frees me from a tangle of cables, as I can easily put a couple of slightly compressed movies, an hour of MP3 classical music, and nearly 100 JPEG images onto an 8GB flash drive. The fan noise is barely audible--an estimated 29 DB--and at under 2 lbs. the projector is truly portable.
Most of its purported shortcomings are no more than compromises necessary to bring a lamp-free projector to market at a $500 price. For that figure, one should not expect a zoom lens, a tilt adjustment, or anything like a theater sound system. Incidentally, only the HS 200G and HS201G, neither of which is currently marketed in the USA, offer a standard carrying bag, and just the HS200 series, also not yet sold here, includes an FM audio transmitter. However, there is one LG HS201 defect that can and should be remedied at the earliest opportunity. The owner's manual is written in the unidiomatic English of a non-native speaker, and some of the manual's technical writing defies comprehension. A newly edited version would be helpful.
If you are interested in buying the LG HS201, I would suggest four accessories at first: (a) a USB flash drive of 8 or 16GB; (b) a lightweight tripod, rated at over 6 lbs; (c) a pair of small speakers; and (d) a carrying bag. With these, you should be good to go!

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LG LED projector 2000:1 contrast ratio 200 ANSI brightness 30,000 hours LED life various aspect ratios Divx player via USB 2.0 FM wireless audio HDMI 1.3 green technology - mercury freeWhat's in the Box : HS201 projector,Manual,Remote Control (Card Type),CR2032 3V battery (for the remote control),RBG cable,RGB to Component converter (adaptor),AD DC Adaptor (100~240Hz),Power Cord.

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LG LHT854 1000-Watt DVD Disc Home Theater In a Box Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros : Plenty of Volume (1000W) Great pairing with LG T.V.
Comes with Excellent Ipod Adapter and sounds great for
an all-in-one solution. Chalk full of features.
Comes with speaker Wire too.
Cons : As with most other systems...Inputs! Only has one Optical but
thank goodness for that. Only has preset Equalizer settings.
Long Review (A lot to say and want to answer any questions)
I had been looking around for a good 5.1 system that decodes all the popular signals such as Dolby Digital and DTS sound.
Not Looking to spend a whole lot of cash I needed a simple solution.
I have looked around online and in stores at a variety of options.
When it came down to it I had considered heavily on the sony soundbar mainly because it was the only low price ranged sound system with 3 HDMI inputs. But when I went to bestbuy and listened to it all of my fears came true as far as volume. The soundbar was just too low unless I would have kept it cranked up. Then after weighing the other options of a receiver/speakers (Panasonic receiver)combo the price just was just barely in my range but really didnt want to spend all my cash. Then remebering that my T.V. was an LG (42pg20 42"Plasma) I decided to check out this model. Going out on a limb I was wary because of the one input.
Much to my suprise this unit is awesome for a HTS.
Now for an audiophile the 1.0% THD might discourage you but for around
$220 It something Even I could overlook.(Also have a high end 6.1 sony receiver and yamaha speakers in the house, they have like a .07 THD)
This system gets so loud too. My room is only a 14ft. by 20ft. room but I never even have to turn the volume up over half to crank it while watching a movie.(Actually never had to go over that) The sub kicks.
Also this unit not only upscales DVD's through the built-in Dvd player(which looks great) it also plays from Ipod with the INCLUDED Ipod Dock (Through OSD or via Ipod control which is cool), From USB, and from the digital optical in. (Will of course also play mp3 music, jpg pictures, and divx movies, and probably a few other formats that I am forgetting).If that wasnt enough LG also included a am/fm receiver in this unit with a loop antennae.
Hooking up the unit was straight forward, the wiring is 18 gauge wire ,About 18ft. long for the rear speakers, about 12ft. for the sub that is color coded, pre stripped at the ends and ready to go.
There is an HDMI Out (I ran to the T.V.) and a couple other outs, composite and standard RCA I think). There was a little delay in the audio from my Digital DVR cable box when I ran the HDMI Out of my cable box into my T.V. and then optical out of my T.V. into the Home theatre. Problem was solved by running the optical from my cable box straight into the home theatre. The Home theatre also automatically picks up whatever kind of sound source it needs to decode and displays it on the front of the unit.
If you have an LG T.V. with simplink then it is really simple to control the System as it syncs right up and even turns on the unit when synced and off when the T.V. turns off.
The remote for the unit also has controls for the T.V., If you dont own an LG TV then no fear as the remote is programmable for your T.V.
The OSD allows you to set aspect ratio and resolution for your T.V as well as test the speakers and turn up each one individually as necessary.
There is No way to set your own E.Q. though but the presets are good even though you probably wont even have to use them. There is also an audio delay fixer (up to 300ms).
Overall I would give it a 4.5 because of all its features but lack of inputs.Recommend to anyone on a budget and wanting a great home theatre with plenty of options.

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1000W 1 Disc HTiB, 4 Satellite, HDMi/ 1080p, Made for I Pod, Demo Mode

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LG LHB975 1100-Watt Blu-ray Home Theater System, Gloss Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I purchased this system in May of 2010. When it worked, it worked great and I really enjoyed the quality of the blu-ray player and sound.
About a week ago the wireless subwoofer stopped working. It has power but will not link up with the wireless receiver. I tried everything I could possibly do and couldn't get it to "remate" (connect) again. I then called LG and they were unable to fix it.
LG offered to repair the system but they wants me to spend $70.00 for them to look at it and this does not include shipping. From what the customer service representative told me, the 1 year warranty means that regardless of the cost to repair, my cost is capped at $70.00. I'm not sure how that qualifies as a warranty but according to LG it does.
What is troubling about this issue is that this problem does not appear to be an isolated incident. I searched the internet for reviews from people who owned the system. There are a number of people who are having this exact same problem after using the system for about 6 months. Mine started in just 5 months. It's starting to look like this product has a defect.
I own an LG cell phone, washer and dryer, and this blu-ray theater system. I've never had a problem with any LG product before. I'm surprised that LG would put out a product that seems to have a systematic defect. I'm even more surprised that the LG customer service would be so bad and not customer friendly. This experience has really questioned my brand loyalty towards LG. At this point, they must know this product has a problem. Rather than do the right thing - which is to correct the problem and send a new unit to everyone who is having this problem free of charge - LG is instead forcing the consumer to pay for service, pay for shipping, and hope that the repair is a long term fix. I'm afraid I'll spend the money to get the system "repaired" only to have it break again in another 5 months.
Rather than deal with the nonsense I'm going through, anyone who looks at this home theater system should just avoid it.


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LG's NetCast Interface lets you easily access a vast array of internet content. This model comes with two tower speakers.

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LG LHB535 1100-Watt Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Updated January 2011.
At the time of my current purchase (yes, current purchase - I'll explain that later), the unit was $420 and is worth every penny (it's almost $100 less now, so there's really no excuse for anyone to not pick it up). For that price, you get a very good Blu-ray player, decent speakers (I'll get to that later too), and the ability to do all kinds of streaming to the device using either an Ethernet cable or the device's built in Wireless N certified antenna. The main reason I wanted this particular unit was two-fold. One, it is the only decent Home Theater System that has built-in DivX HD support, which means that it has the ability to play pretty much all types of media (MKV, AVI, DivX, MP4, MPG, etc...) off of a USB or from your home server. This was crucial. This Blu-ray home theater system also just so happened to match the design of my LG 42LH40 1080p 120hz LCD HDTV (seen here: http://www.amazon.com/LG-42LH40-42-Inch-1080p-120Hz/dp/B001VJHWTQ - AMAZING television as soon as you turn off the 'TruMotion' feature). So, this Home Theater System matched my needs.
This was my first Blu-ray player, but I didn't even really get it for that. I mainly wanted to be able to stream all kinds of media to something in my living room that could also playback my DVDs and eventual Blu-rays. My Xbox 360 can handle all of my media, but that's in the bedroom. I needed something decent for the living room, and something to take advantage of my beautiful TV. So, after getting this system, I tried some Blu-rays out - and WOW! I've since bought almost 50 titles on Blu-ray. The picture and sound is amazing - but I'll get to that later!
I've mentioned "current purchase" and "first purchase" in this review so let me explain that. This device originally had a manufacturing defect which caused a loud high pitch whistle sound (sounded like a tea kettle) to emit from the front right, rear right, and sometimes the center speaker. I was the first to document this online, and I did it on the Amazon message board on this very page. I also replied to several reviewers on this and the page for the LG LHB335 device. Others mentioned this problem on various websites (I'm not going to plug them here in my review), so trust me, this was a big problem. On top of that, I was in constant contact with the head of LG's Quality Assurance team. After talking to him about the issue, he admitted it existed and promised to find a fix. I grew impatient and saw the price for this device drop (around $80 from what I originally purchased it for) so I decided to return it and thought I would re-buy it at a cheaper price once he assured me a fix was found. Well, a fix was found. I re-purchased the device and it's working flawlessly. The fixed ones are manufactured June 2010 and later. If you purchase it and the manufacturing date is before June 2010, you will have the whistle sound.
So, back to the review. There have been some firmware updates lately that added some new features (DivX TV - which is awesome, MLB TV, and Napster), so make sure the first thing you do when you get the device is to update the firmware. It's also good to do a factory reset the first time you do that just in case (me and at least one other person have noticed a bug that was solved when we did that - but it's possible that the bug would have been fixed with the firmware update that was released a few days after that - I don't know). It's also a good idea to go into the speaker settings and adjust the speaker distance (the amount of feet between each speaker and your usual listening position). Now, this device came with rather short speaker wires (probably the shortest out of any Home Theater System I've ever purchased). This was solved with less than $10 and a quick trip to Radio Shack. I'm glad the speaker connections aren't proprietary like some other manufacturer's models out there. Let's get to the sound.
The sound is pretty impressive. It's possible that the people complaining about the sound are doing it for two reasons. For one, maybe they used the short speaker wires and thus, their speakers are too close together. Mine are pretty far apart from each other, so I have no sound problems. For two, it's possible that they left the default 2-channel sound output set to Natural (or was it Natural Plus?). For two-channel stereo audio, I didn't like this very much. Changing it to 'PL II Movie' made two-channel stereo audio sound NICE. I have 0 complaints about regular stereo audio anymore. By default, the receiver is properly set to output 5.1 channel audio with the 'Bypass' setting. This means that the receiver does no artificial mixing of 5.1 channel sound. It outputs it exactly as it is given it. This is the right way to do it. The receiver will also remember your settings for 5.1 channel and 2 channel, so don't worry about having to manually switch it to Bypass for 5.1 and to PL II Movie for 2 channel. Go to something that is 2 channel (like the FM radio, or a DVD menu), change the sound output to PL II Movie once, and never worry about adjusting the sound output again (unless you are strictly listening to CDs or MP3s and then you will have various different music outputs to choose from). So, due to changing the stereo output and having the speakers at a nice distance, I really love the sound output of this system. I did notice that the bass was a little low by default so I increased the sub-woofer volume to 3 and it sounded really good. I tried changing it to 6 at first but that was WAY too much bass for me. 3 was a perfect level.
Hooking the system up to my Wireless N network was a breeze. To make matters easier, I set my SSID to 'broadcast' so the Wireless N device inside the device would pick up my network, I put in the password once, and it was a go. I then disabled the broadcast of my SSID, turned the unit off, turned it back on, and it automatically re-connected without a problem. It remembers your password and automatically logs you in to your network so you never have to worry about that again. Good. Clicking on Homelink, I was greeted to my wireless network. I saw the CIFS network login for the PC, and the one for my Windows 7 Homegroup (which is the one I wanted to use). Before it would connect to my PC via the Windows Media Player server (the Windows 7 Homegroup), I had to go into the Homegroup settings in my Windows 7 PC, click on 'All Networks,' and make sure the device (which is listed as 'Unknown Device') was set to ALLOW. Once done, I was inside my PC's video library. 14GB 1080p MKV files streamed flawlessly over my wireless connection where my device was 50 feet from my router. The only time I would run in to a problem was when I would try to fast-forward a large file. I'm not sure if this is because of the device, or my wireless network, so I won't blame the device. However, fast-forwarding a file when played on a USB (and naturally, off of a Blu-ray disc and a DVD) worked fine. So the issue was definitely wireless related. It's probably too much to ask to be able to fast-forward such a large file over WiFi, but I don't care as long as it PLAYS the file fine. It does. You can pause it all you want and it will resume instantly as soon as you press play. This was all I wanted. In addition, since fast-forwarding large files doesn't work, I've noticed that you can press 'Info' and skip directly to the time that you want, which works just as well if not better than fast-forwarding.
The player had no problem playing files off of each of my USB sticks, but there was one thing I noticed. If the USB external hard drive was formatted to NTFS, I could just plug it in and the device would pick it up right away. If the USB flash drive was formatted to FAT32, I would have to turn the device off and turn it back on for it to recognize it. It may be because of my particular USB flash drive, or it may be because it is FAT32 and not NTFS. Either way, not really a big deal. As long as I can play all file types off of FAT32 and NTFS, I'm happy.
YouTube, Pandora, VuDu, Netflix - all worked fine. As of now, you can't search via Netflix - you can only access things from your Instant Queue or look at some recommendations. Not really a problem, but worth mentioning. If you open up VuDu, make sure to go into the options and check out the overscan settings and make sure it is appropriate to your HDTV so nothing is cut off (unless your HDTV is set to 1:1 pixel mapping - which it definitely should be if you want the sharpest and most accurate picture - then you won't ever have to worry about overscan). YouTube works well, it seems to stream videos at whatever their default resolution is (whether it is 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p). You can log in to your YouTube account so I'm sure that if you have your account to display HD video by default, that it would do that on this device. I don't really care to find out since I have a PC for YouTube. I just wanted to see if it worked. It does. It will store your YouTube history and not present you with an option to clear it, though. Doing a factory restore will clear your history (among other things) in the event that you reaaaaaaaally need to clear your history.
Let's talk Blu-ray. When I first got the device, I had a little problem with some movies when playing them at 24 frames per second (which you will want to enable as long as you have a 120hz/240hz LCD, or Plasma HDTV) but that was promptly fixed with a firmware update a week after I e-mailed LG about the problem (apparently, their whole line of this year's Blu-ray players were affected so I'm sure I was not the only one contacting them about it) and I have not had a problem since. If you don't know why you would want to set it to 24hz instead of 60hz - to make a long story short,...Read more›

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LG LHB335 1100-Watt Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I recently purchased a LG LHB335 BluRay all in one surround sound home theater system from Best Buy. The center and right rear speakers emit a whistling noise that sounds like a teapot when boiling. Not quite that loud, but enough to be a very undesirable noise in a new unit. I took the first one back, BB gave me another. Same thing. Then another. Same thing. I have connected it to another location with speaker wiring and a Monster Power supply and yes, it does the same thing! I called LG and they said they have no reports on this problem, but when a search is conducted, many people are complaining. Until this issue is resolved, I would suggest not buying this unit!
EDIT---More details:
The LHB335 has a horrible "Tea Pot" whistling noise emitted from the center speaker. It also comes from the right rear speaker at times. It is so annoying that I took it back to Best Buy. Exchanged for another and same thing! I relocated the unit on a different electrical circuit and that did not help. Bought an expensive Monster power supply due to Best Buys recommendation which did NOT help at all. They asked me to try unit #3 and it also had the same noise! To make sure that it was not just a building electrical problem, I installed it in a friends home. SAME ISSUE! I called LG to discuss the problem and they said they had no reports of such a problem. That is NOT true. The internet has many comments regarding this speaker noise issue. After talking with some friends, they too have returned units with the same problem. I really liked the features of the LHB335, but will not buy another one unless LG can assure me that it will be one that does not whistle!
Edit--Even More Details:
2/24/2011--With all of the positive comments I've seen posted, especially with claims that the noise has been fixed in units manufactured after June 2010, I thought I'll try another one for the basement game room. The price has been coming down drastically, and no wonder with all the bad PR, so I picked one up for $249 from Amazon. I received the unit in a couple of days, set it up (I can do it very quickly since I've been through more than a few of these) made the tweaks for inputs and presto..... No whistle... however there was NO SOUND AT ALL!!! After turning it off and on a few times the sound began working. But the sound would quit and then restart after 3-5 seconds. After talking with LG's deplorable customer service group, they said, "We haven't had any reports of that problem, send it to us and we will look at it." Once again LG displays horrible concern for their customer satisfaction! So it is going BACK TO AMAZON and I will never ever even consider another LG product!!!! So be forewarned.... LG does NOT mean Life is Good.... it means Lots of Grief!!!


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