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LG BD300 Network Blu-Ray Disc Player | 
 enlarge | Brand: LG
Category: CE
Buy New: Too low to display
New (10)
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Color: Gloss Black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 8.4
Dimensions (in): 11 x 16.9 x 2.3
MPN: BD300
Model: BD300
UPC: 719192173309
EAN: 0719192173309
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | Blu-Ray Disc player with BD Live and BonusView | | • | Netflix instant streaming ready with Netflix subscription | | • | Full HD 1080p output via HDMI with Cinema mode at 24 or 60 frames per second | | • | Superior audio performance with 7.1 channels with Dolby Digital Plus & TrueHD & dts-HD | | • | LG Simplink connectivity of other LG products using HDMI connection |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Introducing the world's first Network Blu-ray Disc Player that streams from Neflix instantly. Enjoy Blu-ray Discs in Full HD, watch standard DVDs in near-HD up-scaled to 1080p, gain access to over 12,000 select Netflix movies and TV episodes in standard definitions and take advantage of interactive experiences, exclusive downloads and tons of extra features with BD Live. That's innovation. That's LG.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
Great but missing wifi October 6, 2008
51 out of 61 found this review helpful
I have an early production version of this and tested it for a few weeks. It has the best of blu ray and the best of the Roku player - except for one flaw - the idiots forgot to include the wifi capability found on the Roku player. Unless you happen to have an ethernet cable at your AV cabinet, I would pass on this until they figure out how to squeeze a $15 wifi module into the player.
 LG Blu Ray Player's Netflix 'Instant Watch' November 8, 2008
47 out of 53 found this review helpful
I first learned about this product through a netflix advertisement in the mail. I rushed out to the store to buy it because it offered the capability of streaming netflix movies. (I have netflix, and netflix has 'instant watch' for PC users only, and I use Apple computers, so this was my way of watching instant watch netflix movies over the internet) Once I bought the DVD player, I learned that it did not come with Wi-Fi and I would have to plug the DVD player into an ethernet socket in the wall, and since I did not have one downstairs for the living room, I had to buy a wireless ethernet adapter in order to use the netflix feature.
Once using the netflix 'instant watch' on my blu-ray player, I was somewhat tied about how I felt about the machine.
As the video gets ready to steam, it will give a quality range (from 1 to 4). the very first instant watch movie I watched was horrible quality. It was more bit-mappey then a bootleg movie. But as I watched a few more movies, the quality was better.
What I didn't like was:
1)in the middle of a movie, it would pause for a few seconds and tell me the network speed connection is adjusting and please wait while the movie updates.
2)Sometimes the audio is out of sync when you watch the "instant watch" movies
3)you have to log onto your computer to update your queue. you can't do it from the menu.
4)you cant stream instant watch movies on your computer if you're streaming instant watch movies from your dvd player. (cant do both at the same time. its either one or the other)
 Works as Promised! October 14, 2008
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
I just received my player a few days ago, so there are definitely some out there in the market. So far, I am very impressed. Netflix setup is easy, and the quality of the streaming video is better than I expected.
Blu-Ray and standard DVD's play great.
My only nickpick so far is that standard 4x3 DVD's are stretched to fill my 16x9 screen, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn that off. (Netflix 4x3 content is correctly displayed with sidebars.) Hopefully they'll fix this with a firmware update. Oh, and firmware updates are pretty much automatic, directly through the internet.
Update 11/23/08: This weekend, the player downloaded a firmware update. The aspect ratio problem described in the previous paragraph has been fixed!!!
After 3 weeks, I love it November 18, 2008
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
I received it about 3 weeks ago, and I truly love it. The glossy black unit has a thin and elegant, understated look that should not clash with other equipment.
Setup is simple and for me required 3 cables -- the power cable, the HDMI cable, and an ethernet (CAT-6) cable to my network. This unit will not work with wireless networks, as far as I know, because the streaming video quality would suffer on a large screen TV. You should also have a USB thumb drive of 1GB or over capacity for the system to download enhanced DVD content from the internet. Plug the thumb drive into the front panel (there is a hard to see door with a latch that will flick down with a fingernail) after the unit does its self-test and upgrades its firmware.
Blu ray picture quality seems quite good. As a medium, the improvement in picture from a DVD is quite pronounced. Even fast action sequences are crisp and smooth, with no artifacts on any disc I've played. The improvement in audio sound is more subtle -- on most action movies, I haven't noticed it. I will await some opera or concert blu rays to make a judgment.
However, I compared regular DVD pictures to my Denon DVD player that cost about 3 times the price of the BD300, and the blacks were a little more defined on the Denon than the LG. On the whole, it plays DVDs that I use for comparison (The 5th Element, Kingdom of Heaven, Sin City) in an acceptable way, and the picture is quite crisp.
This blu ray picture loads pretty fast -- about 20-40 seconds, so that is a real improvement over the earlier blu ray generation, and the remote is satisfactory if difficult to read in low light. This would be the only complaint in my book.
When you turn on the unit, and it's hooked into your ethernet network (no wireless), it automatically uprgrades its firmware and software first -- once again, this was seamless and only took a couple of minutes.
Now, what makes this unit so special is the NetFlix features, which having set up your account online, you activate on the unit from a 4-character code which you input into your Netflix Account via your PC. You must select "instant view" movies from your Netflix Account on the PC before they will show up as available on the BD300. Activating blu ray discs on your Netflix account will cost you an addition $1 per month.
Having everything set up, you can select the streaming to search for your Netflix Instant View features. You select the feature, and then it gives you a choice of starting them where you left off (if you were interrupted) or from the beginning. You can also rate the feature from your BD300 or remove it from your Netflix Queue. The quality of video you will see ranges from 1-4 "dots". 4 dots, the highest, I receive over my DSL Cat-6 gigabit switched network about 10% of the time, and the quality is about the same as blu ray -- very high indeed. All streamed movies seem to be stereo audio only, and no subtitles are available. 3 dots is the equivalent of good DVD picture and I get that about 60% of the time. One is not concious of any tradeoffs in picture quality. 2 dots is acceptable for all anime and many movies where there is not a lot of fast action or dark scenes, but you notice a loss of detail in those circumstances. The background can be a little blocky, but the picture will look about like regular definition TV viewed on a high-def device. 1 dot has a very blocky background and darks are pixelated and un-defined. If I get 1 dot, I stop the movie and hit replay, and then we see if the connection speed increases. If it does, I stick with the movie. If not, I wait until another time.
You will really enjoy a Netflix subscription much, much more with this unit.
Stunning quality, usability and design October 18, 2008
24 out of 27 found this review helpful
Man, just get this thing. Words can't describe how cool the device is! I purchased it with LG's 60" plasma and the entire experience out of this world! The Blu-Ray movies just leave you speechless! The Netflix works terrific on this unit. If network quality is good it delivers up-converted video of UNBELIEVABLE quality. The design, the way it opens, the menus on the screen just beyond compare. It loads Blu-Ray couple just in couple of seconds, like a CD player and Netflix movies open in a snap. When opens Netflix movie it instantly shows quality of network connection. On CDs it shows on screen the entire play list and goes into screen saver when it plays music to preserve the screen. I don't need wireless on this unit so I can't share other's people concern about it. The normal cable provides speed and reliability much required for quality video and it is by design set top, not mobile device so cable is the best choice. The only negative point goes to Circuit City where I bought this unit because it wasn't available on Amazon at that time. CC shipped it poorly boxed and it arrived in much beaten box.
This player gets my highest ranks and best recommendations. LG is a premium brand and by each product I have from them they upkeep this reputation. Take my word on this, it is one freaking WOW device.
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