LG's BD300 Blu-ray Player Does Netflix Movie Streaming
By Brandon A. DuHamel
Korean electronics manufacturer
LG Electronics announced today they will be introducing the world's first Blu-ray Disc player capable of streaming movies and television shows directly from the vast library of Netflix content directly to Netflix member's televisions. The BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player will be demonstrated jointly tonight by LG and Netflix at LG Electronic's Summer Line Show taking place at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.
The player joins the existing Roku box as well as a planned XBOX 360 update as a Netflix streaming movie client. To use the service, the player will require a wired broadband connection to access the Netflix content plus a Netflix membership over $9/month. Netflix members will be able to add content to their instant Queues via the Netflix website. Choices will automatically be displayed on a member's television and be available for playback through the LG player within thirty seconds. Users will also have the ability to browse for content right from their television using the player and their remote control.
The player will be a 1080p Blu-ray player meeting the Blu-ray specification's full, Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) standard, meaning it will be able to also access online content made available on certain Blu-ray Disc releases and will be Bonus View (picture-in-picture with secondary audio streams) capable. The BD300 is expected to sell for under $500 when it comes to market later this year.
Details are scant as to how much (if any) of the streaming content will be available in high definition, but the player's 1080p output certainly makes high definition streaming possible (assuming they can tackle the bandwidth challenges).
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