The Wild Blu Yonder LG was the first manufacturer (let's not think about the PS3 for a moment) to build network connectivity into a Blu-ray player for the purpose (at least partially) of allowing users to stream online movies, thereby reducing their incentive to watch Blu-ray movies. That product, the BD300 included access to Netflix's "Watch Instantly" service, and according to LG, was a great success. With one component you could play 1080p Blu-ray discs to get the best high definition experience, or you could access your Netflix account for access to thousands of additional movies, mostly older catalog titles and TV shows. About 300 of those are available in high definition. Since that player launched, several other manufacturers have announced similarly-featured players. LG has followed up on the BD300 with the BD370, the subject of this review. The BD370 continues the Netflix support, but has added YouTube access to the mix (which the BD300 added as a firmware update several months after launch), allowing you to not only chose between Blu-ray movies and streamed movies, but let you watch bored kids dance in front of their Web cams for hours on end.
LG's BD370 Blu-ray players includes access to Netflix and YouTube.
Aside from the network accessible features, which LG pulls together under the umbrella term NetCast, the BD370 is a pretty straight up profile 2.0 player (which means it can play both Bonus View and BD Live features). The front of the unit is dominated by a silver dollar sized Blu-ray logo surround by a glowing blue ring. On the right of that is a panel that hides control buttons and a USB port. On the left of the logo is a panel that hides the disc tray. If it weren't for the large silver dollar in the middle, the player would have a clean, minimalist look.
The back of the player contains a single HDMI port, an Ethernet port, optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, component and composite video outputs and a set of stereo audio jacks. There are no analog multi-channel outputs, so if you have an older surround receiver (one without HDMI) you'll need to use the optical or coaxial connections to get Dolby Digital or DTS, but not the newer audio formats. For multi-channel analog outputs, consider LG's forthcoming step-up model, the BD390 instead.
Hook a Brother Up
Hooking the player up is pretty simple. I connected the HDMI port to my surround sound receiver and then an Ethernet cable to the network port. Since the player does not include built-in Wi-Fi you need to either run a cable all the way from your router or use a wireless bridge or comparable adapter (Sony's PS3 and Samsung's BD-P3600 and BD-P4600 include Wi-Fi, though these are all more expensive than the BD370). You can get Wi-Fi adapters that will work, but I opted for a power line networking adapter that used the HomePlug protocol. The unit recognized my network connection immediately.
When you power on the BD370 you're taken to a Home screen that shows you the options available (Movie, Photo, Music, NetFlix, YouTube and Setup). Movie refers to BD discs. Photo and Music refer to digital files on a USB drive. The other options are pretty self-explanatory.
Spinning Up Those Silver Platters
As a Blu-ray player, the BD370 works well, but fell short of perfect. Using the`Silicon Optix Blu-ray HQV test disc, rough edges on the two "jaggies" test patterns were very apparent. In the jaggies test, stair-like edges turned up on the test pattern in the beginning of the yellow area of the pattern (whereas the green area would have been much better). Some resolution loss also showed up in the 1080i/p de-interlacing tests (as our editor Chris Boylan saw previously in his review of the BD300) showing that the player has some issues de-interlacing native 1080i/60 content on Blu-ray Discs. Fortunately, most Blu-ray Discs are encoded on the disc at 1080p/24 resolution so de-interlacing will be unneccesary.
And on real BD feature material, the errors were not obvious. Test patterns can turn up errors that are hardly an issue when you're actually watching a movie, and this proved to be the case here. Curved edges and complex patterns didn't create disturbing artifacts on my 56-inch display unless I was really looking for them. Detail was as rich as expected from a 1080p movie.
Impatient users will like this LG for it's speedy load times. The non-java BD disc The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy took only 19 seconds to start playing with the unit on, and 33 seconds from a cold start. BD Java-enabled discs, such as Hancock, took longer, but not too much. Hancock loaded in 29 seconds with the player already on and 45 with the player off. This puts it a bit quicker than its already perky predecessor (the BD300), and noticeably faster to load than the new DMP-BD80 from Panasonic.
This player was also particularly speedy when connecting to BD Live content. It's worth noting here though that all profile 2.0 players require at least 1 GB of memory in order to access BD Live features. This model doesn't come with any built-in memory, so you need to use the front USB port and a flash drive. Panasonic players, on the other hand, include an SD card slot for this purpose (though not the card itself). It's a lot more convenient, and attractive, to simply place in a tiny SD card, rather than a comparatively bulky flash drive, especially if you plan to leave the drive in the player all the time. If you also use the drive for other media files, you need to make sure there's still enough room on it for the BD Live files.
Like all HDMI-equipped BD/DVD players, this unit will also upscale standard DVDs to 1080p. I cringe when I hear claims of upscaling players turning your DVDs into HD quality. None of them do that. The best they can do is smooth out some of the rough edges, make some good guesses and hope you're not doing a side-by-side comparison of real HD material. The BD370 does improve on straight-up DVD material, but it's not the best device for that job alone. On my tests it was able to show all the detail a DVD offered, but it didn't do any magic tricks. Deinterlacing was fair, but not great. On torture test scenes, the unit didn't perform as well as my Oppo DV-981, but it did do better than an older Samsung DVD player I had on hand.
Listen Up!
On the audio side, this unit will do onboard decoding of both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential (no DTS 96/24 or DTS-ES) to multi-channel PCM output. You can also send the HDMI audio signal via bitstream and let your processor do the audio thinking or even recode all soundtracks to high bandwidth (but still lossy) DTS surround for compatibility with older non-HDMI equipped receivers. The latter option is referred to as DTS-Re-encode. If you use the SPDIF output, you can select PCM stereo, DTS Re-encode or Primary Pass-thru. DTS-Re-encode will take any multi-channel signal (including PCM 5.1 or PCM 7.1) and re-encode it into multi-channel DTS. If you were to set the player to Primary Pass-thru, the 5.1 and 7.1 PCM tracks would only be output at 2 channel PCM. It's a trick I'd like to see on more Blu-ray players.
As stated earlier, the USB port is included primarily to allow the player to store content for BD Live. You can play audio, video and other files though it though. As an MP3/WMA player or digital picture viewer, the BD370 works, but it's no media server. The interface is minimal, and it won't work with an iPod. On the other hand, if you have a high definition camcorder that records in the AVCHD format, you can connect it via USB and watch your HD home movies directly off the camcorder. Since most HD camcorders don't include full-size HDMI ports, but they do include USB ports, this is a good option. Most current BD players support this, but few early ones do (the PS3 is one of the few early generation players that supports AVCHD playback via USB).
I didn’t have any playback issues when playing any BD disc, but the unit did freeze and shut down on me once when attempting to access YouTube through the Home screen. I tried, but I couldn’t replicate the issue.
NeTube Performance
To access NetFlix content, you must have a NetFlix account at the $8.99/month level or greater. You select your content the same way you do with the discs, but in the case of the Watch Instantly selections, they just go into a queue that you can either watch in your PC or through a network device like this LG player. Unfortunately you must populate your queue via a computer first. You can‘t browse NetFlix‘s full library via the Blu-ray player. On the BD370, the NetFlix selections took a half minute to pop onto my TV screen, but browsing the selections is fast and simple.
NetFlix content varies considerably in quality. The HD content is delivered at 720p resolution, but so heavily compressed that it doesn't compare to the HD quality you get from BD discs or broadcast programming. That said, the HD content is superior to the SD content, which can vary from nearly DVD quality to just good enough to watch. None of the content, SD or HD, contains 5.1-channel audio tracks. Stereo or mono is all you'll get (at least for now). The fact that you're not paying extra for this makes up for these shortcomings. Consider it analogous to the free VOD programming you get from your cable provider.
The YouTube content also varies greatly, but that should come as no surprise to anyone. What is the surprise is how easy it is to pass an evening watching 3 minute videos. The TV interface for YouTube is really quite good, and fairly fast. The initial screen offers you the currently most popular videos or you can search with an onscreen keyboard. Hunting for keys with the onscreen keyboard is a bit tedious though. Good thing YouTube is free.
Remotely Boring
For as much as this player does, the remote is a couple generations behind. It's about as bare-bones as you can get. There's no backlight, it's small and the sliding cover sticks so much I had to use a penny to slide it back to access half the buttons. On the plus side, there is a handy return button, and a home button that takes you to the player's main interface screen.
Turn Ons
Turn Offs
Final Thoughts
The LG BD370 is a nice successor to the original BD300. It's clear that manufacturers need to add more compelling features to their products than just disc playback. Bare-bones DVD players from 3rd-tier makers brought that market down quickly so that the big names couldn't make a profit on even a quality DVD player. The top manufacturers don't want to let that happen to Blu-ray and so they're coming up with as many tricks as they can to keep the attention away from the bargain brands. Also, a network-capable product is never really finished. The manufacturer can keep rolling out new features or improvements, and keep that customer happy.
Are NetFlix and YouTube enough to sway you away from another player? If you like to have easy access to a large library, or you're just addicted to music videos and cute cat antics, then the answer may be yes. If you're a videophile with a 120-inch projection screen, then maybe the answer is no, as the player's performance on standard DVDs and 1080i Blu-ray Discs leaves a bit to be desired.
Other manufacturers are bundling online content features into their Blu-ray players (and everything else) so this market may look completely different a year from now. And let's not forget the gorilla in the room--the Playstation 3. It had network capability (including wireless) from the very start, and automatic updates refresh what the player does almost too frequently. With the PS3 you can rent and purchase online movies and TV shows, plus rumors abound about a Netflx deal in the works. The PS3's YouTube interface is a bit clunky, but it works (especially if you have a Bluetooth keyboard). But for those who simply don't want a gaming console or PC in their living room or home theater system, the BD370 is a viable option with excellent 1080/24p Blu-ray performance and some compelling features at an entry-level price.
LG BD370 Key Features
Where to Buy:
Company Contact Information
LGE US (LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc.)
1000 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 07632
Tel: 201-816-2000
Fax: 201-816-0636
On the web: us.lge.com/bluray
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