Customer Reviews

LG BD670 3D Wireless Network Blu-ray Disc Player with Smart TV

5 star:		(127)
4 star:		(98)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(56)
1 star:		(77)

 

 

Chose this model because it had streaming, DLNA, and wireless built-in (you don't need a separate dongle). I have not been disappointed in any of its functions. Wireless connectivity was a breeze - setup was straightforward and this model accepts a 32-character WPA2 security key (unlike previous LG TVs and Blu-ray player models which were limited to 18-20 characters, as I discovered when I bought a wireless dongle for our TV!). The wireless connection seems to be much more stable than with the other wireless devices we have. I occasionally have to turn off and on again to get a connection on startup, but this is unsurprising given how flaky our router is ... :-)

Blu-ray playback is really good. Our first Blu-ray disc looked grainy and I was concerned until I read various forum discussions that criticized this movie transfer. Many Blu-ray movies are apparently intentionally grainy because this duplicates the "film" experience that the director intended. You can use the movie mode on your TV to reduce graininess as this lowers the sharpness setting. Our second Blu-ray disc was really smooth and detailed, as were most of the other discs. Playback resolution is excellent, you can see every pore on someone's face and the depth of field is amazing. There were no stutters, freezes or glitches with any of the discs we have played. DVD upscaling is also good - I decided it is not worth replacing any DVDs with Blu-ray discs as the upscaled playback in 1080p looks just as good as Blu-ray playback.

Wireless streaming from Netflix was absolutely painless, once I worked out that the "Netflix ESN" that the player provides in the network setup menu is NOT the code that you need to use for Netflix connection setup. You need to select the LG Premium menu icon which accesses premium streaming services, select Netflix and get the connection code from the setup menu there. Enter the code once on the Netflix website ("Activate a Netflix ready device" in your account settings) and Netflix streaming works automatically after that. Hopefully my experience will save other people hours of trying to connect with the wrong code! Netflix streaming is excellent quality, much better than broadcast TV for most shows. The player seems to stream seamlessly from Netflix with almost no stutters or degraded resolution issues, even for HD movies. The only issues I have seen are when my internet connection is congested (Comcast net access is pretty bad on Friday evenings and Saturdays in my area). I am impressed.

A recent firmware update (April 2011) added Amazon Video on Demand, which also works great! It is really cool to have these services. The device also offers Vudu, Pandora, etc. but I haven't used those. Firmware updates are easy, although these do take around 5-10 minutes to load via wireless connection - you need to keep your nerve and not turn off the player, thinking nothing is happening. Eventually, you get a message saying that the download has loaded and the player turns off and on again. If the download fails (which did happen once), the device is not affected (good design).

I was really impressed by how painless it was to set up media streaming from a PC using DLNA. A copy of Nero Home Media Server essentials was supplied on CD - I installed this, the player automatically detected my PC and presented me with a list of files I could play from the media folder. This was *so* easy! DLNA file-streaming has worked brilliantly: I only experienced problems with one, huge (10 GB) home movie file that stuttered and stopped. Then I discovered the USB connection on the right-front panel of the player. I had been so taken with all of the streaming solutions that I overlooked the easiest way to play media files, which is from an external hard drive or flash drive! The BD670 played the huge file from an external hard drive with no problems. Since then, the player has played everything I have thrown at it: AVI and MKV, etc. using lots of different codecs. With 3 firmware updates in the month that I have owned it, I have a lot of confidence that it is being updated constantly to play all of the latest disc and file formats. So I am a very happy bunny indeed!

UPDATE: *** Hulu-Plus just appeared on the premium services (network access) menu, as of the July 30th software update! I can't vouch for the quality, because I am not a member. But the demo videos seem to play just fine. Napster was removed ("at the provider's request") in Dec. 2011.

I bought this player a month ago and wanted to wait and get some ample use time with it before I left a review. The LG BD670 is my second standalone blu-ray player, where my first was the LG BD390 (2009 model). (It also really says something when in 2009 I paid $330 for the BD390, yet only 2 years later pay only $154 for the BD670.) I decided to go with LG again because of my experience with past performance and they give all the features I want. As with most blu-ray players like this one firmware updates are a must, so as soon as I got the player connected to my network (wireless) I got it updated to the latest firmware. So far I am pretty impressed with most, but not all aspects of this player. There are 3 main viewing methods I use to watch videos with this player: discs (30%), USB (30%) and streaming/wireless (40%). I'll give detailed reviews of these since they're what I use.


* DISCS: With both the ability to stream AND watch video files via the USB port (as with the 390) I don't watch as many discs as I use to. There are now of course 2 types of video discs, DVD and blu-ray. What some people don't understand is that DVD and blu-ray are 2 completely different formats, each with there own disc format. The only thing that they have in common (besides playing A/V streams) is that they both have the same SIZE disc.
- Blu-rays: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** When I first watched a blu-ray on my BD390 paired with my (then new) Vizio 42" 1080p 120Hz HDTV I definitely saw the improvement over DVD with a much sharper, clearer picture with much more detail. In fact it sometimes sucks to have that much detail for some of the older/low budget movies that I have on blu-ray because it allows you to see just how bad some of the special effects were (wires, etc.)! I thought the picture couldn't get any better on my Vizio because I thought that what the BD390 was giving it was as good as what the TV could produce. Well, when I watched some of my blu-rays on the same TV with the BD670...it turned out I was wrong! This player gives noticeable improvement when it comes to playing blu-rays when compared to the BD390. The picture IS actually even sharper/clearer and the colors are more vibrant; not in any grand, vast improvement kind of way, but it is noticeable. I've played about a dozen or so blu-rays on it thus far, but it's been able to play them all without any problems whatsoever...say for one title (so far). "Daybreakers". I know this title plays just fine because the disc would play in the 390. When I put this disc in to play in the 670, it starts to load up the main menu with its movie icon/progress bar, but then stops about 3/4 of the way through. However the sound will continue to play for the trailers with just a small patch of the video on the screen showing beside half of the logo. I "next track" all of the trailers to try and get to the menu (pressing the "disc menu" button only gives me the "circle cross" icon telling me it can't do that), but once I'm past all the trailers and the menu is suppose to load up...nothing. It just sits there and doesn't load up anything. I called LG to make them aware of this problem and the woman I talked to said she would pass along this info to their firmware dept. and look into fixing the problem. (Who knows how long that might take though?!) Hopefully this one title is a rarity, but it makes me wonder out of the over 100 titles on blu-ray I do own and have yet to play on this machine, how many of those might encounter this same kind of problem?
- DVD's: ** See UPDATES @ the end of my review about this! ** Surprisingly, this unit DOES have a slight problem when it comes to playing DVD's! You think the one thing they could get right for this player is to play DVD's with no problems whatsoever, but sadly no. The audio/video plays fine, but every chapter change there is a half-second skip in the play (more for the audio than the video). It's barely noticeable, but it IS noticeable. It's not enough to really bother me, but I can understand other people being bothered by it. If it happened more often in the play, then it would probably get on my nerves more. This is a problem that LG is already aware of and says is working to fix in a future firmware update, but still I contacted them via email about this just to add my complaint to the list. Other than that there is no other problems I've experienced. The audio/video quality is great and every single DVD loads up and plays, even some region 0/PAL DVD's I got from Australia.

* USB: This is the main reason I bought and have stuck with the LG model blu-ray players. I have plenty of USB flash drives, not to mention external HD's where I have all my media files backed up on, other things I download from various sources. I just transfer them to a flash drive and plug it into the port and start watching. This player is a bit different from the 390 in that the USB, not the disc source is the main source it defaults to. I can have a disc already loaded in the unit when I turn it on, yet if you have a USB drive plugged in, it will ask if you want to play something from that first instead of loading up the disc. So far, it has played every single video file/format (.mkv, .mpeg, .avi, .mp4, .m4v) I've thrown at it with no problems at all. I LOVE this ability.

* Streaming/Wireless: Not only does this unit have the USB port up front to play video/music/picture files off of external drives, but with the wireless it has the ability to use DLNA to stream media from your computer (which I haven't messed with yet.) This unit has dual-band wireless, meaning it uses both 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz bands. This is especially useful for those who have a dual-band router (such as myself), so there is less chance of a dropped connection or decrease in connection speed. Mostly all of the streaming I do with the 670 is from LG's Premium service, i.e. Netflix, Pandora, etc. This is definitely where the 670 has improved over the 390 with a lot more services and better interfaces. The interface menu for Netflix has VASTLY improved from the 390 with more choices to look up movies and easier navigation of the "instant queue". The only other Premium service I've used so far is Pandora which is nice too. I have yet to try out any of the other services, and don't plan to for the foreseeable future. I will note that when I first did the firmware update (no problems) then loaded up the Premium service, it started to do an update for the program, but said it failed and just loaded up Premium as normal. The second time I loaded it up it attempted the update again and was successful. All of the movies I've streamed have played fine with no dropped connections/rebuffering and the quality has been at least DVD or better.


Overall, for the time being, I'm satisfied with this player; but only with the understanding that the problems it has will be fixed in future firmware update(s). As these blu-ray players get more and more complex with all the different features they have, it also means there's more chance for various and unforeseen bugs like the ones this player still suffers from will pop-up, hence the need for the firmware updates. I know a number of people believe that they should be like the old DVD players and just work straight out of the box and I wish they did too. In a perfect world they would, but this is far from a perfect world isn't it? These players are becoming more and more like computers, various hardware and software meant to work together to perform certain tasks without errors or conflicts. However ANYONE with a computer knows that it's not that easy. I modify/upgrade hardware and some programs (software) on my system all the time and sometimes these changes cause conflicts. A change in hardware, even with the latest drivers can cause unforeseen problems with other hardware or software. A new update to a driver can cause the hardware it's suppose to improve to work less efficiently or program update can cause conflicts with other software. Most of the time this doesn't happen or can be easily resolved, but sometimes it does. This is the same for these new players. A firmware update meant to fix one issue can cause another. The companies that manufacture these players can only do so much beta-testing before they have to release them into the real world. That is when we, the consumer whom these devices are intended for, put them through their real world paces that the manufacturer simply can't do. There are so many variations (different DVD's, blu-rays, vidoe files, streaming, etc.) made by different studios and other companies that all use various manufacturing/specification standards that it would be virtually impossible for the manufacturers to try and test them all on these players, when they themselves have their own standards and specifications. Read reviews for any other blu-ray player out there right now and I defy you to find one single player that has no complaints against it. I'm not trying to defend this players shortcomings, I'm just saying I understand (more than some people) why they exist and at the same time am trying to make other people understand why they exist.

With this review I am trying to inform you, the consumer about this player. It is a good player and will be an even better one once these small problems it has are fixed in firmware updates. If you buy this player now, be aware of the aforementioned problems and be patient for the firmware fixes. If you are turned off by these problems I have experienced and/or problems mentioned by other reviewers which I have not experienced; either wait until these problems have been addressed to purchase or simply look into buying a different player. Once firmware for these problems have been released and fixes the player, I will update by review accordingly.


**UPDATE: 6/15/11**
After contacting LG a couple times and browsing the AVS forums, it seems that the DVD skip was introduced in the latest firmware update that was put out in late April. It should be fixed in the next update along with a few other little things. So the fault lies not in the player, but the latest firmware. (Just so people will know.)

**UPDATE: 6/20/11**
A new firmware update was released just after my last update. It didn't come up automatically, I went into the "Setup" section to check (like I do every few days, just in case). I updated to this newest version to see if any problems were fixed. For the DVD "chapter change" 1/2 second skip problem, I can say it's been fixed for the most part. I've only watched 3 or 4 DVD's so far (a couple movies and a TV series episode) and I only experienced the skip intermittently or not at all. For 1 or 2 of the movies the skip happened like once in the beginning and a few times closer towards the end, for the other movie and the TV episode I watched, I didn't experience the skip at all. For that particular blu-ray title problem "Daybreakers", this has been fixed (or maybe it was half my fault from the start)! What I discovered is that the reason "Daybreakers" wouldn't load up in the first place is because I always had a USB drive plugged into the front when I tried to load the movie! I don't know why this interferes with this particular title ONLY (so far) and not any other I've loaded up, but it does! I want to say that before this newest update I HAD already tried having the flash drive unplugged from the front to see if it made a difference, so I'm not sure if this update had anything to do with it or not. If you are having trouble with a particular blu-ray (like "Daybreakers") not loading up AND you have a USB drive plugged in, THAT could be the problem! I updated the rating for my review to 4 stars since LG is starting to release firmware updates that are making improvements and are getting the player to proper working order again.

**UPDATE: 6/25/11**
Yet another update was released on 6/21 which, it appears, COMPLETELY fixes the DVD skip problem. I watched some more DVD's and I haven't experienced it on ANY of them, so I guess that problem has been squared away. Since any of the problems I've experienced have now been fixed I'll stop doing these updates, especially since their making my review even longer than it is already! (Can I get an "Amen"?!)

Upsides: Pandora works nicely. Some other nice internet radio options.
Netflix interface decent.
The best thing here is the SAMBA, CIFs or Windows file sharing (Whatever you call it) is nice. Works fine with Linux, works fine with MediaTomb upnp server. Couldn't find right transcoding options, but didn't need it... good with mp4's ripped h.264 and does mp3. plays flip video files natively no problem. Pause, rewind, fast forward over streaming (cifs or upnp).
LCD display shows timecode when playing streams from samba or upnp.
Bought device to have single device for netflix and home media serving.
Plays mp3's nicely.
Better than ROKU for me since it does SAMBA and UPNP for home streaming, wasn't clear if Roku did that.
Wi-FI, wired.
Oh, and it plays BD's too, I tested one, but not my primary reason for purchase.
Unit stays cool, is nice and small and does what I need.

Downsides: no screensaver in pandora, fearing burn-in.
Menus kind of laggy.
No progress meter when updating firmware. LCD indicates updating but should have separate downloading and applying progress when installing firmware. Have seen samsung do this better with progress meter.

I'd like to add a special item here. LG you did this correctly --- you have a sticker for support on the device. Wow. I love you. I called, human answers. No hold time. Sat, Sun, no problem. I had an issue with firmware 268.E within 3 days there was a new 270-something to correct. 268.E added Amazon VOD for me and the other nifty items. Support was very friendly, apologized and was pleasant to work with. I've never owned home electronics where they actually had a support line with humans. And the humans called you back with updates on your problem!

First LG device I own... mad props for the useful human support!

The only problem I've had with this unit, is that it loses it's wireless settings 50% of the time after you turn it off and then turn it on a day later.

I'm an engineer. There's nothing wrong with the wireless network in my home.

Even if there was, and say the wireless network went up and down now and then, why why why doesn't this device remember the network and password you've spent time typing in on the on-screen keyboard and automatically reconnect ?

Instead, it prompts me that it isn't connected. I then re-select the Network (which it finds first time), and re-enter the password, and then it always connects sucessfully.

If the Network is there and available, why doesn't the box re-connect on it's own !!!!!

Seriously - do the engineers (and worse - the QA and management team) over in China who wrote this software think it's OK for a user to have to re-enter their networking credentials everytime they want to watch TV ? Imagine if you had to do this with your PC. At least on a PC you have a keyboard: on this device you have a four-corners remote control and a onscreen keyboard.

--- Update ---

Contacted LG tech support. A CSR (whose first language wasn't English) offered this:
" sincerely apologize for the inconveniences, but regretfully, we do not have a firmware for this, since the unit most keep the information at all times, I will suggest you to send us the player and have the technician correct the problem."

So I ordered a replacement from Amazon. It does the exact same thing.

LG 1) fix this stupid bug, 2) hire some decent CSRs.

--- Update 2 ---

LG apparently fixed this bug in a subsequent SW release. After taking a download one day, this issue no longer happens. Upgrading my review to 3 stars. (-1 for awful customer service, -0.5 for letting this bug out in the first place, and -0.5 for a slow UI). I want to give it four stars... maybe when I get over the first awful bug.

I bought this machine because it could play MORE digital files than the competition (i.e. mkv, mp4, divx/avi, etc) via wireless from my Vista Desktop machine or USB. This machine is truly a step above the competition in many regards that are important to me.

When you receive the machine and setup the built-in wireless (I have ATT uVerse with the router in my room), it immediately does a firmware search to find the file. It takes approximately 10-15 minutes for it to reboot with the new firmware. Then you're golden. You login to the Netflix account and and any other service and you're good to go!

The desktop streaming takes a bit to figure out and the instructions are lacking on how to do this after you install the Nero software disc that's supposed to hook you up. Eventually a pop-up screen user ID/password has to match your computer's and then you have to click into it from the menu. I had to Google it to find out how to do the desktop to player set-up (apparently there's lots out there with the same problem!). Anyways, once set-up, the streaming is SMOOTH and FLAWLESS with large multi-GB files. Quality of the digital file seems to be upconverted as the image looks great. In addition, it works with multichannel files, so if you have 5.1 in the AVI file, it'll play back all channels. The only issue with streaming in general, (i.e. desktop or Netflix on any disc machine), is that the FW/REW is slow to implement (several seconds lag), but this is "normal" for streaming functions these days me-thinks. Mp3 songs also stream nicely.

The Bluray and DVD playback quality is great. Saturated colors and sharp. The DVD discs upconvert brilliantly and look almost bluray level!

I've read that a few users have had the player burp between chapter breaks on DVD/Bluray playback, but this is not the case with my player. It plays SMOOTH from beginning to end. I would suggest anyone that gets a player that does this to EXCHANGE it immediately (hopefully from a different batch!). I suspect that LG uses different drives/chip from different mfgrs. and thus some may be getting a player with frazzly parts. I wouldn't wait for some "oft-promised" firmware fix (as LG has told some who have this problem) if I knew other users were getting machines that work 110% (like me).

Amazingly enough, there's nothing I can really ding this player on except the shoddy instructions on how to set up Desktop computer streaming wirelessly...which can be a PAIN(!!) if you've never done it before.

In all, the fact that it can play a host of files from my computer and do everything else very competently sets this model lineup a step above Panasonic and the rest for its feature richness (and is a DAY and NIGHT improvement over the previous buggy Samsung wireless player I had!). Remember to just do a chapter break test on your new unit and exchange if it stutters on you....then, once you have nag-free player, you should be golden!

A word of advice on firmwares. Once you have a firmware that WORKS, don't download any new ones until you know from other users (avsforum.com) it works 110% and adds something of real value to YOU (i.e. such as Hulu+, etc). Too many times, the newer firmware is addition by subtraction--you get something naggy to work, but then messes up something else. Just keep that in mind before looking down the barrel of the firmware gun!

I am updating this review because the audio drop out problem that occurred when playing dvd's has been fixed via firmware. The unit now plays dvd's just fine as well as blu-rays and files via usb.

I did not buy this for the 3D feature. I couldn't care less about 3D movies at home. It was great seeing Avatar in excellent 3D at the theater but I'm not looking for 3D movies or etc. at home.

The one feature I do like about this unit which I did have time to test thoroughly is the ability to plug a thumb drive or external drive into it and play movies and music! It worked great for that and this is a feature I do want in my next BluRay player as well.

This unit plays the following files without problems*:
cd, wav, mp3
Windows Media wmv files, avi files, divx files, mpg files, mp4 files and mkv files and flash files. All played excellently and the ability to just plug in a thumb drive to play files is really great imho.
*Note that some of the above files still will not play due to codec issues. Basically that means that the "inner workings" of the files may not be standard and so may not work with this player. Most do, but some don't. I imagine most players that have this feature would have the same problem, except for *maybe* the expensive Oppo player.

I hooked up the wireless connection with my new 2Wire Wireless modem from ATT (DSL) and it works "pretty well", though not perfect. This will of course depend on your connection speed and your router and such so whether it plays well for you is probably as much a function of your other equipment and service, as it is the function of this LG.

One thing I will note is that this player's youtube interface is absolutely *horrible* and basically not worth using. So if you are buying this for youtube, look for another player. Netflix works fine and the interface is okay, though not as good as ROKU's.

POSITIVES:

*Once I figured out it was the Encryption Key they were looking for in terms of a password, my connection automatically began to work. Pretty easy to set up the streaming function.

*I tried Netflix first and I was able to surf the menus and I tried a couple movies just to see if they worked. It took maybe a minute to load the movie and after that there was no pausing/loading. For me loading Netflix varies. Sometimes it loads a movie in less than 15 seconds, other times it's a minute or so. Most of the time it plays the entire movie without interruption but sometimes it has to reload for 15 seconds to a minute. More often than not, it plays straight through. Again, this probably has more to do with your internet connection and router/modem than it does with the LG.

The fast forwarding works fine but of course was slower response than a disc.

*Pandora works beautifully. Sounds so much better through my 5.1 Sound system with Enhancement turned on than it does through my little computer speakers. I upgraded to the premium Pandora, I love it so much - so I could bypass the commercials and get a slightly higher bit rate. Frankly, my ears do not hear the difference in the bitrate, but I do enjoy it more, commercial free! Pandora is great and I encourage everyone to sign up and try it if you love music of ANY genre, from classical to jazz to blues to rock and country... etc.

*I have not tried any other services as I am not signed up to any of the others. HuluPlus, Amazon, Crackle, etc are available but just don't interest me.

NEGATIVES:

*The streaming of movies is dependent on your connection. 3-4mb download speed is about the minimum and that's what I have. It works well most of the time but sometimes it hangs for a few seconds or a minute. Most of the time it's fine. Unfortunately the USA is way behind in providing fast internet for its citizens - other countries - even "3rd world" ones - have way faster internet service than us, in general. Go figure. So again, your service with streaming will depend on how fast your isp's download speed is at your residence. If you want to stream movies, get the fastest package your isp provides. Again, at 3.5mb per second, I get nearly perfect service, just occasionally there are delays.

*Moving through the Netflix categories to look for a movie is generally slow. Sometimes it takes 15 seconds or more for pictures of movies to load. Reminded me of 1985 dial-up service at times. Lately it's been mostly better so maybe Netflix is doing something to make it better.

Now back to BluRay:

It loads movies pretty slowly when it is looking for where you left off during the last playback session. I had watched the first half or so of "Avatar" yesterday and put it back in to finish it. It took like at least a minute or more to load the disc, at one point I thought it was not going to load at all.

I assume this is because it was looking for the spot it left off at, and that is why it was so slow; if I load a new bluray disc in it loads much faster. Some have said that this blu-ray player loads faster than others. I don't know as this is my first blu-ray. All I know is, it's much slower than most dvd's.

Not sure if this is a BD670 error or an "Avatar" disc error but neither my wife nor I could see the menu choices on the Avatar disc. That is, to choose between 2 or more options on the screen we could not see ANY indication as to which one was selected on ANY of the menus. This was very annoying as we had to just guess where the cursor was and hope for the best. Anyone else have this problem? Is it the movie disc or the player? UPDATE: We also have had this problem with a couple dvd's. Not sure if this is an LG issue or an issue with all blu-ray players with these particular discs. In general, based on this machine and this being my first blu-ray, it seems that they have not fully worked out all the bugs with blu-ray players. My 3 previous dvd players were much less problematic.

All in all, if Netflix will work as it has so far, and not pause or skip if watching through an entire movie, I will be pretty happy with it in spite of the slow going through the Netflix menu and the one freeze. Of course if it freezes regularly then, "Houston, we have a problem..."

All in all I am very happy with this player, especially its ability to play video files from a USB drive. (It also plays photos and music files.)

All in all this is a really good Blu-Ray player but if you are buying it for streaming or for file playing, there are some minor issues here and there so I can't give it 5 stars.

However I will say that most of the other blu-ray players that play files and stream content (The 2 main reasons I bought this player) ALSO have issues, and this one seems to be among the best. LG's lousy youtube interface and the problems they had in the past with bad firmware updates also play into my not giving this 5 stars. (Due to bad firmware updates that caused problems with dvd playback I had to take this unit back and then buy it again later after they resolved the issue; so this also plays into my not giving it 5 stars. Who knows when the next firmware problem will occur? LG seems to not do a good job of testing their firmware thoroughly before releasing it.)

Like the famed and beloved LG BD390, you can throw just about any connection to the LG BD670 with just about any format and it will play it. Works with DLNA servers. Even works with network drives over wireless N. Plays MP4s, DIVX, MKVs, etc. Streams from Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, MLB, NBA, VUDU, Pandora, etc. Plays off a USB disk. And it plays Blu-Rays and DVDs. LG has even been so kind as to add apps. The remote could be better, but pddbbfff, who really cares about the remote.

Forget about all those other internet connected Blu-Ray players. Those lesser boxes may be able to stream Netflix, but can they stream your home movies? NO. These failure machines may see they are DLNA certified, but can they play video encoded in H.264? NO. Does wireless ready mean that the wireless controller is in the box? NO. Those other machines are built on charred and ashen remnants of an underpaid engineer's hopes and dreams, the fumes from which emanate from these other boxes and bring forth tears and cries of frustration as you angrily press the play button over and over, wishing that your box will play your h.264 encoded video of your son's first steps. Do not do that to yourself. You deserve better. The world deserves better. The world has better, the LG BD670.

Beware buying this product and read the fine print. One would think that the warranty would be 1 year parts/labor. Instead the warranty is 1 year labor and 90 days parts. It doesn't say this on the literature that is sent with the product, but on the website when you try to file a claim. I bought this product in June, only to have the optical reader break a few days ago. Any time a disk is inserted the player makes a grinding noise and will not play the disk at the proper speed. This results in a sputtering playback and the soundtrack is awful.

Funny how when I bought this product there weren't too many negative reviews, but in the past couple of months that has changed.

"February 7, 2011 - LG Electronics has discovered that there is a printing error on the warranty statements on certain of our Blu-Ray and Home Theater products (the "Warranty Statements") which will be available for purchase in the coming weeks. The Warranty Statements are the documents which are contained inside the product box and incorrectly state that the Manufacturer's Limited Warranty period is 1-year parts / 1-year labor. The correct warranty period for these products is 1-year parts / 90-days labor. The remainder of the Warranty Statements are correct as written."

First of all I have a Iomega Home Media 1 TB Network Attached Storage 34337 and I've ripped all my DVD's to it. Lots of kids movies, TV shows, etc... and I wanted them all to be playable on my TV. After a disappointing run in with a Samsung "DLNA capable" Blu-ray player I had to find something that actually worked. While researching the failures on the Samsung device I read rave reviews about LG products, though this model was newer than any of the ones I read about I jumped on it.

So far so good. Not only does it playback the DVD rips I've made, it plays Blu-Ray movies beautifully without the menu lag the Samsung had.

So far I have two complaints, which prevented a 5 star review - or things around it more specifically:

1. On the box it claims this device can be controlled with an Android app. I downloaded the app the day I bought the player, turns out the app was updated three days before I bought my player, the previous version of the app works for everyone, the new version only works for a very small percentage of the people who've tried it, I haven't found enough data to conclude why it works for the few people who can use it.

2. The LG app store is very lacking in available software and has issues with not being available on occasion. I have not tried Net Flix or Vudu so I can't review those.

Just a note to all - I have yet to buy a 3D or standard HDTV so I have only tried this on my 36" Dimatron.

I am a rather advanced tech, I can answer questions if there are any, and I do have a monitor with HD capability and a HDMI in if anyone has questions that requires me to experiment with HD, I just don't use it as a TV since it's 24"s is still no match for my Dimatron in the living room.

----UPDATE----

I left the useless remote control software installed on my phone so I would know if LG ever decided to update/fix it. They did. It works great now! Nice remote control interface, I wouldn't exactly call it precision, but it is nice and face it, if the control is in your pocket you're less likely to lose it (or have a kid lose it for you) like the normal remote.

ALSO, I noticed an option, I'm not sure was there before the last firmware update or not, to allow for "streaming from network". I enabled it, it finally works exactly the way it should as a DMR, I sent media from my NAS drive to the Blu-Ray player using UPnPlay on my phone. I also streamed media directly from my phone to the player using iMediaShare. I'm going to play with it more later, I'm sure I can control it and even make a play list with VLC on my Linux systems, I'll test that later :-)

----Another Update----

I've used Amazon streaming since making my last reviews/updates. That works well. My complaint about the Amazon service is browsing titles sucks and is slow, there's a decent recommendation line at the bottom, but don't expect a big tiled fast scrolling list of covers, you get a few on screen at a time, then you get to hit next and wait for another list of titles to load. If you already have a title in mind it's great, otherwise browse on your PC and type in the title name in the search option on your player, browsing via player sucks.

---Just added a Hard Drive---
Nothing fancy, just a 500GB 2.5" Western Digital USB HDD Fry's had for cheap. The good news is the USB port powers it without a problem, the bad thing is I didn't notice this unit lacks a rear USB port since so many other units have one. I have to put a cord on the front of the device which I really like to avoid doing.

----11/07/2011----------------

After having had this thing for a while I've decided it's one of the best gizmos I've ever bought. My daughter uses it non stop on the weekend to play back all of the Power Puff Girl and Spongebob cartoons I've ripped to my DLNA server. I use Amazon Prime for additional cartoons and movies, some free, some rental. Even if the optical drive failed making it "not a Blu-Ray player" I couldn't see myself removing it from my living room, I rarely have a disk in the thing to begin with, it's such an awesome media center in and of itself. My only complaints after extensive use is when a new firmware update comes out it will fail to update multiple times before it succeeds, an annoyance really. The premium apps section has a different update than the main firmware, and it's really slow to download/utilize BD+ content. Seriously, it took WAY to long to grab those Avatar extras off the web, but it works none the less. It's simple and easy enough to operate even my dad can browse for movies on my DLNA server and watch the ones he chooses. This things worth having in your living room even if you never put an optical disk in it. I've seriously considered a Hulu+ subscription, but I've held off since nearly every TV series on Hulu says "not available for TV or mobile viewing at this time". I'll stick with Amazon.

I bought the BD670 a month ago and so far I've been happy with my selection.

BD670 plays blu rays with no issues. Load time is quick. For less demanding discs load time from inserting disc to title screen took ~1 min and for BD Java heavy discs took about 1 min 45sec. Since I have a pioneer plasma, I've set playback at 24hertz with no issues. Supposedly the BD570 had stuttering issues. Picture and sound quality are excellent.

I mainly bought this player though for network streaming support. So far I have played avi and mkv files with no problems. Playback is snappy and I was impressed with both picture and sounds quality. BD670 offers dual band frequencies so if your loved ones are using bandwidth, your bluray player can still remain smooth by using the other frequency (assuming your router also has dual band capabilities). Caution to heavy quicktime users, the player cannot play files with the extension MOV. MP3 and photos have played without a hitch.

Network setup took me a little while. You can either use the software that comes with the player and install Nero Home Media Server essentials or manually share folders and hope that your computers pop up correctly. I'm still working out the kinks. To log onto a computer manually, you click the computer name, a menu labeled CIFS pops up asking for user name and password. You'll have to create a user account on that corresponding computer. Enter the same user name and password and you'll be in.

LG Apps have been very limited thus far and a big strike on this player right now. I was looking forward to Amazon VOD and Hulu, but they are not available yet. Supposedly there is a big update March 25th that will enable these apps, but I'm taking the rumor with a grain of salt.

Overall great player with networking capabilities. It's ability to play a greater variety of files with no size limitation is the primary reason why I went with LG BD670 versus Sony, Samsung, or Panasonic.