Customer Reviews

LG LST-3510A HDTV Receiver / Hi-Format DVD Player

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reviewing many receivers, I decided to go with the LG LST-3510A receiver. I didn't buy it through Amazon, however, I did find some refurbished units on Ebay for half price (~$170). The picture quality is awesome. As mentioned in an earlier review, this unit upscales DVDs to 1080i. The native resolutions of DVD (not HD-DVD or Blueray) are 480p so with this unit, it looks awesome.

I live in high rise condo in downtown Chicago and have no problems with reception at all. I even get some channels from Indiana occasionally. Plus another bonus for getting a refurbished unit is that they are region-free programmable. Do a search for vendors that will supply you with the region-free units as you can watch any DVD on the planet with these.

I own 3 of these receivers. They are HDTV receivers, not DVD players. I know there is a DVD player bolted into it, but don't rely upon that. If you have the proper firmware and and if you have the proper inputs, and if you have the proper display device, the DVD output can be outstanding, but that is a few too many ifs. I have one hooked up to a Syntax 26" LCD TV over DHCP enabled DVI, and it looks great, but maybe you don't have all your ducks in a row for DVD playback.

Over the Air HDTV reception is another story entirely. Filled with flexibility and performance. Things I like:
1) Hook it up to an old CRT computer monitor using the RGB (VGA) connector, play around with the zoom level and you get a cheap little TV, which shows standard definition programming especially well.
2) Hook it up to a widescreen computer monitor over DVI and get a great picture (may be a little vertically stretched).
3) Plug it into a audio receiver via digital TOSLink. Don't have a free fiber optic input? Try digital Coax instead. Only have old school RCA stereo? Go that route instead.
4) Far away from the broadcast towers? This box has good sensitivity.
5) Want to share the antenna feed with another device? It's got an antenna pass through. I have one cabled to share the antenna with the TiVo upstairs, and one downstairs sharing with a PC capture card. No need for an extra splitter.

If you have cable service, the QAM support for local network is good, but cumbersome as two networks might share the same frequency making it difficult to navigate. (For instance NBC might be on 84-1, and ABC might be on 84-2).

The remote is a bit large and is missing such basic buttons as fast forward/fast reverse (if you do happen to use the DVD player). And there is no icon for the CW network (WB and UPN icons are still in there).

In summary, if you can get one of these for a good price (less than $100 like I did), you end up with a very flexible over the air tuner with the potential for DVD playback and use with a digital cable system.

I read the other reviews and thought I'd put something down from someone who is satisfied. The unit works great, LG has great quality, great reception, and a great picture. You save on cables and inputs because the DVD and Tuner are in the same box, which is a brilliant design concept. I never experienced ANY of the problems listed here by the reviewers before me (freeze up, delays, reception, etc), save one:

The remote has two buttons that allow chapter skipping forward and reverse accordingly. These same buttons are used for fast forward/reverse and slo-mo stepping by holding the buttins down. LG would have gotten 5 stars instead of 4 had they sprung for two more buttons!

I bought this HD receiver/dvd upconversion player to replace a Sony 715 dvd player I had connected to my 48" JVC tv. It also replaced my Zenith HD receiver, which is also made by LG, in fact it's the same receiver which just incorporates a dvd player. After a couple of months of use I was curious about the picture compared to my old Sony dvd, which in my opinion had a excellent picture. I set up both dvd players to my TV. The LG 3510 was connected with a Acoustic Research DVI cable and the Sony 715 was connected with premium monster component cables. Using the same dvd Terminator 2 Extreme dvd set to scene 7 I continously switched back and forth between the two. Clearly, the LG has the better picture quality of the two. The upconversion and DVI cable makes a HUGE difference. The only draw backs of the 3510 is that I cannot get it to read my DTS signal from my DVDs. I have tried many times without success. Furthermore, sometimes it doesnt read some dvd's picture and/or sound. Almost all the time the problem is eliminated by restarting it. The remote is really bulky, but that's a minor detail. It's also a bit expensive.

I thought the quality of the picture was good, and I liked that I could have DVDs upconverted to high definiton outputs.

However the unit had a lot of trouble locking onto over-the-air signals, and without a paid-for cable/satelite source it was frustrating to get HD reception, depsite being near strong signal s from multiple stations.

The remote control is horribly designed. I constantly end up skipping to prev/next scenes instead of scanning back or forward. Idiotic choices in the design of buttons and controls. The system is set for english but on startup it always says "Inicial" and menus come up in foreign languages despite having chosen english.

Finally the DVD drive now fails to play every single disc I put in. After about an hour of the movie it will start hanging, skipping scenes, jumping to earlier scenes or back to the menu. No disc will play completely and I must now return the unit for warranty service after just 7 months.

I can't be happy about a defective unit--even if it turns out to be a rarity. I've never purchased an LG product ever before, and since I've already encountered a lemon--I will be less likely to try this brand inthe future. If you choose to purchase make sure you can return it without penalty for full refund. Play the hell out of the unit in the first 14-30 days and determine if you should keep it. I wish I had returned mine now.

I purchased the LST-3510 after trying out several other receivers. This unit pulled in the most HDTV channels for my area, also has the best picture. The DVD player is just a BONUS. The up conversion really makes a difference in picture quality . I have had this unit for 2 months so far and I'm very pleased with it.

This tuner is absolutely fantastic. It does exactly what its supposed to do when you need it to. I have it hooked up to a 30" CRT HDTV and the TERK HDTVa Indoor Antenna. They are a perfect pair and work great. As for me, unlike the previous reviewer, mine did in fact play burnt DVD's and burnt VCD's. A great product for a great price.

Pros: Excellent picture quality, easy to use, features and connection options

Cons: Unit freezes up a lot which requires unit to be turned-off to reset, remote needs to be pointed in certain angle for unit to respond, black screen delay of 2-5 seconds when changing channels via over-the-air broadcasts.

Since the cons are major issues the unit suffers from, I cannot recommend this unit especially for its hefty price.

I have it hook up to a Sharp 52inch 1080p LCD using DVI to HDMI cable. The image is a whole lot clearer than the standard player. In order to play DVD-R, only use Verbatim Brand. Anything else is junk. I originally bought
for my older Sony HDTV w/o the digital tuner.

I have had my unit for about 1 1/2 years and the dvd playback is a joke. I am able to clean the heads and get maybe two dvd's to play without hanging. Since I bought this primarily for the dvd upconversion I am sad that the performance is no better than it is. I can not in good conscience recommend this item to anyone. This is my first LG product and looks like it might be my last.