LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player

Other products by LG

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 11 x 16.9 x 2.3 inches ; 8.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 10 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001F5FI3S
• Item model number: BD300
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,981 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

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  Electronics > Televisions & Video > Disc Players & Recorders > Blu-ray Disc Players

• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer Now you can enjoy more movies and TV episodes in the blink of an eye. LG's new BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc player is a full-featured player that also gives you unlimited instant access to over 12,000 Netflix movies and TV episodes. All you need is a broadband internet connection and Netflix subscription. With Full HD 1080p resolution and 1080p upscaling, this Blu-ray Disc player is the ultimate source for home entertainment.

What is the BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc player and why is it better than standard Blu-ray Disc players? It is a fully functioning Blu-ray player that plays Blu-ray Discs and standard DVDs, plus it offers instant access to Netflix catalog of over 12,000 movies and TV episodes. with no ad breaks or trailers. A Netflix subscription with unlimited Blu-ray Discs and DVDs is required. Unlimited refers to the number of Blu-ray Discs and DVDs you can receive in a month. Most Netflix plans are unlimited and start at $8.99 a month. To see what is available to watch instantly go to www.netflix.com. Netflix is the worlds largest online movie rental service with over 100,000 Blu-ray Discs and standard DVD titles. Plus, Netflix offers over 12,000 movies and TV episodes that you can instantly download and watch on your TV over the internet. How does Netflix Watch Instantly connect to my LG Network? Over the internet, the LG BD300 accesses your Netflix selection. With instant streaming, movies and TV episodes don’t need to be stored on your BD300 or on your computer, they just play. Movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, pause, and watch again as many times as you want. I don’t have an internet connection near my TV. What do I do? There are various types of home networking options available. You can use a power-line, a wireless Ethernet bridge, or an extra-long Ethernet cable. What if I don’t have a broadband connection or don’t want a Netflix subscription? You’ll still enjoy Blu-ray Discs and standard DVD discs with unsurpassed quality in Full HD 1080p

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Blu-ray Video Features

More Picture

See Everything Your HDTV Can Show You with Full HD. 6 Times the Picture Data on DVDs See everything your HDTV can show you. Blu-ray Disc's Full HD 1080p resolution produces over 2 million pixels per frame to produce a razor-sharp picture with unmatched depth and clarity that takes full advantage of the capabilities of today's 1080p HDTVs. That's six times the picture data contained on DVDs, which are encoded at only 480p. 24p True Cinema Video Output Most of all Hollywood movies are shot at 24 frames per second, and Blu-ray Disc movies are mastered at 24 frame per second, so it is only fitting that the Sony Blu-ray Disc Players can output your films at 1080/24p for a true film-like experience at home. Of course, Sony Blu-ray Disc Players can also output at 1080/60p for more traditional HDTV sets on the market. Either way Sony has you covered for the best picture possible in Full 1080p. Backwards compatible and Upscaling All existing Blu-ray Disc players will play your standard DVD collection without a problem. And with built-in 1080p video upscaling, they'll look even better.

More Space

Blu-ray Disc has 5x more storage capacity than DVD, which allows more content to fit on the disc. The extra storage capacity also means more room for special features like inline navigation, Bonus View, interactive games, deleted scenes, director commentary and more
Navigate to special features, other scenes, or settings without leaving the content you are watching.	Bonus View lets you watch special features and commentary inline without leaving the movie.

More Bits

In the digital world, picture quality is not just about resolution, but also about bit rates. The higher the bit rate, the more data that is processed, typically resulting in higher video quality. DVDs have a maximum video bit rate of about 10 megabits per second (Mbps). In comparison, Blu-ray Disc is capable of video bitrates up to an incredible 40 Mbps. The bottom line, higher bit rates allow for the least amount of data compression for HD video that looks closest to the original video source.

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BD-Live

BD-Live is a Blu-ray feature that enables you to access  special content via an internet-connected Blu-ray player. Because it's not coded into the disc, BD-Live content is always updated, always fresh. With BD-Live, your Blu-ray disc is different every time you view it. Check out the latest previews,  download special scenes, exclusive features and ringtones, and participate in online communities or games. As BD-Live continues to grow and expand, even more features will become available, customizing features and content to your location or preferences. Now, your disc k

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Life-Like Surround Sound

The BD-300 supports the 7.1-channel surround sound newly adopted in Blu-ray Discs.

Dolby TrueHD, Dolby’s next-generation lossless technology developed for high-definition disc-based media, delivers tantalizing sound that is bit-for-bit identical to the studio master.

• Delivers enthralling studio-master-quality sound that unlocks the true high-definition entertainment experience on next-generation discs.
• Offers more discrete channels than ever before for impeccable surround sound.
• Compatible with the A/V receivers and home-theaters-in-a-box (HTIBs) of today and tomorrow.
• Dialogue normalization maintains the same volume level when you change to other Dolby Digital and Dolby TrueHD programming.
• Dynamic range control (Night mode) enables you to customize audio playback to reduce peak volume levels (no loud surprises) while experiencing all the details in the soundtrack, enabling late-night viewing of high-energy surround sound without disturbing others.

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HDMI Features

x.v Color

RGB Color Range

xvYCC Color Range

Standard RGB color space allows the display of a portion of the colors that are viewable to the human eye. The next generation "xvYCC" color space (Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications), or "x.v. color" for shortactually offers  an available range of colors that exceeds what human eyes can recognize. Next-generation "xvYCC" color space supports 1.8 times as many colors as existing HDTV signals Lets HDTVs display colors more accurately Enables displays with more natural and vivid colors

Deep Color

While x.v. color expands the available range of colors your HDTV can display, Deep Color increases the number of colors your HDTV can display within that range, for smoother transitions from color to color. Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colors to billions of colors Eliminates on-screen color banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors Enables increased contrast ratio Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white

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Specifications

DESIGN
Color Gloss Black
Display Type/Feature Clock Display
Power Button • Open/Close Button • Play/Pause Button • Stop Button

DISC PLAYBACK CAPABILITY
Disc Capacity 1
Audio CD • CD-R/RW • Blu-ray Disc • DVD • DVD-R • DVD-RW • DVD+R • DVD+RW • AVCHD

VIDEO CONTENT FORMAT
MPEG2, HP@ML • MPEG4 AVC, HP@L4.1 • SMPTE VC1, AP@L3

VIDEO CAPABILITIES
Digital/Analog Conversion 27Mhz/8bit • NTSC Hz 60Hz • Deep Color (HDMI) • x.v.Color (HDMI) • Composite Output Up to 480i • Component Output Up to 1080i • HDMI Output Up to 1080p

AUDIO CAPABILITIES
Digital/Analog Conversion 192KHz/24bit • Signal/Noise Ratio 100db • Dolby Digital 5.1 ch Decode plus Dolby Digital 2 ch Down Mix • Dolby Digital Plus • Dolby Digital True HD • DTS • DTS-HD Advanced Digital Output • Linear PCM • MP3 Audio • WMA Audio

BLU-RAY PLAYBACK FEATURES
Play/Stop • Marker (Set/Search) • Resume • Scan (Forward/Reverse) • Slow (Forward) • Skip (Forward/Reverse) • Pause • Repeat (Title, Chapter, A-B) • Search (Title, Chapter, Time) • Change (Audio, Subtitle, Angle) • Interactive Menus • BD-J Standard Profile • Bonus View • BD-Live

DVD/CD PLAYBACK FEATURES
MP3 & WMA Music File Playback • JPEG Image File Slideshow • Parental Lock • Search (Title, Chapter, Time) • Marker (Set, Search) • Resume • Chapter Skip (Forward/Reverse) • Repeat (Title, Track/Chapter, A-B, All) • Closed Caption • Subtitle Still

NETWORK FEATURES
BD-Live (with compatible BD titles) • Software Update • Netflix Instant Streaming Ready (with subscription)

OTHER FEATURES
Screen Saver Mode • Aspect Ratio Selection • Parental Lock

INPUTS/OUTPUTS
Digital Audio Out/Optical 1
Digital Audio Out/Coaxial 1
Audio L/R Out 1
Component Video Out 1
Composite Video Out 1
HDMI Out 1
Ethernet Jack (RJ-45) 1
USB (A) 1

DIMENSIONS
16.inches wide  x 2.3 inches high x 10.9 inches deep
6.8 lbs.

POWER
Power System AC120V, 60Hz
Maximum Power Consumption 26W

SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES
Remote Control Type Universal
A/V Cable (RCA Type) 1
Battery (Size) 2 (AAA)
User Manual (English) 1
Warranty Card (English) 1
Customer Registration Card (English) 1

WARRANTY
Limited Warranty 1 Year Parts/90 Days Labor

Product Description

Blu-ray Disc Player w/ BD-Live & BonusView. Full HD 1080P Output via HDMI. Netflix Instant streaming ready. DVD 1080p Up-conversion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works as Promised!, October 14, 2008

By	Nibbler "Scott" (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

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!!!

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I still love it, BUT, November 18, 2008

By	J. B Kraft "lonestargazer" (Palestine, TX United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

January 19, 2009 addendum -- I bought this the first week of November, and I truly love it. However, in the past two weeks (January 2009), the unit started having intermittent trouble connecting via the Internet to Netflix. Finally last night, it failed to find the network connection at all. Reinitialized the unit, connected it to a new cable and known-good ethernet plug to no avail. Now not only is the unit not finding the Internet, but Network Magic is no longer finding the unit. So I called LG's tech support, which was adequate and after a little "did you buy it from an authorized dealer" (the answer was "yes" if you bought it through Amazon -- but you have to have the dealer's zip code for LG to verify it, so SAVE YOUR BOXES -- that's where I had to find it). I got an RME, which disappoints me. I know things fail but if it had failed two weeks later, it would have been OUT OF WARRANTY, so I highly recommend you consider buy the extended warranty on this item through Amazon. I would probably change my rating from 5 to 4 stars based on this, but "stuff happens."

This is a joy and will change your viewing habits when it's working though. 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 appears in the new firmware on a fuel gauge that at its highest setting displays "HD" for high definition video. About 10% of the programming appears to be HD so far, with television series leading the way. The quality I receive over my DSL Cat-6 gigabit switched network about 10% of the time is about the same as blu ray -- very high indeed. All streamed movies seem to be stereo audio only, and no subtitles are available. About 75% on the gauge 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. A half-gauge 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. Less than half-gauget has a very blocky background and darks are pixelated and un-defined. If I get less than half-gauge, 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.
December 23 Addendum -- after around seven weeks, we are loving this more and more. The regular firmware/software updates online have made this better and better. There is a fuel gauge display now on quality, and we are receiving some movies in true HD quality (I can't say for sure the limit is on the movies so offered or on the network speed), but the true HD streaming of Netflix Instant movies is awesome. I also forgot to note that it has an effective shifting screensaver that will prevent burn-in on succeptible plasma displays. It just keeps getting better and better. Thank you, LG, and especially thank you, Netflix.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, November 3, 2008

By	J. Lewis (Minden, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My wife and I got in the habit of using netflix's streaming service. I just got tired of hooking up my laptop to the plasma everytime we wanted to stream. Then I saw this on LG on the netflix website. It seemed like the perfect solution as I was looking for a blu-ray player for the living room anyway. And it was!! I have now owned it for 4 weeks.

Love the easy setup. It took literally 5-10 minutes before it was hooked up and streaming netflix. The blu-ray player is exceptional. I am comparing it with my PS3 which I love as well and it is as fast if not faster at loading blu-ray discs. The quality of dvd's is truly exceptional via the hdmi. The remote control is easy to use- even my wife who is technically challenged loves it and uses it frequently with no issues. The streaming quality is good- looks like really good SD signal, but it is fine for watching and really convenient. Once you add shows or movies to your watch it now queue online they will show up on the LG BD300 when you access the netflix from "home." The setup for the streaming involves hooking up a ethernet cable to the back of the player and putting in a code from your pc where the player tells you to (it gives you simple directions in the set up including the web address to get the code). Point being they have made it real easy for just about anyone to hook up and use this baby.
The only cons I can think of is it has no wireless solution and there are no real attachment cables worth anything in the box. You will need your own hdmi cable, ethernet and whatever else you need for your system. But those are minor as the pricing is still pretyy competitive for what the player does and is does it all very well.