Editorial Review

Apple TV has been redesigned to be small in size but big on entertainment. Rent from the largest selection of HD movies - many available the same day they come out on DVD. Watch Netflix titles instantly. Rent TV shows, commercial free in HD. And stream photos and music from your computer to your widescreen TV.

The sleek new Apple TV has been completely retuned for your entertainment. It's 80 percent smaller than the previous generation - even with a built-in power supply. Which makes it perfect for sitting neatly on a widescreen TV stand or squeezing into a crowded media cabinet. Not only does the new Apple TV have an amazingly small footprint, it's also incredibly energy efficient. It stays cool without a fan, so it's never noisy. And when it's not filling your living room with drama, romance, and comedy, it uses less power than a night-light.Processor -Apple A4 processor Ports & Interfaces -HDMI, Optical audio, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, Built-in IR receiver, Micro-USB (for service) Power -Built-in 6-watt universal PS Wireless -802.11n Wi-Fi (a/b/g compatible) Video Formats -H.264 video up to 720p (.m4v,. mp4,. mov file formats), MPEG-4 video up to 640x480 9(.m4v,. mp4,. mov file formats), Motion JPEG up to 1280x720 (.avi file format) Audio Formats -HE-AAC (V1), AAC, protected AAC, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround pass-through Photo Formats -JPEG, GIF, TIFFSystem Requirements -AirPort Extreme, Wi-Fi 802.11b, g, or n wireless network (wireless video streaming requires 802.11g or 802.11n) or 10/100BASE-T Ethernet network iTunes Store account for renting movies and TV shows Netflix account for streaming Netflix content For streaming media from a Mac or PC -iTunes 10 or later; iTunes Store account for Home Sharing Remote control uses CR2032 battery ... Read more

Reviews

Video Review: Apple TV, so much for so little, October 10, 2010
This is an amazing compliment to your home theater.
So many features, yet so simple to use.
My 7 year old son has it all figured out.

I hope you enjoy the video.
Let me know what you think.

Apple TV - Good Now, Potential to be Great, October 15, 2010
I am not an Apple Afficianodo. I don't wear jeans and black turtlenecks in reverence to Steve Jobs. I don't hang out at the Apple Store and covet becoming a "genius"; however, I have to give credit where credit is due. The last few products Apple has brought out - the iPod, iPhone, iPad - have been incredible and changed the consumer electronics and media / software landscape. Apple TV is now positioned to do the same, but it will take some more time to fully realize the potential of this device.

Apple TV effectively allows you to stream whatever is on your iTunes to your TV and home theater system. Moreover, it has built in support for Netflix, You Tube and a few other internet based media content providers. The picture quality and performance for these services are worth the price of admission. There is significant potential to advance the platform - just give it some time.

System Overview: My Apple TV is plugged into a 60 inch Samsung 1080p LED HDTV via HDMI (video) and a Yamaha Home Theater Receiver via Toslink optical cable (audio). I have AT&T Uverse with their 802.11g Residential Gateway (combination of DSL modem and wireless router) with their Elite DSL service (6 MB per second). iTunes runs on a Dell Desktop with 4GB of memory, Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 500 GB Hard Drive operating on Windows Vista (64 bit) and secured with Norton 360 (firewall, antivirus, etc.). The network handles the Desktop, 2 iPhones, a Blackberry, an iPad, the Apple TV, 4 Laptops, a wireless Printer and a networked wired printer. The Computer / Residential Gateway are in the Den and the TV / Home Theater / Apple TV are in the family room. The two rooms are about 100 feet apart and are separated by five walls.

Set Up: Easy as pie. It took five minutes to plug in the HDMI cable, the optical cable, the power outlet and then adding it to the wireless network. Sharing iTunes from my desktop to Apple TV took another 20 minutes, since I had to download the new version of iTunes and restart my computer and Apple TV. Apple really makes it easy - I didn't have to make any adjustments to my firewall settings to share iTunes on the desktop with Apple TV. I also downloaded the Apple Remote on my iPhone and iPad, which took another 5 minutes.

User Interface: Apple's secret sauce is the simplicity of their products. Apple TV is no different. The menu is very simple - Movies, TV, Internet, Computer and Settings. Movies and TV are for renting content directly from iTunes within Apple TV. Internet gives you access to Netflix, You Tube, etc. Computer gives you access to iTunes on your computer. Settings allows you to change the various Apple TV options. The remote control is Apple's usual model of minimalist efficiency, with a menu button, a play / pause button and an iPod like controller. The supplied remote works well with Apple TV, but is a bit cumbersome when one has to enter data (e.g., e-mail addresses, search on YouTube or Netflix). A much better solution is downloading Apple Remote on your iPhone or iPad. It basically turns the iPhone or iPad into a big touch pad that allows you to use gestures to control the Apple TV (e.g., swipe left, swipe right, double click, etc.). Moreover, it automatically provides a keyboard when one is asked for text input (e.g., for search). Apple remote is free on the App Store.

Netflix Streaming / Video Quality: Setting up Netflix was quick - basically just enter your e-mail address / password and you're ready to go. I watched some TV from BBC, a foreign flick and Iron Man. Each program loaded quickly - less than 30 seconds. Picture quality was good to great, depending on the source material. Picture quality was comparable to DVD for SD material(perhaps slightly better), but slightly less sharp than upconverted DVD or blue-ray. HD Programming looked like the HD on-demand programming through uVerse. There was enough of a buffer that there was no jittering, pixelation or stuttering on the streaming to the TV. Sound quality on the stream was good - I don't think they stream in 5.1, so the video stream doesn't leverage the subwoofer. Considering that I'm running a heavily taxed wireless system on 802.11g with a 100 foot distance between Apple TV and the Gateway, the picture quality and streaming performance are impressive. Having this quality of Netflix compatibility is worth the price of admission by itself.

iTunes Streaming: I streamed some music from my Playlists from the Computer. Sound quality is good, but not great. My Yamaha CD Player sounds better, but it can only hold 5 cds. Having access to my entire library is very useful, so you lose sound quality but gain convenience. iTunes streams not only the music, but also the cover art. After a few minutes, Apple TV switches into screensaver mode and starts transmitting pictures to the TV along with the music. I also streamed some videos from my computer and the streaming was again flawless. One of the issues with Apple TV is that it only supports the Apple video standards, i.e., MP4. I had some DIVX files that I converted over to MP4 by using DVD Fab and imported them into iTunes. So if you have a library of AVI, Divx, Xvid, etc., this will require conversion of those files in order to stream from your computer.

iTunes from within Apple TV: There is access to an iTunes store within Apple TV as well. They have a different pricing structure, in that TV shows and movies are available for rent only. They have a limited number of titles at this point - primarily BBC, ABC (since Steve Jobs sits on their Board) and Fox. CBS and NBC are not on Apple TV. Movie selection is decent - they have all the latest movies. The Apple TV selection can be easily increased by just downloading the content you want from iTunes on your desktop and then streaming it to Apple TV.

YouTube Streaming: Surprisingly good. The HQ / HD You Tube pieces look remarkably crisp on the TV. The older content that was meant to watch on a small window on your computer looked a little pixelated, but acceptable.

Apple has built a great platform with a lot of potential. With what is available right now - Apple TV is a pretty impressive value at $99. It is worth it just for the Netflix streaming and integration with iTunes. Since Apple TV is actually built on the same hardware (at least the processing chip) as the iPhone and iPad and has the same operating system, I wouldn't be surprised if there are "apps" that will eventually make it to Apple TV to further enhance Apple TV (e.g., ABC Streaming, Games, Amazon on Demand, etc.). There is supposed to be an upgrade to the operating system with a new version of Airplay that comes out in November, 2010. This will allow you to stream from an iPad or iPod to the Apple TV as well.

I looked at other streaming devices (e.g., Roku, using my Panasonic Blue Ray for Netflix, etc.) and none of them had the simplicity and reliabilty that the Apple TV offers. The Wi Fi "stick" for my Blue Ray player is $80 anyway and the Netflix integration isn't anywhere nearly as robust as Apple TV. UVerse also has music and picture streaming built in using Microsoft Media Center - however, it required some network configuration and it crashes quite often. I didn't purchase a Roku, but a friend of mine has had a number of issues with streaming performance. At under $100, the Apple TV is competitively priced with other streaming options. Now just bring on the "apps".

a great box for getting media from point A, B and C to your TV, October 2, 2010
I was looking forward to this product since it was announced early last month. I'm glad I pulled the trigger and bought it when it became available. For $99 it provides most of the functionality I was paying microsoft $50 a year for. I've become less dependent on the XBOX as a game machine, and more as a Netflix/Media Streamer since my family has grown, and not having to pay for XBOX Live was one of the driving reasons behind this purchase. The reason I say "most of the functionality" is due to it not having the codec support that the XBOX360 comes with out of the box. I've had no issues with playback of mp4 or m4v files, and I'm happy with that, but it lacks support for WMV and AVI (as far as I've experienced). This isn't exactly a deal breaker since I can re-encode any content to supported codecs with handbrake and use iTunes to take care of my video library.

The UI is slick, the setup was somewhat easy (but would have been easier with keyboard support) and the ability to control music from my laptop and desktop is fantastic (through iTunes via the currently limited "airplay" functionality).

I'm really happy with the YouTube, Flickr and Netflix support. They are by far the best I've seen from a media center, but I can see certain aspects being a pain if you use the included remote (there is no keyboard to speak of, and scrolling through letter to spell things out is a hassle). The remote app on iOS devices more than makes up for the lack of a keyboard since it provides added functionality (such as alpha numeric input, quick seeking and library browsing). I look forward to video support with airplay and will update this review once I get to play with that (in November?).

One last thing - it's quiet. The thing barely makes a peep.

Unrealized Potential (so far), October 2, 2010
PROS
*Low Power (less than 6 watts)
*Compact
*Good-looking UI
*Netflix support (unlike previous generation AppleTV)
*Remote App for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch
*Airplay (though basically we just have Airtunes functionality until iOS 4.2 comes out for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch).
*Closed Captions (Content dependent)

CONS
*Lots of "Loading..." screens
*No Local Storage! (must stream over Internet or via iTunes on PC/Mac using Home Sharing. I know you were trying to cut costs Apple, but why not at least allow local USB storage? I know, I know: DRM.)
*IR Sensor inferior to previous generation AppleTV (requires more direct line of sight)
*Lag before videos and podcasts start playing (even when located on a local computer)
*Netflix controls are not as good as Roku. Infrequent keyframes makes it hard to rewind to an exact spot. Roku does much better (and even PS3 Netflix controls are better).
*Podcast controls sometimes get confused (screen indicates reversing at maximum speed, but video is actually reversing at 1x)
*Doesn't precache artwork icons (Scrolling down through a list of podcasts or Netflix movies, it loads the screen with empty icons then slowly downloads them. This happens no matter how long you wait before scrolling down. Sometimes, it never gets around to downloading certain icons. Hey Apple, how about displaying the name of the movie while you are retrieving the artwork so we can start using the interface even if all of the artwork isn't there?) [Update: there may be some precaching going on, but just not in a very intelligent manner. I have about 170 movies in my Netflix instant queue and a 1.5 Mbps DSL connection so that may contribute to the slowness displaying artwork. If you have a very fast internet connection, you will probably have minimal delay.]
*No Pandora
*No App support (Yet? Come on Apple, enable App support. It won't take long before we have lots of useful 3rd party apps. I'm sure Pandora would be one of the first and then NPR and local weather forecast.)
*No 1080p - 720P only (Yes, most people don't have the bandwidth to support 1080p streaming over the internet, but someday we will. Also, it would be nice to be able to show your 1080p video you shot with your new camcorder or high-end DSLR.)
*Rotten Tomatoes movie reviews are not available for Netflix movies.
*Remote app could display the actual menus for faster selections.
*Home Sharing must be activated for a specific single account. (Result: If both you and your spouse have an iTunes account you will have to choose one or the other and will only have access to media in that person's iTunes account.)

UPDATE:
Removed from Cons:
"*Can't add internet radio stations to a favorites list (and there are hundreds if not thousands to scroll through)." Someone commented that you can add a radio station to your favorites by holding the center button down. I tried this and it works. Not sure how you're supposed to know this as it's not mentioned in the brief instruction book.

Great Media Player, October 11, 2010
I got this little box on last Friday and I could setup everything in 30 min. It's typical apple product which gives you very intuitive usage model with limitation.

It requires only 3 connections. Power and HDMI cable. Optical cable is optional if you are fine with your TV's speakers. Since Video connection is HDMI, video quality is superb. I really like the clean and well refined UI screen. It's not fixed screen. It changes depending on your contents. Whenever I browse through menu, upper section of screen shows snapshot of what I can choose and it updates very quickly when you add new contents.

It has built in wireless LAN so, you don't need internet cable though it has port if you want. The wireless seems better than mobile device since it could play Youtube pretty smoothly where iPad couldn't play very well. It detects available AP automatically and detects what type of security is used. Just type in password then you are good to go.

This device comes with following features.

1. Playing Movie and TV shows you can purchase or rent from iTune store
2. Playing Netflix, Youtube and Flicker
3. Playing your own contents
4. Playing internet radio
5. Playing photo slide shows

#1 is very easy if your wallet is ready. Just click and browse movies then click to play.

#2 is also very easy if you have netflix account. Just type ID and password then you have full access.

#3 is super easy if you are familiar with iTune on desktop. Apple doesn't find all movies automatically. It doesn't make UI super complicated to support everything. Apple TV uses Home Sharing feature and grab whatever you have in your iTune library. So the only supported video format is Mpeg4/h.264. If you have videos purchased from iTune store, those are already mp4. so you don't need to do anything. If you have lots of videos in other format, you will need to convert the format. There are some tools available on the market so it won't be very difficult. Once you add your contents, it appears on apple TV instantly. Though all movies are seen on same screen in iTune SW, it's possible to define category. Then Apple TV shows category such as Comedy, Drama and so on. When you scroll through categories, left screen shows snapshot of movies you have.

#4 it plays audio pretty well as well though there's one annoying bug. If you have songs and didn't mark in iTune, you can't play using Apple TV. You need to mark songs to play. I hope this is fixed in software update soon.

#5 I like photo slide show very much. You can define the style of slide shows and you can decide if you want to add background music or not. If you have your friends or relatives coming, this feature is very nice to share your great moments.

What I like about this device is typical Apple's intuitive UI. It's super easy to use. No complicated long list of hierarchy. I haven't read manual at all. And also, it supports most of the video contents you will need such as netflix and youtube. I use AT&T Uverse so I know how IPTV works but Apple TV works much better. In the first day of use, I changed my plan from U200 to U-family to save some bucks and pay for Netflix.

Video quality is also very nice. I have lots of low quality video with lots of artifact. Those are still visible but post processing smoothes out those. For high quality video, screen is super crisp and bright.

Also box is so small that it's hardly seen. I put close to my Harman Kardon receiver and apple TV fits very well. And it's also very easy to move around the rooms. I bought several HDMI cables so that I can move between living room, master bed rooms and others. Power consumption is so little that you don't need to bother to turn off all the time. It actually doesn't have power button.

There's some possibility of upgrade. This device has built in strong processor, A4 to handle video decoding. Everything is implemented using software meaning, it can be easily expanded. I am not sure what's Apple's strategy but this device might have great potential. This device is too strong for the media player.

The catch of all above feature is very good internet connection and faster desktop. If you have good internet connections, you won't notice much lags. When you play movies that are stored in your desktop, the lag depends on how fast your PC is. So, Apple TV is not standalone device. It smartly uses infra structure that are common in many of household these days. In my case, I upgraded internet speed since Netflix uses about 1.5Mbps.

Though what Apple TV provides is nothing new and all can be done by PC or similar boxes, it just makes perfect with $99. I think it's great addition to your media system.

Love it!, October 22, 2010
I got my Apple TV two weeks ago and I love it. It took me all of 10 minutes to set up, but I had purchased HDMI and Ethernet cables before hand. I logged onto Netflix and Youtube within minutes, and was watching streamed TV within 20 minutes.

The design is typical Apple elegance. It's tiny and sleek. The remote is almost too small and I'm afraid of losing it. The streaming is flawless and fast.

The only downside is the Apple content is not worth buying the device for. Pair it with Netflix and you have a large enough library to cancel your premium cable channels. The radio stations are also a nice bonus.

Not only has it expanded my TV viewing options and allowed me to watch commercial free what I want, when I want, it has saved me a lot of money because Netflix is much cheaper than HBO, Showtime, Starz, Epix, Cinemax, etc.

Try it for yourself!.... And ignore reviews from non-owners., October 5, 2010
Got my own Apple TV (ATV) yesterday, spent a few minutes installing, then a few hours enjoying the features. Bottom line, I think that it's a GREAT device at a good price that will fully satisfy many but not ALL users.

1) Setup - this is simple. Took less than 10 minutes.

2) Netflix - don't know how anyone could complain. On my 50" high-end plasma, the picture quality is very good. As good or better than standard DVD. Sure, some blu-rays are better, but I can't watch those without buying, or renting and waiting. The Roku? Give me a break, mine stuttered and skipped. When it worked.

3) iTunes library - Played songs, albums and playlists from my iTunes library of about 400 albums instantly, with no drop-outs and good sound. This alone is worth $99, since other music streaming solutions cost well over $200, and don't have nearly as usable of an interface.

4) Photos - Streamed 12mP photos easily, and they looked great. Even in 720p. Honestly, the limit in resolution for most images is not going to be the 720p of the ATV. Think about your computer monitor - unless you've got a professional graphics monitor, photos are going to look as good or better on your home theater monitor than through your computer screen. Sure you could burn them to a disk, watch them off a thumb drive or something (which I've done). But it's not nearly as easy or convenient.

No, it's not perfect. I would have liked to see Hulu, Picassa and maybe internet browsing just as much as the other guy. But for $99 the ATV does a GREAT job of STREAMING music, pictures and video from your iTunes library to your home theater. And the Netflix service and interface are excellent.

I think that some of the negative reviewers really don't get that the main point of the Apple TV is to STREAM content from your iTUNES library to your TV. The fact that it lets you stream from Netlix is an excellent additional feature, one that I think will make it pretty popular.....

BUT - it's not supposed to be a web browser, a picassa viewer, or an email portal. That's what COMPUTERS are for. If you want to use your home theater display as a computer monitor, then go ahead and connect your computer DIRECTLY to your home theater. This is not rocket science.

On the other hand if you have a computer with a substantial iTUNES library that's NOT NEAR your main television montitor, then this is a great and reasonably priced way to easily enjoy that content in your theater. The netflix streaming is great (at least for me), in fact I'm sure that Netflix could offer some version of the ATV along with a basic streaming-only subscription nad have a lot of happy customers watching instead of renting and waiting......

Get Roku XDS at same price instead or Roku XD for $20 cheaper, November 28, 2010
I have purchased both Apple TV as well as Roku XDS. Both are the same price and both are quite easy to use and provide access to some great content.

However, once we purchased Roku, my girlfriend and I no longer have use for Apple TV. Why? Here are the key reasons for us:
1. Roku provides Hulu Plus, Apple TV does not. With Hulu Plus, you get access to lots of shows that Netlflix doesn't have available for online viewing.
2. Roku provides Pandora, Apple TV does not. Although Apple TV does provide the AirPlay (streaming your iTunes library), Pandora is a preferable alternative for us as we are not interested in maintaining an iTunes library, and don't like to have to keep a computer on to have to access to music of interest.
3. Roku has a brighter user interface than Apple TV: This might sound like minute issue, but both my girlfriend and I found the black background and overall darker colors in use in Apple TV to place one in a less cheerful mood. The brighter colors in Roku make it a more enjoyable experience to navigate through its menus.

The above points are specific to my girlfriend and I. However, there are other reasons for going with Roku that we don't care much for but other may. Here are a few:
1. Roku provides 1080p resolution support whereas Apple TV maxes out at 720p
2. Roku arguably provides access to more pay-per-view content and for a better price through Amazon Video on Demand than Apple's more limited content selection available for rental.
3. For sports fans, Apple TV doesn't provide access to any sports games, whereas Roku gives you access to MLB.TV, UFC and soon NHL GameCenter.
4. Roku may not support Apple TV's AirPlay but does provide you with a way to access your iTunes library through MP3Tunes app. MP3Tunes has the added advantage of letting you store your iTunes content online and so you don't need to have your computer on to play your iTunes content. However, beyond 2GB you need to pay for MP3Tunes.
5. If you don't care much for dualband wirless technology, wider range of video/audio outputs or playing content via USB, then you could get a Roku XD for $79.99 and all of the above-mentioned Roku advantages still apply.

Having said all of the above, some people may still prefer Apple TV because of the Apple brand, the AirPlay feature, or iPhone remote control app. However, for us, these were not features we cared for.

Bought It For Netflix But After Getting It, Use It More For iTunes, November 15, 2010
I'm a PC person but when it comes to MP3 players Apple is the standard--period. Using iTunes and iPods daily, I was curious to see how Apple TV would integrate into iTunes in addition to being able to add additional Netflix streaming capability to my house--which was my main objective in getting one.

First off hooking into your music or video library is very seamless--once you enable Home Sharing. I use an Airport Express to stream to a 7.1 surround set up (using optical digital-out) and the Apple TV through HDMI sounds virtually the same for stereo music. But where it shines is the ability to pass through 5.1 surround (along with 720P resolution). The on-screen display is nothing short of ergonomic bliss and wonderful eye candy. While playing music you get a nice sized picture of your album art and the standard progress bar which alternates between the left and right sides of your screen (I'm assuming for people worried about image burn-in).

The interface and ease of use with iTunes is so cool that I've done something I hadn't contemplated doing with iTunes, and that is turn it into a digital media server for video. It has been a hobby of mine to record OTA broadcasts of Late Night Musical Guests in 1080i 5.1 surround on my TiVo and burn them to DVD for repeated viewing. However, the technical specs of the Apple TV are such that with a little compression I can create very good copies of the TiVo source MPGs and organize them using iTunes. So with the Apple TV interface and iTunes you can watch ad hoc videos instantly on-demand or pre-assembled movie/video playlists. Of course your photos are at your beck and call as well if you like doing slide shows etc.

The remote is very intuitive but if you have the Remote App for iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad, it's much easier to use insofar as typing in searches. There is one other feature gained with the Remote App over the ATV remote and that is a 10-second rewind. You simply flick two fingers to the left on the iPod screen and you go back 10 seconds a pop. Very nice feature for video.

The Netflix interface was a very pleasant surprise compared to my TiVo which is all but useless except for viewing movies that are already stacked in the Instant Queue using my PC on the Netflix website. You can search every which way you can think of, but the only bummer is you must click on a movie's thumbnail to get the synopsis. I did encounter one glitch on Netflix that didn't affect my TiVo. There was at least one Netflix title that would not stream giving me a 112 network error. For the heck of it I also tried the title on my iPod Touch and got the same error. Not sure why it only affected the Apple hardware and not the TiVo, but I'm assuming Apple and Netflix will continue to upgrade their software to make them more integrated. Otherwise the image and sound from the Apple TV have been excellent with Netflix. Very few stutters once the stream gets under way.

[UPDATE to 112 error-12/5/10: I called Netflix support regarding the 112 error and within a few days I could stream those titles that had the error on both iPod and Apple TV. Since that time there was also an online Apple firmware upgrade to the ATV as well.]

Since the Apple TV is so small and compact it makes it very easy to move from room to room, which is what I do now since using it to stream iTunes to my main media room.

I'd give the Apple TV 5 stars except that it only puts out 720P and not 1080P like some of its competitors. But that notwithstanding 720P never looked or sounded so good--nor has my iTunes.

Newer is not Better, November 30, 2010
I purchased this AppleTV to expand my home entertainment (I also have the older 40gb AppleTV Model). After receiving it and finally hooking it up, I was extremely disappointed in it compared to the older AppleTV. If you want this just for the netflix and renting movie feature this will work great. If you like to stream your movies from another computer through Itunes, this new appletv is worthless!!!!!! It takes forever to load each menu up, at one time it took over 10 min to open up a subgroup of menus (on a wired internet connection). If you have TV shows that you stream, it doesn't group them together or put them in order of seasons. (like the old version). I recently had a update that I installed and it messed up all my tv shows, prior to the update at least the shows were in order by name, after the update they are all messed up with no reason or rhyme to the ordering. So if you plan on streaming movies pay the extra money and get the older version! If you plan on using to watch your Netflix or rent movies from apple, this will work for you.
Overall on a scale of 1-10, I give this new apple a -5
... Read more

Editorial Review

Experience Full HD 1080p with the BD530 Network Blu-ray Disc Player. Get superior picture quality and sound of Blu-ray technology along with direct access to internet services like YouTube, Picasa and Accuweather. ... Read more

Reviews

LG BD530 Vs Sony BDP-S370, November 30, 2010
This Black Friday, Blu-ray player was on my agenda, I have a 46" Samsung LCD HDTV with internet options. I did not want to go for internet enabled Blu-ray player to play netflix or Picasa or Youtube as I already have it in my TV. I wanted a best to the price and awesome quality Blu-ray player which has a brilliant blu-ray as well as DVD upscale conversion for HDTV resolution.

I bought this LG BD530 and Sony BDP-530 at the same time because Sony had the highest ranking in terms on voting on many sites including bestbuy,com. After connecting both players to my TV i used Bly-ray and it played very well on both player, I tried same Bluray disc on both player couple of times alternatively and could not see the difference. Bluray played brilliantly

When i came to DVD playing, after couple of runs with same DVD on same TV (with same settings) I found that LG has a excellent DVD upconversion as compared to Sony, Sony pics were a little more blurr as compared to LG BD530. I tested 2 different DVD movies (lord of the rings and American beauty) to check the DVD quality and I have to admit, LG was awesome. Also somehow I felt the LG remote is much user friendly than Sony remote, but that's a matter of individuals preference.

After carefully reading Sony's review I figured out that it;s sony blu-ray players internet abilities which took it;s rating so high and not the DVD upscale conversion qualities. If you have an old TV with no internet on it and want internet connectibility to watch netflix online, then probably Sony is your candidate. But if you have a new internet enabled TV and have a huge collection of DVD which you wanna keep it for a while and wanna enjoy over and over again, then LG is your best candidate.

I am returning back my Sony BDP-370 player tomorrow to Bestbuy. I hope this review helps to reader.

Santosh Gaikwad

Plays DivxHD, AVI, MKV directly from Blu Ray Disc & USB, November 15, 2010
I have used this Blu Ray player for more than a week and it plays the following without any issues directly from Blue Ray disc as well as DVD, CD and USB:
DivxHD (Divx HD 720p and 1080p profile that create files with Divx extension) NOTE: DivxHD Plus profile creating mkv files seems not working
AVI ( I haven't tried all codecs but whatever I tried worked without any issues)
MKV
AVCHD
I was successfully able to play couple of 720p 4.35 GB mkv files with that's encoded with H264 & DTS audio with subtitle without any issues. Subtitle worked perfectly fine.
Files with DTS audio plays flawless directly on TV speakers without requiring any additional DTS receiver.
Very responsive remote control.
Played lots of MKV files of size 8GB and greater with h264 and DTS audio from an external USB drive and they all played very well. Subtitles were supported and no jitter in playback.
MKV playback is awesome and Up-conversion works great.I can clearly see the difference between regular playback and upconversion (the files I have used were IMAX HD documentaries and Disney Pixar movies i.e. quality of the original file was good to start with).

I tried Verbatim LTH some very cheap media from Meritline and Optical Quantam BD-R burned using IMGBURN in my LG WH10LS30 Blue Ray burner and everything worked flawless.
I tried about 20 of dirt cheap DVD media Dynex, Teon, Playo etc. which had avi files with variety of codecs recorded about 5-6 years ago and they all played without any issues.
Blu Ray disc loads really fast the picture quality is crystal clear. Also quality of You tube and picasa is great.
Overall, it's great inexpensive player that played many media from various sources. It played various file formats not even supported by Philips 5982 Divx player but I still can't retire my WD Live as its picky about codecs i.e. not all mkv files plays flawless and MOV doesn't work at this point.

UPDATE: I was successfully able to play Blu-Ray video files (m2ts) directly from hard drive via. USB connection. Menu is not supported but the files played successfully.

reasonably good media/blue ray player for under $70, November 19, 2010
I got this at sears when it was $65, it will be on sale again, try walmart if amazon doesn't lower price. It plays all my discs and most of my multimedia files. It will not play wmv files and doesn't seem to like my AAC files (plays MP3's okay), but will play H264/mov files if you rename them as .mp4, a common trick with these cheaper players. It powers my two external portable hd's and will play one of my two pen drives, but not both. Its upscaling of 420p material from the usb side not as good as my WD or my PS3, but plays native 1080i/p files with very impressive results.
It does have the BD live function if you want to plug a pen drive into it since it needs external storage. It has limited internet options right now, who cares about accuweather? LG updates their firmware online and my other LG equipment has seen third party hacks that improve it so I look forward to when this is hacked to provide either Netflix, or better yet Playon support.

It did freeze on me at least once as other reviews have noted, have to pull the plug to reset it.
Only 4 stars since it did freeze for no good reason, and I too will need to keep my WD Media player for awhile, but it this had netflix would have given it 5 stars, as for the price it just can't be beat. I will update when I have played with it a bit more, only had it the week so far.

Worth the $, November 27, 2010
Came across this one at Walmart for $65 on Thanksgiving. Easy to set up. Just plug in what you have to and have at it. Watched Fifth Element straight away. Good quality. Played with the buttons so the 2 hour movie ended up being 2 1/2 hours. The next day I throw in Big Trouble in Little China. Tried to make adjustments during the movie, but, unfortunately the movie would not pick up where it left off. Would always go back to the beginning...showing the threatening stills from Interpol and how comments weren't the opinions of Fox, blah, blah. Kept experimenting and the same thing would happen. Didn't happen with Fifth Element. Got frustrated and gave up for the night. Next day threw in Good, Bad and Ugly. The quality of this movie is AMAZING in BRay. But, that's another story. Anyway, the same thing would happen. Can not go to SET UP without stopping the movie and starting over. Very difficult to check adjustments without waiting for the movie to start over. On regular dvd that I tried this was not a problem. My suggestion is to expect to spend a little bit of time making adjustments to get it right before you watch the whole movie.
One other situation that I came across was a setting to audio. The 2 discs that would restart movies after adjustment would not play audio unless you fumble through the info menu and change that setting to 2 CHANNEL just to hear something. The player goes from HDMI into TV and from TV via coaxial cord out to stereo which will play dts hd. Didn't have problem with Fifth Element, but with the next 2 discs. Could be a setting I messed up but hard to tell because of the constant reset of the movies.
Take this for what it's worth. The player still seems like a good deal for the price with a good quality picture.

Best value !, November 20, 2010
The USB port can power my Seagate USB-powered Freeagent hard drive, which is convenient. And I can confirm it can play a 15G mkv movie file. While I cannot compare the video quality with another Blu-ray or multi-media player, the quality is definity better than the video play back from a PC.

GOOD player but read my review for details., December 2, 2010
I bought this player (despite my future purchase of a Playstation 3) mainly because I wanted a Blu-Ray player that could play MKV files. That let's me store a ton of content on an external hard drive, high definition content, and play it "on demand" without ever having to change a disc.

As far as MKV playback goes, it's hit and miss but for the most part MKV files work. It doesn't matter what size it is.
For MKV files that did NOT play I (and others) pinpointed the problem: if a file is encoded with level/profile 4.2 or higher it will NOT play on this player. If you get a file that does not play, run it through MKV2VOB. It has to transcode a lot of movies which takes time but there are a few that don't need transcoding. Playback is good and depends on the speed of your external hard drive. Controlling files can be hit or miss; some let you control things such as speed/fast forward/rewind etc while others will not. I have noticed a few lockups at times.

As far as Blu-Ray playing goes, once you get into the movie it's great. Other than that I think there are some options that were leftout of this player and its remote control that I would have liked such as title program (for discs and files).

The main problem with this player is its frequent lockups and freezes. There is also considerable lag with the remote and sometimes it takes over a minute for the player to respond in certain menus.

The internet connectivity is weird with this player. I have tried WB (Warner Brothers discs) and BD-Live does not work. Universal discs do work but you have to have the internet plugged in before you start the disc. If you do have it plugged in, it takes over two minutes to load up to the disc's menu.

I will update with other things I think of but for the price I think it's a good blu-ray player. It's actually better in a few respects (MKV file playback, DVD up conversion) than its older brother the BD550. On LG's website and the manual this player is referred to as the BD551 so if that tells you something.

UPDATE 1: As far as BD-live goes, a forum member on AVSforum found a method to get it to work. Welcome to a whole new world of commercials and unwanted trailers.

DJPOJACK:
"I was getting all those messages like the player needed to be hooked up to an internet connection or "coming soon"...etc..

This is how I got BD-LIVE to work:

-format USB thumb/drive (fat 16 or 32)
-boot up your LG 530 (without disc and without USB inserted) so it goes to main on-screen menu..

-go to setup
-go to others
-go to initialize

NOW...insert USB drive/device

You should notice that "BD Storage Clear" is now selectable...Select it and confirm "yes"...It will do a momentary "clear" (even though your USB drive is already empty).

Now, you leave that USB drive in there and load any Blu-Ray movie with BD-Live, and when you run the BD-Live features, it should work....

At least it did for me....

If you leave the USB drive in the slot, you can eject and load different Blu-Rays and BD-Live should still work (until your USB drive is full, which then you can initialize it again!)...

P.S. - If you format or use this USB drive on any other device, it will probably corrupt/overwrite the BD530 BD-Live data....So, it's probably best to have a dedicated drive just for the BD530 (I.E. Just leave it in the USB slot FOREVAHHHHH!)

good luck
-drew"

I love it., November 29, 2010
i bought this to view Blu Rays discs... i use my wii for netflix, so the "No Netflix" option wasnt a problem. My only complaint is that this unit does not include a HDMI cable (the box should at least mention this) .... i was lucky to have one laying around the house so it didnt bother me as much. The quality is great, the navigation is easy to follow, and the player performs flawlessly. My tv is LG as well so i get added bonuses... such as only have to use the tv remote to control the player... and if my tv is off, and i pop a disc into the player... it will automatically turn on the tv and set it to the right input for viewing a movie. I dont use it for watching computer media, or codecs... or whatever.... only blu ray movies... so im very happy with the price and the quality i have received in this player. If you want more bells and whistles then i suggest you look into a higher priced unit. =)

Great Player! Gotta love the USB feature!, December 5, 2010
I am not sure what are the negative reviews on here are all about, its possible some customers may have received a defective product from LG but mine has been working great! First off let me say I am not going to complain about the player not having Netflix, Rhapsody, Facebook ect. My TV has wifi built in that allows me to access Netflix so I had no need to shell out the extra money for a fancy player that could surf the full extent of the web. Those who wanted a player like that should have looked for something else. This player clearly states that its features are limited to Youtube, Picasa, and AccuWeather. To buy it and expect otherwise is poor shopping on the consumers' part. As far as video quality, I don't own a vast collection of Blu-rays so my experience has mostly been with upconverting DVD's, which the player does an excellent job with. Unlike the Memorex I own, this player minimizes almost all of the DVD grain and blur to the point that it almost looks as good as a blu-ray. The Blu-rays I have played also have shimmered in pure 1080p HD with this player. The real attraction for me though, is the USB drive. All you have to do is pop in an external hard drive or memory stick and the player is ready to play the contents whether it be video, picture, or music. I have watched two movies this way, one MPEG4 and the other AVI, and both played without a hiccup. Some reviewers have reported freezing and locking up, but I have experienced neither with my player. I haven't updated the firmware, though, so who knows if the new updates may actually be the cause of the problems. The player does take a little time to initially boot up, but I hardly consider waiting a few seconds to be an inconvenience. Overall, the LGBD530 is a great value and a player I recommend for anyone who's looking for a solid player to watch movies on via DVD, Blu-Ray, or USB. If you want something to play your Netflix with, look elsewhere.

Plays Blu-ray movies. Simple to use., December 8, 2010
Plays Blu-ray movies. Simple to use. Period. Be careful of reading a bad review from people who want their blu-ray player to take them to the moon and back.If you want a simple cheap blu-ray player then this is it. If you want a radio, a computer, and blu-ray player and a robotic dog, then this is not for you. You get what you pay for. I wanted a blu-ray player. That is what this is.

Great BD Player for the price., December 18, 2010
This is the 2nd LG BD530 Blu-ray player that I have purchased. The first one came from WM as a "One Day" special for $65. I figured I couldn't go wrong at this price so I got one. Especially since it's intended use was going to be upstairs in my bonus room where that tv gets occasional use only. After getting it home, connecting it to my TV via HDMI and Home Theater system via coaxial audio, I was very pleased with the unit. It is easy to set up and loads discs (at least the ones I have tried) quickly. In my opinion it is hard to tell the difference between Blu-ray and upconverted DVD's with this player. They both look great. I thought it may have been because I connected it to a 42" Panasonic 720p plasma. Now that I have the 2nd unit connected to a different tv, I still can't tell. Maybe if I placed two identical tv's side by side with two of these players you might be able to see a difference then, but switching back and forth between BD and DVD it is not very obvious. My original plans where to get a "nicer" one for the main t.v. in my great room later. After a couple of weeks using the LG and enjoying it, as well as finding it on Amazon for $69 with free shipping, I just couldn't resist so I purchased a 2nd one. It too has worked well on my 46" Samsung 1080p LCD t.v. and Sony HT-CT150 Soundbar system. The LG BD530 is connected to the Sony Home Theater via HDMI and from the Sony Soundbar I have an HDMI cable connected to the TV. Just like the 42" plasma upstairs, both BD and DVD look great using it even though they are not connected the same way due to equipment differences.
I have read some negative reviews about this unit, but so far my experience has been great with it. I cannot comment much on the network connectivity for internet usage as my means of going online are by way of a Verizon air card that I use on my laptop. I don't have a router or any other means to connect this player to online services. I have to go to the LG website, download any updates for the player to a flash drive and then load them on the player. So far I have not done this, so I don't know if there are problems doing it this way. But, as far as watching Blu-rays or upconverted DVD's I highly recommend this unit, especially for the price. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. Listen to music on Pandora, or listen to your own iTunes playlists. Even watch major sports, news, or original Internet programming. It's all available whenever you want it. The all-new Roku XD delivers the highest quality HD video, in the smallest box, at the lowest price. No wonder Roku is the best selling streaming player ever. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent product, October 6, 2010
One can make a good case that with Roku you really don't need cable or satellite TV. With a $10 monthly subscription to Netflix you can get more movies than you have time for over the internet at the time that you want to see them. I doubt that one movie that TCM shows is not available this way.

You can listen to almost any radio station in the country free, meeting your needs if you like any particular kind of music or listen to talk radio, sports, etc.

You can watch Youtube clips on your big TV as well and can send the sound to your stereo system, home theater nowadays.

There are lots of other specialized sites, both free and by subscription, that are available. I like Pub-D-Hub which has movies in the public domain for free, many are poor but others can be quite good, I had never seen a picture with legendary Lillian Gish before.

Roku is a winner.

Apple TV vs. Roku XD. Fight!, October 29, 2010

Loyal customer!, October 9, 2010
I've owned my Roku for 10 months. I'm sorry that that one person had a bad experience. I, myself, have had great experience with their customer service. Wow, last month, when my wifi went out on my old player, the guy trouble shooted it (even though I had told him that I had already done every trouble shoot 19 times), and then he gave me the needed number to write down on the return label and mailed me a box to send it back to them for free. I didn't have to collect a bunch of paperwork and (receipts and stuff) like most other companies require for a full refund. Just the player and the remote! My brand new Roku arrived within the week.
I have never regretted buying this player. Now it's even $40.00 less than I originally paid for it. It's a fricken steal if you ask me. Not only do you get your movies mailed to you from Netflix, but you get to watch, from the comfort of any room you decide to put the thing in, all the tv shows and kids shows and movies and free music and OMG the list goes on and on. Ren and Stimpy, 30 Rock, Lie to Me, Spongebob, on and on and on. The kids love it. When I'm bored at night, I get a huge list of choices to entertain me and I really couldn't live without this cute little tiny machine. I HIGHLY recommend!!

Roku Rocks with NetFlix and Playon, December 4, 2010
We were a longtime Dish Network customer paying $80 a month for video service. While we had no complaints about Dish, we decided this past summer to take the plunge into internet video to see if we could save some dollars. My family was shocked the day I unplugged all of the Dish receivers and sent them back to Dish Network. "What are we going to watch?" "What about my favorite shows?"

As a 3 HDTV family and not knowing the best hardware option to use, we decided to try a selection of devices. For our main living room TV, we purchased a Roku device. For the den, we used our Wii and for the master bedroom a Sony Blu Ray Internet DVD player.

For content, we have moved our NetFlix usage from DVDs in the mail to internet streaming. We also installed playon.tv on our PC for access to Hulu (primarily), CBS (Survivor and Amazing Race) and Comedy Channel. Both NetFlix and Playon streaming to all of the devices we use work fine. This includes the Roku via playon, despite reports that Roku pulled the plug on playon (continues to work fine to this day).

We also purchased Comcast Basic (Limited) Cable ($14) for local news and sports. This is the plan that just uses the cable, no digital cable boxes required, allowing us to wire cable to all of our TV's. What Comcast will not tell you is with HDTV's we get full HD channels for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CBS, etc. without having to purchase a digital plan or rent their digital boxes.

Comparing the Roku, Wii and Sony Internet DVD devices, we like the Roku the best of the three. In fact, we just installed a second Roku, moving the Wii back to a game system. The reason was primarily ease of use. Some of the reasons include the following:
- Roku Remote is the simplest to use than the Wii and Sony remotes with fewer and easier to understand buttons
- Roku provides access to NetFlix suggested titles and search. This is also available for the Wii but not the Sony Internet DVD player
- The Roku seems to do a better job at buffering the streaming content resulting in less video interuptions

In conclusion, we have a better video experience today than when we were paying $80 for Dish. Netflix gives us access to movies and past seasons of TV shows. Playon with Hulu gives us DVR access to all of the latest TV shows, we love the Hulu favorites Queue and the emails letting us know the latest episodes are in the queue.

Outside of our internet connection (need 2MBPS or more) which we already had in place, our total internet video monthly fees are $12.95 for NetFlix and $14 for Basic (Limited) Comcast Cable. A great savings with a better video experience.

I don't want to oversell it ..., October 16, 2010
... but Roku is the greatest thing EVER in the history of the universe.

Setup was ridiculously easy. Plug the box into an AC outlet, connect the AV cables to your TV, and switch your TV to the appropriate channel. If using a wireless router, enter the encryption key or passcode. (For WEP security, this will be 13 pairs of alphanumeric symbols.) Then follow the on-screen instructions to sync your Roku account to your Netflix account and/or your Amazon Video On Demand account, using a simple activation code.

Within 15 minutes or less, I was searching Netflix on my TV screen and choosing things to watch. I settled on "Aliens." Picture quality was better than cable, comparable to DVD. There was no pixellation, buffering, signal breakup, or any other glitch. After a while I forgot I was watching a streaming video. Colors were bright, outlines were sharp. My Roku is hooked up to a non-state-of-the-art, non-widescreen, non-digital TV that only accepts 480i input. The image quality would undoubtedly be even better on a newer set with 1080i capabilities.

Later that night I intended to watch syndicated reruns of "King of the Hill." But because of a dispute with Cablevision, Newscorp pulled the local Fox channel off the air. No KOTH! What to do? Luckily, there was no need to panic. Netflix has at least 9 seasons of KOTH available for streaming. I watched two episodes and found the picture quality significantly better than the local broadcast. Plus, no commercials! I may never watch KOTH on the Fox affiliate again. That's one less viewer for Fox. Well played, Newscorp!

I haven't really looked into the various other channels that are available for Roku, which seem to vary widely in quality. New channels are being added all the time. I understand Hulu is coming soon.

Truthfully, I could imagine ditching cable TV altogether once the selection of streaming videos becomes even better. This is the future of TV. And did I mention it's the greatest thing EVER?

Technical caveat: I have a cable Internet connection that downloads at 12-13 Mbps. Connections slower than 5 Mbps may be less satisfactory.

Bottom line: Buy this thing. It works as advertised, and it's just cool.

Was a great box before Firmware Update, November 8, 2010
The Roku Auto-Updates, so there is no way to stop it. When loading a video, it will freeze up or load very slowly. Sometimes it will play and then kick back to the beginning of the video. Even some developers are complaining of broken channels and other issues. It was perfect before the update, and there is no way to rollback the firmware.
Before buying, do yourself a favor and read the Roku forums, and Roku owners thread at avsforums.

Worth the Money!, December 1, 2010
I'm a spartan tightwad, so for me to say that something is worth the money is high praise indeed. Roku isn't perfect, but it's a great idea and well executed.

We have been cable/satellite free for over five years (before we bought our house, our apartment included free cable). I have never paid for premium TV, I just can't imagine doing it. When our tube TV died a few years ago, we tried to get it fixed, but they no longer make the part. So we started watching shows online. After the digital conversion last year, our remaining tiny tube TV became just a DVD watching monitor.

Well, the holiday season of 2010 offered such spectacular deals on TVs that it turned even me, and we bought a 42" plasma for $350 because it's only 720p/60hz. As I planned on hooking up a home theatre PC (much of streaming is still standard def), I'll accept the slightly out of date technology for that great of a price.

I looked at the Boxee Box, a Dell Zino, and laughed hysterically at the price of Google TV and internet enabled televisions and Blu Ray players. But the Roku, starting at $60... that price held my attention.

I bought the mid level Roku for the price of the low end one, $60+ shipping, on their Black Friday sale. Shipping was fast- it was here on Monday.

Set up is pretty simple, but you do need a computer or at least a smartphone to input the codes. Choosing the channels and inputting the codes takes ten times as long as actual hardware setup, but you can do this over time, you don't have to do it right away unless you are like me and very Type A.

The Bad: there is still lots of content out there, for free, that Roku can't access. You'll either have to pony up the dough on Amazon's video on demand, wait for the DVD from Netflix, or plug your laptop into your computer with an HDMI cable. This is true even if you have Hulu+. For example, "Medium" moved to CBS. CBS, because they are a network run by and for old people, doesn't participate in Hulu. I can't watch Medium on my TV unless I pay for it from AVOD. Bummer, when I could watch for free on CBS.com. Same thing with Disney- if you have Disney Magic Codes, you can watch movies (as much as you want, whenever you want) online. But not on a TV, at least not through the Roku. Mr. HDMI cable has to come out, or Disney is confined to the computer screen.

I don't need or want Roku to have a full browser, but if it did this problem would be solved. The business model behind Hulu+ would also collapse, though, so I'm not sure what the solution is.

We are not a family of sports fans, so we don't subscribe to MLB or NHL pay channels, but we do have Netflix and Hulu+ for a grand total of $16/mo. There are tons of good, free Roku channels, especially if you bother to look for the "Private" channels, which include YouTube and HGTV.

What is very, very good about the Roku is the price and ease of use. I would have spent an absolute minimum of $250 on a little nettop to use as an HTPC, plus more for a wireless keyboard, and it would have been a PITA to use. You'd have to open a browser and search. If I lived alone, this would not be a big deal, but we have three kids, and if I lived alone, I probably would get along with just a laptop. The primary reason we got a TV was to cuddle on the couch and watch movies. My littles would make mincemeat out of a a keyboard-as-remote. On the other hand, while you can search pretty easily with Roku remote, you don't HAVE to. You can browse. The remote and interface is so dead simple my four year old learned how to use it in about 15 minutes, despite the fact that we've never used a TV remote in this house until about a week ago. My dad could use this, hell, my husband's grandma could use it. It's that straightforward.

Also, Kidlet is AMAZING. It's a kids' TV network that contains three channels and tons of cartoons. There are no commercials whatsoever, which are my main objection to childrens' TV. (Yeah, we get PBS OTA, too.) We discovered "Redwall" through Kidlet on Roku, something that Netflix doesn't even have, and is fantastic- we have the books on hold now at the library.

This is the way TVs and movies are meant to be watched- when you want, no discs to scratch, no mindless channel surfing, no/few commercials, no schedule to keep, with a picture that far outstrips everything but DVD. Roku is the future.

Less than 5 Minutes to Set up - LOVE the Simple Remote, October 6, 2010
Picked up the Roku XD to validate its use with Netflix streaming. The box showed up and it took less than 5 minutes to get running. The unit powered up, joined wifi then upgraded code from the net within minutes. After the upgrade I registered the unit in my Netflix account and started streaming. DONE! Now I will purchase two more and turn off satellite service.

Saved money on Cable bill,I LOVE ROKU!, October 12, 2010
I had a $9 a month Netflix account which my husband and I used to watch movies on our iphones and computers. Plus we would get DVD's included in the mail. Now we just added this ROKU to our large livingroom TV and get instant movies and so much more. I just cancelled Shotime,HBO,and Cinemax. Saved lots of money because of this little box. Movies are easy to find and come on screen instantly with perfect clarity.I can even shop for Amazon items on TV using this box. I highly recommend ROKU!

Lots of choice for content, could be easier to use, nice little streaming media player!, November 18, 2010

Editorial Review

Begin enjoying Blu-ray 3D movies in Full HD 1080p or DVDs in near HD quality faster than ever with the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player. Wirelessly stream photos, videos and music or instantly access a wide variety of entertainment apps including: Netflix, , Pandora, Slacker, Picasa, YouTube and more. You can also turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control by downloading a free app. ... Read more

Reviews

Great player for the price, March 18, 2010
The sony S570 is a great player. The fast load system is excellent and much faster than the older 300s models. The setup was easy (it walks you through each step) I use the wireless N router and the speeds are awesome. Seamless integration with our Netflix account and the ability to watch Youtube videos is a great addition to what the player can do. Great 1080p picture and good upconversion of dvds. Do not be afraid of this player. If you have a netflix account or would like to watch youtube videos on your TV- this is your player. Also on a side note- you have several other choices besides Netflix and youtube. You have Amazons video on demand service and several other free video services.

Good player but no DLNA support (yet), March 4, 2010
OK , got my S570 and tested everything I could. This is not a professional review since I'm not a pro.

-UNPACKING AND INSTALLING:

The box is very small, half the size of the 460 box. The player is also much smaller than the 460. The installation was a breeze because I basically removed my 460 and replaced it with the 570. I don't need the wireless, just hooket it to my Ethernet switch and set a fixed IP address like I do on any device I have.
The eject button on the player is almost impossible to find. Bring the remote.

The activation of both Netflix and Amazon can be a real pain and I had to register both again.

I changed the following settings from the default:
.Audio Mix to OFF
.Gracenote to AUTO
.Network settings to manual IP address.
.SACD to DSD
.IP Noise Reduction to zero

As soon as I turned the player on, a firmware update came up and its now version 315.

-BLURAY/DVD PICTURE QUALITY

Nothing new here. Bluray is great as it is with any other player and DVD is OK, nothing to brag about but decent. Professional reviews will give more info about cadence and other things, I spend my time watching movies not calibration disks.
Only thing new is the Gracenote that gives some info on the title but will interrupt playback and return the movie to start position.

-AMAZON/NETFLIX

If you know the 460, the interface is the same (very basic) but with an interesting difference on the audio side. With the 460 I can get DD 5.1 from Amazon and only get audio from Netflix if I set HDMI AUDIO to PCM. With the 570, all the streaming comes in PCM even if HDMI AUDIO is set to AUTO. I think it's a bug with the 460 that happens only with few receivers (no audio unless PCM is set) that is now fixed with the 570. I know, a little confusing.
There is an IP video noise reduction that defaults to 2. I set it to zero because I hate any kind of NR. Picture gets softer in most cases.
Picture quality with Amazon is good and so-so with Netflix but nothing that can be blamed on the player. BTW, my Internet connection is good, 18 Mbps hard-wired.
Gracenote doesn't work with Netflix or Amazon, but you don't need it.

-OTHER WEB SERVICES

There are 1 or 2 services not present on the 460 and few "coming soon". The most important is the Qriosity, from Sony, that promises to rival Netflix/Amazon. There is a Qriosity icon as a placeholder on the menu axis. More info here: [...].

-DLNA

Doesn't exist. Firmware upgrade ? Shame on you Sony.The Sony website is now updated and has a footnote about the upgrade but it wasn't there when I bought the player.

-USB DISK AND FILES SUPPORTED.

I used a pendrive to test quite a few file formats. Here is the result:

.M2TS Both movies recorded from my Canon Camcorder and the Hauppauge HD-PVR played perfectly. Great !
.MPG No problems, as expected.
.WMV Played without a glitch.
.MKV The video recorded with Makemkv didn't play at all (msg about corrupted file). The video recorded with Handbrake played but with a lot of pixelation.
.M4V Same as above. Also created by Handbrake.
.ISO Not recognized at all. Didn't show up on the playlist.
.MOV Same as above.
.AVI Same as above.

I think the only good news so far is the flawless playback of the 2 M2TS files.


-SACD

This is the Grand Finale: Absolutely fantastic . My Pioneer 94 can take DSD direct (no PCM conversion) and the sound is great. I set the receiver to "pure direct" and the sound was warm, tube like, beautiful. Obviously the receiver plays the big role here but the 570 did everything you could expect.

MY SETUP:

.Panasonic P65V10
.Pioneer 64 receiver
.Sony BDP S570 player
.U-Verse 18 Mbps Internet Service
.Everything through HDMI links.

I hope I gave you some highlights on the 570. Overall it's a great deal and a bargain considering what it can do. Let's hope the DLNA upgrade comes soon and works as expected.

A fine replacement for my BDP-S300, March 7, 2010
First, a little background. I purchased a Sony BDP-S300 (one of the early Sony BD players) three years ago to use with my home-theatre setup. It was always a great player, just a basic machine with no frills. Not a lot of advanced features, but it always had superb picture quality and it played anything you could put in it.

Anyway, in mid-2009 I started looking for a new BD machine to replace the aging S300. The S300 had wonderful picture quality, no doubt about it, but it was becoming troublesome with long waits for load times, sometimes taking up to five minutes to start playing a Java-enabled Blu-ray disc (from cold power-on to disc main menu). In the process of "auditioning" new machines, I tried out a Samsung BD-P1600 and a Sony BDP-N460, both of which were returned to the store for one reason or another.

Well, my good friends, it appears as though my long wait for a replacement for the S300 is over. I purchased a Sony BDP-S570 on Thursday, March 4th 2010, and I could not be happier with the results.

Now let me say that I am looking at players for playback quality alone. I am not interested in connecting the machine to the Internet -- which may put off some of you. I am only concerned with load times, wait times, picture quality, sound quality. All else for me is a moot point because I connect my television directly to my Windows XP Media Centre PC for things such as Netflix, Youtube, Pandora, etc. So this review and comments are only in regard to video playback of various discs on this machine.

Upon removing the BDP-S570 from its box, and connecting it to the television via HDMI, I loaded our first "test disc", the 2009 Java-heavy Paramount Blu-ray release of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek". The disc loaded faster than you can say "Klingon". I was also quite impressed when pressing the "Pop Up/Menu" button on the remote control automatically forced the disc to skip through the four trailers (that play automatically at the start most of the time). This is the first machine that could blow past the trailers like that in one fell swoop. (Formerly, you had to use the fast-forward function to forward through each trailer one at a time.)

As many of you know, The "Star Trek" BD was one of the most well-received BDs of 2009 in terms of picture quality. Well let me say the PQ looks extraordinary on this player and my television. The only problem I noted was a brief glitch in the video outputting/processing, when a herky-jerky something happened and skipped a brief second during the climactic space battle at the end of the movie. I reversed the movie and played it again, and the second time around, no problems.

Second test disc was the 2007 Columbia BD release of "Spider-Man 2" (from the trilogy boxed set). This disc loaded quickly and played flawlessly, again perfect PQ and video outputting. No complaints here at all.

Final test disc was the 2006 Disney Platinum Edition DVD release of "The Little Mermaid". This disc loaded very quickly and the picture quality throughout was superb. No jaggies at all like you'd see on some other BD machines when playing standard DVDs. Superb auto upscaling to 1080P from the disc's native 480i.

Some specific features that impressed me with this player: The remote control has an open/close button on it, which was missing on older Sony BD remote controls (particularly the N460). This player has the easiest auto set-up (by far) of any of the various new players I've connected to my TV out of the box. Finally, you can deactivate the lights and numerical (counter) display on the front of the machine, so it is completely dark when powered on. This is a handy feature if you, like me, dislike all those lights particularly when playing a movie in a darkened room.

Also I particularly like the small size of this player. The S300 was a behemoth in comparison. This player takes no room at all in my component cabinet (in fact it is so small I can't keep my Wii on top like I did with my old player).

All in all this is a superb A+++++ machine from Sony. Here is the player I was waiting for. Technology has caught up to the level such that these players have really come into their own. Also this player is 3D capable with the expected firmware coming this summer. So I will be ready to watch Avatar when the 3D BD is released. Celebration all around.

BDP-S570 is super fast, April 27, 2010
A week or so ago I replaced my Sony BDP-S300 Blu Ray Disk player with a new model, the BDP-S570. The S570 is one of Sony's newest players, and in the middle of their consumer line as far as model lineup. It was amazingly low priced at $249.

I decided to upgrade from the S300 for two main reasons. First, the load times on the S300 are excruciatingly slow, and second it cannot bitstream the newest audio codecs so I was forced to use its on-board decoder and analog output. With my new Emotiva prepro I wanted to reduce cable complexity and use HDMI only.

I started doing some research into the newest crop of BRD players and was convinced I would probably get the Oppo 83. But a few reviews on CNET and elsewhere said the S570 had "the fastest load times ever tested" and they ranked it as faster than and 83. It also has some of the new whiz-bang stuff like wifi, SACD compatibility, Netflix and Amazon streaming, Profile 2.0, 1Gb internal memory, HDMI 1.4 and 3D capability. So I looked up the Sony and found it was half the price of the Oppo, and decided to go for it. I figured that for $250 if I hated it I could send it back or pawn it off onto someone else.

Impressions of the Sony S570:
If you are an equipment snob like me and want your gear to feel substantial, like a quality device, this machine is NOT for you. I thought the box was empty when it arrived. The machine feels like it weights a few ounces (actually it weighs 2Kg or about 4 1/2 pounds.) Upon opening it, I was even more disappointed. this thing is super cheap feeling - you know how some plastic feels "good" and other plastic feels "cheap" and flimsy? This feels cheap. The buttons on the front are almost repulsive little Chiclets about the size of the buttons on my cell phone and remind me of some kind of toy made by Coleco. The disc tray feels like I will break it if I push it in. At least the remote is pretty nice so I won't have to touch the cheesy buttons. If just feels cheap. The power cord is molded into the chassis. The chassis is a non-standard size, which always drives me mad. It is almost a standard rack width at 17" wide, but it is only 8" deep, meaning it is too shallow for any other piece of gear to sit on top of it. I had to rig some rear "feet" for my DVR to sit it on top the Sony. Initial impressions were not good at all and I thought I had made a mistake buying this thing. At least once it is in the rack it doesn't look cheap. The all-black front is not as nice as the blue tinted plastic on the S300, but it looks like it belongs in a good equipment rack. Just don't touch it.

The connectors on the back feature a single HDMI jack, component and composite video, stereo analog audio (that goes with the composite video), Ethernet, digital coax and optical, and USB. There are no multichannel analog audio outputs if you need these, and I found it odd that it would offer legacy video outputs but force anyone using those to only use digital audio or HDMI for high-resolution audio. The USB connector is interesting as it allows the user to connect a memory stick (and the promise later a hard drive) for storing downloaded video. There is also a USB connector on the front and the machine can display a variety of digital image formats and play back a variety of digital audio formats directly from the USB connections, or via its networking capability. So while I probably won't use it as such, the machine has the ability to serve as a media hub. That's pretty nice.

I plugged it in and connected via HDMI to my pre-pro. The remote codes were in the Harmony database. I fired it up and went through the very logical and intuitive setup routine on-screen without having to refer to the owner's manual. I connected it to my network wirelessly (it has 801.n wireless built in) and had it check for a firmware update. There was one, so before I could try it I let it download and update which took about 15 minutes to complete. After it rebooted, I started exploring.

The user interface looks exactly like the PS3. This is not surprising since this box is pretty much the PS3 without the gaming capability or any on-board hard drive. It was intuitive and easy to navigate. I went to the setup screens and went through all the settings to see if I needed to adjust anything. Then I popped in a Blu Ray disc (Up.)

Wow. I was shocked. Where the old S300 would give me several "loading" screens and I could almost walk the half mile to the nearest Starbucks, get a latte and walk back before a disc was ready to play, this thing flashed the screen a couple of times and boom, it was ready to go. It was literally the fastest load I'd ever seen, faster than the CD player in my car can load a CD. Very impressive. The picture quality was also outstanding, as I expected. The sound, however, was not right.

"Up" has a dts-HD soundtrack, and the Emotiva processor told me the Sony was sending it multi-channel PCM. Hmm. I went back into the setup screens and it said dts was set to output as dts, but there did not seem to be any settings associated with the HD codecs. Hmm again. So I stopped the disc and thumbed through the owners manual. No mention of anything special I need to do. Time to hit up Google. Nothing obvious came up. Back to the owner's manual and I notice in the troubleshooting section a problem called "Dolby True HD and dts HD bitstream does not work." Aha. It seems one must set a user setting called "BD Audio Mix Output" to "OFF" and then the high def codecs will bitstream. Oh really? So I did this, and boom the Emotiva told me the sound track was dts-HD. There is no where other than this troubleshooting guide that mentions this, and the setup information says the "BD Audio Mix" function has something to do with the secondary audio tracks.

So, if any of you purchase this box or it's siblings, be sure to set this function to "OFF" if you have a pre-pro that decodes the new codecs.

After enjoying "Up" I tried the Netflix streaming function and cued up "The King of California." It came up on the screen surprisingly quickly, and the video quality was not HD but acceptable for casual viewing. It did seem to have to re-buffer too often, but perhaps adding a nice big 32G memory stick to the rear USB port will help this.

Next I tried playing back an SACD (Madman Across The Water.) The S570 outputs SACD as either Multi-PCM or Multi-channel DSD. I had set it to DSD, but the Emotiva will not accept a DSD input. The Sony detected this via the HDMI handshake and output the music as multi-channel PCM. It sounded pretty darn good.

Bottom line, my bias against cheap-feeling gear was wrong and I love this box. I didn't think I'd ever use the Profile 2.0 BD-Live features or something like Netflix streaming but I was wrong, I had a good time checking it out. I still think I'll never use the 3D features but who knows. I am happy I bought this and feel it is one of the best bargain buys I have ever made for my HT.

If however it really is as cheap as it feels and it breaks down after a few months, I'll be sure to let everyone here know.

Great Blu-Ray Player, May 12, 2010
I spent numerous hours reviewing Blu-ray players before deciding on the Sony BDP-S570. Some of my primary requirements were:

- Netflix capable
- Wi-Fi capable
- Additional online content
- Economical

I know my requirements are not that stringent, but the player is just for the family. I wanted to be able to do Full HD 1080p and the family/kids wanted to be able to watch Netflix. I wanted/needed Wi-Fi because I did not want to run a network cable.

After reading hours of reviews I decided on the Sony BDP-S570 because it met all of my requirements, as well as, is prepared to be a 3D player with a firmware upgrade. I watched Amazon for about a month and finally it went on sale for $224. I brought it immediately.

I had my new Blu-Ray player up and running immediately. I connected the Blu-Ray to my network and immediately updated the firmware. I registered with Netflix and was watching movies instantly. I have not had any issues whatsoever with Netflix. This is a great box if this is one of your major requirements. I also registered with Pandora and Slacker and have very much enjoyed the online music. My family has also enjoyed watching YouTube as well.

After a month I am extremely happy with my purchase and highly recommend this Blu-Ray player.

SONY should be embarassed, October 2, 2010
I have had good luck with SONY products in the past. Not with this one though.

It took several days to get it to work because it is designed by SONY to work in a network environment that possesses no security protection. This device needs access to any IP address and any port at any IP address. This would be acceptable if:

1. SONY properly documented its use of ports and address space
2. Error messages actually were meaningful when the device was incapable of reaching some obscure address/port combination, and,
3. The device didn't act like an undocumented home for spyware.

Basically SONY bugs a customer's entire use of this device. It reports usage back to SONY and its partners IP addresses using undocumented ports. It maintains essentially adware cookies that track a user's history with the device. None of this behavior is documented by SONY.

However, when you install this device behind a hardware firewall that tracks such things, it is immediately evident. If you attempt to block the various reporting addresses, the device then fails telling you that the "Network is Unavailable" - the universal message SONY appears to deliver for any failed access to a remote Internet address. This makes installation very confusing: you can see the directories for services out there but cannot access anything - including firmware updates - unless the unit can report your access to a SONY, or partner, site that records your activity and interests.

In addition to this upfront misbehavior, the device is also highly unstable. It is not at all reliable even with the latest firmware (finally) downloaded and installed.

If there were a way to give this device a negative rating, I would do so. I played with it so long in the hopes that I could make it reliable that it went past Amazon's return window - or it would not be here any longer. As it is, it has decided to no longer recognize its remote control and thus has become my latest door stop.

If anyone from SONY reads this: shame on you and your company. This device is so far from the excellent devices you have made in the past that it should never have been allowed to ship ...

Sony BDP-S570 ...May be one of Sony's Better Offerings?, May 25, 2010
Just opened up my Sony BDP-S570(Samsung LN46A650 46-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD)about an hour ago...25 May 2010. Startup was very straight-forward to the point.First thing was download a firmware update...no problems with update.Went through Ethernet rather than wi-fi because of problems taking the wireless route (with other players) firmware updates...not the place to have a problems! Will probably stay with Ethernet cable until Netflix has a fix for content download....they have been saying (since I can remember)to use ethernet-cable for best picture.Netflix has always said wi-fi was a try at your own risk deal.Back to the player.I am very pleased with the easy to fallow set-up menu. It is a little cluttered but it's no worse than my kitchen (LOL).Their is also a 1-2-3 installation guide for those who would rather not do a custom install. Either way you go, by the book or OTJT it's pretty straight forward.So just as expected...after extensive research and past HD-DVD & Blu-Ray experience. I will be adding more information too this thread as player and I get to know each other better.At this early point & time product is as advertised and would recommend...could be one of Sony's better offerings.Hope so....back to my new toy!

28 May 2010 Just revised my previous review but in a slightly more positive way. The picture quality is excellent as is sound. More adjustments than have time to go into right now. Even after 6 plus hours of tweaking and playing favorite blu-ray discs still have plenty more to check out and relay some truthful unbiased iformation to this forum.

"IMPORTANT UPDATE!9 June 2010: Downloaded Firmware Upgrade (version M04.R.588) "New DNLA & 3D Firmware"...no problems with download via ethernet connection.New blu-ray discs e.g. Avatar,Shutter Island loaded very fast...picture and sound above average IMO. According to "Sony eSupport" upgrading firmware to version M04.R.588 provides the following benefits: [...]

Improvements over firmware version M04.R.491:

*Adds support for 3D content
*Adds support for DLNA content
*Improves router connectivity
Benefits provided by previous upgrades and included in version M04.R.588:

*Improves compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.
*Resolves an issue where video streamed over the Internet may be displayed at SD (Standard Definition) instead of HD (High Definition) even when using a high speed Internet connection (10 Mbps or more) and watching video that is provided in HD.
*Enhanced Gracenote Entertainment database browser features:
Adds new features such Related Information Browse and Contents Search to improve your Blu-ray Disc(tm) movie database.
*Enhanced photo slideshow:
Adds new visual effects and music to add to your photos when they are displayed on a TV.
*Improved Compatibility:
Adds compatibility with DTS Neo:6 to convert the audio into 5.1 or 6.1 channel format.
Will update review after having more time too check out new apps.So far all is good.

"IMPORTANT UPDATE!9 July 2010: Download of New Firmware (Version MO4.R.624) is available [...] Benefits and Improvement too come...

It's my first BD-Player..., May 8, 2010
I read many customer reviews about this BD-Player before I spent the cash to get one myself. I have a habit of taking some reviews with a grain of salt and there's always a few that will have a bad experience. So far my experience has been great with this player. I'm not a video/audio guru, but I know what I like to see and I know what I like to hear. I have not been disappointed with the Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player. The first two Blu-Rays that went into my player were "2012" and "Avatar." They were both tremendous quality experiences.

(As a footnote you should also know that my HDTV is also a Sony. It's a Sony Bravia KDL46EX500. Awesome features for the price I paid.)

I had one small drawback, a nuisance, but one worth mentioning for those making this player a consideration. When I started using my new player my home was hooked up with Wireless-G (2.4-GHz). I did have a few problems with streaming my Netflix, but only far and few between. It was like watching a video catching up on the internet. A few weeks later I decided to upgrade my system to Wireless-N (5-GHz) for the internet. This is something I did for my laptop, not for my BD player. After installing my new Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNDR3700), I now found out I had the option in the Blu-Ray player to use Wireless-N! I had no idea before the new system was installed that the BD player was able to use Wireless-N. What a bonus! I set the Sony BD player to use the 5GHz network and no more stalls for streaming the video. None whatsoever! It is faster in all responses to using my Netflix.

Now please don't take this as all inclusive... that all players will have problems with Wireless-G 2.4GHz, because I'm not sure that's the case. I live in the "sticks" so to speak. I've had more than a few problems with my internet connections before (mostly squirrels) and this could have added to my experience. I just wanted to let you know that after putting in the Wireless-N 5GHz this unit works better than before. I'm definitely all Thumbs Up about my experience with this BD-player.

The only thing I can add is to reiterate what others have said about the features and quality of this fine player. It's great and worth every penny I paid for it! Can't wait for the online 3D upgrade to see how that's going to look...

So far so good: no good anymore.., September 22, 2010
I got this after returning the Samsung 6500 since netflix was not streaming well plus a few other hiccups. The setup for this machine was a hassle. I had to call Sony and do everything manually but it does work now..plus there are more steps that are not user friendly. But it works! So far netflix has streamed seamlessly. I dont like the look of this one as much.. the menu is okay..might take some getting used to. The remote is okay. I would prefer one with larger buttons. As long as everything keeps working well this is a keeper since it has the features i want.

Update: still streams perfect and I have watched hours and hours.. I am happy with my purchase.

Update 2: crapped out after 3 weeks. it plays discs..has messed up though. but refuses to stream more than 20 minutes..needs a restart, then it works for 20 more mins. I checked all my options..i talked to sony and my internet provider and troubleshooted everything. it was the player.

This is the second one i bought, and sent back.. i have opted for a roku and regular cd player and couldnt be happier.

Not for Netflix, August 12, 2010
I bought this mostly for Netflix streaming movies and an occasional Netflix Blu-Ray DVD. I it were for Blu-ray only, I would give it a higher score. Of course, why would one spend the money for Ethernet and Wi-Fi if were just to play disks?

As a Neflix streamer, the S570 worked fine for a few weeks. Now it will play Netflix for 5 to 20 minutes, then goes to "Loading" and never recovers until I stop and go back to the menu to select the program and start again. My wifi signal strength is in the low 90% range, occasionally hitting 100%. If I connect an LG player with a wifi adapter, there is no problem at all, never stops. Same streaming to a computer. So it isn't my Internet connection or a wifi issue.

So far, no help from Sony. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. Listen to music on Pandora, or listen to your own iTunes playlists. Even watch major sports, news, or original Internet programming. It's all available whenever you want it. The all-new, top-of-the-line Roku XDS sets a new standard with 1080p streaming video, the latest wireless technology, and Instant Replay. All for under $100. No wonder Roku is the best selling streaming player ever. ... Read more

Reviews

Every once in a while, a truly impressive device comes along., October 16, 2010
Like a lot of people who use Amazon, I own all kinds of electronic gear. Every once in a while, you get your hands on a device that really stands out in terms of ease of use and performance. When I first hooked up my Slingbox, for example, I realized that it was unique and was going to add something truly useful and impressive to my audio-video set-up. When I read a description of the Roku box, I had a similar expectation. Could it be as easy to use as advertised? Would it perform on a level that would really satisfy? Would it be one of those "stand out" devices? Now I can say in all honesty that the Roku player is everything I hoped and more. When the description says you will be up and running in just a few minutes, you can believe it. I opened the box, plugged in the power cord, attached a cable to my high speed router, and ran audio to my amp. I turned everything on and immediately saw the set-up screen for the Roku player. To run a quick test, I tried streaming a video from Netflix--it worked perfectly. This initial set-up and test took no more than 10 minutes. After several days of using the Roku, I have yet to have even the slightest problem. I have added a couple dozen channels and all work as expected. My only moment of hesitation came when I saw how small the Roku player is. It is tiny sitting there with all the other components, but when I saw what it could do, the size became inconsequential. The Roku player truly is an impressive device. While not necessarily a replacement, the Roku XDS Streaming Player is another serious alternative to cable TV. By the way, for those traveling outside the USA, where Netflix does not allow the streaming of movies on your PC, there is a way to connect the Roku player to your Slingbox. You then have access to Netflix through the Roku wherever you have an internet connection.

Cable Killer? For my family YES!!, October 15, 2010
I have been looking for an alternative to cable/satellite for awhile. The ROKU XDS is the closest thing to it. With the support of Netflix streaming(some episodes even in HD), and with Hulu plus coming in the fall, the ROKU XDS is all my family needs. Also, if you look at the ROKU forums, developers are creating other private and premium channels. This is something that Apple.tv cannot do. They also mention on their website that with an update in November you will be able to play video off USB. Setup took only minutes and the picture in awesome on my 1080P LCD. The only draw back would be if you watch a lot of sports, currently they only have MLB.tv. As soon as Hulu Plus is added I will be dropping my $90/month satellite bill and pay $20 a month for Hulu and Netflix.

### COMPONENT CABLE USERS, Info ~ ROKU Rules NOW it plays your MP3 MUSIC & .MP4 VIDEOS! & .JPG, November 4, 2010
No need to comment about the NETFLX features of this new version ROKU XDS it is SUPERB as always...
..................................................
[] ### COMPONENT CABLE USERS (Red/Green/Blue RCA to 3.5mm male jack) info:

*** F.Y.I. ## COMPONENT CABLE Users (Red/Green/Blue RCA to 3.5mm male jack): You will require a Special COMPONENT CABLE to use the Roku XDS on your TV. In case the Roku website says "OUT OF STOCK" for this cable, you CAN BUY THIS CABLE through Amazon, which WILL WORK for you to connect the Roku XDS to your TV:
##> Media Player Component Cable <##

* You will need to use the 'Composite Cable' -- Red/White/Yellow RCA connector cable -- to enable AUDIO to your TV. Using the Red/White as needed ONLY for AUDIO from the Roku XDS to your TV's input RCA jacks.

* NOTE: an HDMI cable carries Both AUDIO and VIDEO in the one single HDMI cable.
* NOTE: Quoting From Roku's Support Site: "PLEASE NOTE: To take advantage of HD content available on Roku, you must use either HDMI or component."
..................................................

*** F.Y.I. for you WIRELESS Users: I am using this TRENDnet 300 Mbps Wireless router, and it is working perfectly with my Roku XDS setup [Excellent range, NO dropped signals, GREAT!]:
TRENDnet 300 Mbps Wireless N Gigabit Router TEW-639GR (Black)

..................................................

Here's what I am doing with the new ROKU XDS:

[] I bought from Amazon, this Hard Drive enclosure:
Eagle Tech ET-CS2PSU2-BK 2.5-Inch SATA to USB Portable HDD Enclosure w/Built-in USB cable
** Notes about this Hard Drive enclosure:
# Fits 2.5-Inch SATA hard drive up to 500GB and connects to USB 2.0
# Enclosure measures 5.4 x 3.2 x 0.44 Inches

[] I added the following WD 250gb 7200rpm 2.5" Hard Drive:
Western Digital 250 GB Scorpio Black SATA 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Notebook Hard Drive WD2500BEKT

Using your computer/laptop you will want to create on the external Hard drive. three FOLDERS:

VIDEO
MUSIC
PHOTOS
Now from your computer, you add your mp3's to the Hardrive folder called "MUSIC" etc... you get the idea.
USB Media Browser will display these FOLDERS on screen in your Roku XDS
NOW I am converting all my videos to .MP4 format and loading them onto the WD Hard drive in the enclosure. Adding .MP3 Audio files is working great also. You can also view .JPG photo files...

Plug the Hard drive Enclosure into the USB Jack on the side of the ROKU XDS and turn on the ROKU and your TV. [ You may need to add the "Private Channel" for the "USB MEDIA BROWSER" as a 'Private Channel' for your ROKU XDS first]

[see below instructions to ADD PRIVATE CHANNEL to your Roku XDS]:
Channel code: KGULU
................................................................

#### HOW TO ADD ROKU PRIVATE CHANNEL - to your Roku XDS - "USB MEDIA BROWSER" ####

Here's what you will need to do to learn MORE about the file formats that are supported using the "USB Media Browser" that you added by doing the following:
USB Media Browser allows you to access content via the USB port on your Roku XR & Roku XDS.

* If you haven't already, login to your online Roku Account owner(dot)roku(dot)com
* On the "My Account" page, click the link labled "Add Private Channel"
* You will be prompted to enter a code.
* The code to install "USB Media Browser" is KGULU
.......................................................................

To learn more about what FILE FORMATS can be used by the "USB MEDIA BROWSER" do a Google search for the following (copy and paste the below line into search box):

roku usb media browser forums file formats

From what I am seeing on the Roku forums, I can't confirm this because I haven't tried these yet here is a list that the forums have said will work on the Roku "USB Media Browser":

[VIDEO FILES[
.mp4

[AUDIO FORMATS]:
.mp3
.wma

[IMAGE FORMATS]:
.jpg
.png
.gif

Read more on the Roku forums, there is more information there from users that are working with the "USB Media Browser."

[] I am formatting my VIDEO files to .mp4 because the .MP4 video files will also work on my Ipod Classic, Sony DASH, and Sansa Fuze. ]

To View your USB Media Browser:
1) Turn on Roku XDS (and TV)
2) Scroll over to the right with your remote, until you find the Yellow Icon titled "USB Media Browser" and click on it, and again... until you see the files on your external Hard Drive (or inserted USB Drive , which ever you are using for your file storage on the Roku XDS USB port.)

Roku is always updating their menu, and features. Great way to get videos -- as well as Amazon video-on-demand, and more. Excellent Purchase!! 5 Star device.

Great features but wireless needs some work..., November 4, 2010
I brought this for my mother because it will be simple for her to use. I especially liked the simple remote control which is not overwhelming. However the wireless connectivity was a little difficult and very finicky. The wireless router is located about 20 feet away, and we've never had any problem conencting with laptops or iPhones/iPods. However, I had to fidget with the placement of the Roku and attempted 2-3x before connecting finally. It then downloaded an update and after it rebooted, it lost the wireless connection again. So I fidgeted with the placement again until it connected. Then I tried to setup NetFlix and the wireless had dropped again, so I reconnected, got the activitation code and it validated the Roku box. Thankfully, you cannot turn the Roku off so hopefully once it's connected, it stays connected or tries to reconnect. I am hoping it was just the initial setup that was slightly flakey. To be on the safe side, I made sure the wireless router and the Roku had as few electronic obstacles around it. I am very impressed with the streaming technology and how the Roku is able to buffer the streaming so the movie is shown smoothly and crisply. It does look so much better than watching NetFlix on the PC or Wii. I also have Netflix on the PS3 and Xbox360 and I find the quality comparable. Another great feature is that the audio is turned on for BOTH HDMI and left/right audio cables so you can run the sound to the receiver and TV. Unfortunately, I ran out of optical inputs on the receiver but I'm assuming that toslink connection is always on as well. I have high hopes that my mother will be able to use the Roku, and once Netflix starts providing closed-captioning on the Roku, it will be even more useful! I am just concerned about the wireless connectivity but if it does prove to be a problem, my solution would be to run ethernet straight to the Roku or wire the electrical outlets with Netgear PowerLine equipment (they seem to provide very good results).

Great device. Here's some wireless setup help., October 17, 2010
OUT OF THE BOX;

Comes with the basic unit, Composite cables (pretty useless), power supply, remote, a very minimal setup guide, and batteries for the remote.

WIRELES SSETUP:

Wired ethernet is also an option.
1. There is some plastic film to peel off. Plug the unit in and connect your HDMI cable (or component cables) to your TV or HD AMP. Turn your TV and amp on and set the correct inputs. The unit will display the first screen on TV and immediately ask what kind of connection you would like. I used wireless, which I suspect will be most popular.

2. Wireless networks in range with SSID broadcast on will be displayed. Choose your network and click Ok. The next screen has alphanumeric input to supply your network password if your router is set to WEP or WPA protection. If you have MAC filtering on, turn off your MAC filter or add the MAC device ID to your router. The ROKU's MAC is displayed if you seek help from a help menu button on the password screen.

3. If the following sounds a bit complicated, it's not really. The setup proceedure will lead you through it well. The unit will connect and do a rather lengthy download of a "software" update. If this is successful, the home screen will be displayed with options of what service you want to link to the ROKU. If any step fails, back to the first setup screen. Thankfully it remembers your net password. You will also have to choose a display size configuration and resolution. The unit will then display a code to link to the ROKU site. You can ignore it or link to the ROKU site and choose your service from there. I picked 1080P HD, and chose Netflix directly from the ROKU menu. A new Netflix specific code will be displayed. Then I went to my computer to pull up the Netflix site, migrate to streaming access, pick the ROKU out of a menu of devices (it's "other") and input the Netflix code.

4. Thats it! The ROKU will now be ready and will display a nice Netflix menu to choose what you want to stream and play. The Computer menu is a bit easier to browse when choosing a DVD or show to watch than the ROKU screen, but the latter is perfectly serviceable, especially if you know what you want to watch.

Some caveats/suggestions/musings. When I started the setup routine, the device kept rebooting and loosing network connectivity. It was position. It is VERY sensitive to it's placement. Don't put it in between a large amp and a DVD player, or in a deep cabinet, say. Have it positioned out in the open. If you don't have a gigabit 802.11 "n" router, get one. There's lots of info downloading and streaming to this device through your router. Some reviews have criticized the ROKU's remote. I found it worked just fine. If you are wedded to the idea of streaming media, this device is great at present. But, there is an increasing selection of Blu- Ray DVD players with this capability already built in. They are much more expensive at this time, but prices will come down. If you are almost ready to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player, maybe good to wait a bit and pick one when prices fall in the near future.

AFTER SETUP;

Great. video quality and sound are terrific at 720p. 1080p and surround sound to probably come from Netflix next year, I hear. Wasn't disappointed at all. Terrific buy.

Initial Problems Overcome, October 20, 2010
This is a great product. Not only can you get streaming Netflix - but so much more. Now that there are so many of makers of 'streaming boxes', just doing that singular act is not so miraculous anymore. Its how many other 'apps' that are available on the box that gives you that 'extra'. And ROKU is great about adding new apps all the time. And I like that there are so many options on how to connect the device to my tv. That allows me to move the ROKU box around in the house and attach it to other tvs - even my older tvs that only have red,white,yellow RCA connectors on the back of them. I can even take it on trips with me and attach it to 'whatever' tv, as long as wireless is available to me.

When I got my new ROKU XDS I, like others that reported here, had some problems getting it to connect to my wireless network. So, I reported the problem to ROKU support and they provided me with the 'fix' (see below). Glad I waited for their response before sending it back.

***************THE FIX*****************************
Kindly go through the following instructions.
1.Turn off the Modem, Router, and the Roku player.
2.Plug the Modem back in, give it some time to settle down.
3.Plug the router back in and when ready, turn on the Roku player.
If you have a cable modem, kindly unscrew the co-axial cable, wait for 30 seconds and then plug it back in.

Great little box, October 15, 2010
This roku player is alot smaller than I expected which is a plus. It has an attractive sleek design. Super simple to set up. Sure you have to link up netflix and amazon video but alot of the "apps" are free items. This does not take long at all and once you have it done you don't have to do it again. So far it has streamed perfectly for several hours. I got this because the blu ray players I bought wouldn't stream correctly so I'm giving this a try since my extended family loves it. Really I'll probably just use it for amazon on demand and netflix. Who has time for all the other add ins? There is also a news channel where you can watch that mornings news or the previous night. Pretty neat.

Are you on the fence about what to buy?, November 18, 2010
So picture this.... Here I am, paying over $110/month to a cable company for internet and cable. I have a thousand channels, but yet every night when I get home from work I struggle to find anything to watch..

Then I discover Netflix streaming on my Wii. Well I was so enamoured that I decided to look into set-top boxes that could bring Netflix and more to my TV (the Wii remote is just a pain to use as a TV remote).

I did some research, and came across the then upcoming Boxee Box. Well I just couldn't wait to try it out, but I didn't have a tv with an HDMI, so I kept looking and saw the Rokus support any tv hookup and if you have the tv its in 1080p too! (where available). So I bought the XDS. I was instantly impressed on how easy it was to set up. I had my Netflix, and all of a sudden I was choosing from a hundred different channels of content from Hulu + to live streaming 24 hour news out of Russia, France, and England. Needless to say I was impressed.

Even though I was happy, I still really thought about getting the Boxee Box and returning the Roku because I had used the software on my PC and it was so slick, and with the addition of its browser I figured how could I go wrong? Well once that BB was released and it was lambasted in the reviews, I quickly realized the Roku was exactly the right choice!

True there are its deficiencies, (no product is really going to be EVERYTHING) one of them being local playback. It doesn't support the breadth of codecs that others do, but pop in a thumb drive of videos in mp4 and you can watch personal files on your TV too! That's the extent of my local library so local playback isn't very important to me anyway. Other than that, all I know is for the price of Netflix and Hulu ($17 combined) I canceled BOTH my expensive cable and internet, plugged in an antenna for OTA local channels, and picked up a DSL package from my phone company for $20. So for $37/ month,down from $110, I have infinitely MORE to watch on my own schedule... Well I couldn't be happier. My only complaint is there is almost too much I want to watch!

If you are looking to save some $$$ from those cable provider rip-off artists, actually want MORE for your money not LESS, and aren't really concerned about local playback, then my advice is to definately buy the Roku.

Absolutely amazed, October 18, 2010
I ordered this from Amazon (pre-order) and received it only 2 days ago. Prior to this, I was streaming netflix via a WII disc. I got this little box, set it up (setup was a breeze on my wireless network) and started viewing netflix. Only after viewing thru Roku, I came to know how bad WII streaming is.

Netflix quality is amazing even on my SD TV. We watched content for more than 12 hours and I haven't seen any inturruption. I have Wireless N router. I connected Roku to TV thru RED-WHITE-YELLOW cable. I'm planning for a HDTV with HDMI and looking forward to seeing 1080p netflix movies.

Youtube rocks as well. You can search for songs, movies and start playing them instantly. If youtube clip is HD, it's beautifully rendered by Roku box.

Overall, I'm completely satisfied with this little box. Hope it works well for next couple of years.

-Sam.

Fantastic streaming internet device, November 27, 2010
I bought this device for my father as he is somewhat technically challenged. He kept telling me that he wanted to watch Netflix on his 52" LCD television. He was under the impression that he had to buy a Blue Ray player to achieve a high quality streaming experience. I figured it would be nice to buy a Blue Ray player since he'd have the player for all the DVD's he owns and the Netflix streaming would be gravy. After pricing the BR players I realized that if I wanted WIFI built in, I'd have to buy an off brand unit to be at a comfortable price point. Further research revealed the Roku XDS which is a fantastic piece of tech. It is extremely easy to set up. From the time you open the package to the moment you're watching a movie streaming from Netflix is around 15 minutes. You could probably even do it faster, but I was tinkering with some of the other channels that Roku has to offer.

Since WIFI connectivity was an extremely important feature, I quickly went to that screen in the setup sequence to make sure I had a good signal. Since my router is 10 feet from the Roku box my throughput is very high. I could have ran a cable to the ethernet connection but then we're talking more wires. I hate wires!!! I put in my WEP password and the box promptly started updating the firmware. In order to link your Netflix account the Roku will show you an alphanumeric code. You just go to [...]and input the code that appears on the screen. Within 15 seconds or so the Roku screen will advance and you are now fully integrated with Netflix. There is no need to do this again unless you reset the Roku back to factory settings. The same procedure is used for Pandora and other channels offered on the Roku.

There are dozens of other channels that you can add to Roku. If you have an Amazon VOD account, it integrates just as easily as the Netflix account. Then you have the ability to add Hulu + as well but I don't recommend that. The cost is $7.99/month as of this writing and since you still have to watch ads, I don't see the value. Lastly, if you're on the fence about which Roku to purchase (there are three) you should consider the top of the line model or the second tiered unit. Do not consider the cheapest model because it lacks WIFI and will not transmit in HD.

I happen to own the new generation of Apple TV (nearly same size as Roku). The reason I have the Apple unit is because of how it tightly integrates with iTunes and the iPhone 4 which I have. I can easily recommend the Roku player to anyone who wants to add a nice piece of tech to their multi-media systems. Best of luck and thanks for reading my review. ... Read more

Editorial Review

BD-P, Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, BD Live, Advanced Audio, Quick Booting, 1GB Memory, Wireless 802.11n, DLNA, 7.1ch Analog Output, Instant Tray Open, 1080p up-scaling for DVD, USB Media Host ... Read more

Reviews

It Also Plays Blu-ray Discs, March 3, 2010
Having reviewed previous LG Blu-ray players, including the vaunted BD390, our expectations for the BD570 were pretty high and happily, LG does not disappoint. While some of LG's competitors (notably Pioneer and Sharp), think audio/video performance is the only thing that matters, LG embraces the idea that convenience and choice of media and distribution format are also important to many consumers. So the BD570 includes one of the richest media playback offerings of any Blu-ray player, including internet streaming from Netflix, CinemaNow, VUDU and Pandora. The player also supports DLNA networking so it can access audio and video files on a home network as well. For those who have a library of videos on their computers, the BD570 supports Divx, Xvid and MKV files as well as a number of other formats and codecs.

As far as load times are concerned, the BD570's are decent but not winning any speed records. It offers a 17 second overall bootup time (while it loads all of the aforementioned content options in the menu) - this makes it 3 seconds faster than the Pioneer BDP-320 which offers no multimedia options. Standard DVDs load in about 12 seconds, Blu-rays in 23 seconds, and BD-JAVA-heavy Blu-ray Discs like "Pirates of the Caribbean" in 32 seconds. This is pretty close to parity with the fastest models of 2009 (including OPPO's BDP-83) but it seems like they could have improved things a bit with this whole new generation of players.

In terms of performance, the BD570 delivers Blu-ray Discs in excellent audio and video clarity (as it should), and performs most of the difficult tasks of DVD upconversion right as well - excellent diagonal filtering and 3:2 cadence detection, for example. But it does not handle noisy source material very well (its noise reduction processing could use some work). Overall, as a DVD upconverter, it's very good but not outstanding.

What is outstanding is the built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi wireless networking. For us this worked right our of the box connecting to our wireless router, and streaming VUDU's 1080p HDX movies like nobody's business. And although the remote looks almost upside down compared to many other BD player remotes, the button layout is actually quite comfortable with the most popular buttons in easy reach of your thumb, and transport buttons (play/pause/FF/REW) raised and angled for improved ergonomics.

Overall, with its built-in WiFi, DLNA networking, multimedia playback and internet streaming offerings, combined with solid Blu-ray playback, the BD570 offers a good blend of performance and convenience for a fairly affordable price. Our complete review of the BD570 is available on Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

Once Again, LG Lives up to Expectations, February 26, 2010
I have been waiting for this to come out for a few weeks now (seems like longer). I am tired of using stereo cables and s-video to connect my laptop to my TV every time I want to watch something from my computer. I looked for other "home media server" options originally, and ultimately found a Samsung product similar to this one. It seemed great at first, but after reading some reviews I was skeptical. Then, C-NET reported the imminent release of the LG BD750, which they saw at the 2010 CES.

The best features in my opinion, aside from the fact that it plays Blu-ray discs, is that it can stream Netflix right out of the box and also stream media from your networked computers. I set up the BD570 last night and played around with it a little. DVD playback seemed fine. Setting up the Wi-Fi connection wasn't too difficult, either. It would have been much easier if our Wi-Fi SSID were being broadcast. Also, toggling to upper case letters on the on-screen keyboard for SSID/password input wasn't immediately obvious. The built-in Wi-Fi is a definite plus, though; the Samsung I was looking at came with a Wi-Fi dongle that you had to plug in via USB and set up (seems like Wi-Fi was an afterthought). If your modem or router/access point is located close enough to your entertainment center, you could even connect the LG via Ethernet for even better streaming throughput.

Setting up Netflix was a cinch. They provide you with an activation code; you log into your Netflix account on your computer and type in the code, and presto. You can then browse through your Instant Queue, or browse by category, etc. (Other products with similar features, don't let you watch un-queued movies. That is, you have to add them manually on your computer before they appear on your TV queue.) The quality seemed pretty decent--perhaps slightly more pixelated than hooking up my laptop Netflix stream to the TV via s-video. This might just be a matter of tweaking aspect ratio settings on the TV and/or BD player. Also, the movie cover art seemed a bit slow in loading while browsing through titles, but no biggie.

Streaming shared media on network computers via LG's Home Link feature works great, but it took a bit of tweaking to get it set up. A couple of different shared items appeared immediately when I loaded Home Link. One was labeled "COMPUTERNAME/Username" and the other was a directory of all shared documents. The former was some form of "media server" protocol, which I couldn't get to work (I tried enabling media streaming in Windows 7 settings, to no avail). The latter directory tree, once opened, showed all empty folders (Documents, Pictures, Movies, Downloads--i.e., all "My Documents" sub-folders, but all empty). I had "Homegroup" sharing enabled for a number of different folders in Windows 7 settings, but Home Link couldn't access their contents until I added "Guest" as a user in the Share settings for specific folders. Once that was done, I was instantly able to browse and stream movies, music, and pictures. I tested a couple of DivX and MP3 files, and they seemed to run great.

All of this file-sharing trouble may be my unfamiliarity with the new Windows 7 networking lingo and how to configure settings properly without sharing everything with the world. Others may find it much easier to connect and stream media. Also, bundled with the LG player is a disc containing some Nero software called Home Essentials, I believe. It's a way to share files over a network using DLNA. I'm not sure how it works, or whether it's any good, but now that I've got Windows networking figured out, I might leave good enough alone.

Overall, my impression of the BD570 is very positive. The only reason I've given this only 4 stars is the slightly cumbersome nature of the setup process for home networking, and because some of the language used in the menus is not 100% clear (not overly technical, just poor English). We have had very good experiences with LG products--bought an LG fridge, washer, and dryer in the past 6 months or so--and I'm so far pretty pleased with this new addition. As the first to review the product, at least on here, I hope people will find my experience and remarks useful.

One final caveat: I have not tested any of the other Internet-enabled functions, such as Pandora, YouTube, etc. If they're anything like the Netflix function, then they should be easy to set up and use.

LG BD 570 compared to Sony BDP-S570, June 10, 2010
Having been bitten by the blu ray bug, I initially purchased a LG BD370. I liked the machine a great deal, had several questions and called LG technical support which at best was indifferent. I decided I wanted a second blu ray player and would not reward LG, so I purchased a Sony BDP-S570. It came, set up was arduous as I didn't realize at first that you can scroll both up and down but eventually I got the machine working. I did however have compatibility problems. The Sony using HDMI tried to take over my Samsung LCD TV. The two fought a great deal and I ended up calling Sony support. The support person, unlike the one I spoke to at LG was very helpful, caring etc. We spent about an hour trying to make the two products compatible without success and I returned the Sony. As the older LG had worked well with my Samsung, I purchased the BD 570. The following are my observations on my system. From the time I took the LG out of the box to connecting it wirelessly to my WiFi router, setting up Netflix and Pandora took less than 15 minutes. After I set up the LG and turned it off and then on, it asked me if I wanted to upgrade the software which it did in less than 10 minutes. This entire process was much easier on the LG than the Sony. The Sony promises to be upgradeable to 3 D, the LG is not upgradeable to 3 D. The Sony offers connections to more movie and internet programs than one can imagine. The LG offers many less but has the only two I care about Netflix and Pandora. Start up( from the time the player is turned on until you can use it) was well over 2 minutes for the Sony and well under a minute for the LG; note other reviewers have said boot time for the Sony was quick but that was not the case in my system. I think the quality of a blu ray movie is slightly better with the LG - give the Sony a 94 and LG a 98 - not much but enough so I could see a difference. The Netflix menu is much nicer and more user friendly with the LG. In both players you see a list of your instant movies but if you want to go to a description it requires more steps in the Sony - not that it is bad, the LG is easier and nicer. With regards to upscaling conventional DVDs, both players do a very good job. I did not play any old DVDs which were formatted for older cathode ray TVs on the Sony. They present in the 4:3 format on the LG and you can manually make them full screen. This is not an automatic process on the LG. I did not play an older DVD on the Sony so I don't know how it handles older DVDs formatted for a cathode ray TV. The instruction book for the Sony is useless. It refers you to the Sony website for virtually all answers. I might add, I didn't care for the web site either; this begs the question why do they have an instruction book? The LG instruction book does actually have instructions in it and seemed fairly complete.
Had I not had compatibility issues, I probably would have kept the Sony although I found the long time to boot up very annoying. I'm glad I got the LG, I think it has a better blu ray picture.

Blu-ray player with Blu-ray hiccups, February 27, 2010
First, this was my first blu-ray player. I did my research and most users really enjoyed the LG products over the less costly Samsung models. The model I was originally going to purchase was the LG BD570's predecessor. In the end I went with this LG model expecting one of the best products at this price value. I was unfortunately let down. Here was my issue:

I purchased this player and the new Terminator Salvation DVD to test it out. The player was a breeze to hook up and I was excited to watch the movie. However, this is where the problem started. It would not play a blu-ray disc. The LG has a "home" screen as many blu-ray players do. In order to watch a movie, you select "movie." When doing that the player was stuck in what I will refer to as a loop. The player will flash to the beginning of the movie for a second or less, then flash back to the home screen. In order to actually watch the movie you would need to continually select "movie" until the actual DVD begins with the credits. During the FBI warning, rating, etc...it continually looped back to the home screen. Just to note, standard DVDs played without an issue. I thought perhaps this was a DVD problem, but another blu-ray DVD (Spaceballs) had the same issue although not as bad. I called LG tech support whom were very unhelpful. There idea of tech support and the only support they gave after both a phone call and an e-mail was to turn the machine off and turn it back on. I could have told them that that was likely not going to fix my issue. So, knowing that something is wrong with the player I assumed I had a bad apple and returned it for the same model. After hooking up the new one, it had the same issue. Also this issue was not firmware since there are no firmware updates for this model. I checked both the wireless network connection of the player and online. After two of these models having the same issue, I returned the second and actually purchased the Sony S570 model. After hooking that one up, both of the blu-ray movies I was attempting to play worked flawlessly, thus confirming my belief that both of the LG models were poorly made and not functioning as expected.

With that being said, if you choose to purchase this model, here are my pros and cons:

Pros:
- Very easy to set up
- Wireless network was easy to set up and worked well
- As silly as it sounds, I liked the remote.
- Network options (Netflix and Pandora)

Cons:
- Issues playing blu-ray discs
- Very slow load times (which were confirmed when experiencing the Sony load times which were about half)
- Cost (the Sony is $30 less in most places)
- I did not like the flip down front

Overall, I wanted this player to be great based on what people were saying about LG models, but it didn't. The Sony model I ended up with has all of the same functionality, short of Pandora, at less cost. The Sony also functioned perfectly out of the box. I would recommend the Sony over this model, but it is your choice. I hope you don't get 2 bad apples like I did.

Blu-Ray is great - but for me it's all about the networking!, November 23, 2010
I'm very pleased with the BD-570 overall. I hadn't planned on buying a Blu-Ray player - standard DVDs look very good played through my upconverting Sony DVD player to my 60" HD TV. Then, about 6 months ago, we dropped HBO and replaced it with a Netflix subscription. We watched a few Netflix DVDs, and then I started watching Netflix content on my computer using their terrific network streaming. I was hooked and started researching how I could get the Netflix streaming to my big TV in the living room.

I tried software servers (PlayOn, Mezzmo) on my computer feeding to my DirecTV DVR - a nightmare to set up, a lot of glitches, and very mixed results. Then I researched Roku, Boxee, WDTV, and other hardware solutions. I finally concluded that replacing my DVD player with a network enabled Blu-Ray was the way to go rather than yet another box, another remote, and more cables. For just a few dollars more than a Roku or WDTV box I could have a much simpler setup and upgrade to Blu-Ray disk at the same time.

I quickly settled on the LG BD-570 as the best value and combination of network services. I didn't concern myself with the actual Blu-Ray performance, assuming it would be satisfactory - and it definitely is. This review focuses on the networking capability of the BD-570 and it's usability for that purpose.

The physical design is sleek and compact. A wireless network adapter is built in to the player - there's no visible antenna or external device. It's the latest "N" wireless. Setup was simple and quick to connect to my Belkin N wireless router. Performance of the wireless connection is excellent.

The interface design is a little weird however. The main menu has just six choices including Setup. I guess the LG designers wanted to provide some entertainment value to this menu so it presents itself as a set of dancing ice cubes. With little bubbles rising behind them. I'm not kidding. This doesn't make the player any worse (or any better) to use - it's just silly and pointless.

Anyway, this first menu simply allows choosing the source of your media. The first three choices all refer to the disk player - movie, music, and pictures. Then you have "Home Link" to choose from your files on your home network and "Netcast" - their range of internet services.

Insert your Blu-Ray or regular DVD, or a music CD, or a CD or DVD you have created on your computer with video, music, or photo files. A very long list of file formats are supported - probably everything you might encounter. It all plays seamlessly.

If you insert a USB flash drive into the convenient port on the front of the player, the main menu disappears and you are again offered the choice of movie, music, or photo to play your media from the USB - same as a disk.

Playing your own files from a disk or from a USB flash drive works perfectly - a list of files comes up quickly. There are several visual arrangements available for viewing file lists - just like on a Windows computer. Just point to a file and press play for any of the many supported video, music, or photo file formats. Everything renders beautifully - video and photos are sized correctly for your screen resolution and the 16:9 format. Photo slide shows with your choice of music are available. You'll want to read the manual and play around to learn how to change the slide show speed, add music, etc. Controls are generally well implemented. You can fast forward and reverse video (or music) files using the controls just like you were playing a DVD. Audio/video sync is always perfect - that's sometimes a problem playing computer video files.

The "Home Link" function also works very well. This is the LG implementation of the DLNA standard that allows media sharing to many kinds of devices. It automatically finds any DLNA servers on your network - which basically means all your computers. It shows the folders on those computers which you have set to share their content on your network. Again, just scroll to any video, music, or photo file or folder and play it. The speed with which you can navigate large lists of music or photo files is very impressive - it scrolls through them just as fast as if you were sitting at your computer. This is a very clean and high performing DLNA implementation. Others I have experienced are so slow and awkward as to be unusable. (I'm looking at you DirecTV!)

Finally the Netcast option brings up a new menu with a number of network services. Another bizarre menu design, this one shows the main street of a small town in the background, with the symbols for each of the network services scrolling horizontally at the bottom. The picture of the town changes according to the time of day - day, sunset, night. Really, LG? Does this somehow improve the user experience? Instead of a single scrolling row of choices that requires you to scroll right or left to even see what all the choices are, how about a simple grid that could easily show all the choices at once - and reduce the number of button presses to get to the one you want. That's how everyone else does it. But then we wouldn't be amazed by the clever cartoon background with its changing lightscape.

That's an easily forgiven minor issue once you start using the various services which all work just fine and open up a vast array of both paid and free internet content. See the product description for the full list. I'll only comment on the most important of these - Netflix. To be clear, you must subscribe to Netflix to use the service. $8 a month for instant access to many thousands of movies and TV series through the network streaming service; $10 a month for the streaming and unlimited DVDs (one at a time) by postage paid mail. To stream Netflix to your LG Blu-Ray player you will need to register the player through the Netflix web site - a very simple process that the LG player actually helps you with.

Netflix works beautifully on this player, with basically the same great implementation you see using Netflix streaming on your computer. You can browse your Instant Watch queue and you can also browse many genres, the content Netflix suggests for you, add to your queue, etc. This is a much more complete interface to Netflix than some other players have and you should understand this difference before you choose a device that requires you to go to the Netflix web site on your computer to look for movies.

When playing you can pause, fast forward or reverse at multiple speeds. Netflix actually shows you a set of thumbnail images you can scroll through to find any place you are seeking in your movie. This is a great feature that I believe is unique to Netflix.

The video quality is very good, assuming you have a good broadband internet connection - 5 megabits per second or more. Netflix will work with a slower connection, or if your connection temporarily slows down, by scaling the video quality down dynamically to keep within your bandwidth limitations. This eliminates any stuttering or buffering pauses you might otherwise experience.

Finally, there is a huge range of free internet content available through the "DivxTV" service in the Netcast menu. This is a web service that aggregates and catalogs many other individual web content providers - see the DivxTV web site ([...]) for more information.

This player is a great value, performs well and is missing very little. It might be nice to have Amazon Video on Demand in addition to the already included Vudu and CinemaNow services. I think we can expect firmware updates (easily delivered and installed via the internet connection!) in the near future that will add even more internet services. Good job overall, LG - now hire some new graphic designers to clean up your silly menus!

Amazing Feature-Rich Player, March 11, 2010
Pro:
- High quality Blu-ray play
- The best player you can get if you do not have Home Theater PC attached to your HDTV, because of the extra features
- very easy Wi-Fi, Netflix, Pandora, Picasa, Youtube setup
- very easy setup to connect to your home network. It finds right away the shared drives and then you can play everything from there
- strait forward play of files on external drive (HDD or Flash) attached via the USB port.
- plays everything, this is real DLNA. What is the point of having DLNA on Sony if it does not recognize 95% of all formats.
- plays subtitles in different code pages (for foreign language subtitles; if you ever need this).
- Firmware upgrade is as simple as possible - just confirm that you want the upgrade and that's it

Cons:
- Couldn't find any way to play Youtube videos in high definition. This is the major issue so far, hopefully this important feature will be added in future firmware release
- While viewing and zooming pictures on Picasa or from an external drive, noticed that the quality is better when I view the same zoomed pictures on my PC (connected to the same HDTV). If you do not zoom the difference in quality is hardly visible.
- While playing movies from the home network (in my case - High Def MPEG4 .mkv files) the controls (FF, stop, etc.) do not seem to work well. Update: Found the solution - I was using slow Wi-Fi connection, with wired connection the issue disappeared. If you have 802.11n router this shouldn't be an issue as well.

Take it from an audio/videophile- This player is the ONE!, October 14, 2010
After MUCH research and reading tons of reviews on this and the Sony S570 (I'm convinced these are the two BEST choices in the $150-$250 range), I decided to go with the LG. I'll give my reasons here, as well as my experience with the player, in hopes that this will save others MUCH pain and aggravation, in making their decision.

First and foremost, it was clear from all the expert/consumer reviews, that the LG was the most user-friendly in terms of setup, compatibility, and audio/video options. This is ABSOLUTELY true. I had ZERO problems setting this up with my audio/video system, zero problems logging into our wireless network, zero problems streaming Netflix in 720p, and zero problems playing several avi files, be it through the usb port OR from my pc. I have a new Samsung 40" 60 hz LCD, an older Sony audio receiver, and a 5 year old basic Belkin router.

For video, I used an HDMI cable to the tv, for audio I used the coaxial digital output from the player, and it looks and sounds phenomenal.

Though some folks were less than pleased with the upconverting capabilities of this player, as compared to Sony, I must say that I don't see any major issues here. I found an immediate improvement over my Samsung player, with respect to the BLACKS. They were solid. I noticed less noise around the edges of the credits, and I found less discoloration issues, that you sometimes notice with upconversion. In fact, given all the fine-tuning options this player offers to tweak noise reduction, color scheme, etc, I submit that, with a little time to play with those settings and perhaps a few settings on the tv itself, one can get the picture looking as good as most upconverters out there. I will concede that on a bigger tv at 120 hz, I might notice more flaws, but for me, this upconverter does a great job.

Reviewers noted that the LG remote was pretty solid, but not perfect. I'll agree. Some buttons are a bit too close to one another, so you have to get used to that. On the other hand, you can program the remote to control the basic functions of your tv, so that's a helpful feature. But it is solid, and not "toy-like", as was the complaint about the Sony remote. One small downside is the slight delay when you "chapter skip." The picture doesn't respond immediately, so you can't just "surf" through the chapters. Slightly annoying.

One thing that is "toylike" is the disc tray. Proceed carefully, and never leave it open. It's quite flimsy and you could easily snap it off, if you're not careful. Thankfully, the tray has two "thumb grooves" to allow you to get your thumb under the disc, without having to put much pressure on the tray itself, when removing the disc from the player.

Where this product shines, IMO, is its versatility and compatibility. It was clear in all the reviews and product specs, that the Sony (and all other players from what I could see) was very limited in what routers it would work with, and especially what video files it would play. As for router issues, I already stated that I had none, and mine is just a basic 5 year old router. And with respect to video files, NO ONE CAN COMPETE. For instance, with Sony, AVI was only available in Canada, and MKV wasn't an option at all, except through your pc. So, the two most popular video formats aren't available to enjoy on your new entertainment system? Are you kidding? Similar restrictions and limited capability proved to be the case with pretty much every other player reviewed. Thankfully, this is NOT the case with the LG. This player plays practically everything: avi, mpeg, mp4, mkv, etc. Just download your favorite movie or tv show to your pc, and play it on your dvd player, either from a flash drive, or through your wireless connection. And the best part is that the darned thing UPCONVERTS the signal to 1080p, just like with dvds. So you're watching an episode of "Law and Order" at 640x352, but it looks like HD. AMAZING. And LG is the ONLY PLAYER that I know of, that will do this with pretty much any video format you throw it at. This feature ALONE makes this the blu-ray player of choice, IMO.

Enough reviews have already mentioned the brilliant image the blu-rays produce on this player, so I won't go heavily into it. Yes, the load time is admittedly slow, but so what? As for difficulty playing certain discs, I found that to be a complaint with both LG and Sony, and I'm not surprised. New formats and processing methods are being tried all the time, and glitches will occur. That's what the firmware updates are for. Im not worried. These are computers, after all. How often do our pcs require updates to resolve bugs? Constantly. Just be sure to check with LG customer service before downloading updates. Wait about 3 weeks after they're released, and see if there have been any complaints about the lastest update, and if so, have they since been resolved? Very important!

One other helpful feature is LG's audio options that allow you to run True HD Digital sound to your audio receiver, without an HDMI connection. This is necessary with some movies. Otherwise your sound just pops, distorts, or is cut out altogether. This option eliminates that headache, so you can pretty much watch anything, and let the player re-encode the sound, as necessary. And the sound is still incredible, so no worries there.

Finally, streaming Neflix was a breeze at 720p. No choppiness, buffering, stutters, NOTHING.

So, for my money, this player is the one-stop solution to all your entertainment needs, be it streaming, upconverting, playing your favorite video files, or just enjoying blu-ray discs. Any flaws are easily overcome by all the great features, some of which are EXCLUSIVE to this player, particularly the ability to play just about ANYTHING, and upconvert it, to boot! Bravo, LG!

Perfect for my needs!, November 24, 2010
I'm just a casual consumer, so I'm not knowledgeable about the technical specifics of this device, but it does exactly what I want it to and I'm very satisfied with it. I purchased this unit in August to go with my LG HDTV. Since I don't have TV, I use it almost every day to view DVDs or Netflix streaming.
Styling: The device is small and light, and fits very well on a small shelf. It has a plastic cover over the front that you need to open in order to insert a DVD. Most of the buttons are behind the cover.
Speed: This player warms up very quickly, and responds quickly to the remote.
Remote: I LOVE this remote. Its styling is very nice, and it has many convenient buttons to allow for easy return to the main menu or to the netflix homepage.
Ease of Use: Very easy to operate. The menu layouts are very nice. My only complaint is that the menu text, particularly in the netflix section, is small and hard to read from across the room, even on a 42" TV.
Netflix: As I mentioned above, this player is used almost daily to stream TV shows and movies from Netflix. This is the first Netflix-capable player that I have owned, and it has several great features. I really like the way that the instant queue is set up so that you can scroll through the movies by their poster, select them to get more information, then either easily exit back to the queue or select them again in order to play them. Movies are organised by the date on which they were added. One especially nice feature is that the queue updates itself instantly. I can open the queue, add a movie to it from my laptop, and it will instantly appear without me needing to refresh it. Also, the player remembers where you stopped if you didn't watch a whole movie/TV episode, and will give you the option to either resume playing or to play from the beginning.
Download speed: I have average cable internet with a wireless router. I was surprised with how quickly the player downloads from Netflix. A full-length movie may take a minute or less to load, while a tv episode loads before I can get off the couch and into the kitchen. However, the Bluray player's updates take a long time to download.
Performance: For the price I paid, performance has been good overall considering the heavy use this unit has been put to. It has, on rare occasions, shut down, but only after heavy use (it downloaded three TV episodes and a movie, and was in the process of downloading another movie when it shut down).
Caveat: This device comes with a very basic A/V cable, you will need to purchase a component or HDMI cable separately in order to get a good viewing experience.

Overall, I highly recommend this unit. There are several little things that I love about it (like the city in the background of the menu that experiences whatever weather your city is currently having), and I will keep this one until it breaks. Both it and the TV have been excellent, and I will definitely buy from LG again in the future!

the 1080P problem has been fixed., March 22, 2010
This player comes with the resolution defaulted to 1080I instead of 1080P and has other problems in this area.
Following is the text of a post I put on avforum in a thread on this issue.

###### Another update. LG BD570 will play PAL format DVDs ######

Below is a copy of a review I wrote for a Seekers DVD


9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Warning - PAL format, October 26, 2009

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: WORLD OF THE SEEKERS (PAL/REGION 0) (DVD Audio)
This DVD is advertised as being in NTSC format but the copy I received is in PAL (European) format. Fortunately It will play on a PC using Windows Media Player. Since this was for my wife and she was content to watch it on the computer I didn't return it. I like the Seekers very much and Judith Durham has one of the all time great voices in POP music. The DVD once we were able to watch it is a loose reenactment of the groups career and all of their top songs are there in either studio or live performances and sometimes both. Audio and video are good. Other than format issues this DVD is well worth owning.

I recently discovered that I can play PAL format DVDs on my new LG-BD570 Blue Ray Player. Works great. Yippee.

##### UPDATE #####

I was fiddling with the player a few minutes ago and discovered that the 1080P problem was fixed. I assume that this was done by a recent microcode update. I tested with all the scenarios listed below and it hung tight with a constant 1080P output through them all. Good job LG. It is nice to know that a company follows up on things. If I could I would now raise my rating to six.

Regarding LG bd570 1080P/1080I issues.
I Think LG support is blowing smoke on this problem. I hooked up my new LG BD570 to my Panasonic S2 series plasma with an HDMI connection. I was aware of the fact that the LG comes with the resolution set to 1080I so I reset it to 1080P. Here is what I found,

1. If nothing is changed, (no power off or HDMI port switch) both BDs and DVDs send a 1080P signal to the TV.

2 If I power either the TV or LG570 off the LG resolution switches to the "ANY
setting and display of the input on the TV shows the signal being sent as
1080I. According to LG the "any" setting automatically adjusts output to the
native resolution of the display as signaled to it by the TV through the
HDMI port. As my TV is native 1080P I am not believing this unless there is
a problem with the TV. I disabled the Viera Link settings on the TV as
Viera link does a bunch of communication to attached devices. This didn't
help.

3. If I switch the TV input to another HDMI port such as the DVR the LG
switches back to the "any" setting and outputs a 1080I signal.

Bottom Line:
Although Having to cycle through to the setup menu and picture settings on the BD570 to get 1080P output is a pain (a total combination of nearly nearly a dozen key and arrow strokes) I am not going to pursue it any further. The picture from both blu ray and regular DVDs is terrific and in the limited comparisons I have done my non expert eyes can't detect any differences between 1080I and 1080P outputs.
Other than the above issue I am very happy with the BD570 and the wireless
streaming from Netflix has worked very well.

These are problems that LG should be aware of by now and hopefully they will fix it. My preference would be an option to force whatever output you desire that can only be manually changed.

**** UPDATE ***

After having a few more days to play with this player I am raising my rating from 4 stars to 5 stars. The 1080P thing is still annoying but I have been able to halve the number of keystrokes to change it. Everything else about this player is really first rate. The Netflix streaming has worked flawlessly so far and the onscreen movie selection feature is real nice. Best of all the up conversion of regular DVDs is terrific. In the early part of "The Mission" movie the scenes with the waterfalls are amazing. The Pink Floyd "Pulse" DVD also looks great and of course sounds terrific.

Three times a loser!, July 18, 2010
When I purchased this product I loved the features, blu-ray DVD, searchable Netflix and others. But when I set it up it was nothing but frustrations and disappointments. I actually purchased and returned THREE of these DVD's before I gave up and purchased a Sony. The first wouldn't hook up to Netflix, I called LG Customer Service and after 30 minutes on the phone was finally told their engineering department was working on the problem and would call me back....that was in May it's now the middle of July and I still haven't gotten a call back. I'm glad I didn't wait. I returned the player I purchased through Amazon for credit and not wanting to wait for shipping purchased the exact same model from Best Buy here in town. This player couldn't sinc the picture and sound... so I called LG Custormer Service again and after another 30 minutes plus on the phone was told the player needed to be sent into LG for service...WHAT!!! I just bought it and out of the box it wouldn't work correctly and they wanted me to send it in to them for repairs??? Well, how long would it take...oh....six weeks or so. I said, No thank you. I'll just return it for another one. Which I did...the third one worked fine except when you played a Blu-ray DVD on it. At random times it would go blank for 3 to 5 seconds, sound, picture everything. This time I didn't bother to call LG Customer Service I just took it back to Best Buy, got my money back and went to Sears and bought a Sony with about the same features. Only the Sony worked the first time I plugged it in. Maybe I should have titled this review, "Three strikes and you're out!" ... Read more

Editorial Review

BD-P, Netflix HD, YouTube, CinemaNow Ready, BD Live, Advanced Audio, Quick Booting, Instant Tray Open, 1080p up-scaling for DVD, USB Media Host ... Read more

Reviews

Great bargain BD player, May 5, 2010
I am a hardcore geek and have also worked in the streaming video industry the past 4 years. So you may be surprised to hear that this is the first BD player I ever own. I've tested plenty of BD, DVD, streaming boxes, so I know all their strengths and weaknesses.

I waited till now because the early generation of BD players are underpowered (that's why people complained about slow startup, slow to load BD, sluggish menu/UI, etc.). Knowing the performance of that generation, plus having tested the up-n-coming ones, I waited for something that is worth spending money on.

I almost bought the LG BD-390, but that was still too expensive. So I waited for the next gen after, which is the LG BD-5XX series. Since I have wired ethernet to where my entertainment console is, I pick the BD-550. For streaming video, I never want wireless (attested by people commenting on quality, stutters, delays and re-buffering). If I absolutely had to go wireless, I would use 802.11N (not G) and one that supports the 5Ghz band. But that is another topic.

The 550 does everything I need and want. Fast CPU, boot up less than 10s, load BD in about same amount of time (except for a few that has BD-Live and more complicated content). Btw, to use BD-Live, you will need to plug in a USB flash stick (I use a 4GB USB flash, one of those tiny one. Make sure it is formatted as FAT or FAT32.).

Netflix - good UI, fast (I have 25Mb down/10Mb up). So no problem streaming HD. Netflix requires 3.6Mb down for HD. Nice thing about Netflix is that it dynamically adjust quality so you can actually watch the movie. That does mean you won't always get HD if your internet connection is not reliable, e.g. you are using wireless (see why I stick with wired?) Also love the 550 ability to let me view Netflix movie menu and add movies direct on the player (you don't need to go to a computer to add movies to your Instant Queue! This is an awesome feature on the LG BD!

VUDU - good UI, sluggish, there is a lag between pressing buttons and getting results. I kept overshooting or getting wrong choice because of this. Different selection of movies, cost more if I watch a lot of movies (pay each time). So depending on your watching pattern, could be expensive.

Pandora - good, although I don't want to turn on my TV just to listen to music. That's what my stereo is for.

Youtube - good, fun for times when you have parties. Pain having to enter URL via the remote. Wish I can connect a real USB keyboard and use that.

I think the 550 is a bargain for the price. Very happy with it. Stay away from the 3D BD players and TVs. Bleeding edge stuffs, wait at least a year for that to settle before wasting your money.

Last but not least. Make sure you update the firmware! And check regularly. They fix various issues and add new features. I updated twice within the first day of opening the box.

Best netflix streaming experience among other four similarly priced devices., March 11, 2010
Recently I have tried four BD players which have Netflix streaming capability. LG BD370, Samsung BD P-1600, Sony BDP N460, and LG BD 550. Earlier I also tried Roku HD player for netflix streaming. Except Roku, all the BD players I tried all use wired Ethernet, no wireless.
(I have wired Ethernet in my house so I don't need wireless network.)

I could tell you guys: LG BD 550 is by far the best when it comes to Netflix streaming. I ended up returning all the others. BD550's Fast forwarding, fast rewinding is just way faster than any other unit I tried. It is even faster than Roku! Among these units, Samsung BD P1600 is the slowest. Also BD 550 not only shows your movies in the netflix instant queue, it also gives you option to pick movie you may like, what you've recently watched (even after you removed it from your instant queue), new arrivals, etc. It's just a perfect Netflix player. If you like Netflix's GUI interface, then just don't buy Sony N460! Sony completely screwed Netflix's GUI but Sony's GUI is just too awkward.

For other streaming sources, BD550 has Vudu, Roxio CinemaNow, Youtube and Picasa. Among all the units I tried, this is the only unit that has Vudu. Its Youtube and Picasa application UI and load speed is just awesome. I am so happy I finally find one netflix streaming device that works well.

As for BD player performance. Be honest, I really can't see much difference in terms of image quality.

====

If you didn't get a chance to try other players, let me remind you that all of them are SLOOOOOOW in loading BD disc. As for Blu-ray playback video quality, actually to me as a normal user, they all perform similarly well. For loading speed, I am not sure if it is because the players all try to contact Internet first before playing (BD link) but I feel it is just way too slow than DVD. Since I found none of them outperform each other significantly, I landed on this LG BD550 becoz of its streaming speed and ease of use in GUI.

very pleased with the BD550, March 29, 2010
Let me get this out of the way up front: This is my first Blue-Ray Disc player.

I'm very pleased with this LG BD550 product. I wanted a product that would (a) play Blu-Ray Discs, and (b) let me watch streaming movies/shows over the internet using my Netflix account. This does both.

I considered the higher-end BD570 but decided against it because I did not need the built-in wireless capability, so I got the BD550 which just has the ethernet port, but no wireless (and saved about $70 doing so). I already had an Apple Airport Express behind the media stand for streaming music from iTunes to my stereo, and I was able to configure it as a simple wireless ethernet bridge, so in order to connect the BD550 to the internet all I had to do was connect an ethernet cable from the Airport Express to the BD550. Once that was done, everything internet related simply worked "out of the box".

Blue-Ray audio/visual quality seems good to me.

The user interface is adequate and is reasonably responsive. I have no complaints with the remote.

One thing I didn't expect - the BD550 defaulted to 1080i. I'm not sure if that is normal for BD players, but I switched it to 1080p for playing BD discs.

Since it's connected to the internet, it will occasionally ask me if I want to update the firmware/software.

The unit does not generate much heat, and has no vents in the top or sides of the case, i.e. no vents to block, so I figured it was OK to place my Cable/DVR box on-top of it.

Of all the internet enabled functions (I think this is called "Netcast") I've tried four of them:

1. Netflix - Works as advertised. I have a 3Mbps internet connection and I'm pleased with the quality of streaming netflix video. Certainly it's not high-def quality, but good enough given the convenience. I wish it were easier to search for titles though. I can't really complain, it is good enough.

2. Pandora - This is really great. I'm a computer pandora user though on the computer it will occasionally throw in an ad or pause to ask you to confirm that you're still listening. I don't get either of these when playing music through Pandora on the BD550. I do wish, however, that one you've started a channel going that the interface would show a different graphic (like a near full screen CD artwork, a la iTunes, or any option besides the default screen).

3 & 4. Youtube and Picasa - I tried these out just for the heck of it, and they work, but I do not envision using these on a regular basis.

UPDATE: I recently upgraded from a 3Mbps internet connection to a 7Mbps internet connection. While Netflix was certainly usable with a 3Mbps connection, it is markedly better with the 7Mbps internet connection. I read that Netflix requires 5Mbps or greater to stream HD video.

UPDATE 2: I've tried out the Vudu service. As a new user, they were offering a free rental for a while. I never got round to trying it before they changed the free rental to a $20 credit (which gets you four rentals at "HD" quality - even better). Just in case this is useful to other users here is what I found. Vudu currently supports 3 levels of streaming quality: SD (480p), HD (720p), "HDX" (1080p). What I've found is that with about 7Mbps I just don't have enough bandwidth to reliably stream HDX/1080p video. I've watched 2 full movies at HD/720p quality and there were no problems, glitches, or stops to buffer whatsoever. Of course SD works fine (requires even less bandwidth). Vudu allows you to watch trailers for free in HDX, so that's an easy way to tell if you've got enough bandwidth (if you don't, it will periodically stop the video to buffer the stream). There appears to be an option to 'downgrade' (e.g. from HD to SD) in the middle of a rental if you need to. I think the Vudu HD stream looks better than my Netflix stream (to my knowledge, Netflix sets video quality based on available bandwidth, so you don't know what quality you're actually getting from them). Vudo offers more recent titles than Netflix has, so I can see myself occasionally using Vudu from time to time in addition to Netflix.

Can't really recommend, June 11, 2010
Ordered this based on the good reviews here. Amazon service got it here quickly, setup was a breeze, and I think it has relatively quick load times. Picture and playback is great; however, I watched 4 Blu-Ray movies, and while watching, each of them skipped at some point during the movie to a different chapter. It usually only happened once during each movie. One of them was brand new from the store, so these were not scratched discs.

I exchanged the player for another one through Amazon, thinking I had received a faulty model. Hooked it up, inserted a disc, and halfway through, it skipped to another chapter again. Rewound it back and it went through flawlessly. This happened in all cases mentioned, so as I said, this was not caused by a scratch in the disc.

Based on this, I can't really recommend this player.

Warning before purchasing, May 13, 2010
This particular unit, the BD550, does *NOT* support USB video playback as mentioned / advertised in the Amazon product description.
When attempting to play back a video file from USB you'll get a no sign and it will refuse the operation.
Called LG support- they promptly informed me that I purchased the wrong unit.
"Sir only audio and picture playback is supported via USB from the 550"

Only the BD570/590 support *VIDEO* playback from the USB Media Host function.

Doesn't matter the file type
MKV/AVI/MPG etc.

BD550 will never support video file playback from the USB host.
Quite a shame given the fact the 570/590 will do it out of the box.

Mine's on it's way back to Amazon

Buyer Beware!, September 27, 2010
I purchased this player after reading the positive reviews and I didn't pay attention to the negative reviews that talked about skipping and freezing. Unfortunately, the negative reviews are correct. I tried to play 4 different blu-ray movies and all of them skipped or froze completely. Two of the movies were brand new and never used. I downloaded the latest software, changed all of the settings and it still skipped or froze. I normally do not write reviews but I was so annoyed that a company would make such a lemon. I also have a PlayStation 3 in a different room and I have never once had it skip or freeze on me. If you are looking at purchasing this product I would suggest that you do a search online and see how many people are having the same issue with this player.

Rarely get through a disc, September 11, 2010
Bought this as my first blu ray player. I have played everything from blu rays to standard discs, both new and used condition. This player will rarely play a disc from start to finish without some sort of a hiccup or an all out freeze. Very frustrating. It's going back to Amazon and I really don't recommend this player unless you are playing a brand-new disc every single time.

Buggy, Defective Mess of a Machine, September 7, 2010
Trust me, I don't take the harsh words of that title lightly, especially considering I'm actually a major fan of the LG brand. I own two LG HDTVs (a 47" and a 42"), both of which strike a perfect balance between low price and high quality. I've not the slightest negative word for either set. The Blu-Ray player for my 47" is a PS3, but all I required for the 42" was any machine that plays Blu-Rays. I found this LG BD550 appeared to have the lowest price point whilst still offering a myriad of features, in addition to carrying the name of a brand I trust. However, for a product that touts itself as a Blu-Ray player, this thing has a hell of a problem actually playing them!

Let's start with what LG got right with this player. The setup is extremely easy and it includes a detailed card explaining how to update the fireware (not that it helps much). The overall design is beautiful in its simplicity. The remote is well-crafted and also includes buttons to control the power and volume on an LG HDTV. Though I bought this player purely to play Blu-Rays, it carries plenty of internet-specific features, which is always a plus.

Now, the bad: the "floating ice cubes" interface is clunky, ugly, and overly-simplistic. Several sites, including Amazon and Blu-Ray dot com, claim the BD550 will play video files (it will NOT). Worst of all, even with the latest firmware, this machine is extremely selective when it comes to Blu-Ray playback. Here's couple of personal examples: if I pressed the pause button during playback of "King Kong", without fail, it would refuse to resume playback. I could rewind, fast forward, and stop the disc. But the only way to resume to playback was to press stop, then go through the menus again and select the scene I was on.

During playback of "Anchorman", the player frequently skipped entire sections of certain chapters, at always the exact same moment during playback. My player has the latest firmware and even fiddling with the options shed little light on the subject. I suppose I could've wrangled with LG's tech support to figure out these issues, but I haven't the time nor the inclination for that nonsense. If a product doesn't work as advertised, I'll find one that will.

I'll continue to buy LG televisions, but I'll never take another look at their Blu-Ray players.

Avoid this!, September 3, 2010
I tried 3 of these - and all 3 went back to Amazon (one more reason for dealing with Amazon). It played SD videos OK, but started and stopped on blu-ray videos. LG product support said a software "update" would fix the problem - it didn't. Compatibility shouldn't have been a problem, since it was cabled to a brand new LG LED LCD.

Worst player - skips and pause the bluray discs, July 14, 2010
It didn't actually play Blu-Ray discs. Sure, they'd load up, but then it'd randomly skip trailers, get jumpy, hang up in random spots. We tried five discs, including a brand new one and had the same problem every time. I decided to just trade it in for the Panasonic bd85. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies in Full HD 1080p and improve the quality of DVDs to near HD with the Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray Disc Player. Play your favorite movies faster than ever or connect to the internet and instantly access a wide variety of movies, TV shows, music and more. Plus turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control by downloading a free app. ... Read more

Reviews

Another solid, basic player from Sony, February 28, 2010
I already own a Sony BDPS-360 downstairs as our main Blu-Ray player, but wanted a streaming player for upstairs (an Xbox360 takes care of that downstairs). Since I won't have a 3D TV for quite some time, and have wired ethernet running to the appropriate room, the 470/570 offer me nothing over this player, so I bought the 370.

Blu-Rays are very quick to load. Checked out Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl, and the biggest delay in getting to the movie was skipping the previews up front. Menu was up in just a few seconds, and the movie launched very quickly after that. Maybe 30 seconds from putting the disc in until I was watching the movie.

The remote does have an Open/Close button on it. That was not a big deal for me with the 360, but others complained about it so I thought I'd mention it.

Streaming takes a bit of setup, with the biggest item of note being that you need to register your Blu-Ray on internet.sony.tv before activating the streaming features. I had fits trying to create an account directly on that site, but creating a SonyStyle account first and then activating here worked much better. This works similar to Netflix activation in that you get a 4 symbol code from the player, enter it into your account, and now the Blu-Ray is activated. I then needed to go through the typical Netflix activation, getting another code from the player and entering it into my Netflix account. Amazon VOD linked directly to the Sony account and was then available on the player. Instructions for each of these are included in the screens on the Blu-Ray player, where it will provide the codes and the website address, and you then go the computer and finish linking from there.

Netflix works only off your Instant Queue, so you need to add movies to that queue on the website (or from the Xbox360 or other device with a full browser). Amazon VOD seems to have a fairly complete browser included. Netflix HD quality was reasonable, but most importantly about what I get on the computer or Xbox360; the player does not interfere in any way. This player was my first experience with Amazon VOD, and I must say the Sample HD clip (Superman Returns) was a lot higher than I expected, and actually better than most OnDemand offerings I get from my cable company (TWC NC).

So for Blu-Ray playback and Internet streaming, the box does a really good job. I wish the Netflix interface was more robust like the videogame consoles have, but actual playback and access to the Instant Queue works fine.

(Updates for this paragraph below) The big disappointment, and the one that keeps it from getting 5 stars, is that the SonyStyle page for the player lists DLNA as a feature. This is the standard for letting media devices connect to your computer and stream video / pictures / music over the network. Services like PlayOn also support this. DLNA, however, is not actually active on the player. From checking other sites, no one knows yet if this will be available in a future firmware update, or if the site is incorrect. If DLNA support is critical to your decision making, you may want to hold off until there is some answer on the DLNA picture.

Aside from that, I'm really happy with it as Blu-Ray player and Netflix/Amazon VOD streamer.

I have not yet tried a standard DVD, or any of the music streaming services. I'll update this review if anything changes as I use the player more.

UPDATE MARCH 1, 2010: Sony has updated the product page and changed the footnote for DLNA support. It is now due in a July 2010 firmware update. That's good news, and once the firmware ships I'll try to remember to report back on how well it works. If it works well the review will probably bump to 5 stars, as this is a pretty full-featured, fast, stable Blu-Ray player for under $200, especially if like me wireless and 3D are just not important to you.

One other bit of info for those who buy the player: if you have a Vizio TV, the remote code to use appears to be "04". It's not in the manual, but I tried this after a web search revealed others using the code for other Sony remotes, and this works for turning the TV on and off and changing the volume. The INPUT button does not work for me, though. The manual also seems to be missing the instructions for changing the TV code, but thanks to the manual for the S360 I have downstairs, the instructions are to hold the TV power button on the remote, enter the code, then release the TV power button on the remote.

UPDATE JUNE 9, 2010: The long-awaited DLNA firmware is now available for download. This is working great with my Windows Media Center (from Windows 7), with all my pictures, videos, and music available. One gotcha here is that the Sony has separate menus for all 3 categories, and you must play content from the correct category, even though all files show up under all options. So, for example, if you select your Windows Media Center server from the Video section, it will also have a folder for Pictures and Music, but every folder under those will show "no playable files". All the videos will play fine. It will be similar if you go to Music, except that only the music folder will have playable files.

However, at this time PlayOn is incompatible. The PlayOn server shows up, and you can browse and select videos, but all videos return a "This file is corrupt or unsupported". I've submitted a help request to PlayOn, and from the PlayOn forums it looks like others are as well, so we'll see if PlayOn can make a change, or if this needs to be reported to Sony. My Xbox360 streams the PlayOn stuff fine, so it's not a global issue with my setup.

On a different note, I've also since tried several standard DVDs and done some music streaming, and those features work fine. Others might be picky somewhere about DVD upscaling, but I've never really noticed an issue with this or any player, so I wouldn't worry about it. You do need to be aware that there are settings in the video setup to control the aspect ratio, so if you want a 16x9 picture (not letterboxed), you need to change the aspect ratio settings off "original". Aside from that, DVDs have played perfectly for me. And streaming music seems to work okay with the little I've done.

UPDATE August 9, 2010: PlayON has released updated software that fixes the streaming issues with this and potentially other players. Now that the DLNA support is working for all the stuff I want to stream, I've upped my review to 5 stars, as I have no complaints at all with it.

This is my first blu-ray player, and I love it!, March 4, 2010
This is my first blu-ray player. Well, technically, it's my third, but I returned the other two and decided on this one. I returned the Samsung BD C6500 and got this one, for cheaper. Anyway- here's a review for my fellow technophobes:

What I love:
1) I had it set up in just a few minutes.
2) It automatically detected all of my connections and cables, and I confirmed them in the set up.
3) Connecting to the internet via ethernet cable was so much easier than the Samsung!
4) I updated the software, and after entering a code on Sony's site, I was given a Netflix activation code and was watching netflix in minutes.
5) This works with my older non-High Def system and will allow me to slowly upgrade.
6) There were other Sony apps I haven't had an opportunity to check out (except I did check out some Michael Jackson videos.)

One minor annoyance found thus far:
Netflix Streaming- you can only access your instant queue.

And for all those hesitant to upgrade to Blu-Ray because your system is old, here's my system:

My set up:
Tube television (Toshiba 36AF4I, 9 years old), 3 piece stereo acting as a receiver (Panasonic something or other- 15 years old), Sony Blu-Ray S370 connected to ghetto TV via component video, and to internet via ethernet cable to a router.

What I was looking for:
To replace my dead DVD player and would work on my old system but would work on a flat screen in a year or so. Also, streaming netflix a bonus.

Great player that works without hassle, April 9, 2010
I'll start with the bottom line about this player-it just works! If you're looking for a nice, fully functional Blu Ray player that's going to just WORK as you'd expect it to, on anything you throw at it, this is a nice, safe buy. You'll have no problems upgrading from a normal DVD player to it.

Like a lot of people, my first Blu Ray player was my Playstation 3, which I bought last year. If you don't already have a PS3, that's worth considering instead of a stand alone player, because it doesn't cost much more, handles Blu Rays (and DVDs) well, and of course plays Playstation 3 games.
I even toyed with getting a second one, but decided a stand alone player would be a bit cheaper, and I didn't really need the second Playstation 3. (I've also since bought a Blu Ray drive for my computer, so I can watch Blu Rays on it too.)

Impressions of the s370:
-Audio and video are excellent. I can't notice any difference from my PS3.

-The unit is physically SMALL. It's actually smaller than my two stand alone DVD players (though is the same width as normal stereo components, so fits in fine)

-The unit is very quiet in operation-quieter than my two stand alone DVD players in fact. I don't think I can hear it at all except when it's first starting up, loading up a disc (and that only if the room is dead silent). Interestingly, the disc drive's seek sounds sound IDENTICAL to the drive in my Playstation 3! I'd be shocked if it's not basically the same drive.

-Performance is very good. I think it takes SLIGHTLY longer than my PS3/PC to load the fancy interfaces some discs use (some discs replace the normal fast forward/rewind interfaces with their own themed interfaces, and loading that interface adds a few more seconds before the disc's ready-so far I've only run across this on two discs, and it's kind of pointless, but this player DOES seem to handle them just fine). Rewinding/fast forwarding on this isn't quite as smooth as my Playstation 3, but it works as you'd expect a normal DVD player to.

-Power usage is very low-the unit says it draws a *MAX* of 22 watts in operation

-It has all the features and ports you'd expect from a unit like this, and has an excellent menu system, that's ripped straight off of the Playstation 3 and Portable (of course once you've set it up with the settings you want, you'll probably never really use the menu again, but it's easier than any DVD player's menus I've ever used).

I'm probably forgetting something I'd like to mention, but honestly I could have quit after the first paragraph. If you're like me and just want something that WORKS without hassle, this is a great choice.

Sony got it right with this BD player/line!, February 25, 2010
I just went to my local Sony Style store and tested/played with this new BD player (S370 model) and I must say I was/am very impressed! Before looking at the player in person, I was thinking, what did Sony strip down from the previous models (S350 & S360) to make this one thinner and less expensive? But after going in the store and playing around with this BD player, I was pretty blown away with the quality, quick loading times, looks/size, and price. I actually brought in with me a few discs to try (I brought "The Dark Knight" Blu ray, "Resident Evil" DVD, & also a few burned CD's & DVD's just to make sure the player would read them). I wanted to try "The Dark Knight" Blu ray because on my old S350 Sony BD player, the load time for this Blu ray is quite long (about 30-45 seconds). So I first turned off the S370 player, then turned it back on. Start up time was very fast (about 3-5 seconds at most). I hit the eject button, put "The Dark Knight" BD in, closed the tray, and the load time for this player was maybe 10 seconds max! I couldn't believe how fast it loaded up and began playing the movie ( and "Dark Knight" is a BD that usually takes a while to load up). Next, I put in my "Resident Evil" DVD, to see how fast it loaded & most importantly, how well it up-converted. Load time was obviously extremely fast, since it was fast on a BD, it's even faster on a DVD (although, not by too much, that's how quickly the BD's load up). Now, I purposely selected the older/original/first "Resident Evil" DVD as I knew that the picture quality was not as good. Of course, up-converted, on this older movie, it did not look like a BD would, but nevertheless, it was decent/watchable. Another notable thing to consider here is that Sony had this player hooked up directly to their TV (the new NX800 model) with a HDMI cable (of course). That's it. The S370 was not connected to a high end receiver or anything (just directly to the TV), so keeping this in mind, if you have a high-end A/V receiver or video processor, the up-converting will end up looking even better! Lastly, the burned CD's, DVD's. They worked flawlessly. Again, since Sony didn't have this player hooked up to a receiver/speakers/etc (just to the TV), I was not able to tell how good the sound quality of the CD was, but I just wanted to be sure the S370 would play burned discs. The other things I looked at were the menus. Very nice X-Bar menu system (a bit more colorful than before). I was not able to check any of the streaming/Internet options since Sony did not have it hooked up the the Internet (kind of a bummer). I wish Sony had the player hooked up to their network as one other thing I really wanted to try was the iPod touch/iPhone BD remote app. I brought my iPod touch in, but sadly, the player was not connected to the network for me to try this feature out. Because of the fact that I was unable to check out this feature and the streaming/online features, I am unable to give this player the full 5 stars at this point. But for the features I was able to check/test, it passed with flying colors and easily takes the 5 star rating. Hopefully I'll be able to test out these other features and update this review soon. However, if anyone that actually owns this unit & tries these other features, please let me know.

Sony BDP-S370, November 20, 2010
This Blu-Ray Player gets the job done. Blu-Ray discs, DVDs, and streaming video all come out in HD on this device. But, there are some important notes that cause me to give this player less than a 5 star rating, and they are not addressed in any other reviews...
1. I consider myself tech savvy when it comes to computers, but not so much when it comes to AV components. Because of this I found the set up to be a little cumbersome, as I was unsure of all the proper settings. A little reading in the manual helped point the way, but I don't recommend that you throw the book out with the box as I normally do.
2. (Most important of the three comments, IMHO) I purchased this unit because of the NetFlix streaming capabilities. The first few shows were wonderful, but then I lost audio. I couldn't figure it out, and, after many frustrating hours of restoring default settings and surfing the web for advise, it turns out that not all NetFlix audio can be read and transmitted through HDMI. If you plan to use this device to watch streaming video you WILL NEED to set up using cables other than HDMI - I tested my theory with composite cables I had on hand, but have ordered component cables as a permanent fix.
3. The laser in a Blu-Ray player is much more sensitive than a standard red laser. If you have a disk that is severly scratched, but works in other equipment, it may not work in your Blu-Ray player. This was true with one of my son's CDs. Because I was having trouble with the sound on NetFlix, I assumed it was a sound problem all around until I tried another disc. The moral here is to make sure you have two test discs standing by, just in case there is a disc error rather than a player error.

Good player for the money, but buggy SACD support, May 31, 2010
I bought the BDP-S370 for two reasons. I wanted to play Blu-Rays for the their high-def audio (and picture, but more concerned about sound). I also liked the option of playing my SACDs (Super Audio CDs) on another machine.

Blu-Ray
----------
Blu-Ray performance is excellent. I've had no issues with it refusing to play anything. I hooked it up to our network right away and it upgraded its firmware immediately. The response time is excellent. (My parents have Sony from about a year ago and the speed improvements are impressive.) Picture and sound look great. You have to adjust some settings to get the machine to ouput the bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master. The out-of-the-box setting is for the player to convert them to LPCM and pass that through the HDMI. I guess that makes for maximum compatibility. The only downside of this setup is that the player give no indication which soundtrack it's reading off the disc -- which will force you into the setup menu on every disc to double-check. (For example, the excellent Uncompressed LPCM soundtrack on Pirates of the Caribbean must be proactively chosen, else you only get Dolby Digital.)

SACD
----------
SACD playback is good, but the player is a bit buggy here. The bitstream DSD as decoded by my Marantz SR5004 sounds incredible. I daresay the DSD through my receiver has better depth and clarity than my Sony SCD-C555ES, which means a great big box can be removed from my setup. You can ask the player to decode the DSD to LPCM as well.

The player instantly recognizes the SACD discs and engages SACD mode -- you can choose multi-channel or two-channel preference in the menus. BUT as I eluded to earlier, this mode is a bit buggy and lacking some basic usability support. The track names do show properly on the player's Home screen, but that's the last you'll see of them. Once you start playing, only track number and time is shown on the on-screen display. It doesn't show you track/title/artist text. The icons are there, but the space is blank. Disappointing, but who wants to listen to music with the TV on, right?

Well, that's where things get worse. The display on the unit shows the total time and track count upon loading a disc. Unfortunately, once you are playing an SACD, the track number is not shown at all, not when changing tracks, not when paused, not during playback. Lame. (There's a T that is clearly supposed to be followed by the track number, but it is only followed by spaces until you get to the track time.) In summary, I expected much better SACD support from the company who invented and co-authored the SACD standard.

Other
----------
The other, gimmicky, stuff is actually pretty useful. I love Slacker Radio, despite the lousy, super-compressed audio. (That's where it's nice to have a good receiver that can take the digital signal and manipulate it.) I haven't tried too much of the other stuff. Generally, internet access is very fast; we have decent 12Mb service.

I've had several instances where it froze up. More than once, only unplugging it would resolve its state (update: June 2010 firmware update has NOT helped). I've also closed the the tray and the thing sat there blinking Close. Opening and closing the tray solved that quickly.

There is also an inconsistent delay in my receiver locking onto the bitstream format from the Blu-rays (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, DTS HD Master, etc.). You sometimes miss the first few notes of the logo screens' music. I don't know if that's due to the disc, my receiver, the S370, or just a general issue with the Blu-ray/HDMI format standards of today.

Update 6/21/10
-------------------
I have lowered the star rating based on the recent firmware update. None of my concerns with this player were addressed and Sony e-mail support ignored my questions, only pointing me to the most recent firmware. That said, I probably would still by this player again, because it's such a good price. If you care a lot about SACD playback, consider an Oppo.

Works great so far, September 13, 2010
A few weeks ago, I reverted my Netflix account to DVD-only as my current Samsung BD player had disappointed me for the last time and I decided to not use it anymore. It isn't broken, just really, really bad and has ruined a number of movie nights with how poorly it does things. I was considering the Oppo, when this Sony suddenly appeared at my house as a gift.

I dislike Sony as a company and I don't like their products, but I really like this BD player. It starts up quickly, loads the Bluray disc quickly and simply plays it. The remote is very responsive, and basically, it works like a DVD player. No lag between remote presses and action. I've only played one movie so far, and it just worked. Even better, I paused the movie for about 30 minutes and when I came back, it was still ready to go. None of this could be said about my old Samsung which is probably why I'm giving the Sony 5 stars.

This is really all I need. A blueray which simply plays discs without fuss. As long as it keeps playing whatever movies I end up with, I couldn't be happier.

A nice feature is a 15second skip button on the remote, so it is easy to page and forth thru a movie in small increments, in case you missed some dialog or something.

I played with the other networking stuff. It came with a bunch of online streaming services ready to go. I did not like that I had to first register with Sony to make things work, but they didn't ask for anything but an email address. I tried Netflix, Pandora and DLNA to a PlayOn server. All worked fine. My 4:3 show via Playon was stretched to fill 16:9, and I didn't bother trying to fix it. There are about 20 streaming services available including netflix, amazon video, youtube, a strange channel devoted to Michael Jackson and a bunch of others. No 'regular' hulu support, only hulu+. But, I can watch hulu via dlna/playon, so it is not a problem.

I have no plans to use normal DVDs with this player as I still have a DVD player hooked up and I use that for regular DVDs.

The very minor downsides I have noticed so far are no 6-channel analog audio output which would have been nice, but I realize that this is their low-end player in the line. Also, it feels cheap and plasticky. Very lightweight and small and the few buttons on the unit itself are not that nice feeling. But, the remote is pretty good, so this is not a major problem. I wish the remote was backlit.

Beware of Wireless Connectivity - Adapter Needed, October 1, 2010
Bought this player primarily for receiving streaming on line content. If this is a feature you're needing, beware that you must purchase the proprietary Sony UWA-BR100 - Network adapter, which will tack on another $75. Don't think that 'wireless ready' really means 'READY'...it's not. Player has good performance with nice array of outputs, but the wireless capability is deceiving and disappointing.

Slick, fast, and affordable. Look no further., October 7, 2010
Blu-ray is here to stay, and the new generation of BD players are making their way down into mass market pricing. This is basically Sony's "entry level" player in the new gen of players. It's very slim and boasts styling that matches Sony's "monolithic" line of Bravia TV's. That is to say, it has a minimalist approach to its styling. It looks as if it's just one solid slab that was carved out of black lacquer. The disc tray is barely noticeable and blends in nicely with the face of the unit, and there are Power, Play, Stop, and Open/Close nubs, which are also very low key. A USB jack is on the front as well.

This unit is possibly the fastest standalone Blu-ray player out there. Compared to stand alone players of the past, this thing is a speed demon, requiring a very short start up time, and extremely quick disc loads, even with BD-Java heavy discs such as Spiderman 3, or Disney's Pirates films. It is even faster than the almighty PS3 (though the PS3 is by no means a slouch and remains an excellent player). Also available is a quick start mode, which sacrifices using a bit more power in standby, but offers near instantaneous start up (I measure about 2 seconds). I am sure many people will love this feature and the 6.5 watts in standby will seem worth it to them. I am happy with the start up time without this already.

Pros:

1. The player has excellent video quality. Blu-ray discs look of course tremendously good, though with video based content, it takes a slight hit. Nothing to worry about. DVD up conversion: Not bad, but not terrific. Passable.

2. Internet Video: Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video on Demand, Hulu Plus(coming fall 2010), and tons of others await your Ethernet cable as this networking player does not include Wi-Fi, though you can purchase a proprietary Sony Adapter. Steams very well, with no problems. Also has Pandora for you internet radio junkies.

3. Gracenote: looks up your Discs to provide info for you. Works hand in hand with:

4. iPhone/iPod BD remote app. This is unique. You can download an app for your iPhone and it will sync your phone to the player giving the phone the ability to control the player and not have to aim the remote at it. It also gives you disc information that becomes accessible into Youtube portals for info on cast members etc. Kind of handy at times. Also, you can use a QWERTY keyboard on your phone to enter things like when you are searching Youtube or something. Very handy.

Cons:
1. There is no onboard storage for Internet BD downloads, so you will have to provide a USB drive that plugs into the back of which the USB drive must be formatted in FAT32 or it will not work (Minor issue as most people will never bother with it).
2. Also, the video formats supported from the front USB jacks are limited as well, so those with video codecs galore looking to play through the front port USB may need to look elsewhere. For me, a minor thing as I don't go around with a USB drive wanting to show video.

If you need Wi-Fi, and want the player to be 3D capable as well (not likely), you can step up to the 470 for 3D and the 570, 770 players for Wi-Fi. Those not needing 3D or wireless, look no further, this is one of the best players out there.

Excellent for Basic Blu-Ray Playback, Other Features Unknown, July 30, 2010
Let me start by saying that I have only used this player to watch Blu-Ray and DVD movies. I have never tried any of the networking/downloading features. On a previous Panasonic Blu-Ray player that I owned (which had WiFi), I never could get the WiFi to work. So, I returned it and bought this Sony model out of frustration with Panasonic and decided not to even fool with attempting downloads until the technology is more user-friendly.

So, my review of the BDP-S370 revolves only around general use and quality of Blu-Ray and DVD playback.

In somewhat of a logical order, here is my general review:

Start-up: It turns on quickly, no problems there.

Loading discs: This is also quick and very acceptable. By the time I load a disc and find my seat, it is ready to go.

Menu: Takes a little learning, but it's not difficult. Once you figure it out, you'll never forget how to find and start your movie.

Playback (this is the bottom line for me): Sound & Video quality are excellent. Of course, the image quality depends largely on your screen, but to the extent this player has a role in sending a good signal to the TV, it appears excellent to me. Sound is crisp and strong through my home theater equipment (again, the player only plays a partial role, while your other home entertainment equipment plays a major role too - speakers, receiver, etc.).

Again, if you use this review in terms of "how well does this player perform for simple playback of Blu-Ray and DVD movies", then the answer is that it is an excellent player. I cannot comment on networking features, as I feel that technology is not ready for prime-time for the "average" consumer.

So, based on my simple needs, this is a superb player! I give it 4 stars, only because I cannot comment on the more advanced features, and have an open question about the useability of networking via Blu-Ray players at this time. ... Read more

Editorial Review

You know it's time to start enjoying Full HD 1080p, and the LD450 is an easy way to get into it. A beautiful LCD with all of the innovations that make LG TVs something better. ... Read more

Reviews

Really like it., May 29, 2010
First off: We did not purchase this TV from Amazon, we purchased it at a local retail store, not for any other reason than the price (we paid a few hundred less than the current Amazon price)

My husband and I purchased this back in April, it was either this or the Phillips that they had set right beside it, it was really a hard choice as the Phillips was marked down to just a few hundred dollars, whilst this was just under six fifty. We are so very glad that we went with this model(42LD450). The video quality is quite good, blacks are black, and whites are white, back light is very bright, and video quality is amazing.

We almost took this back however: When we first plugged it in and turned it on, the only picture was a white screen with the Firmware version bouncing around, no menu would come up and it would not acknowledge anything had been connected. Well, we unplugged it again, and turned it back on, and this time, it acknowledged the DVR (input 1) and starting spewing forth video and audio We have had no problems since that.

My only gripe is that we will have to go out and purchase a new unit for our surround system, as the TV only has a Optical Audio Output. And on that note, the built in speakers are not awesome, yes, they are very usable, but like almost all TV speakers, they are not going to satisfy your need for spectacular surround.

This is definitely worth the buy, I really think you will be happy with your purchase. Thank You For Reading.

Sleek LG at bargain price!, November 24, 2010
It took me about three days to decide to pull the trigger on this TV after looking at written reviews on Amazon and even some video demos online. About four hours after receiving it and I haven't left my room.

This TV is simply lovely so far. The setup was a bit confusing at first and the stand is not the best I've ever seen but the instructions for setting up the stand were adequate and I was able to get the TV up and running in about ten minutes (the first five of which I sat confused).

Really, the negatives on this purchase stopped after the setup and the stand. Besides the stand, this TV is just pretty. One of the first things that stood out to me was the fact that the screen is so sleek and does not reflect any glares at all. Also, I had read about a terrible viewing angle and I honestly watched this TV from the side with no difference in the picture at all. It's so big that it's practically impossible to have a bad seat in the room that you watch this TV.

If you plan on playing video games on this TV, you will not be disappointed in the least. The only issues I've had with the TV is getting my colors juuuust right, although the "Game" picture setting has sufficed very nicely.

The sound on the TV is great. It is centered and doesn't feel empty in the least. It is a very full and rich sound that will work just fine if you don't have an expensive surround sound system.

After paying [...] and receiving free two day shipping, I am literally ecstatic that I was able to nab such a nice TV. After spending the last three years with a 24" Insignia LCD that was 720p, I am ready to lock myself in my room.

If you are like me and can't shell out more than 500 dollars for an HD TV, this is the TV you want to pick up right away. I simply cannot find anything that I dislike beyond the stand itself that makes me rate this any less than 5 stars.

Don't be alarmed by the 60hz refresh rate, I honestly can't see how 60hz is so inferior to 120. Especially when 120hz is almost 500 dollars more expensive.

Trust me, if you are on the fence about this TV -- take the leap. This coming from a 21 year old college student who is now going to be the most popular person on his floor.

Not as good as I hoped, June 20, 2010
I purchased this TV to replace my 3-year old Samsung Series 3 32" LCD TV in my master bedroom because I wanted a larger size TV now that prices have dropped a good bit (paid over $1,400 for my 32" a few years ago). I debated between this one and a 40" Samsung for the same price, both were 60hz models, which is fine since I'm only using this for my DVR. Since I've seen a few older LGs before that had decent picture quality, I went with this one for it's larger size with slighly better specs than the Samsung, although I've always preferred Samsung. I figured since this was a newer model than those I've seen, with better specs I couldn't lose.... I was wrong!

I put this one on the wall where my old one was and my first night watching it I was quite disappointed! Although the picture is sharp and vibratant, it's only that way if you are directly in front of it. The viewing angel is terrible with this set, especially vertically below, which is my problem since I'm using this on a wall in my bedroom and viewing it from the bed, which puts me slighly below the screen (the TV is just above my dresser, maybe 3 feet above the floor). In this position, the screen washes out terribly, much like some of the older laptop displays did. Blacks become gray and colors very washed out. My Samsungs don't have this problem, neither my old 32" or my 52" in the living room. The construction itself is also very flimsy compared to the Samsung models I've owned. It's strange though, that I installed a 42" LG for a friend that's over 2 years older than this one and it was much more solid and has a better picture and viewing angle than this one.

I realize this is a lower-end set, and I did not want the best just for the bedroom, but considering that I replaced a 3 year old set with only 30,000:1 contrast ratio and 720p with this one that is supposed to be 100,000:1 and 1080p and yet my old one produced much deeper blacks and vibrant whites and colors, I'm quite dissapointed. Also, another reviewer mentioned that he didn't notice any backlight coming out of the back, but that's not my experience. While I've seen worse, this one projects a good bit of backlight out through all the vents onto the wall. I guess I can live with it, but why? None of my others had this issue either.

I was considering returning it, but don't feel like going through the hastle and don't want to spend a bunch more money to get a higher-end set. I decided to change my wall mount to a tilt mount and angle the TV downward, with it slighly higher on the wall and that helps a good bit because it gets the viewing angel of the TV perfectly alligned with my viewing area, so it looks pretty good now and I can deal with it.

Bottom line, I'm going to be happy with it, but I'm not truly happy! I wouldn't recommend this one personally and if I had to do it over I probably would have gone with the 40" Samsung instead, or paid a little more to get a 42" or 46" Samsung.

Update on 6/23/2010

After trying to make myself like this TV for 3 days I decided to return it. It is just that bad! Even with the tilt wall mount it still isn't good. The blacks are still very gray and there is so much bright gray coming thru the LCD panel that it just washes out everything and lights up the lower half of my bedroom brightly, even when there's no picture displayed. That and all the backlight purring out of the back onto the walls, which is now much more noticeable with the tilt mount.

I went ahead and ordered the 40" samsung that I probably should have got it the first place and Amazon is making the process easy. They said they will pick up the bad one when they deliver the new one.

Price Performer, March 22, 2010
This is my first HDTV purchase and am pleased so far. (Read as I don't know much about this). Setup was simple; the price was right and it has some popular energy-saving features.

The picture was sharp and clear. Multiple preset modes (cinema, game, normal) make setup easy, but there are also custom, fine-tuning adjustments available. It does not appear to have network/internet capability, but I will purchase a Blue-ray DVD player with that feature separately. The unit has an optical audio out so I can use my older receiver for 5.1 sound.

The remote feels cheap, but gets the job done. I imagine one rarely uses the manufacturer's TV remote so LG (and other makers) probably do not spend much on them. I did not notice any backlight seeping out of case which I understand is a problem on some TVs.

For an entry-level buyer, this was a solid purchase. I paid $658 - I thought that was reasonable for a 1080p set in 42". I rated it 4 stars on because I do not have much product knowledge (yet).

Exceeded Expectations, Very Pleased, November 10, 2010
After shopping a lot locally and checking all the brands in person, I found this model on Amazon priced several hundred $$ UNDER the the best local price, and free shipping (and no local sales tax).

The TV took about 2 weeks to arrive, it sat in a St Louis warehouse for a week waiting for a truck to head to Columbia. (The delivery service only comes to Columbia once a week.) The delivery service unpacked the unit and checked for DOA, a nice touch!

This LG 42" is AMAZING. I watch broadcast TV and streaming Netflix. The HD1080 broadcasts are so sharp, it just blows me away. I find myself watching stupid TV shows just to admire the HD1080 image quality. The streaming Netflix is in 720p but still very nice. I may upgrade my broadband and ROKU box just to get the HD1080. This unit makes it worth it.

The LG specs are impressive, super fast response, high contrast etc. I am COMPLETELY PLEASED with this unit and cannot understand why others charge so much more for units that do not come close to the picture quality of this set.

Pleasantly Surprised, October 11, 2010
We purchased this TV for our study, a small dark room specifically meant for watching movies and playing video games.

We sort of knew what to expect because we had a 42" LG in our main area already, but it was an earlier model. Still, we were happy with the first one, and after some exhaustive research, chose to buy the newer model.

We also chose the 60hz version because the TV's main function was to be for videogames and film. The jury is still a little out on the whole 120hz issue (there are always conflicting reviews and articles about whether or not it produces undesirable effects on either format, but I suspect that it does) and we would prefer to watch films as they were meant to be seen (with a persistence-of-vision effect on the eye at a refresh-rate mismatch) and play games without possible ghosting effects. If our intention was to watch hi-def or digital television, especially sports channels, we might have gone another route.

The unit arrived with no defects, and after several weeks of heavy use, nothing has come up as an issue. No dead pixels, not dark areas of screen, no odd noises or colors or blurs.

This TV definitely delivers. Crisp, bright picture that can easily be dialed in to fit your ambient lighting and surroundings, perfectly acceptable sound quality, simple remote and setup, easy assembly on the included stand. And at $600, it's far less money than many of the comparable models.

The only unusual feature is that the included stand does not tilt forward or backward, which can make placement tricky. This minor oversight is not enough to warrant a poor review, or even cost a star. This would be a non-issue with a wall-mount.

I've had Sony XBRs, and while this doesn't quite have the contrast and crispness those did, it does deliver a beautiful picture that will please all but the most discerning and critical eye.

Just got it - so far so good, October 12, 2010
We got this TV for our grandMa, so it was important to get something that was very simple and easy to use and setup. In order to see if it worked, I plugged it in and connected the hdmi cable from our cable box. it took about 10 minutes to scan for channels, and found nothing. Duh! after switching the input from antenna to hdmi, it was up and running.

picture looks great right out of the box. played with picture wizard a bit, but honestly the factory default is just about perfect. image is bright & clear. setup mode even looks great. blacks are outstanding - I guess the 100,000 to 1 contrast ratio makes a big difference.

remote is simple and intuitive. I looked at all the options, played with clearvoice, which I'm sure grandMa will appreciate, it's all as simple and easy as I'd hoped it would be.

off-axis viewing was great. I'd seen a review that said it was horrible, my guess is that was a defective set.

so, on first impression, it's a great value for the $$ and exactly what we needed for grandma. if I have any reason to change my opinion, I'll make an edit later.

Great TV for the price., October 21, 2010
I bought this tv because it was cheaper than the LG 37" tv and because of the 2 year financing on it. I am amazed by how nice this lcd looks and performs. We have a 46" Toshiba lcd that is about a year old, and this one blows it away....faster response times on everything from changing channels to anything. Has a good picture even on basic cable. Xbox 360 works and looks great on it. Very satisfied with this lcd.

Terrible Consumer Experience, September 10, 2010
I recently bought this TV from J&R and had an horrible experience.

On the first day everything was fine: the TV was working and the image quality is indeed really nice. However, one week after I installed it, the TV just went blank. I've contacted LG's support center and they told me that I couldn't get a replacement TV - although my purchase was just a week old - and I had to wait for a technician, which would come to my house only in the following week.

I've searched the web for my problem, and it seemed to me that it was a problem with the power supply board of the TV (and it seems like a common problem, as I found it pretty quickly in a lot of messaging boards). Today, the technician arrived and came to the same conclusion: a faulty power supply. However, they don't have a spare part, and I should wait until they order one from LG's and schedule another technician visit, which should take another 1-2 weeks. The end result: in my first month with the TV, I'll probably had been able to use for just a couple of days.

The image quality is really good, so as the price was. However, please be aware of this kind of problems before you buy one of these !

SIMPLY THE BEST PICTURE + PRICE, November 28, 2010
It took me a lot of researching and critical thinking to purchase my first HDTV. I decided to wait all these years and I am SOOOOOOO happy to have waited. This LG HDTV is perhaps the best TV for the PRICE!. It has UNBELIEVABLE picture quality with JUST AN OVER THE AIR ANTENA! Forget about the 120 hz, 240 hz, this TV is AMAZING at 60 hz! If you don't have CABLE or SATELITE service, don't worry, this TV performs perfectly with over the air signal with a good rabbit ear antena. That is because this TV has a built-in tuner that will adjust to provide you the best picture quality (USE THE PICTURE WIZARD TO HELP YOU, IS VERY EASY TO USE). I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase. I am an AMAZON PRIME customer and I paid $3.99 for overnight delivery! I bought this TV on Blackfriday and received it, via FEDEX, next day Saturday 9:30am!!! AMAZON HAS AMAZING CUSTOMER AND DELIVERY SERVICE!!! THANK YOU AMAZON, YOU HAVE MADE MY HOLIDAY SEASON MERRY! GOD BLESS YOU!

SINCERELY,

A VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER ... Read more

Editorial Review

Sony's DVP-SR200P is a versatile DVD player with many features at an affordable price. It delivers excellent picture and sound quality so you get the most out of your movies. The Precision Drive 3 system allows you to playback some DVDs that may have been damaged or warped without a degradation of picture quality. It also plays music CDs or MP3s from a CD-ROM disc. For gatherings, use it to share photos with friends and families. You cannot go wrong with this stylish home-theater sized DVD player, it is a perfect complement to your TV. ... Read more

Reviews

Good for the Money, January 13, 2009
Nice simple product. We purchased this one for a specific reason - dad has arthritus and can't navigate small buttons or remotes very well. The base unit has buttons on the top edge -- easily pressed and seen by older eyes.

Good DVD Player - Made by Phillips, not Sony unlike most Sony DVD Players, January 11, 2009
Unlike most of Sony's DVD players which are produced by Sony, this player is actually a rebranded Phillips/Yamaha player. Nonetheless, the build quality is still just as strong as Sony's own DVD players. I also own a Phillips DVD player with the same disc mechanism as this Sony, and so far, it has plugged along great for the last three years or so with frequent use. Overall, this player is ideal for use as a player for a bedroom or secondary tv, but if you are considering using this within a home theater setup, consider purchasing a player with an HDMI output to take advantage of HDMI's digital video output capability. Overall, this is a great buy!

LITTLE SONY. . ., January 7, 2009
I purchased this for my own use as I have an extensive dvd collection. It is really handy to play a disc while there may be one on hold in my other player. The "Little Sony" plays very well, a lot like the same commands my large one has. One of the important things for me is to be able to see the status while it is playing..this has easy to read numbers that light up. The audio/video quality is excellent. About the only disappointment is the remote doesn't have a eject button but you have to insert the disc anyway so just press the button on the set. Overall I am very happy with this Little Sony, for the price you can't beat it!

Excellent quality, plays all types of DVDs, and it GOLD BOX SALE!, January 22, 2009
I bought one of these before for $49.99, now it's on sale for $29.99, what a great deal. This DVD player is excellent quality, which is something I expect from Sony. Just about all the audio & video equipment I have at home are Sony brand, even though they are usually a bit overpriced, I'm just use to their menu system and stable quality.

Playability - Sony DVD players don't play the burned or foreign DVDs, this is an exception. It plays the Chinese Drama DVD's perfectly fine. Not that I encourage pirating DVDs, but this one plays those self burned backup DVDs as well.

Quality - The last one I got is about 1 year old now, plays perfectly fine. We use it about 2 hours every day. Even at $50, it's worth the $ by now.

Menu system - Well, I don't use much of the functions, but the fast forward is in place. Samsung has a wierd fast forward where it's 2x, 4x, ( too slow) then 64x ( way too fast). Also, this player will remember multiple DVD stop locations even after you remove it. Now that's really cool.

I researched over hundreds..., November 13, 2009
Before purchasing this product, I researched and reviewed possibly hundreds of dvd players. I wanted the most for the little amount of money I wanted to spend. I needed a small, sleak, reliable dvd player.
After deciding on this dvd player, I continued to review the product's reviews, hundreds of them. I found some to say it never worked right out of the box, but that was possibly only 10 or less claiming such things. Products may not always work correctly the first time, and so after reading reviews of 1-3 stars stating ridiculous things such as "it has no eject button on the remote", (you have to walk to the dvd player anyways to take out the dvd, so who cares about that feature? Not me! My last dvd player had that feature and to be honest I never used it.) I decided to make the leap and purchase. I love the 6 disk memory, I use that to the max. It was simple to set up, just plug in and go! The remote is easy to use and even came with batteries.

Overall I have already recommended this product with high remarks and will continue to do so. I have no found one thing wrong with it!

All I wanted was a good, basic, and inexpensive DVD player . . ., March 23, 2009
All I wanted was a good, basic, and inexpensive DVD player . . . and that is exactly what I got.
Although I have played only one DVD, I really like this player. Machine response time is quick, the remote keypad is designed well, and the playing of the DVD was flawless.
For $40 and free shipping, I am very pleased.

GREAT Little Player, April 15, 2009
I bought two of these by mistake and didn't realize it until they arrived. Since my husband's ancient DVD player was still working, he didn't want the extra one, but we decided to keep it for a spare. After he saw how impressed I was with mine, he hooked the other one up to his TV. We both love the player. The controls are SO easy to see and operate, the quality and features are excellent, the unit is small and lightweight, and you can't beat the price!

Great little basic DVD player, April 8, 2009
I had a few disks that would not read well with my other players, so I thought I would try this one because it advertised as being able to read bad disk. I didn't expect it to work, but it did. Kudos! Nothing fancy, but now I can see my movies. No Super VHS connection though, but picture quality is good with RCA connecions.

Great little DVD player for the Money$, March 20, 2009
When I say little, I mean little. This thing is thin and tiny. So if you are looking to add to an impressive display of audio/visual equipment in your home theatre move along. For functionality, ease of use, quality of device it is awesome! I can take a movie out watch a bunch of other movies and then stick the first back in there and it starts off right where I left it. I love not having to look through all the scenes.

Which is worse? This player or Sony Support?, March 18, 2009
I hooked up this player last night and got an orange screen - which should be blue. I played a DVD and the colors were, or course, wrong, so I fiddled around with the settings and got the colors to be wrong differently. I read the manual, checked the Sony support Web site and Googled key words. Nothing.

I went to the Sony support Web site, where this player is NOT listed (only Blu-ray players are) and sent an email off to the Blu-ray folks, asking which setting to tweak. I got an automated response.

I just called Sony support. The tech (as usual) had me troubleshoot from a script that had NOTHING to do with my problem. And, when none of that stuff worked (surprise!), so wanted me to re-configure the rest of my set-up, which I refused to do, since everything was working fine before my last player died. She then wanted me to plug something else in - I don't own anything else to plug in - because "there's no setting you can adjust to fix this."

As clueless as support was, the fact that the phone kept cutting out, for 10 or 15 second intervals, making the whole thing impossible. The tech could hear me saying 1.2.3.4... and then I could hear her for one or two words and off we went again with me saying 1.2.3.4 until the call dropped.

I haven't thrown out the packaging so I will return this player and buy something made by another company because, unfortunately, this is not my first bad experience with Sony support. Not that other company's are much better... ... Read more

Editorial Review

You know it's time to start enjoying high definition and the LD350 is an easy way to get into it. This is a beautiful LCD with all of the innovations that make LG TVs a better viewing experience. ... Read more

Reviews

Amazing Value, May 20, 2010
This is the first LCD TV I've bought so I did a tone of research before finally settling on this unit.

Things I love about this TV:

-The backlight on this thing turns way up so you don't have to worry about having dark scenes like in Interview with the vampire you can't see. The wide viewing angle is also great.

-On the quick menu you can easily change the sound between Music and Cinema and I can actually hear the difference. Yes they are tv speakers not surround sound but for my studio apartment it is more then adequate.

-I noticed I was getting a little noise on the sound when I had the Clear Voice on but totally fixed it when I put the Auto Volume option on in the audio main menu.

-I keep the tv on a lot for music during the day since I work from home and there is this great button on the remote labeled energy where you can quickly adjust from 100% which is the best for viewing to maximum energy saving. I like this not only for the energy savings but also to save the back light from 100% constant use.

-I noticed that one of my shows off of my Roku (digital box that streams netflix) wasn't HD and the picture wasn't looking to hot. I adjusted on the picture main menu the aspect ratio to Just Scan and it actually cleaned it up really nicely. This is important,several of my friends have really ritzy tv set ups but if it's not HD the picture is almost unbearable. This one you can watch older movies/tv shows and HD without having to fiddle with everything to get a good picture.

-Overall picture quality can be adjusted by so many advanced options that if you play with it I'm sure you can get exactly what you want.

-I know it is 720 versus 1080 but at this price range when I looked at the specs if you go for 1080 it seems that you will get dark spots in dark scenes and it's refresh rate will be so low that you will notice it in quick scenes plus the audio seemed unreliable. I think at this 32inch size 720 is really not that noticeable.

Very satisfied customer. Only complaint is you need 4 screws to attach the tv to it's base and my baggy only came with 3 in it. Luckily the hardware store is right down the street so I was able to get something comparable instead of waiting for them to ship it.

Do your self a favor, get some good HDMI cables with noise reduction that can handle full HD (found some on amazon for like $7). I haven't experienced any blurring at all on this tv while watching movies/shows like others have commented about. Regular cables don't cut it and you won't want to wait when your tv arrives.

Happy Viewing

Simply Awesome!, August 8, 2010
I have been waiting patiently for a few years now to make the switch from my 480i Toshiba 32" CRT to an HDTV. Thanks to a decent tax return I was finally able to join the Hi Def club. I live in a small apartment and already had a nice entertainment center which housed my aging Toshiba so I chose to stay with the 32" screen format as anything larger would not fit. After doing weeks of research it came down to this LG or the Samsung LN32C350. I found the picture quality to be almost identical and the price was the same for both, $399.00. I chose the LG because I got 10% off with a online coupon and no tax and free shipping from another online retailer. I couldn't be happier! This is one of the best purchases I have ever made. The TV is fantastic!, picture is bright, sharp, clear and gorgeous. The contrast ratio listed here is wrong though...it's not 50,000:1...it's actually 70,000:1...which is even better. I love the remote, easy to use menu and all the functions and options you can tweak. it's such an unbelievable difference seeing TV shows and movies in Hi Def. I can't comment on the sound as I have the TV speakers turned off because I have a pretty kick-ass surround sound system. I am A Dish Network subscriber and have it hooked to my VIP612 receiver and am loving it...also finally able to play my Xbox 360 in Hi Def and that is Da Bomb too!...BF:BC2 looks amazing! I was debating whether to get a 1080p or a 720p TV for a long time...then I found out (which I didn't realise) all HD TV signals...OTA (over the air), DirecTv, Cable, Dish Network are all broadcast in 720p/1080i...and since I don't watch blu-ray movies...spending extra money on a 1080p set just wouldn't make sense...also...on a TV 32" or less..the benefits of watching in 1080p are negligible. 720p looks phenomenal! It has a 1 year parts and labor warranty, and after you register it with LG you can extend your warranty by 2 years for $48...provided you do it in the 1st 180 days after purchase, so altogether you get a 3 year warranty for $48...from the manufacturer...not some 3rd party outfit, that's pretty good...I'll be doing that b4 my 180 days are up. I can't recommend this TV more...I am now an LG fanboy.

Worth a buy for the price., April 27, 2010
*** See posts from U. Viveros (Aug 8th) for info on the panel display on this tv***

Picture quality on this tv is excellent (it has an IPS panel), black levels are impressive, color is vibrant. And you can tweak the picture to your likeing with a ton of various options. Took me a while to get the picture quality just right for gaming, HD content and SD content. SD tv actually looks pretty good on this tv, suprisingly sharp picture quality on it. Though this being a LCD tv the picture isn't crystal clear, in darker areas you can see some obvious blurring or trailing (but only if you really want to notice, and its not as bad as the latest Samsung), in brighter areas blurring is not noticeable at all (in Modern Warfare 2 for example darker wood textures you can see the blur when moving, on brighter wall textures there is no blur).

Speakers are decent, not going to blow you away with the sound but they aren't complete crap either. Like the picture - sound also has various tweaking options.

Remote is pretty standard, doesn't look cheap and doesn't go overboard with the options. But is has everything you'd accept to be on it.

Also has a headphone jack (and unlike Samsungs you can control the volume of the headphone jack with your remote).

You can also display pictures or play music with a usb stick, I don't think I'll be using this feature. Would've been nice if it allowed you to play videos from the usb stick...but they only have that feature on their higher end models.

One problem is that if you switch the input to hdmi and then go back to AV or TV input...there is no sound. You have the turn off the tv and turn is back again to get the sound back.

4/5.

I paid $[...], amazon now dropped the price.

A Practical Review, July 24, 2010
I base my rating on the value for the money and how I plan to use the TV as opposed to a comparison to newer TVs on the market.

720p which is perfectly suitable for my needs. While I haven't yet attached a PC to this device my understanding is that 1080p is where you want to be if using as a PC monitor is of importance. On another note I wouldn't say this is great looking or cheap looking TV. Just a very middle of the road appearance.

Pro
* Nice picture with rich color.
* Nice picture controls (backlight, contrast, brightness, color, tint,H-sharpness, V-Sharpness, etc)
* Nice menuing system
* The remote is basic without being cheap or annoying. Rubberized keys but they do not glow. The remote is not too big or too small either.
* Standard Definition TV looks pretty good on this TV. I use the mode that automatically resizes the image based on the signal which means I view std tv in a 4:3 box (I do not stretch).

Cons
* The power on light is too large and annoying (at least 2" wide). The same light turns red when off and that is my problem. I don't need or want a light that tells me the TV is off. (Blue=on and No Light would have been preferrable). Perhaps I can disable or tape over it.
* The speakers are NOT front firing. They fire to the back or down. This may be a problem for some. I currently have it in a cabinet and it sounds fine but speakers on the bottom facing forward would be better. If you plan to use external speakers then this doesn't really matter.
* No S-Video. To some with Standard Quality cable (not HD) the S-video provides the best image but unfortunately it isn't avail.

In summation I think this TV is a nice value from a name brand manufacturer.

Very disappointed, November 21, 2010
This was my father's day present, and I was so excited. We researched 32-inch TVs a lot, and this one seemed like the best for the price. Man, what a lemon. And LG customer service has been really disappointing. The picture went black five weeks after we bought it - just a few days after the 30-day warranty from Future Shop. Future Shop wouldn't give us an exchange, and LG said we had to take it to a repair shop. The nearest one is a 40-minute drive from our house. It was in the shop a month.

A couple of months later, the picture stopped working again. LG still won't replace it. So that means another three hours of driving to drop off and return to pick up the TV. The repair shop says LG policy is they won't replace it until after three breakdowns. I could just see that happening a day after the one-year warranty.

Great bedroom TV for the money!, August 22, 2010
I just bought this TV to replace a 5 year old LCD TV I previously had in my bedroom. For the money, this is a great TV even with the lower contrast ratio compared to more expensive models. I typically buy Samsung LCD and LED TVs but the low price of this LG tempted me to try something new and so far I have no regrets. Other reviewers have done a great job at highlighting what is great about the TV so I am not going to repeat what they have already said.

I did, however, want to make a quick mention of the resolution. LG says that this TV is only 720p but my PS3 detected it as supporting 1080p. I've heard of people being able to force certain 720p TVs to do 1080p and it appears that this TV is perhaps one of them. I did play a couple of my PS3 games that are in 1080p and the TV did, in fact, run in 1080p looking great so... take that for what its worth.

For a TV that can be had for under $400, this is a great buy.

Great TV, Great Price, May 17, 2010
I was looking for a TV for my master bedroom for about $400. This was by far the best tv for the price and value. Rich picture, great sound and awesome black levels. Not an 1080? Yea, you can't notice a difference with a 32" TV. Not 120 Hz, why buy? Believe me, this is not a living room TV for entertaining family. This is a side room tv that is a nice upgrade from a tube TV. Great TV, 'nuff said.

Stunning Picture Quality, June 22, 2010
I bought this TV couple of months ago from Walmart. What a stunning picture quality it has. It stood out from all the TVs on display around it due to it's vivid color and crisp picture. We bought it immediately and no regret. We love the picture quality. Sound quality is average as they say how it is in the flat TVs. Hence I bought a home theater system to complement it's picture quality and now we have stunning picture with amazing sound. Watching TV/movies is more fun than ever. With the home theater system, the sound is now balanced and there is no shocking sound level increase during the commercials.

The remote is nice and I like the quick setup button which pops up a circular dialogue box on the TV with most frequently used settings.

It has two HDMI inputs altough some competition TVs have more than 2 HDMI inputs. It also features a digital optical audio out and number of other traditional connectors including VGA input so that you could use it as a monitor for your computer.

Just get past the setup part, August 11, 2010
This is my first big-item order from Amazon and the Fedex guy brought it up to my apartment door, instead of the usual main entrance quick drop-off. I suppose it was because Amazon did not pack the TV into their standard packing boxes and it'd be a different kind of "steal" if left at my apartment building entrance.

Setting up wasn't that difficult despite confusing instructions from the manual. Two points to note:

1. Have a long-stemmed Philips screwdriver. I had to get a 4-inch stem from the hardware store. Thankfully it was just down the street.

2. You can pretty much set up without the manual because there is only one way to fix the TV base (which consists of the flat base and the "trunk"). Just match the distance between the screw holes for both parts.

The only grouse I have is one missing spongy-rubber pad. There're supposed to be 8 but I had only 7.

Auto-tuning was a breeze, after which you can customize sound/picture settings to your preferences. I must say, the "clear voice" option is real sweet. So good luck and enjoy your purchase. As with all other electric appliances, they aren't built to last indefinitely anyway as manufacturers need the revenue. I'll be happy if it lasts me 5 years.

Good TV, Very Good Bargain, November 19, 2010
I bought this LG set as a second TV to replace an old 27" CRT standard def set. I have not used this LG to watch HD TV or movies, but have used it to play HD games on an Xbox 360. The picture quality during the games is very good. On any 32" set, I think you'll find a 720P picture to be more than adequate to enjoy the HD picture. Like most LCD TVs I've seen, this set doesn't produce a deep, rich black screen (there's still a little bit of a lightness effect on the default settings on a black screen), but this seems to be standard for LCDs (at least the ones that are not LED types, I haven't seen one of the LEDs up close). Standard def pictures are a little grainy, but this seems par for the course with HDTVs- I've never seen one that looks as good as an old CRT when displaying a standard def picture. I was surprised by the sound quality. When playing Halo: Reach, the simulated surround sound was pretty good - I could hear explosions and dialogue behind me when I was seated in the sweet spot in front of the TV. It's not going to match a separate surround sound system, but its not bad for a "small" TV speaker system. My main complaint about the set is that it has only two HDMI inputs, and the stand for the TV was a little bit awkward to screw into place (make sure you have a phillips screwdriver with a decent-length shaft). I definitely recommend this LG for those who want a second HDTV, or for the budget-conscious folks who want a small HDTV and don't care about having all the bells and whistles.
... Read more

Editorial Review

Experience HD picture quality, incredible contrast and a sharp, vibrant, life-like picture with the TCL F11 Series HDTV. This LCD TV offers ample HD connections. ... Read more

Reviews

So Far, So Good, October 29, 2010
First, let me clarify that the TV is, in fact, native 1080p. No question about it.

Second, the panel on this TV is made by Samsung, and the quality is excellent.

Third, TCL's website has a find service center location search and it is quite extensive ..

Based on the two year warrantee, what I am seeing with my TV and Amazons excellent delivery, I'm giving this set a Best Buy rating ..

UPDATE 11/16/2010 .. this set is just plain excellent .. and Amazon service is top of the line .. my set developed a thin blue vertical line, I contacted Amazon, they picked up the set the next day and delivered a new set at the same time .. hard to beat that ..

Update 11/17/2010 .. it's a bit tiresome getting messages from folks who 1) don't have the TV and want to slam it in a public review 2)Know little to nothing about TV's .. I had an electronic repair business for 10 years and I've worked on a lot of TV's .. so I know what I'm talking about .. any TV by any maker is not 100% perfect 100% of the time .. I stand by the fact that this is a great set .. hey, if you don't want to buy it, go get something from the local 'Mart or what not .. or get nothing at all .. matters not to me .. I think you'll be missing out on a great deal, however ..

UPDATE 12/08/2010 .. Thanks to Original Aspect Ratio .... you might try this on any remote and see if it works .. what have you got to lose .. ?? .. keep in mind that this TV has been branded as RCA in the past ..
I have a Logitech Harmony remote. When I select "RCA L32HD41" the tv works 100% as far as I can tell.

Nice Picture, Nice Price, August 24, 2010

Great price , awesome HDTV !, August 21, 2010
TCL L40FHDF11TA 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV with 2-Year Warranty, Black

Summary
Pros:
Good price, quick no cost Amazon Prime delivery, decent picture, decent sound, tunes via RF to both cable analog, digital, and HD and over the air digital HD, lightweight, shipped in original box, 2 year warranty, works with both PS3 and Xbox 360, 1080i from cable box via component cables only

Cons:
Odd behavior with all three HDMI inputs, TV reports 720p via HDMI from 1080i HD cable box, plain vanilla no bells or whistles, shipped with half charged batteries, picture turns on a bit slowly, only one component input

*************************
EDITED 11-28-10
I've been told that reporting an input of 720p rather than 1080i from the cable box is a GOOD thing, although this is odd behavior from a native 1080p display in my experience. In addition according to the users manual the issue I experienced with the PS3 and HDMI input should resolve with unplugging and plugging back in the TV. Please bear this in mind when reading my review. I have revised my rating upward to 4 stars.

**************************

I've had this TV for about two weeks now, keeping it on pretty much 24/7; I want to discover any immediately developing problems as this will be a Christmas gift.

I've had it hooked up to cable via the RF input, and receive analog, digital, and a few HD channels from Comcast, as expected. No problems, nice picture, pretty good sound, easy setup, not too slow to change channels. RF cable and Xbox 360 component input is my intended end use. Just remember to point the remote to the lower left hand corner when standing close, and have a pair of fresh AAA alkaline batteries handy.

I was going to wait a while longer to review the L40FHDF11TA; I've been slowly testing the inputs. However, I have found an issue that could be a deal breaker for some:

The TV HDMI inputs do not recognize a 1080i input signal from my Comcast box, a Motorola DVR DCH 3416. The TV reports a 720p input signal on all three HDMI inputs. It does correctly report a 1080i input signal via component cables only from the cable box, however hook the HDMI back in to the TV and both inputs report 720p by the TCL L40FHDF11TA. These are the input signal reports from the TV only, the TCL L40FHDF11TA will deinterlace (with 1080i) or scale up (with 720p) to display 1080p in either case.

Here is what I have found in testing the inputs as reported by the TV:

HDMI
1080p correct with PS3, both native and blu ray; reliably with HDMI input 2 only (work around available, see above)
1080i correct with up converting Phillips DVD player, all three HDMI inputs
720p unexpected with above mentioned Comcast cable box, all three inputs

Component (remember there is only one of these)
1080i correct with Comcast cable box, but will reoprt 720p if HDMI from cable box is also plugged in
1080p correct with native Xbox 360, 480p with DVD playing (no upconversion)
480p correct from ReplayTV

Composite
480i correct from portable DVD player

S-Video
not available with TCL L40FHDF11TA

RF
correct input direct from Comcast cable, analog, digital, and 1080i HD signal working, no further information

Audio inputs in (analog) working

Headphone out working

USB media in JPEG working, no mp4 or AVI support

SPDF digital audio out not tested

VGA not tested

DVI/Computer audio in not tested

Audio output (analog) not tested

The TCL L40FHDF11TA 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV meets my needs; however the lack of multiple legacy inputs coupled with the odd behavior of at least some of the HDMI inputs with at least some HDMI sources should be carefully considered by any buyer.

Great Price! Great TV!, August 27, 2010

TCL, who's that? Who Cares, TV is awesome!, November 21, 2010

So I bought this TV last week on sale. I'd been in the market for like 2 weeks, it was driving me crazy. Samsung, LG, Sony, 1080p, 720P, 3D, 60hz, 120hz. Its nuts. Then this went on sale for with free shipping and a 2 year warranty. I was like what the what!

Mainly I wanted something 40-46 inch with 1080p. I didn't care about internet connectivity and for that price you better not either. That feature commands a premium I guess.

Who's TLC I said...there were a few reviews (mostly positive) and the price was right so I took the plunge.

Boy am I happy I did, I'm no videophile/audiophile but from what I can tell the picture and sound is pretty darn good. I've hooked my xbox 360 and new bluray player to it and to my untrained eye it's pretty awesome.
You'll have to tweak with the picture settings to work out some contrast issues (blacks seem to blend a bit but adjusting the brightness seemed to help greatly)

Overall I'm extremely happy, like I said I'm no video quality freak but for a normal dude that's just trying to get his Xbox and bluray on in 1080p its 100% satisfying. Also I'm watching football today over cable at 1080i and its great. I was little worried about the 60hz but I don't see any issues.

At its current price its still a steal, unless you can find a name brand with the same specs for the same price and the only reason I say that is cause all my peeps always have a good laugh at me every time they see my weird low priced electronics. They're such elitists, hopefully your friends are more grounded ;)

I had a "Soyo" LCD tv before this. Never heard of them? Yeah doesn't surprise me. What can I say I love a bargain and to be honest these upstarts haven't disappointed me yet. Though I think Soyo went out of business LOL.

Back to the point If you're on the fence about picture quality, don't. I think for most people its gonna be just fine. Like mickey D's I'm loving it.

So Far, So Good, October 29, 2010
First, let me clarify that the TV is, in fact, native 1080p. No question about it.

Second, the panel on this TV is made by Samsung, and the quality is excellent.

Third, TCL's website has a find service center location search and it is quite extensive ..

Based on the two year warrantee, what I am seeing with my TV and Amazons excellent delivery, I'm giving this set a Best Buy rating ..

UPDATE 11/16/2010 .. this set is just plain excellent .. and Amazon service is top of the line .. my set developed a thin blue vertical line, I contacted Amazon, they picked up the set the next day and delivered a new set at the same time .. hard to beat that ..

Update 11/17/2010 .. it's a bit tiresome getting messages from folks who 1) don't have the TV and want to slam it in a public review 2)Know little to nothing about TV's .. I had an electronic repair business for 10 years and I've worked on a lot of TV's .. so I know what I'm talking about .. any TV by any maker is not 100% perfect 100% of the time .. I stand by the fact that this is a great set .. hey, if you don't want to buy it, go get something from the local 'Mart or what not .. or get nothing at all .. matters not to me .. I think you'll be missing out on a great deal, however ..

UPDATE 12/08/2010 .. Thanks to Original Aspect Ratio .... you might try this on any remote and see if it works .. what have you got to lose .. ?? .. keep in mind that this TV has been branded as RCA in the past ..
I have a Logitech Harmony remote. When I select "RCA L32HD41" the tv works 100% as far as I can tell.

Nice Picture, Nice Price, August 24, 2010

Great price , awesome HDTV !, August 21, 2010
Had to write a review for others like me who hadn't heard of the brand and were skeptical. This TV rocks ! It has a 2 yr warranty and a beautiful picture. I bought one for my mom , because her old HDTV broke. I spent over $800 on a Samsung 32 inch about 2 years ago (bought through Amazon) , and man do I regret that because the price on TV's dropped like crazy right after. This TV is just as good WITH MORE FEATURES than my Samsung. for the price you can't beat it , I got it for $320 !

affordable 1080p with odd HDMI input, November 21, 2010
TCL L40FHDF11TA 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV with 2-Year Warranty, Black

Summary
Pros:
Good price, quick no cost Amazon Prime delivery, decent picture, decent sound, tunes via RF to both cable analog, digital, and HD and over the air digital HD, lightweight, shipped in original box, 2 year warranty, works with both PS3 and Xbox 360, 1080i from cable box via component cables only

Cons:
Odd behavior with all three HDMI inputs, TV reports 720p via HDMI from 1080i HD cable box, plain vanilla no bells or whistles, shipped with half charged batteries, picture turns on a bit slowly, only one component input

*************************
EDITED 11-28-10
I've been told that reporting an input of 720p rather than 1080i from the cable box is a GOOD thing, although this is odd behavior from a native 1080p display in my experience. In addition according to the users manual the issue I experienced with the PS3 and HDMI input should resolve with unplugging and plugging back in the TV. Please bear this in mind when reading my review. I have revised my rating upward to 4 stars.

**************************

I've had this TV for about two weeks now, keeping it on pretty much 24/7; I want to discover any immediately developing problems as this will be a Christmas gift.

I've had it hooked up to cable via the RF input, and receive analog, digital, and a few HD channels from Comcast, as expected. No problems, nice picture, pretty good sound, easy setup, not too slow to change channels. RF cable and Xbox 360 component input is my intended end use. Just remember to point the remote to the lower left hand corner when standing close, and have a pair of fresh AAA alkaline batteries handy.

I was going to wait a while longer to review the L40FHDF11TA; I've been slowly testing the inputs. However, I have found an issue that could be a deal breaker for some:

The TV HDMI inputs do not recognize a 1080i input signal from my Comcast box, a Motorola DVR DCH 3416. The TV reports a 720p input signal on all three HDMI inputs. It does correctly report a 1080i input signal via component cables only from the cable box, however hook the HDMI back in to the TV and both inputs report 720p by the TCL L40FHDF11TA. These are the input signal reports from the TV only, the TCL L40FHDF11TA will deinterlace (with 1080i) or scale up (with 720p) to display 1080p in either case.

Here is what I have found in testing the inputs as reported by the TV:

HDMI
1080p correct with PS3, both native and blu ray; reliably with HDMI input 2 only (work around available, see above)
1080i correct with up converting Phillips DVD player, all three HDMI inputs
720p unexpected with above mentioned Comcast cable box, all three inputs

Component (remember there is only one of these)
1080i correct with Comcast cable box, but will reoprt 720p if HDMI from cable box is also plugged in
1080p correct with native Xbox 360, 480p with DVD playing (no upconversion)
480p correct from ReplayTV

Composite
480i correct from portable DVD player

S-Video
not available with TCL L40FHDF11TA

RF
correct input direct from Comcast cable, analog, digital, and 1080i HD signal working, no further information

Audio inputs in (analog) working

Headphone out working

USB media in JPEG working, no mp4 or AVI support

SPDF digital audio out not tested

VGA not tested

DVI/Computer audio in not tested

Audio output (analog) not tested

The TCL L40FHDF11TA 40-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV meets my needs; however the lack of multiple legacy inputs coupled with the odd behavior of at least some of the HDMI inputs with at least some HDMI sources should be carefully considered by any buyer.

Great Price! Great TV!, August 27, 2010
Bought this for my college dorm this year and it works great! The picture is just as good as my samsung at home! My xbox 360 in HD looks amazing in 720p, you won't be able to tell the difference between 1080p at 32 inches. It's easy to set up right out of the box and the best thing is that it comes with a 2 YEAR WARRANTY! Overall for 320 dollars it provides great value! I don't think you'll find a new 32 inch TV cheaper anywhere else. Give it a chance!

TCL Television Warranty -Service Locations, November 19, 2010
I purchased this TV based on fairly good reviews,good price and two year warranty.On TCL/USA website they list two warranty service companies in my area of Overland Park,Kansas. I contacted both of these companies and they do not service TCL televisions. I contacted TCL customer Support at 1-877-300-8837 and they would not tell me where I could get warranty service other than to look at their website. So what good is a warranty if you cannot get any service? I hope someone with TCL sees this post and responds. I also think Amazon.com should look into this problem since they make a big deal about the two year warranty. Let the buyer beware.

Love it!, August 26, 2010

Excellent budget TV for a 2nd room, Student Apartment, or Deal-finders, November 22, 2010
With so much confusion regarding the TV and it's specs, I figured a video review might be the best for resolving that issue. Amazon limits the size and length of Video Reviews pretty badly, so it can be found on YouTube here: [[...]] On many forum sites, the following questions often come up, and here's the answer to them as well:

Matte or Glossy Screen?
- Semi-Glossy. No glare is noticed during video playback, and when staring into the screen in the off position, it's not a mirror, like some Toshiba or HP laptops have.

Seriously, is this 1080p or 720p? I read it's one and the other on a lot of websites.
- Interestingly, the TV accepts a 1080p signal, but displays it with the amount of pixels it has the capability of displaying, which is 1366 x 768. You'll see some examples in the video.

I heard it has no buttons on the TV display itself, so if you lose the remote, you're screwed. Is this true?
- No, absolutely not. On the left side, towards the top, there's a Power button, volume and channel changing options, and a menu button.

What files does the USB connection support?
- The TV lets you choose between "photo" and "music" modes during USB play. So videos don't work from the USB itself.
- From my tests,the following worked: jpg, png, mp3,
- And these didn't: .txt, .wmv, .mkv, .avi, .ico, .flac,

Great Price, Great Product, October 10, 2010

TCL, who's that? Who Cares, TV is awesome!, November 21, 2010

So I bought this TV last week on sale. I'd been in the market for like 2 weeks, it was driving me crazy. Samsung, LG, Sony, 1080p, 720P, 3D, 60hz, 120hz. Its nuts. Then this went on sale for with free shipping and a 2 year warranty. I was like what the what!

Mainly I wanted something 40-46 inch with 1080p. I didn't care about internet connectivity and for that price you better not either. That feature commands a premium I guess.

Who's TLC I said...there were a few reviews (mostly positive) and the price was right so I took the plunge.

Boy am I happy I did, I'm no videophile/audiophile but from what I can tell the picture and sound is pretty darn good. I've hooked my xbox 360 and new bluray player to it and to my untrained eye it's pretty awesome.
You'll have to tweak with the picture settings to work out some contrast issues (blacks seem to blend a bit but adjusting the brightness seemed to help greatly)

Overall I'm extremely happy, like I said I'm no video quality freak but for a normal dude that's just trying to get his Xbox and bluray on in 1080p its 100% satisfying. Also I'm watching football today over cable at 1080i and its great. I was little worried about the 60hz but I don't see any issues.

At its current price its still a steal, unless you can find a name brand with the same specs for the same price and the only reason I say that is cause all my peeps always have a good laugh at me every time they see my weird low priced electronics. They're such elitists, hopefully your friends are more grounded ;)

I had a "Soyo" LCD tv before this. Never heard of them? Yeah doesn't surprise me. What can I say I love a bargain and to be honest these upstarts haven't disappointed me yet. Though I think Soyo went out of business LOL.

Back to the point If you're on the fence about picture quality, don't. I think for most people its gonna be just fine. Like mickey D's I'm loving it.
... Read more

Editorial Review

Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player is perfect for watching movies via DVD or the Internet at home. The Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc Player expands your viewing experience with its Internet connectivity. Through VIERA Cast , Panasonic gives you instant content and access to YouTube, Picasa, Netflix, Pandora and other online resources. Player even has a wireless LAN so it can be online anywhere in your home if you have wireless Internet connectivity. On top of that, Blu-Ray Disc players allow for six times more storage than a standard DVD, making it possible for studios to add features and resolution to movies they burn to these discs. Included in these features are often soundtracks to movies, outtakes, directors narration and actor interviews. Further, the added resolution is ideal for the wide selection of HDTVs on the market today offering pictures up to 1080p. Included features of the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player. This amazing DVD player features True-to-Cinema picture quality, 7.1 channel audio decoder and analog output, VIERA Cast with wireless LAN, HDMI connection, a wireless LAN adapter, and digital tube sound simulator for great audio. Save $70 off MSRP! Order the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player now and pay our fantastic Deal of the Day price! Get the best video from your DVDs and the Internet and save on the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player with the Brookstone Deal of the Day! ... Read more

Reviews

Great Picture and Sound, but Ergonomically Challenged, June 3, 2010
There is a lot to like about Panasonic's latest high-end Blu-ray player, the DMP-BD85: excellent video and audio performance, a rich assortment of streaming media options (Netflix, Amazon VOD, YouTube, Pandora Internet Radio and now VUDU via a recent firmware upgrade), and a highly customizable assortment of tweakable parameters for audio and video hobbyists. Also, with built in Wi-Fi via the included USB adapter, it's easier than it used to be to reap the benefits of an internet-enabled player. However, the bland text-based menus and operational idiosyncrasies of the player make it feel a little bit behind the times.

DVD upconversion is very good to excellent, with some enhancements to Panasonic's Uniphier video processor that are only available in the BD85 and in the new Blu-ray 3D players, the DMP-BDT300 and DMP-BDT350. The entry-level BD45 and BD65 players include a slightly lesser quality version of the Uniphier processor, equivalent to Panasonic's 2009 players. Diagonal lines are clean and free from jaggies, 2:3 film cadence is easily detected by the player, preventing the tell-tale moire distortion that can occur on lesser players, and edge detail is smooth and fairly free of aliasing and any combing or tearing artifacts.

Turning to high def Blu-ray Disc playback, advances to the player's chroma (color) upconversion processor enable outstanding color reproduction and color detail from 1080p Blu-ray Disc, superior to Blu-ray playback on some other more expensive players. To be honest, these improvements are only really visible on larger screen sizes (e.g., large screen projection systems) but home theater hobbyists and videophiles will appreciate the exceptional Blu-ray playback quality of the BD85.

Audio quality is also excellent, with some innovative enhancements to the way digital audio is handled that can improve the sound quality, even over HDMI PCM and bitstream connections (specifically the "Jitter Purifier" and "High Clarity Audio" features). By providing more accurate data for the audio clock, the BD85 minimizes jitter that can detract from the sound quality, even when your receiver or preamp does the audio decoding. For those who have older non-HDMI receivers, the BD85's multi-channel analog outputs and on-board decoding for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD can provide outstanding lossless audio from Blu-ray Disc (just be prepared to spend some time tweaking the player's speaker settings and your receiver to get the sound dialed in just right).

In our testing, the included 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi adapter worked well. Also with the WiFi adapter is a 3-foot USB extension cable which allows you to place the wireless antenna module outside the audio cabinet where it can get better WiFi reception. We were easily able to stream Netflix in HD using the WiFi adapter one floor away from our 802.11g Linksys wireless router. Access to Netflix, Amazon and YouTube was pretty reliable (though we tested YouTube and Netflix much more heavily than Amazon VOD), and BD-Live features worked well on the player (as long as you give it a couple of minutes to fully connect to the network). Also, for those with the firmware 1.23 applied, as of June, 2010, Pandora is now available in the VIERA Cast screen on this player, and firmware 1.51 (11/2010) brought VUDU to this and other 2010 model year Panasonic players.

But Panasonic made some ergonomic choices here that are a bit questionable. They shortened the remote vs. last year's models by about an inch. And while this does make the basic functions like transport and menu navigation a little easier to operate (at least to my thumbs), the smaller size meant removing the "Set-up" button entirely, and making the frequently used "Display" button much smaller and easy to miss. And although there is a VIERA Cast button the remote, which allows access to all the IPTV streaming goodies, the player lacks an integrated splash screen (as seen on recent LG and Samsung players) which would give you the option to select between disc-based, USB-based on web-based content in an integrated and logical way.

Also, within the "Functions" menu, there is an option called "Network" which actually launches the VIERA Cast screen (why not call it "VIERA Cast" to be consistent?). Perhaps most frustrating to those who watch a lot of foreign films (or non-native English speakers), there is no subtitle button on the remote. Instead subtitle controls are buried deep within the "Display" menu, where you'll also find the nifty 24p mode switch for DVD playback. This is nothing new in the BD85, but it is a questionable choice for a fairly commonly used function.

In the area of loading speed, the BD85 carries on the tradition of earlier Panasonic players being a fairly sluggish disc loader. Sure, there is a "fast boot" option (Quick Start), which can take you from powered off to the basic splash screen and "no disc" message in under 2 seconds. But after that initial boot, you'll still be waiting a while to view your discs - we clocked the disc loading times at about 20 seconds to load a standard DVD, 36 seconds to load a Blu-ray and 39 seconds to load a BD-Java Blu-ray (the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie). A BD-Live heavy title ("Inglourious Basterds") can take over two minutes to get to a visible screen, though we did find that using an SDHC card instead of a standard SD card, did speed up this load time significantly, exposing more of the BD-Live content that we did not see when we used the standard 1GB SD card. And that's one more knock - why does Panasonic still require customers to buy and insert an SD card in order to use BD-Live? Why not load the unit with at least 1 GB of on-board memory so that customers are not disappointed to find they need an additional purchase just to use BD-Live?

In terms of disc compatibility and reliable operations, we were only able to find a single disc that was problematic on the player - the first disc in the "Alien Quadrilogy" boxed DVD set. The default Dolby Digital track plays fine but the DTS track on the extended cut of the film emits nothing but silence. Apparently this is an improvement over earlier Panasonic players, some of which were not able to play this disc at all. We also saw the machine shut itself down a couple of times when playing Xvid-encoded AVI files from a connected USB drive. But thanks to some follow-up testing from Panasonic, confirmed by us, this turned out to be media-specific: in other words, if you use a decent quality name brand USB flash drive (instead of the cheap promo USB drive we initially used), the player plays these AVI files fine.

All told, the operational idiosyncrasies of the player are easy enough to get used to, and will be more annoying to hobbyists who like to get into the set-up menus to test various options and settings and perhaps less annoying to the average consumer. It's the performance that matters, and at the moment, this is one of the top performers available for under $300. So if you don't mind a few less-than-sexy menus and operational quirks, then the BD85 will make an excellent choice for a high performance, affordable Blu-ray Disc player.

Our detailed review is available on Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

Great quality, good features, different than press release, March 1, 2010
BluRay quality is outstanding. I use HDMI with 1080P/24 active. The 24 is OFF by default. DVD upscaling is very good. AVCHD and DIVX playback is very good. The interface for the networked features is somewhat clunky but usable. NETFLIX, DIVX VOD and Amazon video services work the way they should. YouTube integration works just great. I had previously purchased (and returned) a Sony BDP-N460 because it was unstable, required reboots and YouTube personal playlists were limited to 6 videos per playlist. I'm happy to say that the Panasonic is stable (heavy duty Elmo rotation) and the YouTube playlists are not limited like on the Sony. Wired networking is straight forward. I used a wired drop, so I have not used the wireless connection yet. The one thing I'm disappointed about is that DLNA features are NOT present on this unit and there is no music services included. There is a "coming soon" block on the NET screens, so maybe its coming in the future. I'm very happy with quality of the unit and its output.

Great player but UI is simply awful, August 24, 2010
The positives have been extolled by others already: great picture and sound quality, wifi works great, netflix works great, youtube is good, etc.

BUT, and this is a big user experience BUT, the user interface and remote control have been designed by engineers who have no concept of usability. This is extremely frustrating in an era when Apple (and others) manage to figure out HOW people WANT to use devices and program them accordingly.

Example #1 - when watching a DVD, it's almost impossible to get back to the main menu, and if you do, it tends to reboot the DVD (i.e. go through the initial DVD loading process again) which is completely unnecessary.

Example #2 - the navigation around the different internet sources is really clunky. You can't easily return to the main internet menu from the netflix screen. Searching for a video in youtube is very frustrating. And for some reason you can't just type in the url of the video.

Example #3 - if you want to change the video source from your dvd player back to cable, the DVD remote only lets you cycle through the different video sources in one direction, so you have to click eight times to get back to cable.

Again, none of these things are big deals individually, but in the aggregate they add up and make a very frustrating user experience.

Given the choice again, I'd probably just get a basic DVD player and a separate Internet box for my TV that has a better UI.

A great player got even better -- A new benchmark?, March 12, 2010
I have had this player for about a week now to get familiar with all of its features and capabilities. The picture quality of BD video is simply stunning, even with my Panasonic 720p projector (which is soon to be upgraded to 1080p). I can only imagine how good the picture will be with 1080p projector! Since all my connections are via HDMI, the sound quality is also outstanding. However, unlike the Oppo and few other bluray players, this one is not SACD and DVD-Audio capable (not a big deal with me). I watched Star Trek twice and this regular DVD seemed to have acquired a new life with the terrific upscaling by this player. Colors and the picture look a lot like in movie theatres, thanks to Panasonic's proprietary video processors developed in collaboration with Hollywood studios. Wi-Fi is not exacly built-in, but with a supplied dongle which is connected to a USB port in the back. USB extention cable is also provided for optimal placement of the dongle and better signal strength. Wi-fi set up was fairly easy, although I wish the instructions in the user's mannual were a bit more clear. Once connected to the internet, currently active services include Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, You Tube, Picasa, local weather, and Bloomberg stock ticker. Navigating via on-screen menus is a breeze with a decent remote (wish it was back-lit). Movies streamed from Netflix worked flawlessly and the picture quality was surprisingly good! More video and music sites are likely to be added as there is a "Coming Soon" area, which is currently blank. I also don't understand why DLNA feature is not available on this North American model, but is reported to be available on the European model. Hope DLNA will be made available via future firmware updates. Boot times and disc-loading times are pretty quick, on par with non-bluray players. Thus, one of the long standing negatives of bluray players no longer seems to be an issue.
All in all, a great player. Too bad Panasonic was a late-comer to a player with these feature sets (wi-fi, internet video streaming etc.), but I am glad that they did finally. In fact, by adding these features to their previous flagship model BD80, Panasonic has indeed delivered a potential benchmark in this price/feature class. I would have given it five stars, but am giving it only four because of the lack of DLNA and limited number of currently availabile video/audio sites (compared to other manufacturers). If Panasonic addresses these issues with future firmware updates, this is clearly a five-star player. Panasonic, hope you are listening!

Excellent player, March 18, 2010
This is my first blu-ray player. I bought it a few days ago because it offers 7.1 analog out. I didn't really need the wireless capability but since it came with everything it needs for wireless, I was able to take the player out of the box, connect it to my TV and stereo, create a Netflix account on the fly, setup the wireless connection with my home router and begin to watch a movie in about 20 minutes ! This has been the best experience. I never used an online streaming service and never had a Netflix account. Setting up wireless and Netflix was a breeze. I have not used the 7.1 analog yet since I am waiting to connect to my 7.1 amp but even the stereo sound for movies is excellent. The picture quality for both Netflix instant and DVD's are fantastic. I couldn't be happier. A very friendly player. You can also view other online content such as Youtube, Picasa web albums, weather etc.

Good Blu-Ray Unit, March 4, 2010
Bought this to replace a broken PS3 and am very happy with it. Picture quality is great, but it's the sound I'm most impressed with. Using a non-HDMI reciever, I can still get TrueHD sound using the six channel analogue option. Something I couldn't get using the PS3's digital optical option. I've watched about 10 flicks and all load times were around a minute. Streaming Netflix wirelessly works great and I can get to it with one button. Also, one button on the unit turns it on, turns on my tv and automaticly selects the correct port. Then, by turning off my tv the player shuts down too. I really like all the one button functions.

Solid set of features: "A" rating for BluRay, Upconvert & Audio, March 13, 2010
I bought this unit for $220 from AMAZON including shipping to replace a sad-sack Sony 550s blu ray that stopped working after 14 months of quirky performance.

Sony is having many problems with their 550s models based on all the other reports I find - Worse, Sony is refusing to admit the widespread problem and is only offering to sell the customer a replacement unit at $180, I call that adding insult to injury. Basically, I figure I rented that sorry piece of Sony junk for $35 a month based on cost of equipment and total useful life span of the device. Thanks for nothing Sony

OK, I'll quit crying now. Back to the PANASONIC DMP-BD85 review!

PRO's:

Anyway, buying this new BD85 Panasonic was a no brainer. This model is the Wi-Fi enhanced model of the very highly rated Panasonic DMP-BD80 (see [...] for full review).

This DMP-BD85 has many audio-video options that more discerning users will embrace. For me the excellent HDMI and optical digital audio were a big plus. In just two connections I was plugged in to the HDMI port on my 6 year old Samsung DLP TV and to the digital optical port on my 5 year old Pioneer AV Receiver. For me, it all looks and sounds great in action. The picture is the sharpest, most detailed and color balanced I have ever gotten and the sound is at least at par with anything I've used before.

The reason I got the BD85 rather than the BD80 was the added Wi-Fi feature which is included with the unit via a simple dongle and interface for set up (all in the box, no extra cost). With this added feature I got access via VIERA Cast 2010 (included with the units firmware already) to NETFLIX, AMAZON VOD, YOUTUBE, BLOOMBERG TV and PICASSA.

I have seen some questions as to VIERA Cast version 2010 (which is what this unit sports) and if it has all of these access features; rest assured it does. I've enabled both Netflix and Amazon VOD on my unit with no problem using an old wireless a/b router. Now I want to replace my old router to match the "n" capacity that this BD85 has built in to it (gadget junkies are rarely satisfied once this all starts).

Other features: Panasonic has also announced a yet to be released feature-rich version of SKYPE access with optional accessories including high resolution camera and sound that will plug into the BD85 front USB port. I may have to buy a few of these Panasonic units and set it up so I can "tele-visit" with family.

CON's:

So why doesn't this unit get a 5 star rating? The remote control has the return button (which I frequently use) way down at the bottom of the control unit, making it PITA to use it. Oh well, there is always the Harmony Universal Remote to consider...

Panasonic is dependable, March 10, 2010
Since 2000 I've been buying Panasonic DVD players, tried one Samsung unit with glitchy software somewhere in-between, and returned to Panasonic. I waited until the company released a BD player with Netflix capability to finally wade into the Blu-ray market. I'm glad I waited.

The unit is sound, operates many formats, has terrific audio reproduction, and does indeed (finally) boot quickly when turned on, a complaint I have about earlier Panasonic units. Alas, the Blu-ray discs themselves can take awhile to load, not necessarily a fault of the player.

In terms of setting up the wireless feature, if you don't have one-button connection nor understand the acronyms WPA, WEP, AES, TKIP, etc., to set up this unit manually, dig into your router/Wi-Fi hub manual and read up. You're going to need to know how your home Wi-Fi operates before setting the connections. While Panasonic couldn't possibly know one's wireless network, the manual doesn't do a very good job of warning you exactly what information you'll need to set the wireless connection. A little heads-up and a few basic explanations would have helped tremendously. That's why I dinged this unit one star, otherwise a terrific player.

amazing price at panasonic.com, November 26, 2010
I don't know how long they will list the item at $137.50 at panasonic.com but its the best deal around for black friday.

Panasonic good products... but worst customer support., October 7, 2010
I am 59 years old andI have owned Panasonic products for many years. Mainly because they last a long time, are trouble free, and the the quality of the picture or sound is pretty good; not the very best, but above average. I recently turned off my Panasonic CT-32SF35W CRT television and bought a new Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV TC-P42S2. I also upgraded my Pioneer DVD player to the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player DMP-BD85. I understand that every once in a while a product is faulty; the Panasonic Blu-ray Disc Player DMP-BD85 stopped working after a few months of light use. I can deal with that, these things happen, and in most cases the manufacturer promptly takes care of their customers. But when customer support is faulty, and they do not follow through, they do not return phone calls, they make false promises, and 6 weeks passes without any resolution... Well what good is it to buy from a company that you can't trust will correct a faulty product within a reasonable amount of time. What happens if the replacement stops working. I'll have to go through all their delay tactics again? And it's not just me, I did a google search on complaints against Panasonic customer support and I am not alone in how they poorly respond to covering their own warranty.

So if they won't provide adequate support for their customers, why should we support them? ... Read more

Editorial Review

Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. Listen to music on Pandora, or listen to your own iTunes playlists. Even watch major sports, news, or original Internet programming. It's all available whenever you want it. Now smaller, more powerful, and more affordable, the all-new Roku HD delivers high-definition entertainment instantly to virtually any TV in your home over your wireless network. No wonder Roku is the best selling streaming player ever. ... Read more

Reviews

Setup a bit rocky, but here's some help. Once set up, works great., October 16, 2010
OUT OF THE BOX;

Comes with the basic unit, Composite cables (pretty useless), power supply, remote, a very minimal setup guide, and batteries for the remote.

WIRELES SSETUP:

Wired ethernet is also an option.
1. There is some plastic film to peel off. Plug the unit in and connect your HDMI cable (or component cables) to your TV or HD AMP. Turn your TV and amp on and set the correct inputs. The unit will display the first screen on TV and immediately ask what kind of connection you would like. I used wireless, which I suspect will be most popular.

2. Wireless networks in range with SSID broadcast on will be displayed. Choose your network and click Ok. The next screen has alphanumeric input to supply your network password if your router is set to WEP or WPA protection. If you have MAC filtering on, turn off your MAC filter or add the MAC device ID to your router. The ROKU's MAC is displayed if you seek help from a help menu button on the password screen.

3. If the following sounds a bit complicated, it's not really. The setup proceedure will lead you through it well. The unit will connect and do a rather lengthy download of a "software" update. If this is successful, the home screen will be displayed with options of what service you want to link to the ROKU. If any step fails, back to the first setup screen. Thankfully it remembers your net password. You will also have to choose a display size configuration and resolution. The unit will then display a code to link to the ROKU site. You can ignore it or link to the ROKU site and choose your service from there. I picked 1080P HD, and chose Netflix directly from the ROKU menu. A new Netflix specific code will be displayed. Then I went to my computer to pull up the Netflix site, migrate to streaming access, pick the ROKU out of a menu of devices (it's "other") and input the Netflix code.

4. Thats it! The ROKU will now be ready and will display a nice Netflix menu to choose what you want to stream and play. The Computer menu is a bit easier to browse when choosing a DVD or show to watch than the ROKU screen, but the latter is perfectly serviceable, especially if you know what you want to watch.

Some caveats/suggestions/musings. When I started the setup routine, the device kept rebooting and loosing network connectivity. It was position. It is VERY sensitive to it's placement. Don't put it in between a large amp and a DVD player, or in a deep cabinet, say. Have it positioned out in the open. If you don't have a gigabit 802.11 "n" router, get one. There's lots of info downloading and streaming to this device through your router. Some reviews have criticized the ROKU's remote. I found it worked just fine. If you are wedded to the idea of streaming media, this device is great at present. But, there is an increasing selection of Blu- Ray DVD players with this capability already built in. They are much more expensive at this time, but prices will come down. If you are almost ready to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player, maybe good to wait a bit and pick one when prices fall in the near future.

AFTER SETUP;

Great. video quality and sound are terrific at 720P.1080p coming next year from Netflix, I hear. Wasn't disappointed at all. Terrific buy.

Worst Customer Service EVER, October 15, 2010
I bought this Roku player and it completely died 35 days after I received it. It's easier to pass a kidney stone than deal with Roku's outsourced customer service. If you can get past spelling your name 10 times, you're told that you have to send the box back before they will send you a replacement...BUT..when they send you the RMA email (with the number you have to put on the box), they tell you they are first sending the replacement along with a pre-paid label to then send the broken box back. You wait three days for FedEX to deliver the replacement and when it doesn't come you call for a tracking number. After repeating your name another 10 times and the RMA number about 5 times,(seriously lots of folks in India speak perfect English but not the ones hired by Roku) you're put on hold for 10 minutes only to be told that you're supposed to send the box first before the replacement is sent. But of course, you wouldn't want to do that because the RMA email says they are sending the replacement first. If you had sent the broken player back first, they will no doubt tell you that you must have already received the replacement BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEIR STUPID RMA EMAIL SAYS.
Fortunately for me, Amazon's stellar customer service came through and agreed to let me return the device.
When the thing works, it's pretty cool but if it breaks - good luck. I'm going to look for an alternative - I don't trust a company who's product fails in 30 days and doesn't provide the decent customer service necessary to rectify a pretty simple problem. LET THE BUYER BEWARE.

UPDATE - 5 days after I started dealing with Roku support and they sent me the erroneous RMA, I got an email from their Indian support center telling me that they would not accept the email receipt from Amazon that I forwarded to them as proof of purchase. They need it faxed. Only the fools running Roku support would know the difference between email and fax. They just went from the Worst Customer Service Ever to the VERY WORST Customer Service Ever.

Wow, the variety is awesome!, October 28, 2010

Blissful installation and ease of use., November 12, 2010
Not sure about all these negative ish reviews. I love my roku player.. easy to setup. took 1 minute or so to connect..great options to watch on the roku itself.. cheap, flexible.. liked it so much I bought 2 more.. have had zero problems.

Not as flexible as older unit, December 7, 2010
Roku has redesigned their line. The new ones are smaller, cheaper, more high tech, but lack the variety of outputs their predecessors featured. Gone are the component video and s-video outputs. Only the top of the line model has some kind of output that can be used for component, but will work only with a special cable available ONLY from Roku! And, you can't even order that cable alone from Roku. It's part of a "bundle" and worse, you have to buy the box from them at the same time. Other reviewers have cited back order problems for the cable (read reviews of the XD-S).

The bottom line is this unit is well suited for a TV with an available HDMI input, or for a much older TV setup with a low-tech (and low quality) composite A/V input.

Good value for what it is, November 26, 2010

Good product, but wireless network setup's not THAT easy..., November 3, 2010
Product literature states that network setup should only take about 5 minutes. Not so in my case with my Motorola SBG900 Surfboard wireless cable modem. The Roku HD box would get on the wireless network, but could not connect with the internet. After about 45 frustrating minutes of playing with the modem settings, etc, I then spent 30 minutes on a chat with "Dinesh" at Roku service to no avail. What he recommended doing (changing DNS addresses in the modem) cannot be done with this modem. I even called Motorola service, who confirmed the same after another unfruitful 20 minutes playing with the firewall settings. So, my 5 minutes had turned into an hour and a half!

The only way I could get the Roku HD to box to work was by using an ethernet cable (which "Dinesh" said would not work in my case!) The box works just fine, and Netflix account linked up easily & quickly. Video quality on my 720p tv is great, and speed is just as fast as with the Wii (which plays nicely with this modem, btw.)

Be forewarned from my experience: the SBG900 and the Roku don't play together nicely wirelessly. Your mileage may vary...

Good to a point, October 30, 2010

Streaming Video with Roku, October 29, 2010
My only problem with the Roku was the initial set-up. Instructions that came with it were very minimal and I finally had to chat with customer support, two times. From that point on, my experience has been more than acceptable. Roku's customer service is very good and I've had no problems since we got it set up.

roku, December 3, 2010
Good service, but disappointed because there are no close captions displayed. I generally only watch foreign movies with subtitles because I have some hearing loss. Also, Netflix did not specify in their ad that this service was only available to unlimited customers and I was not, so I had to upgrade to unlimited. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Enjoy sharp, crisp images on a high-resolution large-screen with the stylish Sony DVP-FX950 Portable DVD Player. Features include a nine-inch (diag.) screen and 7 ½ hours battery life so you can watch your favorite movies from virtually anywhere for an extended period of time. Convenient touch-screen keys and a 180-degree swivel and flip screen make it easy to operate and watch your favorite movies. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent portable DVD player, May 2, 2010
This is a well-designed player which has loads of good points. Best of all is the picture quality, which is nearly perfectly smooth. The other 5 players I compared it to in the store were grainy. With headphones plugged in and the brightness on minimum, the playing time is 7.5 hours, as Sony advertises. Without phones and with the brightness on max, playing time is 5.25 hours. Charging time is 6 hours, though the first time only took 2 hours, which is normal for batteries. It has lots of volume, and with a good set of headphones the sound quality is quite nice. The screen swivels 180 degrees and then folds flat against the base. The field of view is 180 degrees. You can connect it to your TV. It plays picture CDs, music CDs, and mp3 and jpeg files. If you stop it while playing and turn the power off, when you turn it back on it resumes playing where you stopped it. You can plug it into a wall outlet or a cigarette lighter outlet and use it without the battery in. You can adjust the brightness, hue, contrast and color while it is playing.

There's only one thing I don't like about it- no mute button.

This is one of those rare items that you can buy without even checking out the competition and know that you are getting the best that is available.

Perfect for my use!, June 14, 2010
I love to go camping on the weekends, but my truck camper is limited on power for operating the TV and DVD player, so rather than invest in an expensive power system or listen to the generator, I decided a portable DVD with good battery life would solve the problem. So, I shopped and after reading reviews and viewing the advertised battery life, I ordered the unit. I am very pleased with it. This past weekend I watched two complete movies, and some special features, approximately 5 hours and had battery to spare. The weather was lousy, so I needed the entertainment. The sound was great, especially with my headphones. The picture is terrific and I really love the easy touch screen controls. I am unsure if I will use the swivel screen, but it will make it versatile, if needed. I had a cheap portable with a battery life of about an hour and a half, if you are lucky, but the quality difference is amazing. A great buy and I felt spending the extra 20 bucks or so to get the extended battery life would be worth it, and the battery, even though powerful adds little or no bulk.

Great "Treadmill" DVD Player, May 27, 2010
I use this Sony DVPFX950 9-Inch Portable DVD Player on my treadmill by rotating the screen 180 degrees, placing the unit on the treadmill's angled bookshelf, then tilt the screen for good viewing. I leave the player open and on the bookshelf (but covered with a light cloth to keep dust off), so just powering up resumes the movie from the point at which I last stopped it. When I'm done with the treadmill, I just press the player's front panel "Stop" button, power the player off, and toss the cloth over the unit.

Rotating the screen 180 degrees puts the player's screen hinge at the "bottom" or "downhill" side of the bookshelf, which means the player's weight is concentrated at the bottom of the shelf and therefore the player isn't going to accidentally tip over the top edge of the bookshelf.

The player seems to be unaffected by the very little vibration created by the treadmill - no pixelation or pauses or skipping in the video or audio.

The mechanical/physical controls at the bottom edge of the screen are not back-lit or illuminated in any way, so they are a bit difficult to see in dim lighting.

Overall, this player works great. I've not noticed any problems with it.

Best picture, sound and ease of use! Front controls. Great price!, July 6, 2010
I have used several car DVD players with low sound, fuzzy pictures and won't play some of my home-made DVD's. I went looking for a better picture, ability to play more formats and bigger sound, remote control, swivel display and USB port for jpeg pics. --- This Sony, machine won HANDS DOWN! --- Especially when I found it also had control buttons on the front of the display/monitor under the monitor that swivel with the monitor. That has been a real plus. It's as though Sony intentionally made this machine to order just for me. And the price was very reasonable too! My 4 year old granddaughter can adjust the volume herself from her car seat without asking for the remote. And if she falls asleep during the drive, we simply turn off the machine with the remote while driving. Now if you're still not impressed ----- check this out ----- when she wakes up and we turn the machine back on, it automatically pics up with the show just where it left off. I couldn't be happier with my choice. Jim in Oklahoma.

Picture Soooo Much Better Than I Thought It Would Be, June 3, 2010
Picture is GREAT! I imagined a tiny dull picture, NEVER HAPPENED. No eye strain, clean edges, vibrant.
There is a built-in speaker (this is not clear in the product description) however, do get a nice headset or earphones (if you do not, already, have one) for quality sound control.
The touch controls on the unit smooth, very smooth. The screen ROTATES one way only and the user is CAUTIONED about this MANY times, so CAREFUL!!!
The only drawback, thus-far, it the remote; it is so big and bulky for a small portable unit; a size more like 2.5"x4"x1/2" is a better design than the appox. 2"x6"x1" remote unit that comes with this release (maybe it is better for larger fingers/hands?).

Great Player, June 5, 2010
This is my first portable DVD player and it is great. I'm not going to repeat all the praises and there are many. I did find 2 things that surprised me.

1. When I attached my camera card in the USB port via a card reader, I was unable to view the JPEG pictures in name/date-time sequence. The player can only play them in the physical order that they are on the camera card and this makes them look very random. Since my camera and both of my computers can view the pictures in correct sequence, I guess I thought the player would also. Not so. But, even though I feel that this should not be like this, I don't feel this will give me any problems. I always have a computer nearby where I can view pictures in sequence.

2. I have an old Sony DVD player that plays CD's with JPEG and MP3's. I have tried to put a DVD with pictures and it just will not play them. I tried this on this player, and to my surprise, it played the DVD with JPEG pictures. This was a nice surprise to me.

This looks like a great player even with the small boo-boo.

i'm lovin it, August 3, 2010
i'm lovin it

Well, I guess I should really say, "we're lovin it". We bought this for flying with 2 young children, 3 and 4. We flew last year without one and copied the idea from others.

It is well made and has one of the longest battery lifes available. Certainly good for 2 or 3 movies before reaching your destination and recharging. The picture is very good and the functionality is simple and well thought out. As others have pointed out it is nice to just close the screen in a hurry if something comes up (lunch etc) then when you open it, it starts playing where you left off. The double headphone jacks are nice - no need for a seperate splitter. We did invest in over-the-ear headphones for our kids. THey keep a little noise out and are more comfortable and easy to keep on for kids than earbuds. I got those at walmart and they fold flat for storage. I was looking around for something to keep all this in and found an old 'soft' zipper lunch bag/cooler that was the perfect size. It is cushioned so it helps protect the player in your bag. There is also just enough room in it for the 2 pair headphones and your dvds - if you take them out of the hard cases and put them in paper sleeves.

Happy Shopping!

great player, so-so controls, September 19, 2010
The screen on this thing is awesome. It's bright, smooth, nice contrast, great viewing angle, easy for several to people to view from different angles. The battery life is also quite good, even with the brightness turned up and using the built-in speakers. The speakers sound pretty good considering their size. The drive itself is fairly quiet.

My main complaint is with the touch controls. Since they're not push buttons, they have no tactile feedback and are a little hard to operate, especially in dim light (you can't "feel" your way through the individual buttons). The 4-way control is a bit too small, better-suited for kids' fingers. The worst is the options button to the right of that control, it's easily pressed by mistake when using the 4-way, bringing up the options menu. One tip, if you see "hold on" it means you have the "hold" feature enabled (a switch next to the power switch) - it's not asking you to wait.

Just in time!, June 7, 2010
Very nice dvd player. The picture and sound quality are very good. This portable dvd player was just in time and what we needed for a 5 hour plane trip with our 3yr old son. I saw a couple other parents with the same product while on our trip and would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a good, but affordable player.

Great player, September 1, 2010
This really is a great video player for the car. It has all the features you would look for. It has great skip protection, when you stop a video and power off the player it starts up right where you left off, and the picture quality is amazing. Also, the remote control is powerful enough to control the player facing the other way from the driver's seat, and the battery lasts for at least 2 full movies. My two girls love this player. I use it with a really great holder for a car dvd player called portablevideostand, it took me many searches to find this product, but it really is a perfect solution to hold the dvd player safely and have easy access from the front seats. You should check that out too. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Samsung BD-C6500 Blu-ray Player offers Internet@TV, which delivers the best of the web straight to your HDTV, with downloadable widgets and apps like BLOCKBUSTER, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Pandora and more. You can shop online, share pictures, catch up with friends and connect to a wide range of streaming digital content at the touch of a button. It also has wireless LAN built-in. Add to that AllShare, which enables content to be seamlessly streamed between DLNA devices, allowing you to play files stored on your PC or even to use your telephone through your TV. ... Read more

Reviews

Mixed results with Internet features, keeping player for now, April 2, 2010
I plan on keeping this review up to date, so as things change I will keep adding to it. I will also try to answer any questions in comments.

April 2, 2010
I received this player from Amazon today. Within the first hour I had it hooked up to my home theater system, connected to my wi-fi network, updated the firmware over the web, connected to Netflix, and connected to Pandora. At that point I was ready to log in to Amazon and post a 5 star review. I am glad that I held off because there have been a few problems, but not enough to make me want to return the player.

Even though I have the latest firmware, 1009.1, Vudu does not work for me. I get an error message when I try to start it (I will post the error here tomorrow; right now I am watching a movie!). I was able to set my location in Accuweather and change it from Celsius to Fahrenheit. However, when I went back into Accuweather the location was correct but it reverted back to Celsius. I went in and out of it several times and set it back to Fahrenheit but each time it would go back to Celsius.

I went to the Vudu site and did some searches on Samsung, but could not find anything helpful. I also did some Google searches without much luck. The most useful information always pointed back to the Amazon reviews for this product.

I played a regular DVD and it did an OK job although it seemed a little over-exposed. I will update my comments as I play more DVDs. I haven't played a blu-ray DVD yet because I don't own one but will pick one up tomorrow.

Pandora radio sounds excellent! I have a Pioneer VSX-9040TXH receiver (which I love -- highly recommended) with some quality 5.1 speakers and the sound is amazing.

At this point I am irritated that Vudu shows up as an app on my player, but it doesn't work and I can't find any useful information about why. I am also irritated that Accuweather, in spite of reports from previous reviewers here, doesn't work. It seems like someone is dropping the ball. It would be nice if the blu-ray player would provide some kind of status about whether an app is functional or not so that I as a user do not have to waste my time trying to fix something if it's unfixable by me.

Right now I am keeping things in perspective. As a DVD player, blu-ray player, Netflix player, and Pandora player it is still worth the money. I am certainly glad that I didn't get just a standalone blu-ray player because Netflix and Pandora both add a lot of value.

April 3rd 2010

I was showing my friend the Internet features of this player today (Day 2) and was surprised that when I went into Vudu, the error message that I had been getting went away, and I was able to start my Vudu service! Setup was very easy. Accuweather, however, still would not keep the temperature in Fahrenheit. More later ...

April 4th 2010

I watched two Vudu movies yesterday. Things worked very well. The HDX quality is very good, as is the 5.1 audio. I don't like the Vudu interface as much as Apple TV's, but the quality is as good or better. There is also a very good selection of movies on Vudu. So, if you want HD-quality streaming videos with great audio, this blu-ray player can do that through the Vudu service. Very nice feature.

I tried a few more things:
Rovi TV listings. You set it up on the blu-ray player. It shows what is on TV over a 2 hour period. It doesn't appear to let someone browse through shows more than 2 hours out unless I haven't figured that out yet.

I added another location in Accuweather. I set both locations to Fahrenheit, exited, went back in and again it reverted to Celsius. Why do they even bother to put out software if they can't do it right? They have had time to fix it and haven't. It gives Accuweather a bad name.

The Blockbuster app appears to be working, but I didn't watch anything because I am a Netflix subsriber rather than Blockbuster.

USA Today news is something I may use. What I like is that I can get titles of news stories by category, and quickly bring up the article. It's a very fast way to get the news compared to a web browser for example.

YouTube appears to be working. There is a log in options so it should be able to access your account if you set one up. I don't have a YouTube account so didn't try that.

At this point I have tested all the apps and the only one not working correctly is Accuweather.

I will try some of the other features this week, including playing a blu-ray. Any suggestions for my first blu-ray movie?

April 13, 2010

I was able to set up Blockbuster on Demand. Even though my main computer is a Mac and Blockbuster on Demand doesn't run on a Mac, I was able to register a new Blockbuster on Demand account on my Mac and confirm it just by entering a 5 digit code on the Samsung player.

At this point I have rented movies using the Samsung's Netflix streaming, Blockbuster on Demand, and Vudu apps, and have been able to listen to music on Pandora. In addition, I have watched many blu-ray movies (about 20 to date) without any problems.

April 18, 2010

I have played more blu-ray and regular DVDs and have not had any problems. Everything played fine.

Tonight I checked for a software update and one was available. I like that I could check right from the player, and not have to download separately. There is an option to use a USB drive, but it's not necessary if the player is hooked up to the network.

A MAJOR ANNOYANCE: AccuWeather is STILL not working. When I go in and change it to Fahrenheit, go out, and come back in, the temperatures are all in Celsius. Who is dropping the ball -- Samsung, it's your player, and obviously you should know about this problem, so WHY aren't you fixing the problem or getting AccuWeather to fix it? Do you care about your product -- well if so, then FIX THE PROBLEM.

Fortunately, the major services work fine: Netflix insta-queue streaming, Vudu, Blockbuster on Demand, and Pandora.

June 4, 2010
AccuWeather now works. The Fahrenheit setting sticks.

This will be the last entry of this review.

I would buy this player again. The Internet features are very nice. Netflix streaming, Blockbuster on Demand, Pandora, and Vudu being the main ones.

I have not had any problems playing normal DVD's or blue-ray DVDs. They don't rewind or fast forward as smoothly as I would like, but it does what it needs to do.

It's not an expensive player, and it does a lot. So, I recommend this player.

So Far Great!, February 23, 2010
This is my first Blue Ray player and I love it.

Took a chance on this Samsung and ordered it without a lot of information availabe because it is so new but glad I did.
Just got it out of the box today and everything works great. Easily set up the wireless to my home network (and it saved the IP address and encryption key info so I do not need to sign on each time).

There are few units (if any) with all the features this unit offers at this price.

This unit offers solid access to You Tube, various videos on demand services, Pandora (love Pandora!), and it sees all my videos and photos on my computer in multiple ways (with their Samsung PC Share Manager and direct acess) all through the network. The pics load a little slow, but the files are big. Pretty sure if I reduce them down access will speed up.

Decent You Tube search feature (for a TV remote as a typing device). Easily found my own You Tube videos.

In any case, all locked in solid with minimal hassle.

I would give it 5 stars except there is still a learning curve on managing my PC folders and I am still getting the hang of some Samsungs apps, but I am confident it will all work out. I initially entered the encyption key incorrectly and did not get a password error but instead it just said the IP address was wrong. A restart with the right key resolved all.

The first HD video I played was a home video made on my Canon HD Vixia HF200 consumer video camera and it looked absolutely great. For a first view, this player is excellent. Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom

I already have a Samsung 40 inch LCD HD TV so I also figured they would compliment each other.

Oh, by the way, I had a customer service issue that was not the fault of Amazon and they resolved it in grand fashion. Absolutely superb customer serivce. Superb.

Yep, I am a happy camper with the whole deal


March 17 - update

I continue to enjoy this player. I had one blue-ray disc that did not work right - a rental, subsequent discs worked fine. I also see services being added. A few free games (nothing great, but there), Blockbuster on Demand is now installed, weather, USA today, and more is coming. Still, my favorite feature by far is being able to view shared files on the TV from my laptop computer through a wireless connection via the home network.

Viewing seemed a bit slow at first, but once I began compressing the JPEG's to a more "uploadable" size, they snapped through slideshows with ease. Camcorder videos formatted to WMV are easily played from my laptop and watched on the TV - and they are smooth. It is just so cool to create it on my laptop and watch it on my TV. Just amazing stuff. Love it.

Had to re-enter my encyption key once right after a software update but other than that one time, have not had to enter a password again. One other software update had no effect.

I upped the rating to 5 star. It is excellent. I am already beginning to take it for granted like a good chair that always just works. Not sure what else I can possibly expect at this price.

Performs as specified, February 28, 2010
First, my rating is based on three parameters:
1. Is the picture of high quality?
2. Does the player load quickly? (This is the main reason I purchased the Samsung.)
3. Wireless internet

In regards to picture quality, I've tested a few DVDs and the picture quality seems first rate. Second, this player does live up to its marketing. From the time I close the player to the first menu is 25 seconds or less. That works for me!. And last, the wireless worked pretty much straight forwardly.

So for me, the player delivered on the parameters I care about and that's why I gave it 5 stars.

HUGE improvement over BD-P3600, March 4, 2010
I currently own the previous model Samsung Blu-ray player, the BD-P3600. I can say that the BD-C6500 is a huge improvement in all areas. The remote is leaps and bounds better. Faster load times. PC streaming works with far less hassle. Improved on-screen GUI. Physically smaller and MUCH more stylish appearance.

In my opinion, this is the most feature-packed Blu ray player on the market in this price range. Sony has no PC streaming until July. Panasonic has little on VCast until later in the year. LG has no 7.1 analog audio output. This Samsung unit is the one model that truly had everything that I was looking for - including 1GB onboard memory. All for under $250.00.

The only question is ... why do manufacturers insist on making the power cord as short as possible??

Leaping into the 21st Century with a great player, March 7, 2010
**PLEASE NOTE: I do not work for Samsung, nor do I have any stake in the company in any way (outside of wanting their stuff to work properly because I own it)**

After looking at blu-ray players for a LONG time, I was finally glad to learn the new generation of Samsung players had been released. I purchased mine from a local big box retailer only because I couldn't be patient to wait for the delivery from Amazon. I'm sorry Amazon; please forgive me.

So far, I've really enjoyed the player. I own two Samsung flat screen HDTVs, and I trusted their ability to produce a player that generated a great image with great sound decoding. Therefore, I primarily purchased this model because of the built in wireless networking (to stream Netflix) and the ability to interface with my home PC. Networking setup was very easy. I had some problems in the beginning, but this was a router setting issue, not the player's fault.

I have yet to thoroughly test the "Samsung Apps," but I have been streaming "Lost" from Netflix. The image is great, albeit the connection and streaming queue time is slower than my ROKU player. Once it loads and buffers, it is fine.

Disc loading times are fine for both blu-ray and regular dvds. I don't understand why people have problems or complaints here because I've never owned a dvd player that loads discs "immediately."

Upconversion video is great--except on Warner Bros. dvds, but that's not the player's fault. I experienced the same problem with my old Sony player. It has been rumored that Warner purposefully has poorly encoded their recently released, regular dvds to push people toward their new blu-ray stock. I plan to purchase the Harry Potter series on blu-ray soon, so I'll report back on whether the image quality is better.

Finally, the sound is awesome. As an audiophile, this is most important to me, and finally I have a player that puts my amplifier to work. The 7.1 Dolby and DTS HD decoding is better than the theater, in my opinion. This is only true for blu-rays; with standard dvds, the sound is the same as my previous player--which is still good. It just doesn't use each speaker channel as much. Also, Netflix streaming does not seem to support Dobly Digital or DTS decoding at this time.

My only complaint is the remote control. Unfortunately, Samsung can design great electronics, but they must have the local elementary school design their remotes. Actually, I think an elementary student could do a better job. This complaint is across all Samsung products, though, not just this one. I was hoping after a number of consumer complaints that they would have changed their "motif" to a more intuitive design.

For my first blu-ray player, I highly recommend this one to others. I'll update this review if anything changes either way.

Great player, March 9, 2010
I have this player for over 2 weeks now. I got it at hhgreg the first day they got it. So far: AWESOME.

Blu-Ray: Very fast loading time. Picture and sound are awesome.

DVD: I had very good upscale player before this one and this one is much better.

Wireless Network Connection: Literally it took 60 seconds to set everything up.
I just had to click "next" few times.
I have Motorola Wireles g modem (Comcast). Only asked me first time for WEP.
Never again.

Sharing files with your computer: I am a mac user and i got it to work with the Eyeconnect media server.
If you are PC user you can download Allshare from Samsung for free.

Netflix looks great. No hiccups and HD quality is AWESOME.
Pandora to.
Blockbuster is there but I haven;t tried it yet. To be honest i don't think i will ever try it.
They just updated the apps section with the VUDU app. When you open it there is a message that it will go live in March(what is pretty soon).
Youtube and Picasa are pretty cool to.

There are few games in the apps section that are pretty basic.

LOVE the player. I think it is a much more than just a blu-ray player.
I think most of the complains in the reviews are user or equipment(old router) errors to be honest.

There is only one thing that kind of annoys me. From the description of the player on the Samsung website, amazon etc,
i got the idea that there is a lot more apps in the Samsung Apps store/section(facebook, twitter, google maps etc).
None of them are there (yet). Even in the manual they used google maps as an example. Maybe they will add this stuff with the time.

Nice so far, March 18, 2010
I received this item a few days ago and immediately began setup. I never even opened the manual, connected my HDMI and turned the power on. Wireless setup was easy, took about 4 minutes and I was connected to the internet. The player prompted me for an update which I did and that took another 5 minutes or so (I have no idea what the update did however). I first played with the apps like Netflix and Pandora, both worked flawlessly after activating them through my laptop. Netflix pulled up my instant queue (does not display anything other than your instant queue) and I selected The Stoning Soraya M. To my pleasant surprise within a few minutes I was streaming the movie in HD. Picture quality was beautiful and without any glitches. I did notice the movie did not stream HD audio but I assume that is Netflix and not some issue with the player. Pandora worked great, Youtube worked great, no complaints at all with those basic apps. Vudu (free HD streaming movie app) still is not working as others reported. I then moved to popping in a Blu-ray of Zombieland. Load times for me seemed a little slow, compared to my PS3 it definitely took its sweet time. I did not hear any loud noises during start up, of course I could hear it processing but nothing obnoxious as some have posted. Once it loaded the picture was amazing as one would expect. I have it paired with a 65" Panasonic plasma and it looked incredible. As for the audio portion, I had to open up the manual. You have to change a few of the preset settings in the audio section otherwise your a/v receiver won't get Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio HD feeds. I realized this when my Denon receiver's "blue HD" light didn't light up. Once I made the changes the HD Audio light came on and the display on my receiver showed DTS Master HD. I used the fast forward function on the remote and that is when I heard the loud noises others heard as well. The machine hesitated to do anything but made a series of clunky noises then finally moved forward on the disk. It has only happened one time so I hope it was an isolated incident. Other than that one negative the player has been great. It's also super slim and has a sleek appearance.

Very Nice Blu Ray Player, March 18, 2010
I have owned this player for the last 3 weeks, and i love this player. Network set up, Netflix, Pandora, Blockbuster set up was easy. The DVD's plays great in this player. Watched 2 Blu ray movies so far and the experience has been good so far. When i hit stop it does not resume again from the point where you stopped for Blu ray, i have read some forums online and i found that most of Blu ray discs do not support resume functionality. This resume functionality works on all DVD's.

I am using 7.1 analog out put to connect to my Old Non-HDMI receiver and the experience and set up was very easy.

What i dont like:
This player does not have speaker setup. The only thing you can specify is the speaker size and subwoofer. You cannot set the sound or distance of the speakers in this player.
Some samsung apps are horrible. There is an accu weather app for weather, and when i try to change the region to my area it just freezes and i have to shut down my whole system. I think samsung should test the apps before they allow it to be used.
Sometimes the player freezes when trying to access blockbuster, but works most of the times and requires restart if it freezes.

Over all i like this player and would recommend it.

No Mass Issues, June 9, 2010
Listen, everybody, there are no major problems with this unit, like some people will have you believe. Here's what I've found:

The unit needs a firmware upgrade to play the Avatar Blu-Ray. Big deal. That disc was created with the latest Blu-Ray standards, so nearly every unit already in people's homes will need the update anyway. This is one of the major features of the Blu-Ray platform. As new features emerge, the units are upgradeable. This prevents you from needing to buy an entirely new unit when new features are developed.

Wireless works fine. The input process for your WEP/WPA key is a little slow, but it's a one-time thing. My SSID is broadcast, my WPA key is 16 characters (all lower case), connecting to a Linksys WRT54G router. The router is on the floor above the Blu-Ray player and my Netflix streaming works great.

The Netflix setup was even easier than entering the WPA key. You can do everything with the Netflix streaming from this unit that you can with your computer - resume viewing from where you last stopped, rate the movie after you've watched it, and then remove it from your queue.

There is a certain failure rate with any product. Remember that people are more apt to leave a negative review after having issues with their unit than to leave a positive review. Some people having issues with their unit shouldn't prevent you from buying this one if it has the features you want. And whoever called Samsung products garbage is doing nothing more than ranting. Samsung TVs and computer monitors are consistently rated as having the best picture quality in the field. Do you really believe that a company that makes great products in one area will produce garbage in a related product?

Great improvement from the BD3600, March 10, 2010
I am very happy with my BD C6500. It is a huge improvement from last years model the BD 3600. The WiFi connects quickly, Disks load in 15seconds or less and the picture/sound quality are superior. I find it to be better than the LG 570 which I had problems with all my disks They would consistantly freeze up and the picture quality did not appear to be as vivid and the Samsung BD C6500. I recommend this unit to anyone! ... Read more

Editorial Review

7-Inch Widescreen TFT LCD Portable DVD//CDMP3 player; Anti-skip circuitry; DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, JPEG, and MP3 compatible; Multiple language, subtitle and amera angle support; Parental lock control; Integrated stereo speakers; Headphone jacks for private listening; Dolby digital decoding; AV outpust for use with home theater systems. Accessories Included; Full function remote control, 100-240V UL Listed AC Adapter, stereo headphones. Display Resolution: 480 x 234, Video System Standard:NTSC/PAL, Audio Output: 3.5mm Optical/Stereo; 3.5mm Headphone; Integrated Stereo Speakers, Video Output: Composite Video,Media Support DVD, DVD±R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, Audio Format Support: MP3, Video Format Support:MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (DVD), Photo Format Support JPG, Battery Type Rechargeable Li-Polymer Battery; Remote: 1 x 3V "CR2025" ... Read more

Reviews

great compact dvd player for the price!, May 23, 2010
This is a great compact and light dvd player for the price. I was in the market for an inexpensive portable dvd player for my 2-year-old son. I also have the TFDVD7008, but my son kept touching the inside of the player that dvds don't play properly anymore. However, because I liked it so much, I decided to buy another one. I can't comment on all the technical features because I basically use it to play my son's favorite dvds, but I like that it's small, compact, and light. I can fit it in my bag and take it with me wherever I go. The battery life is about 4 hours, which is plenty! I like that it has a rubber grip on the bottom, so the player doesn't slide around on a table (the 7008 didn't have that). I only wish there was a menu button on the player itself and not just on the remote because I don't really use the remote. I also wish there was a way to store the remote in the player itself. That would be nice. Other than that, I really like this dvd player.

IMO better then 7008, April 19, 2010
I got 7009 in retail store. I liked the picture quality so I picked one. First thing I noticed when opened the box, that there is no TV cable and Car adapter. Even here on this site in description of Accessories there is not ones. And then it became THE problem. I couldn't find it anywhere and ended up with buying two cables: One for audio (3.5mm stereo to 2 RCA) and one for video (3.5mm mono to 1 RCA). Last one I could find only in Radioshak Store. All together came to $12. Car charger for Coby on Amazon about $8. So $60 for DVD plus this accessories will come to $80. You count. This is the price of Sony DVD portables with such an accessories included. Besides that DVD screen menu all blur - horrible but ok, because film quality is pretty clear. You can adjust contrast and brightness for your comfort. Good thing is pretty useful remote control with what you can also turn on/off player distantly. It plays multi formats. So in my case 5 zone is needed and it worked well. Anti skip system is in work. Even some disks that my 8 year old Panasonic couldn't read Coby did. You can go between 4:3 and 16:9 ratio. TV out put works very well - nice quality. And it works in the car of cause with COBY CA-709 adapter (don't forget switch to 9V). Battery life (regardless it size) was enough at least for 2 movies and DVD was still on.Screen opens on certain angle only but you still can see clear if you sit aside (means you can share). There is inconvenience in charging. You have to turn off unit and plug in to wall charger. So if you watch movie in the car with batteries down then you stopped the engine your kids won't be happy I guess. It plays also MP3 and regular CD's. There are no additional slots like for memory sticks or USB. Controls on DVD is ok but a little confusing. Better use remote control.
All in all it's ok but I really wish those accessories would be included. As for unit life, how long it last - cant tell yet. Time will show.

Portable DVD player, August 9, 2010
I recently purchase the Coby TFDVD7009 7-Inch Portable DVD player. The DVD player plays purchased DVDs just fine. I wanted to use it to watch previously recorded TV shows which I have recorded on my DVD recorder. The Coby does not play recorded DVDs. I have called the Coby company and Toshiba( my recorder is a Toshiba) and each company blames the other for the fact that it will not play my recorded DVDs. I am disappointed in this aspect of the Coby, but will keep the player for use in the car.

Excellent product, August 27, 2010
I felt skeptical about the brand COBY which I always thought was a low quality brand. The design of the DVD player is kind of ugly and the screen is small. But I give this product 5 stars.

- The price is fantastic. A DVD player is technology that will clearly be useless in a few years, so I wanted a cheap device.
- There is a "hack" to make this a multi-region player. google it.
- Its sturdy. My 3 year old and 20 month old kids were not able to destroy it in a 3 week vacation.
- Its easy to use. Really, idiot proof.

Cons
- Battery life is short. I bought an Energizer external battery pack
- Does not come with car charger or case
- I would have liked some way to lock the buttons so my kids can press things while the movie was playing.

I am planning on buying 1 more so each kid can have their own!

Great DVD player, some design improvements would be helpful, October 12, 2010
I'll keep it short. Bought this along with the Coby car charger and the $15 case. All worked well during two 10-hour car rides with kids, but the volume control is on the right side of the player and is difficult to access when it is in the case. Also, the volume can't be adjusted from the remote. Finally, the remote is worthless if you have this thing in the case attached to a seat as the sensor is located on the front of the DVD player which is covered by the case. The sensor for the remote should either be located where the DVD is inserted or the remote should be RF instead of IR.

great lil item, September 13, 2010
I brought this for the sole purpose of having it to show my 2 year old son his cartoons and educational programs via dvd, especially when on a lengthy car trip.

easy to use and what i didnt realise is that it has its own built in re-chargeable battery which is great. Great price for the features and brand.

so far no complaints, just need to figure out how to secure it onto the backseat car pull down tray.

Amir (Trinidad, Caribbean)

It was a costly mistake, October 18, 2010
I was excited to recieve this item as I was taveling with three grandchildren. However the plug wasn't compatible with our electric outlets - Utah ones! So I had to go to Radio Shack and purchase an adapter to fit over the prongs (we were informed that worked in Australia not the United States) so that I could plug it in for my granddaughter. It was costly. I wanted something that would work in my home and wasn't happy with the extra time and money it cost me.

seems pretty good, but i have a question about it., September 5, 2010
I purchased the Coby TFDVD7009 player. Seems ok, but when watching some DVD and I want to pause, after about 10 or 12 minutes, it turns itself off, that is the green light goes to red. At that point it does not find where I paused it, and it is difficult to find where I was. Has anyone else had this problem or know what can be done to correct it???
Also, does anyone know if it is basically the same as the TFDVD7008 player?
Thanks for any info.

Peacefull driving, November 29, 2010
I purchased 2 of these units for our trip with our grandchildren to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A 750 miles trip. We stopped to over night both coming and going.
The DVDs we brought with us were great to entertain much of the way. I did not purchase the car adapter but if they were fully charged it was no problem.
The kids were 5 and 6 years old and they had no problem making them work. I did get head phones that they soon tired of and ended up sharing one system with the speakers on to watch the same movie. They are still in good shape and will be used again for other long trips.

total, complete awsomeness, November 5, 2010
this is just as promised. great picture, good sound and stays charged for a long time. it is my first, and it is great. especially on road trips. ... Read more

Editorial Review

VIZIO’s E320VA 32-Inch LCD HDTV delivers superior picture and audio quality at an amazing value. Includes SRS TruVolume and SRS TruSurround HD audio for advanced virtual surround sound and four HDMI ports to connect up to four HDMI devices to your TV. Exceeds Energy Star 4.0 guidelines to reduce energy consumption. ... Read more

Reviews

Visio SRS - I have absolutely NO sound problems, August 5, 2010
I have this TV and enjoy the sound and picture quality. I'm a soundaholic. If you've never had a stereo or srs/home theater sound... it DOES take some time to adjust. The sound can be *VERY INTENSE*.

I suggest you adjust the sound; turn the TruSurround HD sound *TO OFF*, but do leave the TruVolumn *ON* (you can enter the graphic equalizer presets) use these to set the quality sound you enjoy most. When you do this it's of course 'best' to be playing music, music dvd IS BEST.

If you SET the preset equalizer setting to *FLAT OR OFF*... you will be able to enter and customize the settings on your (*bass & treble*) levels.

Don't hesitate to play around with the sound settings, one click will return it to the factory settings.

You will require a lower volumn level, significantly lower... the audio quality IS dynamic and intense for this TV.

There are definitely sound issues with this model, November 11, 2010
I got this on a Gold Box deal for $[...] (normally $[...]). This was to be used in the sunroom...which we could fit a 26 or a 32 in the spot. I also bought two Vizio Razor LED 26" http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-M260VA-26-Inch-Class-RazorLED/dp/B003LL17HK at the same time for bedrooms for $[...] each (pre-black Friday special).

Living with all of them for four days...and I can see why this is rated 3/5 stars.

I am using cable through RF. No cable box. The sound issues I noticed is flipping between digital channels and analog. For example, watching two football games. If I go from an analog station like ESPN to Digital (local ABC), the sound on the digital channel is much lower. I have to jack the volume up on the digital station, then when I flip back to ESPN, it's way too loud.

ABC HD/digital is 13-1 and ABC analog is 13. I proved the sound issue flipping back and forth between the two while a song was playing on the station... huge difference in sound.

This is with TruVolume on....TruSurround on. Honestly, I didn't play too much with the audio settings like another reviewer suggested because I shouldn't have to. TruVolume should level out the sound between channels and commercials...and it apparently doesn't work.

Another annoying thing is there is a delay when changing channels. You flip up one channel...it delays 2 seconds...shows the picture and then delays another second to start sound. Sounds minor until you start flipping channels and realize the annoyance...we had a cheap AOC LCD TV that did something similar...which is why I will never buy an AOC TV again.

The Razor LED TV hooked up to the same RF cable does not have this delay...the picture and volume come up in a second simultaneously. Also, the sound difference is much less...there is one, but its minimal and you don't have to change the volume level.

The picture is not quite as nice as the Razor LED...but pretty good. I did not try this with our DVR...but if you are hooking this up to a cable box and bypassing the tuner, you might not have these issues with sound and delay. I don't want to have to rent another cable box to make this TV work. Plus I am not buying a computer monitor, I am buying a HDTV with a tuner that should work better.

I like the Razor LED's, so this just appears to be a bad model in their line. The Razor LED 32" is a 1080p set (http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-M320VT-32-Inch-1080p-Backlighting/dp/B003PGX0VM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1289411221&sr=1-1) and a bit more than we want to spend ($[...]). I saw that in a store and it's nice.

So four days in...and although 32" is significantly bigger than 26"...it's already at UPS tonight on its way back. I'll use one of the Vizio 26" Razors as it's just a much better overall TV.

Sound is great! Check the SRS TruVolume settings!, November 26, 2010
I think that the Vizio folks should have made the default to OFF on the SRS TruVolume. If they had I think several of the owners would not be experiencing the issues with the sound. I set mine up, read the reviews, turned OFF the SRS TruVolume feature and now the sound is fine.
I'm not sure how high the volume will go. I've got mine on "2" and it is plenty loud and very clear.

I purchased this to use with my new Xbox 360 with Kinect. I'm replacing a 19" Sanyo that was purchased in 1989 by my older brother. So, maybe my expectations are not very high...for $299 I'm pleased and it is a tremendous step up from what I had.

sound problems, August 4, 2010
I am perfectly happy with picture on the Visio, but the sound is a terrible
problem. My previous TVs sound stayed at between 3 and 6. The Visio is all
over the place. Hard to hear or blasting from station to station it conatantly
changes and on a single station I have to keep adjusting the sound. I am
very, very disappointed.

Sound advice, July 28, 2010
I purchased this item from Costco. It was priced at least $100 less than a comparable Sony Or Panasonic. I hadn't read the reviews beforehand. The sound would go from extremely loud to barely audible without anyone adjusting the volume control. I looked up the reviews and sure enough there were similar complaints. I returned it the next day and bought a Sony.

Sad day for Vizio, September 16, 2010
Bought the TV at a great price, but right out of the box the sound quality was bad. The volume would jump around, hitting extreme highs and lows on its own, I didn't even have to touch the remote. After the fifth day, two lines appeared near the bottom of the screen, which signaled that a whole two rows of pixels had died.
The plastic surrounding the screen was cheaply made and had warped.
I upgraded to a Samsung 32" and so far so good.

E320VA, August 31, 2010
Shipped to my door, unpacked and on the wall in 30 minutes.. Great picture, great sound, can't seem to get the closed captioning to work, but I think thats more of a Satelite reciever thing than the TV. The "Vizio" light in front is a little bright for a nightlight, it stays on when the TV is off so it works like a nightlight.. No problem.. took a black Sharpie, and colored over it.. now it's not so bright.. Other than those petty things it's a great TV.

Very Solid, August 4, 2010
As mentioned already about the sound quality. You definitely got to adjust the volume as it can get really loud or really soft. The picture quality is amazing though. The home setting might be a little dark. I prefer the movie setting or sports setting to get a little more light. It's a very good deal for the price they offer. Many HDTV's seem to struggle with sound quality but at least this one has some bass to it. And like I said. It's an easy fix by changing the volume for each program or a loud part of a program. Definitely recommended.

Great! T.V. ....Just (READ) your manual people....., December 4, 2010
This T.V. works great and has real good sound....

as for all the complainers of...("Sound")...

If you just read the manual! or even read all the reviews....example: page (37) of your...(manual)... tip #7...."Bass & Treble" it tells you....for better...Sound.... your Bass & Treble will only! work....if! your....

*...."SRSTruSurround HD" feature is...."OFF"!....

So use your remote go to SRSTruSurround HD and put it on...Off....the sound will sound much better and if you want even more sound get the Vizio sound bar or even better... get the ..."Phillips"! DVD Home Theater System 1000 watts it's a powerful! system for the price and you will get all the tv sound! experience you want and more....it has DVD/CD player FM radio and a IPod connector....and more it's a real great buy....at (Walmart).

But again if you just want your VIZIO TV to sound better on it's own...follow the tip above (*)....hope this helped you guys out....good luck.

Surprisingly good, December 12, 2010
Vizio is a stunner. People expect low budget quality, but it's way above expectations. Competes with LG and Sony, I think. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The BDC5500 can also wireless LAN ready (wireless LAN adaptor not included). Add to that AllShare™, which enables content to be seamlessly streamed between DLNA® devices, allowing you to play files stored on your PC through your Blu-ray player. ... Read more

Reviews

Excellent Feature-Set for the Price, March 16, 2010
I have had the Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-ray player for about a week now and I absolutely love it. It was very easy to setup and worked perfectly right out of the box. It's smaller in size than the DVD player it is replacing but noticeably heavier. It starts up quickly and loads Blu-ray discs quickly too. The buttons on the front of the player are touch sensitive and don't give the user any tactile feedback so sometimes it's hard to tell if you have pushed them or not but at the same time they are cool and have a cutting-edge appeal. Some people have mentioned that they don't care for the remote but I find it to be very adequate and easy to use. I like the larger size of the buttons since I have big hands. The remote seems to work well at different angles and distances as well. When I first hooked up the player it did a firmware update and about a week later it notified me that there was a newer firmware and again did an update. It's comforting to see that Samsung is actively working to improve the device's firmware by releasing updates frequently if needed. I didn't know what issues/features the firmware updates were addressing because the UI on the player doesn't really tell you but Samsung does list what the firmware updates change/fix on their website. The device didn't have any problems connecting to my home network using a CAT-5 cable. It doesn't bother me a bit that this player doesn't support wi-fi out of the box. In my experience wi-fi is very susceptible to interference from other devices such as microwaves, cordless phones, and other wi-fi routers so using it to stream a high-definition movie could be problematic when you decide to pop some popcorn during the show or if someone calls you on your cordless phone. You'll always get better streaming performance from CAT-5. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the players that do have wi-fi built in.

I have used this player to stream Netflix content from my Netflix instant queue. Before having this player we watched a lot of Netflix streaming content on our computer but watching it on the HDTV using this player has been a lot more convenient and sounds better on the home audio system than on the computer speakers. Streaming works very well and I haven't seen it skip frames or stop to re-buffer the stream. It takes a little longer to buffer the stream at the beginning of playback than my computer does but after a 15-20 second wait it's good to go so it's not a big deal. I have spoken with people who stream Netflix through the PS3 or XBOX and they have told me it takes about the same amount of time to buffer on those systems and I would imagine other Blu-ray players that stream Netflix would have similar performance. Some of the Netflix streaming content will stream in 720p resolution which looks and sounds great. One thing to note is that this player will only see titles you have added to your Instant Queue on the Netflix website. You cannot use the player to browse for different content and add it to your queue. This has not been very bothersome to me but it might bother some people. I actually like the fact that I can put titles in the Instant Queue for my children to watch and they can't browse around Netflix on the player and find adult content accidentally in the process.

Streaming music through Pandora has been great too. The Pandora app works well and has a good interface. You can give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down but only while the song is playing. It would be great if you could go back through the list of songs that have recently played and give them the thumbs up or thumbs down after they have played like you can on the Pandora website but that's not the way it works sadly. The quality of the audio seems very good and the time it takes to buffer the music is not even noticeable. We have really enjoyed having a device capable of using Pandora connected to the home audio/theater system.

I used the Blockbuster service to rent a movie for my kids. The video/audio quality was excellent and I had no streaming problems but the price was a little absurd. The movies cost about $4 to rent and you only have access to watch the movie for 24 hours from the time you first start playing it. At that price I would expect that you would get to watch the title as much as you want for 5 days just like you would do if you physically rented a movie from a Blockbuster location. I don't think I will be using the Blockbuster service very much unless there is a movie I really want to watch and I'm too tired/lazy to physically go to a Blockbuster and rent it.

Overall I feel like the device does a lot for how much I paid for it and is definitely worth the money. I have already recommended it to numerous friends and co-workers who have been looking to get a Blu-ray player. This is the first Blu-ray player I have owned and might possibly be the last since it's so feature-rich and works so well.

Update 4/14/2010:

I have had this player for over a month now and I have received 4 firmware updates I think. With the firmware updates the device has only gotten better. The updates didn't appear to add any new features but they have made the player more stable so it is less likely to freeze-up or stop working in other ways. Everything has been working flawlessly for me.

There is a new service called Vudu now that this player supports. I have not tried to use it yet but it appears to give you one free HD rental so that you can try the service. It looks similar to the Blockbuster streaming app. Most movies appear to have options to rent/buy the title in 3 different formats. HDX (1080p 5.1 Surround), HD (720p 5.1 Surround?), and SD (Standard Definition 480p and I'm not sure on the audio). I have watched a few trailers on Vudu and they stream fine but I haven't tried actually streaming a movie from Vudu yet.

Excellent entry level Blu-Ray player, March 13, 2010
This is my first stand alone Blu-Ray player purchase. I also have a Playstation 3. Setup on the Samsung was fast and easy. Blu-Ray discs load up fast. I didn't notice any difference in load speeds between this player and the Playstation 3. The quality of upconverting regular DVD's to 1080p was decent. To access the internet features, I'm using an ethernet cable connected to an Actiontec Powerline Adapter. So far, I have streamed HD Netflix movies and checked out a few videos on Youtube. Both worked flawlessly. As another reviewer mentioned a bug regarding sound, I haven't had that issue at all.

As of now, there aren't many internet apps available. That's not a big issue to me since the only ones I will use are Netlfix and Youtube. One issue I did have was using the AccuWeather App. Every time I went into the setup area to input my current location, the app would freeze (New York City weather is the default location). I tried this at least 5 plus times and the freezing issue didn't go away. I had to power down the player and turn it back on every time the app would freeze.

Overall, I'm really happy with the Samsung BD-C5500. I would recommend this to anyone looking to purchase a Blu-Ray player. Besides the issue with the one application, everything has worked fine.

Has a Bug, February 27, 2010
I am just a common consumer so I can't really compare this to other Blu-Ray players. However, the C5500 starts up and loads fairly quickly. Setup was simple and the GUI is fairly easy. The blu-ray discs I played produced an excellent quality image on my TV. DVDs upscaling to 1080P was okay, about as good as you can hope for. Online features were sort of hit or miss. It was easy enough to setup Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Blockbuster. However, I could not get audio to work. Audio from Blu-ray, DVDs, and even from HD Netflix videos was fine, everything else was mute. I tried calling Samsung, but this is such a new product that the customer support can't support it yet. They could only suggest waiting for a new firmware to come out.
I would strongly suggest for people considering this product to wait a month or two for Samsung to begin supporting this device properly. It looks like it will be an excellent product for the price... once the bugs are fixed in subsequent firmware updates.

Works great--no problems, March 11, 2010
I am very pleased with this unit. It worked just fine right out of the box. As someone who has worked in IT all my life, I expected at least some problems connecting to the streaming features. I was pleasantly surprised when the Netflix and Pandora interfaces worked without any setup problems whatsoever. And, by the way, the quality of the video and audio are stunning. Can't find a reason not to give this unit five stars.

Sort of OK, but very limited, March 22, 2010
I have owned this device for about 1 month now.

The 3 reasons why I bought this was to take advantage of:
1 Blu-Ray player at a reasonable price
2 Online content (eg. Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora etc.)
3 Network video streaming from Windows Home Server (or any other Media Connect, DLNA ready streaming server, etc.)

Based upon the description, this unit would seem to cover all 3 of my goals.

HOWEVER! there are caveats, and failures along this path...

#1 yes it is a reasonable price for a BluRay player. However, prices are coming down for these players across the board, everywhere. If what you want is simply a BluRay player at a low cost, go elsewhere.

#2 yes, it is easy to set up, and access the internet to stream from the Netflix, etc. No worries here at all (assuming that your connection has sufficient bandwidth for video, and you know how to setup/correct your connection, etc., should they arise).

#3 Total Failure. On the outside of the box, the sales hype would lead you to believe (as I did) that this player was further enough along the line of the development path to support streaming content from your own in-house network, whatever it may be, including basic network shares, or more sophisticated media servers such as WHS, MMS, Niveus, etc. However, even with a Window Media Connect, DLNA enabled server this unit will not stream your content successfully.

Reasons why it fails:
The C5500 (or C6500, no difference between the units except for the inclusion of a WiFi connection) will not be able to maintain a connection--you will be able to connect the device and stream content, but the unit will not be able to maintain a connection to your source server.

Between 10 to 50 minutes into your stream, this unit will declare "network connection lost". This, despite the fact that every single other device on your network is still connected, fully functional, and no log errors anywhere to help you correct this problem. This connection problem occurs regardless of whether you are using a wired or wireless connection (for wireless, you only have the option of purchasing the Samsung wireless connector, which is basically the difference in price between this unit and the C6500). Once this happens, all you can do is turn the unit off, turn it back on again, reconnect to your media streaming server, find your media, start it all over again, then find your place again for viewing. A long, tedious, unwanted procedure.

This unit is limited in the content it can play. Very limited. Especially audio.

The limitation on network connection sustainability plus content playability could be a firmware issue. Samsung has already released at least 1 firmware upgrade since this product's release only a short while ago (this is a very new product, as of Q1 2010). However, for the price, and what is available as an alternative (with much higher playback quality), this unit fails for your home theatre streaming requirements.

Yet another reason why this device fails: it has a very short time span between being paused and going into device shut down. After a resume from shut down, you must renavigate to your content from square one. No bookmarking! This results in an unacceptable amount of time and remote control clicking just to get back to where you last left off: you must restart the device, locate your content, resume play, and then somehow find your last viewing spot in the content....

I do NOT recommend this product.

Customer service failure, September 23, 2010
Bought unit, connected it to wireless network, and unit seemed to work. After less than an hour of use getting familiar with features of unit I received notice there was a Firmware update: loaded update. Unit would not reconnect to Internet! Spare the details, after more than six hours with level one and level two tech support I was finally turned over to Executive Customer Relations: phone calls were disconnected four times requiring me to go back through the question and answers with a level one tech each time!!! After another hour plus with the Executive Customer Relations they said they would Email an UPS Ground shipping authorization to return the unit for repair. Did not get the Email. Had to call back six times (yes six times!!!)over four days to get them to enter the correct Email address in their system: not a very long one and I even gave it to them in the Military Alphabet - Juliet Whiskey Sierra - each time.
Finally got the Email. Boxed up the unit and shipped it out same day UPS. Got it back twenty days later. It was just as inoperative as when I sent it in. Called Executive Customer Relations, again: they wanted me to go over troubleshooting issues with tech, again. Non-starter, time for an exchange of units I suggested. I had to finally tell the representative I would not argue with her further about the issue and to put her supervisor on the line. The supervisor agreed to an exchange and said a shipping label would be sent out. Two more days pass and no Email with shipping label, so another call to Executive Customer Service: now I am informed that it takes five business days for any decision to be made as to whether or not an exchange will be made. If and when that decision is made a shipping label would be mailed to me within eleven (11) business days (and why not by Email as before????). So, I may or may not get an exchange for a useless unit this year.....
I spent about US$250 for the unit and the UBS lan. I have wasted better than twenty-five (25) hours of my time troubleshooting this defective unit and dealing with Samsung's customer service department. I am doing now what my wife said to do when she heard me on the phone with the level two tech's telling me to do the troubleshooting steps I had already taken before I had called support. I just deposited the unit in the trash. I shall buy the Sony unit with the integrated lan. Samsung BD-C5500 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player

Great Player, March 11, 2010
I searched for a long time for a blu-ray player that would stream video and play a variety of video types, including Divx movies. I also didn't want anything that I felt was overpriced. This player has been exceptional. Easy to set-up and stream Netflix. I am having so much fun downloading and looking at really bad movies rather than wasting my subscription by having them sent home. I didn't have any problem with the sound, but I play all of my sound through my Sony receiver. I think this is a great player for the money.

No problems, April 18, 2010
I picked this up to go with my new Samsung TV and the two of them work amazingly well. I have had no connection problems, software problems, or streaming problems. It does what it is supposed to and it does it well.

Horrible consumer product - are the validation people at Samsung asleep at the wheel?, September 8, 2010
This device...very nice when it works...horrible and comparable to a beta level product at best when you really try to use it (should not have been released as is or passed validation/quality control - are the people at Samsung sleeping??).

Issues experienced in first month:
1) Firmware (master operating code for the device) will not upgrade over Internet - it downloads, turns off on its own as it's supposed to for upgrade, but does NOT complete upgrade (yes, I do have a working connection and device confirms Internet connectivity)
2) Samsung knows about the problem - I called them and the offered to send me a CD that will upgrade the firmware...ETA 9 business days...until then, it's a decent looking piece of furniture (NOT customer oriented company - Samsung should ship this overnight to address the problem, not in 2 weeks!!)
3) Google maps app freezes the device when you turn traffic feature on - have to turn it off and then back on to get control over device
4) Will NOT play Avatar or Percy Jackson & Olympians: The Lightning Thief...so far...expecting more new releases to not work (get the red screen when trying to play movie)
5) No on-screen display ANYWHERE of model number and serial number for device. Guess what the smart guys at Samsung first ask you for when you call them (to attempt a fix of the issues noted above)...the model and serial numbers. You have to pull the device out of your entertainment center to look up info on the back of the device - very frustrating!! This info should be available along with the firmware version (that is available) in the setup/status menu or the special menu (tray open and press/hold info button). Again, not customer oriented at all - something that a good consumer company would get right.
6) Slow! It takes what it seems like forever for a DVD to start playing.
7) Privacy policy - outrageous!!! The terms force you to accept to use Internet features and specify that Samsung refuses to be subject to any federal or local laws and only subject to laws of South Korea...but that I as the consumer am OBLIGATED to provide accurate, complete and immediate personal information...to which Samsung will have full access to.

Player has issues Samsung Customer Service HORRIBLE and RUDE, August 14, 2010
I have had this product for several months now. Samsung apps are pretty good and Netflix and Vudu work well. I have had problems from time to time with the player being able to play certain discs. Usually a firmware upgrade can fix the problem but if you have any issues and have to call customer service, be ready to get treated VERY BADLY and do not expect actual help or basic courtesy.

I couldn't play a DVD and tried to do an upgrade (that fixed it the last time I couldn't play a DVD). I had version 1015.2. When I tried to upgrade, I got the error "model information in upgrade file does not match your player". I tried repeatedly. I saw online that the latest version is 1015.4. I tried to upgrade via USB but the player wasn't offering to upgrade. So I called customer service. The rep did not even wait for me to tell her the error before she started telling me I had network issues. When she finally stopped talking long enough for me to tell her the error, she said it meant I had the latest firmware. I told her I didn't and she actually told me that 1015.2 and 1015.4 were the SAME! She said they fix the same issue and I had the latest version! She said she really couldn't help me if I only had one DVD that the player couldn't play. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor who when I started to tell the supervisor the problem she transferred me mid-sentence to another rep. I asked to speak to another supervisor and was on hold for over 30 minutes. While sitting on hold, I finally got the USB upgrade to work. Now my DVD plays. Obviously 1015.2 and 1015.4 are NOT the same.

Finally a supervisor got on the line. I started to tell him about the poor customer service and he interrupted me and said he would put me on hold to find someone to fix my issue. I told him do not put me on hold because I had already fixed my issue. I asked him if he had any concern at all whatsoever about the poor customer service I had received and he put me on hold. The call got disconnected. End of story. Never buying a Samsung product again.

If you have problems with your product. Good luck. Samsung not only will not help you, they will infuriate you and treat you horribly. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Play media from your home network and the Internet on your big screen TV. Plus, enjoy access to your Netflix unlimited membership and other premium content. Don’t confine your movies, music, and photos to your small computer screen. Experience them as big as life on your TV in Full-HD 1080p with WD TV Live Plus HD media player. ... Read more

Reviews

A Real Review from a Real Owner, June 14, 2010
I just got the WD TV Live Plus and I have to say that I've finally found the perfect media streamer (for now).

I've had the WD TV Live (not plus version) for about 5 months and it's served me well, streaming up just about every type of movie file that I've ever encountered. When I purchased the non-plus version, the only two features that I really wanted that it was missing was NetFlix support and full DVD menu support.

Yes, I am a bummered that my existing non-plus version can't support NetFlix, but I very well knew that what I purchased it.

Please Note: Most of the non-plus version marketing material says that it doesn't support full DVD menu navigation, but WD just came out with a firmware update that DOES add DVD menu support - Kuddos to WD for listening to their customers and giving them what they want.

Regarding the NetFlix support, the PLUS version has a different chip inside of it that is required for NetFlix support (something about copy protection). The non-plus version does not have the required chip in order to support NetFlix so if you read some rants about WD trying to !@#$% their customers, it's probably non-plus owners who feel cheated that they have to buy a new product to get NetFlix support.

I understand their frustration, but the truth of the matter is that there is nothing WD can do in order to get the non-plus to support NetFlix.

On the other hand, they *have* just added DVD menu support to the non-plus version, so anyone who says that they stop supporting the older products doesn't know what they're talking about.

To the point of the review, the NetFlix supports both queue playing (when you already have stuff added to your play now queue) AND browsing.

This is my first NetFlix player (other than my PC) so I can't really compare it to other NetFlix players. I know the Xbox also supports browsing, but I think that most other stand alone players do not support browsing.

The activation process was surprisingly easy (I just went to the NetFlix site and entered a code the Plus gave me).

Regarding HD content, I'm not 100% sure if the Plus supports this, but last night I was viewing some 30 rock episodes and it looked *really* good, better than viewing a DVD.

When starting to view a NetFlix video, it took about 15-20 seconds from when I clicked on play to when the video started playing. I don't know if this is good or bad. No streaming issues once it started playing. My device is connected directly to my router.

I also played around with the new MediaFly feature. Never heard of it before. Basically it aggregates some audio and video podcasts by topic. I saw some CNN and NPR content which is cool.

Overall I'd say this is the best media streamer ->currently<- on the market.

I emphasize currently as I REALLY wanted to get a POPBOX, which sounds like a better option (at least on paper), but it still isn't out and I got tired of waiting for it to be released.

Lastly, I know I didn't cover other aspects of the PLUS, but other than NetFlix support (and I think MediaFly support) the plus and non-plus devices are identical so go read some non-plus reviews for more info :)

[UPDATE June 21]
A few people correctly mentioned that the DVD menu support for the non plus version isn't officially out yet since it's still in beta.
You can see the entire thread of people who have download the beta version and successfully played DVDs with menus on the non-plus version here:
[...]

Now I'm Happy with WD Live Plus, July 20, 2010
I purchased the WD Live Plus HD Media Player to watch movies from my Windows Home server. I got tired of all the DVD's and no where to store them so I built a WHS from an old computer and ordered the WD Live plus. I ran a CAT5 cable to my LCD, hooked up the WD Live Plus and it automatically connected to my WHS. I was up and running in as little as 5 minutes streaming a video on the big screen. The 1st movie played flawlessly until I started to watch the 2nd movie. Towards the middle of the movie, WD Live started to freeze up. At first I thought it was my server so I rebooted the WHS and was back up and running again. Started to watch the movie and froze again. Now I'm getting very upset. Now I powered off/on the WD Live Plus and same issue. Some movies played with no issues and some movies just locked up. Now I'm getting upset with this media Player. I checked WD's website and could not find any solution to the device freezing so I ordered the "Asus O! Player" unit to replace my piece of crap WD live Plus. I was already to mail it back and connect the Asus O! Player but something told me to check the WD support website one more time before I mail back WD Live Plus HD Media Player.

I found this on their site:

"When playing a movie over a Network location on a WD TV Live HD Media Player, the video may slow down

Problem:
When playing a high bitrate movie from a Network location (computer or NAS), after a period of time, the video may slow down and jitter.
Cause:
Samba (the method the WD TV Live uses to read a network location) cannot play back high bitrate movies.
Solution:
If this problem is encountered there are two solutions:
1. Try playing the content from the Media Server selection on the WD TV Live HD Media Player. This may require installation of a Media Server on your computer. Windows Media Player 11 has a built in Media Server. There are other alternatives such as TwonkyMedia, and TVersity which may also work for these videos.
2. Copy the high bitrate content to a USB drive, attach the USB drive to the WD TV Live HD Media Player and play the content from the local drive".


I said Hmmm, "playing a high bitrate movie from a Network location", well this was my problem. I went to TVersity and they explained how the software transcodes any video depending on your network speed and devices for proper streaming settings. So I installed the software on my WHS. During the installation it prompted to install the additional AC3 codec. So I installed it on my server. After installation completed, I configured TVersity to use my Video folder on the WHS and behold video was streaming to my LCD with no issues. Actually I believe the video quality is slighter better now than it was before.

So I'll take that back about calling the WD player crap. Now I can say I'm very happy with WD Live Plus and will give it a 4 star rating now. TVersity is excellent software for streaming videos and will help any media player handle video streaming. Oh did it mention that it's free! So go ahead and purchase the WD Live Plus HD Media Player and install TVersity on either your WHS or desktop/laptop and the 2 together they'll make a perfect couple.

Enjoy.

Stick with the Non-Plus version - Buggy!, August 3, 2010
Before I get started, let me give you some background. I've owned 2 WD Live (non-plus) models for about a year. I upgraded the 2 non-plus models to (2 of them, so you can't blame faulty hardware) plus models, which was a big mistake. The reason I did this was that the WD Live is a great product and I wanted to add Netflix support.

So let me start with the positives
*It plays practically everything
*The interface is simple and straight forward
*Support for Youtube, Pandora, Netflix
*Streams 1080p with no issue
*Really easy to setup

Now for the negatives
*The firmware is buggy. There hasn't been a single firmware released since the product has been out either.
*If your networked drive is asleep, the Plus will hang at connecting 95% of the time (non-plus wouldn't do that). You have to do something else on the device before trying again or turn it off and on again to try to connect again - It's like it caches the info
*Takes like 30 seconds to turn on (non-plus takes like 2)
*Menu navigation is slower compared to the non-plus
*It won't remember the place you stopped in a movie/show if you turn off the device (non-plus didn't have this issue)
*Netflix - you can't 'search' for a movie. You can only pick from the selection that is presented. If you want add other movies, you have to do that from you computer.
*If you drop connection while connecting to Netflix, then the device will not try the connection again after you fix network issue. You have to shut off the box and turn it back on
*You can't customize what network devices to show on the menu. It shows all devices on your network (same issue with non-plus)

So I would suggest skipping the buggy Plus version getting the WD Live Non-Plus, because that is a great unit, and do netflix via your tv, wii, ps3 or 360.

Poorly Executed, August 5, 2010
I bought my device 2 months ago. Since then I was enjoying it until Netflix function stopped working. I checked out WD site and realized many of the other "plus" owners are having the same issue and sad part is WD has no solution for it as of now. You Tube and other internet video options are working fine with no issues.
I suggest you stay away from this device until it matures. WD is not providing replacement and saying that replacement will have the same problem. So I am stuck with it and waiting for a firmware update. Looks like WD is using it's customers as guinea pig.

This thing is so buggy. The current firmware is beta., July 30, 2010
The current firmware on this piece of fish excrement is 1.03.29_B. Notice the "B" on the end. They put out a piece of hardware with beta firmware as the standard. The thing works with network shares with a lot of work in most cases. Some may get lucky and have zero problems but I doubt it is many.

I run a windows 7 computer on the same workgroup with 4 other computers. This computer shares files to be played,listened to or looked at. I applied every registry adjustment and setting to the windows 7 serving computer to allow complete access from this wdtv live plus.(I have a mvix 780hd that saw the shares no problem even.) The wdtv live plus didn't see the shares "BUT" it could use the media streaming option in windows 7. Lame. Anyway I changed the workgroup name from the same name that every computer and the wdtv live plus were on to "fruitbat". Then guess what. The stupid wdtv live plus see's the shares. Makes no sense. I have worked with networking for 20 years and this thing needs work in excess. I suggest you look elsewhere for your media player needs. They have not updated this buggy as heck firmware in months and I am beginning to think they never will.

Overall I like it but there are some issues.., July 6, 2010
I've had the WDTV Live Plus for 4 days now, and have watched a few movies on it. So far it's played every filetype I've tried to play, except one movie file where the audio was not playing (probably a file error). I networked my computer relatively easily - had to make some setting changes on the computer and that was it. Netflix works well, Youtube plays well.

The gripes I have are:
1. The user interface is kind of lame and unoriginal. I really debated whether to go with this, wait for the PopBox, or build my own HTPC so I could load up XBMC and the beautiful interface it offers, but in the end my impatience and wallet spoke the loudest. Plus I'd rather not hassle with the extra work - plug and play was too attractive a feature. With that said, there still should be some way of customizing the UI - changing colors, etc.
2. I don't like how it does not remember where you left off in video files that you stop playing. It does ask you if you want to start where you left off if you have not turned the device off, but if you have, then it thinks everything is new and that you've never watched any file before. Pretty stupid.
3. The file preview functionality is not really a preview. When you highlight a file it just starts playing in the little window box. You could watch the entire video just in that box if you so inclined.
4. Last but not least, if you pause a video and the device goes to sleep...when you unpause it seems to take forever to play again. And when it does, everything plays in a sped up pace. This one might be user error but it's happened a few times enough for me to be skeptical of the device.

In the end, if you're looking for a simple media streamer that plays pretty much all of the files you will (likely) ever need it to play, I don't see why this wouldn't be a top choice considering the price. With that said, there probably are better options if you're willing to invest more time and money.

MP4 files are unwatchable, August 3, 2010
This device is *almost* perfect. It has one MAJOR flaw that you need to be aware of before buying.

It integrates with your Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and MediaFly accounts, which is really awesome. You can also hook in your own hard drive, to play media files.

I have an extensive collection of MP4s. Sadly, this device cannot play them. The audio is terribly out-of-sync. Western Digital is aware of the issue, and their support forums are abuzz with complaints, but there is no fix. However, the player will play MKV files perfectly. So, I've decided to re-encode my movie collection into MKVs. It's a bit of a pain, but it will also give me a chance to re-do everything at higher quality. If it weren't for this major inconvenience -- I have a LOT of movies and TV shows -- I would give this product 5 stars.

Buggy and Frustrating: Stay Away, September 18, 2010
I owned an earlier version of the WDTV. While I always thought the menu navigation was rather clunky and hard on the eyes, it played most video files without a problem and for the most part I was generally satisfied.

I recently upgraded to the WDTV Live Plus and it has been nothing but a frustrating, undependable, piece of junk. It randomly decides whether or not to play certain files. I can play a video fine one day, and the next it gives me an error saying the file is unsupported. It's always a 50/50 chance on whether or not the audio will work. Some days it works, other days it doesn't - with no changes to the files or settings. It's just random and temperamental. It's a very VERY buggy device.

The Netflix navigation is very limited and YouTube videos look just horrible (even the nice professional 720p YouTube clips look like pixilated ten year old VCD quality).

I'm beyond the return period so I'm frustrated that I basically just threw away $120 bucks.

So long Western Digital... never again.

Great features for early adopters; Drawbacks make it not ready for the casual user, December 5, 2010
It took my partner and I about 3 weeks (and dozens of hours of tinkering over Thanksgiving weekend) to decide whether to keep the WDTV Live Plus or send it back. We ultimately decided to keep it, and are happy with it, with some significant caveats. For someone who likes playing with technology and has time to tinker, it is a fine device. We would not recommend it for a casual user who just wants to plug something in and go.

Our reasons for getting it, in rough priority order were: (1) Netflix streaming; (2) Pandora radio; (3) ability to play video from another computer; (4) ability to play music from another computer. Ultimately we want to get to a point where all of our DVDs and music are on a central device and can be played seamlessly on 3+ TV sets/stereos in our house. This was a first step.

CONFIGURING

Configuring and hooking up the device was about as complicated as setting up a home router and took a couple of hours. The device does not come with Wifi built in, so I spent another hour on the WD support website figuring out what inexpensive Wifi USB dongles would work reliably with it. (I landed on the ASUS USB for $19, which has worked well--the super cheap dongles you see on Amazon WILL NOT WORK). One of the reasons we chose this box was that it could hook up to our old CRT-style TV and 20 year old stereo amplifier and did so quite easily. Reprogramming our Logitech remote to control it took at least another 1-2 hours, though this was partially because of our convoluted hookup through old audio devices.

POOR USER INTERFACE

The most disappointing aspect of the WDTV is its user interface. The structure is non-intuitive, definitely not slick, and generally reminds me of something you would see on a cable TV box or game controller fifteen years ago. It took me half an hour with the user manual to determine the command for advancing chapters in a video file which requires a sequence like OPTION - Left Arrow - Left Arrow - Select - Down Arrow - Down Arrow - Select. (Apparently nobody at WD has ever used the "NEXT" button on a DVD player). In the end, it gets the job done with a tolerable level of annoyance. It's pretty clear that WD is in the disk drive business, not the consumer products business and would be well served to poach some of Apple's designers.

NETFLIX AND PANDORA

Once you get to Netflix from the main menu, you are presented with a very pretty interface that is totally different from anything else on the unit. It's very basic with no search capability; if you set up your queues from a computer, you'll be perfectly happy. I doubt you would spend a lot of time randomly searching for movies through the WD interface; it's just too limited and time consuming. I found the Netflix picture quality very good; the video felt a tiny bit jittery in very rapid action scenes; this may have been to our Wifi connection or a mismatch between the WDTV and our antiquated CRT style TV set.

Pandora works perfectly well and again has a very basic interface that works well if you have already set up your Pandora stations on a computer. It appears to have the timeout sequence disabled, even for free accounts, which is a bonus compared to the version for smart phones.

AUDIO AND VIDEO PLAYBACK

Moving on to playing audio and video files, I have one positive thing to say: Every audio and video file that I have thrown at the WDTV was played successfully. I have dozens of AVIs, MP4, M4Vs, VIDEO_TS directories, some with weird codecs, many of which would never play on my older laptops and the WDTV could play every single one of them.

The real disappointment and frustration comes from playing audio and video from another computer. We specifically didn't want to have to leave a desktop computer turned on while we streamed audio/video as is required with Apple TV and itunes. We chose the D-Link DNS-321 NAS for our audio/video serving because it seemed like the best deal out there. Now let me acknowledge that some of our problems were caused by this device's limitations around tag serving. Anyone serious about streaming would be well served researching UPNP/DLNA servers.

The WDTV makes this bad situation worse. Rather than take what information it's given and organize it into a coherent user interface, it requires the user to navigate multiple levels of menu trees. Navigation features both to get to files as well as within files is so painful as to be bordering on unusable. Ultimately there were some very basic things we wanted to do that the WDTV - DLINK combination could not do: (1) Play an audio album with tracks in order; (2) Find a list of albums within a genre and select one to play; (3) shuffle all songs within a genre; (4) Navigate a DVD menu. Note on #4: DVD menu navigation is available, but only if the DVD is ripped onto a thumbnail USB drive that you plug directly into the WDTV. No DVD features worked for us from network shares or UPNP.

WHAT'S NOW PLAYING?

The Now Playing interface, which is 100% WDTV's design, looks ridiculous: the album art and song titles are compressed and blurry so that they takes up a tiny, tiny part of the screen and is clearly an afterthought compared to the controls (pause, play, etc).

Video files ripped with chapter breaks can be played a chapter at a time, but the WDTV gives NO WAY TO DETERMINE WHAT CHAPTER YOU ARE ON and NO BUTTON TO MOVE TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!! You can select an individual chapter to play, which turns into a frustrating guessing game, say, on a DVD that has 38 chapters.

SUMMARY

All in all, this is a fun product to have in the house and its Netflix and Pandora features are enough to keep it around. The promise of Hulu Plus (coming soon) is an additional reason and would probably be enough for us to get rid of our regular Cable TV service. The user interface needs to be dramatically improved before it will be servicable as a day-to-day interface to a music or video collection on another computer or NAS device.

Don't buy for Netflix!!!, September 18, 2010
Like many of the purchasers of this media player, I purchased it to use in conjunction with my Netflix account. It worked admirably well for a few weeks, then I suddenly started getting an error message, to the effect that "... your Instant Queue is not available".

Attempts to find a solution on Netflix yielded responses along the lines of "This isn't our problem, see WD...". Western Digital sells lots of electronic gear, and God help you if you can't or won't endlessly be typing serial numbers, purchase dates, etc, etc, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., into their support windows. You get absolutely NOWHERE!

Why this device would work, then on its own decide to cause nothing but endless headaches, is beyond me. I don't have the patience to deal with the nightmare; it's going in the trash, a $100 WASTE OF MONEY! If you want to stream Netflix to your TV, buy ANY other media player BUT this WD box! ... Read more