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LG BD300

LG hasn't produced many high-def disc players, but the ones it has released have all been interesting specimens. First came the BH100 and BH200 combi Blu-ray/HD DVD models. Next, LG brought out the BD300 ($300), the first Blu-ray player to also feature Netflix streaming -- in high-def, no less (software update required). Beyond Netflix, the BD300 features the very capable Marvell Qdeo processor to handle DVD/HD deinterlacing and DVD upconversion. On the audio side, LG's player can internally decode Dolby TrueHD soundtracks but not DTS-HD Master Audio ones.

With its seamless, gloss-black face and sturdy component feet, the BD300 player has a solid, high-end look -- more so than the other players featured here. It's definitely a radical makeover compared with LG's previous Blu-ray Disc models. Unfortunately, the player doesn't provide built-in memory for you to take advantage of BD-Live features on discs, and its lovely, minimalist looks take a big hit once you plug a USB storage device into the front-panel slot. (This method can also be used to view digital photos.) A/V connections on the back panel include HDMI and component and composite video, along with analog stereo and coaxial and optical digital audio jacks.

LG's remote control is the bulkiest of the bunch, and its keypad is somewhat cluttered with tiny buttons, none of which are backlit or glow-in-the-dark. A Resolution control lets you switch video-output resolution on the fly. Hitting the Home button, meanwhile, takes you to an onscreen menu where you select between Disc, Netflix, or Photo/Music (by way of USB device) playback. The Display button calls up an information screen, although one that's light on particulars about a given disc's video and audio track data.

Setup & Performance

From an operational standpoint, the LG turned out to be one of the speed demons in the group. It took 20 seconds to power up and accept discs, but once ready, basic Blu-rays loaded in 17 seconds and more advanced titles took 1 minute to start playing. The player's 2x search speed provided reasonably smooth image quality when scanning discs.

Running through our standard round of video test discs on the LG, I found its performance to be mixed. It passed many of the DVD film/video deinterlacing tests but failed a few of the high-def ones, including video and film resolution tests on the HD HQV disc. That said, the Blu-ray movies I watched all looked uniformly solid, with no sign at all of "jaggy" artifacts. For example, the panoramic images on the Sleeping Beauty disc looked as crisp and uniform as they did on any of the other players. And Blu-ray Discs that contain 1080i video-sourced content are so rare that any potential shortcoming here on the LG's part can be filed under fuhgedaboudit. DVDs played on the BD300 also looked very good.

My experience watching high-def Netflix content with the LG basically mirrored that of the Samsung BD-P2550. The widescreen Heroes image looked crisp, if just a bit noisy compared with an average high-def digital cable feed. And when I tried to watch The Orphanage, I got the same soft, mottled, YouTube-quality picture as on the Samsung. I tried streaming the same program at different times during the day over the course of several days with the same results, leading me to believe that the glitch was on the Netflix end.

Bottom Line

LG's newest player proved to be a fine all-around performer for Blu-ray and DVD movie playback, and its ability to stream regular and high-def programs from Netflix made it that much better. The lack of built-in DTS-HD Master Audio decoding was a bit of a bummer, but that's a nonissue as long as you pair it with an outboard receiver providing that feature. The BD300 demonstrates that when it comes to Blu-ray, LG is determined to keep rolling out interesting and innovative players.