The LG BH200 Review Thread

[EvolutionCherry]

Originally Posted by bootman

This means nothing.

Amen! The big supporters have already jumped ship. So this means jack sh_t.

[Bobby Henderson]

The problem with LG's Super-Blu player is it costs around $1000 and has far less capability than the combination of a PS3 and standalone HD-DVD player (both of which can be had for around $500).

That Super-Blu player from LG is going to disappear from stores pretty soon. The new BD profile 2.0 unit from Panasonic, as well as other new Blu-ray players will push old products like the Super-Blu off the shelf.

[yspkrk]

I don't think they meant they will keep developing and releasing new combo models. To my understanding, they will supply their existing combo models (for those who still need them).

[Chuey]

Good for them, I wouldn't be buying it nor would I recommend to anyone.

[dobyblue]

So LG want to continue getting only 3% of the market - good for them.

Idiots.

[Blu-Beard]

And exactly why do people feel this is a threat? I think it's great for people that have HD-DVD already and are now going Blu. Maybe they don't want two seperate players

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

Here's the link:

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/ne...-players.phtml


Some people are so stubborn !!! [Jim]

There are 600K HD DVD standalone owners and 300K add-on owners. That's a decent market to have all to yourself.

LG needs to put out a good player, of course. So far, they have put out trash.

Gary

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JTK

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=38159

We just did this.

Threads merged.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Threads merged.

Thanks!

And yes, I agree with you: Thus far, it's not like LG made themselves a compelling force to be reckoned with.

[radagast]

Alternate translation:

"If they were stupid enough to buy an hd-dvd player, they'll be stupid enough to buy our overpriced combo player".

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by radagast

Alternate translation:

"If they were stupid enough to buy an hd-dvd player, they'll be stupid enough to buy our overpriced combo player".

[reiella]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

Translation

"Our strategy has been to continue making combo players, and with Toshiba abandoning them and Samsung unlikely to ship another combo deck, customers ripe for the picking"

Pretty much, LG already has combo players on the market, and hey, if they can market to folks who would much rather spend 600$ for a combo player than 300$ for a stand-alone, more power .

[PLASMA-1080P-FULLHD]

LG sucks anywayz, They just want to milk the last of the HD-DUD for the one last time

[hoogoosedmoose41]

their combo players may be crap but they make a decent refrigerator lmao.

[allargon]

Sorry to bump this old thread, but I actually have one of these players. Since the March beta and the recent April firmware, this is actually a GOOD profile 1.1 player with the potential to be upgraded to profile 2.0. It still has issues with a few niche HD DVD's, but this is Blu-Ray.com.

It's played every Blu-Ray I've thrown at it. It has reasonable loading times unlike some of the profile 1.0 standalones. Moreover, it internally decodes Dolby TrueHD unlike the Panny DMP-BD30. The PQ is good. It's got good upconversion abilities. Plus, the QDEO processor passes all stress tests. It even passes de-interlacing tests unlike most profile 1.1 standalones. Does it have analog 5.1/7.1 outputs? Nope. Can it bitstream high res audio? Yep. Plus, it now streets for $599. ($400 new on Fleabay.) Only 3 things keep it from perfection--lack of profile 2.0 (possible), lack of internal decoding of DTS-HD MA/HR (possible) and a laziness of stretching 4:3 SD DVD's when upconverting (possible to fix).

[Scoob]

I followed the progress of the LG BH200 quite closely...........infact I almost bought one......a few times. I bid on several on ebay. It really has become quite a good BD player. And with the ethernet port already on the machine, it could become 2.0 as you stated. The firmware update that enabled bitstreaming of hi res audio was a good breakthough for the BH200 and it's users. Meanwhile, the owners of the Sammy UP5000 still sit and wait for hi res audio............... Anyhoo, good for LG. I personally went another direction, but if I ever see one at a really discounted price........... Not sure why all the animosity towards LG in this thread. Strange.

[allargon]

Originally Posted by Scoob

. Not sure why all the animosity towards LG in this thread. Strange.

Some of it is well deserved based on the BH100 which wouldn't play any Fox BD+ discs initially. LG took awhile to get that working. Plus, LG dared to also support that other format. Also, some of it is based on previous experiences with LG displays. Samsung and Pioneer have both proven that just because a company makes good displays doesn't mean they make good high definition disc players. Toshiba, Sony (the PS3--not their standalones), Panasonic and Sharp seem to be the only ones who can make good displays and good players. Philips is at least consistently bad.

The drive in the BH200 is actually believed to be a writer. No, LG won't enable that. the standalone has no inputs. However, this does mean that often strangely authored DVD+R's, DVD-RAM, etc. from older DVD set top recorders actually play in this one. This is no small matter. I searched hard for DVD upscalers last year that would play DVD+R's recorded on my old Magnavox MRV700.

[nitteo]

I just bought this for $499 in Best Buy. I am a new Blu-Ray convert and already have a "good" collection of HD movies.

I made this purchase because:

> I can play my HD DVDs

> Up-converts my humongous DVD Collection

> and now I can play Blu- Ray (of course)


I was wondering from reading this thread, if I made the wrong choice.

[welwynnick]

I don't think you made the wrong choice. This probably isn't the right place for an impartial view of a universal player.

The initial reviews were pretty poor, then everyone forgot about the BH200 and didn't notice the functionality enhancements that have come along since. It now does pretty much everything apart from DTS MA decoding and multi-channel analogue audio outputs. Apart from the Denon 3800 and Marantz 8002, I'm not sure that there's anything else currently available that does more.

The LG has a few other advantages of it's own, besides the universal capability. It has an ethernet port and internal memory, and it's likely that forthcoming firmware updates will support profile 2.0. It has a USB port, so firmware and software can be run very conveniently - maybe it can be run as a media player as well??

The BH200 uses Marvel QDEO video processing, which has just won an EDN award for video processign technology, amonst others. Apparently it aces all the usual SD & HD video processor torture tests. And unlike some of the other industry standards, its able to apply effective temporal-recursive noise reduction on both SD AND HD video - without reducing sharpness. In pure picture quality terms, it seems to be as good as any of the BD, HD or DVD players out there now.

Many of it's capabilities mirror the Samsung BD_UP5000, yet it goes further for us Europeans at least. There is DVD multi-region hack, AND it can play both region A and region B Blu-ray discs.

I think I'll get one, too.

Nick

[SunToucher]

I just purchased one for $250 at Futureshop and I find it to be a great player. It has been updated with the most recent firmware and drives. Everything runs great, I am very pleased with the purchase.