The LG BD300 IS THE FASTEST BLU-RAY PLAYER ON THE MARKET, EVEN FASTER THEN THE PS3. - Blu-ray Forum

HDTV1080P · 12-09-2008, 12:53 AM

Information and quotes taken from pages 66-68 of the January 2009 Home Theater magazine

According to the professional review on the LG BD300 by Kris Deering over at Home theater magazine publication, LG's first generation BLU-RAY player the BD300 is the fastest BLU-RAY player on the market. The Playstation 3 is no longer the fastest BLU-RAY player since the LG BD300 is about 5 seconds faster loading BLU-RAY's including intense java encoded discs. So the LG is the new reference player for speed. The Panasonic players are the overall best players for picture and a sound quality. The main advantage of the LG BD300 player besides speed is the ability to stream Netflix movies that are sometimes close to 480I DVD quality. Perhaps in the future HD downloads will be an option, but the current Netflix quality is poor compared to the quality one gets from a BLU-RAY disc.
The new LG BD300 does have its negatives. It does not include 1GB of internal memory for BD-LIVE and to make matters worse instead of using a SD card slot in the front, it uses a USB in the front which makes some USB flash memory more visible. At least Panasonic uses a small hidden SD card in the front. Sony hides the USB slot in the back on their players which is good cosmetically but also makes it hard to switch out the memory. The ideal BLU-RAY player should have at least 1GB of internal memory with a hidden SD slot in the front to expand the memory. Another negative is LG has decided not to include 480I legacy S-Video jacks on their BLU-RAY players just like Samsung is doing on all their new BLU-RAY players. This cuts cost but for consumers that still have old 480I TV's with the best input being S-Video this is not a wise move. All DVD players have S-video and if consumers are going to start replacing their DVD players with BLU-RAY players in the home, they might need this 480I S-Video connection until they upgrade all their TV's to 720P or 1080P. Another negative is that the LG BD300 will not internally decode all the advanced audio formats like DTS-HD Master audio. The LG BD300 only has 2 channel analog output. Still with all the negatives the first generation LG BLU-RAY player made history by being the very first standalone player that beat the PS3 machine in speed of loading a disc. Hopefully other brands will take note of this awesome achievement by LG engineers.

Quotes from January 2009 Home Theater magazine review by Kris Deering (pages 66-68)

"You'll also find a covered USB port on the right side of the front panel. Like many other BD-LIVE capable players, the BD300 lacks the 1 gigabyte of local storage required for BD-Live playback. You must purchase a USB flash drive separately to enable BD-Live interactivity. You can also use this port to play back music files and do firmware updates if the player isn't connected to the Internet. I'd like to see all BD-Live players include the required 1 GB of storage internally and offer the ability to add more storage via external media. This would alleviate confusion for consumers who try a BD-Live disc and don't know they need to purchase out-board memory. I'm sure this scenario will result in more than one service call to manufacturer, or worse, a return of the player to the retailer. Still, the ability to expand with outboard memory makes the player more flexible in storing download content, as the 1 GB minimum may not be enough in the long run."

"The BD300 can output the advanced audio formats in bitstream form, but its internal decoding (to PCM) is limited to Dolby suite, which includes Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus. It's not clear whether LG will offer DTS-HD Master Audio decoding in a future firmware update, but I'm a bit surprised this feature isn't in players across the board now. So, for full resolution DTS-HD MA playback, your A/V receiver or surround processor must do the decoding. There are no multichannel analog outputs, so lossless audio is limited to multichannel PCM over HDMI from uncompressed PCM and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks or native bitsreams."

"The biggest feature that sets the BD300 apart from other BD players is its inclusion of Netflix streaming capabilities". "Some titles were extremely soft and almost out of focus, with the image quality of a bad cable feed. Some titles fared a bit better, with video quality approaching DVD quality."

"The BD300 doesn't perform well processing 1080I content." "However, most pre-recorded Blu-ray movies are encoded as 1080p/24, and the BD300 did an outstanding job with these."

"Speed and ease of use are the biggest issues that have plagued the standalone Blu-ray player market. With Sony's Playstation 3 setting the bar for disc load times and overall speed and ease of use, nearly every player out there pales in comparison. Some recent Samsung and Panasonic offerings close the gap, but they still fall short with more difficult titles. LG did what seemed to be impossible; it outperformed the Playstation 3. When I started my testing with the BD300, I was surprised by how fast the player booted up and loaded discs. After a few tries, I was curious to see how it would stack up if I compared it directly with my PS3, which continues to be the benchmark for disc loading and interactivity. Armed with a handful of titles from various studios and a stopwatch, I set out to see just how close this competition would be. Surprisingly, the LG pulled ahead with most titles. Granted, the differences were typically within 5 seconds of each other, but most players fall behind the PS3 by a much wider margin."

Conclusion

"LG has done a spectacular job with its first standalone Blu-ray player. The BD300 sets the bar for disc load and response times. Netflix support only adds to the allure of this low-priced player. I hope other manufacturers take note, because the standalone Blu-ray player market just got a whole lot faster."

http://hometheatermag.com/discplayer...yer/index.html

bootman · 12-09-2008, 01:00 AM

Just read this last week with my new issue.
It was only a matter of time.
But as PS3 fanboys sometimes fail to see, load times are not everything and this player does have its flaws.
Its a good base to build on however.

BTW do you know what SoC drives this unit?

Blu Titan · 12-09-2008, 01:02 AM

It is time for standalones to overtake the PS3 as that will only benefit the format.

xtop · 12-09-2008, 01:13 AM

could we get this reposted without all the caps and annoying to read font? or maybe just some cliffs

bootman · 12-09-2008, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtop

could we get this reposted without all the caps and annoying to read font? or maybe just some cliffs

Then it wouldn't be a HDTV1080P post!

lgans316 · 12-09-2008, 07:55 AM

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av...269190p,00.htm

The Film Resolution Loss Test is the most important test pattern on HQV since most Blu-ray Discs are film-based. The BD300 failed the test--the most detailed sections looked strobe-like and showed no detail where there should be several individual lines.

Next up, we looked at the video-based tests which are less crucial since not many Blu-ray Discs are video-based. Again, the BD300 failed the resolution test pattern and exhibited the same strobe-like effect on the most detailed section. It also did poorly on video-based jaggies tests, showing tons of jaggies on a test pattern with three pivoting lines, as well as a test with a rotating white line

We also tested disc-loading times, and the BD300 did well. It loaded Mission: Impossible III in a very speedy 14 seconds, which was 6 seconds faster than the DMP-BD55 loads the same disc. Discs with BD-Java were considerably slower, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest loading in 1 minute 45 seconds and Spider Man 3 loading in 1 minute 33 seconds.

brettallica · 12-09-2008, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

... the standalone Blu-ray player market just got a whole lot faster."

Thanks for the read.

It's funny how excited people get about gaining six seconds of load time. I'd gladly take a quality picture from a player with a "slow" load time over one that starts a movie faster but puts out a garbage signal. Call me crazy if you must.

dsbb5 · 12-10-2008, 01:13 AM

Thanks for posting the information about the LG BD300 internal memory issue from the Home Theater Magazine. I was having a hard time getting the BD-live to function correctly and this forum helped me out. I didn't realize that you had to use a USB for memory. I swear the instruction manual skipped that part but I seriously could have missed it. (I will have to go back and take a look

) My husband bought me the LG bd300 for my birthday a week ago and I just haven't really sat down again to look and see what the problem was. This posting helped me out a lot!
Now it works perfectly...
thx again.
dsbb5

owa · 12-10-2008, 01:18 AM

Looks like the results are close to what they found here in their blu-ray player benchmark:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=74197

I had started to look at the LG for my parents but got sidetracked after it looked like it didn't support DTS-HD MA.

Halcro 1 · 12-10-2008, 10:52 PM

who cares how fast it is , thats a benchmark to shoot for LG makes poor stuff IMHO......Home Theater Mag reallly went to crap also .. I subscribed for 4 years till 05 , then poor trash , just abit better than Sound and Vision

ryoohki · 12-10-2008, 10:55 PM

Well the LG200 is the only Bluray player Region Hackable and PAL/NTSC compatible on the market with a simple Remote Hack!. I'am trying to get my hand on one right now..

NARMAK · 12-10-2008, 11:39 PM

The PS3 is IMO the best overall to date even against standalones currently but standalones are catching up pretty fast & for some this is good news as many don't like the idea of running movies on a games console but come on, nobody can deny that having a Blu-Ray player with excellent load times in comparison to many current standalones & having a huge HDD with the ability to not store just BD live content but TV via a PlayTV add-on & store downloaded movies (PlayStation store), transform into a 90% PC via a Linux install, browse the internet from standard albeit with minimal problems & the most special feature to play some of the most mind blowing visually delightful games available all starting from 300 or less

Nobody can deny that is not value for money

bootman · 12-17-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Well the LG200 is the only Bluray player Region Hackable and PAL/NTSC compatible on the market with a simple Remote Hack!. I'am trying to get my hand on one right now..

Has anyone confirmed if the same hack works on the 300?

EDIT- nevermind, looks like the original remote hack doesn't work on the 300.

Hawk88 · 12-19-2008, 01:41 PM

I am getting the BD300 for xmas. Didn't realize some other players had internal memory. Oh well. I will not need DTSHD, as my Yamaha reciever does it. I saw today they released a new firmware to enable Netflix HD. Any owners of this player here? How do you like the blueray playback. Anyone tried the new firmware?

FendersRule · 12-19-2008, 07:30 PM

prerich · 12-19-2008, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryoohki

Well the LG200 is the only Bluray player Region Hackable and PAL/NTSC compatible on the market with a simple Remote Hack!. I'am trying to get my hand on one right now..

I own one

slaizer2000 · 12-19-2008, 07:54 PM

PS3 has the best future functionallity impovement over any standalone. Becasue of the cell processors sony can right code for this machine to do just about anything. DVD and now 3D capability. Don't be surprise if the PS3 makes you coffee in a few years.

HDTV1080P · 01-06-2009, 05:07 PM

The original Home theater magazine article on the LG BD300 just became available online for reading at the following link
http://hometheatermag.com/discplayers/lg_bd300_network_blu-ray_player/index.html

HDPlasma · 01-06-2009, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slaizer2000

PS3 has the best future functionallity impovement over any standalone. Becasue of the cell processors sony can right code for this machine to do just about anything. DVD and now 3D capability. Don't be surprise if the PS3 makes you coffee in a few years.

It still won't send/support bitstream HD audio or have analog outputs.

ozzman · 01-06-2009, 09:20 PM

The Ps3 is fast loading and from what is being said this LG is faster .

I think were just talking about seconds here .
Compaire the Lg to a Blu-player that takes up to and over a minute , Now thats a big deal (notice how i didn't name any players,Iam playing nice).

I personal would just say there both really good with loading times

12-09-2008, 12:53 AM	#1
HDTV1080P Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Jan 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 205	The LG BD300 IS THE FASTEST BLU-RAY PLAYER ON THE MARKET, EVEN FASTER THEN THE PS3. Information and quotes taken from pages 66-68 of the January 2009 Home Theater magazine According to the professional review on the LG BD300 by Kris Deering over at Home theater magazine publication, LG's first generation BLU-RAY player the BD300 is the fastest BLU-RAY player on the market. The Playstation 3 is no longer the fastest BLU-RAY player since the LG BD300 is about 5 seconds faster loading BLU-RAY's including intense java encoded discs. So the LG is the new reference player for speed. The Panasonic players are the overall best players for picture and a sound quality. The main advantage of the LG BD300 player besides speed is the ability to stream Netflix movies that are sometimes close to 480I DVD quality. Perhaps in the future HD downloads will be an option, but the current Netflix quality is poor compared to the quality one gets from a BLU-RAY disc. The new LG BD300 does have its negatives. It does not include 1GB of internal memory for BD-LIVE and to make matters worse instead of using a SD card slot in the front, it uses a USB in the front which makes some USB flash memory more visible. At least Panasonic uses a small hidden SD card in the front. Sony hides the USB slot in the back on their players which is good cosmetically but also makes it hard to switch out the memory. The ideal BLU-RAY player should have at least 1GB of internal memory with a hidden SD slot in the front to expand the memory. Another negative is LG has decided not to include 480I legacy S-Video jacks on their BLU-RAY players just like Samsung is doing on all their new BLU-RAY players. This cuts cost but for consumers that still have old 480I TV's with the best input being S-Video this is not a wise move. All DVD players have S-video and if consumers are going to start replacing their DVD players with BLU-RAY players in the home, they might need this 480I S-Video connection until they upgrade all their TV's to 720P or 1080P. Another negative is that the LG BD300 will not internally decode all the advanced audio formats like DTS-HD Master audio. The LG BD300 only has 2 channel analog output. Still with all the negatives the first generation LG BLU-RAY player made history by being the very first standalone player that beat the PS3 machine in speed of loading a disc. Hopefully other brands will take note of this awesome achievement by LG engineers. Quotes from January 2009 Home Theater magazine review by Kris Deering (pages 66-68) "You'll also find a covered USB port on the right side of the front panel. Like many other BD-LIVE capable players, the BD300 lacks the 1 gigabyte of local storage required for BD-Live playback. You must purchase a USB flash drive separately to enable BD-Live interactivity. You can also use this port to play back music files and do firmware updates if the player isn't connected to the Internet. I'd like to see all BD-Live players include the required 1 GB of storage internally and offer the ability to add more storage via external media. This would alleviate confusion for consumers who try a BD-Live disc and don't know they need to purchase out-board memory. I'm sure this scenario will result in more than one service call to manufacturer, or worse, a return of the player to the retailer. Still, the ability to expand with outboard memory makes the player more flexible in storing download content, as the 1 GB minimum may not be enough in the long run." "The BD300 can output the advanced audio formats in bitstream form, but its internal decoding (to PCM) is limited to Dolby suite, which includes Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus. It's not clear whether LG will offer DTS-HD Master Audio decoding in a future firmware update, but I'm a bit surprised this feature isn't in players across the board now. So, for full resolution DTS-HD MA playback, your A/V receiver or surround processor must do the decoding. There are no multichannel analog outputs, so lossless audio is limited to multichannel PCM over HDMI from uncompressed PCM and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks or native bitsreams." "The biggest feature that sets the BD300 apart from other BD players is its inclusion of Netflix streaming capabilities". "Some titles were extremely soft and almost out of focus, with the image quality of a bad cable feed. Some titles fared a bit better, with video quality approaching DVD quality." "The BD300 doesn't perform well processing 1080I content." "However, most pre-recorded Blu-ray movies are encoded as 1080p/24, and the BD300 did an outstanding job with these." "Speed and ease of use are the biggest issues that have plagued the standalone Blu-ray player market. With Sony's Playstation 3 setting the bar for disc load times and overall speed and ease of use, nearly every player out there pales in comparison. Some recent Samsung and Panasonic offerings close the gap, but they still fall short with more difficult titles. LG did what seemed to be impossible; it outperformed the Playstation 3. When I started my testing with the BD300, I was surprised by how fast the player booted up and loaded discs. After a few tries, I was curious to see how it would stack up if I compared it directly with my PS3, which continues to be the benchmark for disc loading and interactivity. Armed with a handful of titles from various studios and a stopwatch, I set out to see just how close this competition would be. Surprisingly, the LG pulled ahead with most titles. Granted, the differences were typically within 5 seconds of each other, but most players fall behind the PS3 by a much wider margin." Conclusion "LG has done a spectacular job with its first standalone Blu-ray player. The BD300 sets the bar for disc load and response times. Netflix support only adds to the allure of this low-priced player. I hope other manufacturers take note, because the standalone Blu-ray player market just got a whole lot faster." http://hometheatermag.com/discplayer...yer/index.html Last edited by HDTV1080P; 01-06-2009 at 05:32 PM. Reason: UPDATED WITH WEBLINK

12-10-2008, 01:13 AM	#8
dsbb5 New Member Member since:Dec 2008	Thanks Thanks for posting the information about the LG BD300 internal memory issue from the Home Theater Magazine. I was having a hard time getting the BD-live to function correctly and this forum helped me out. I didn't realize that you had to use a USB for memory. I swear the instruction manual skipped that part but I seriously could have missed it. (I will have to go back and take a look ) My husband bought me the LG bd300 for my birthday a week ago and I just haven't really sat down again to look and see what the problem was. This posting helped me out a lot! Now it works perfectly... thx again. dsbb5

01-06-2009, 09:20 PM	#20
ozzman Power Member Member since:May 2008 Location:St. Catharines ONT Home Theater Gallery:37	The Ps3 is fast loading and from what is being said this LG is faster . I think were just talking about seconds here . Compaire the Lg to a Blu-player that takes up to and over a minute , Now thats a big deal (notice how i didn't name any players,Iam playing nice). I personal would just say there both really good with loading times Last edited by ozzman; 01-06-2009 at 09:38 PM.

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12-09-2008, 01:00 AM	#2
bootman Special Member Member since:Sep 2007 Location:The Burghs	Just read this last week with my new issue. It was only a matter of time. But as PS3 fanboys sometimes fail to see, load times are not everything and this player does have its flaws. Its a good base to build on however. BTW do you know what SoC drives this unit?

12-09-2008, 01:02 AM	#3
Blu Titan Super Moderator Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Edo, Land of the Samurai Home Theater Gallery:42 4K collection:41 Blu-ray collection:2864 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:92	It is time for standalones to overtake the PS3 as that will only benefit the format.

12-09-2008, 01:13 AM	#4
xtop Blu-ray Count Member since:Oct 2007 Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Digital collection:- Trading Score:3	could we get this reposted without all the caps and annoying to read font? or maybe just some cliffs

12-09-2008, 07:55 AM	#6
lgans316 Blu-ray Baron Member since:Jul 2007 Location:RM16, United Kingdom Blu-ray reviews:17 Trading Score:498	http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av...269190p,00.htm The Film Resolution Loss Test is the most important test pattern on HQV since most Blu-ray Discs are film-based. The BD300 failed the test--the most detailed sections looked strobe-like and showed no detail where there should be several individual lines. Next up, we looked at the video-based tests which are less crucial since not many Blu-ray Discs are video-based. Again, the BD300 failed the resolution test pattern and exhibited the same strobe-like effect on the most detailed section. It also did poorly on video-based jaggies tests, showing tons of jaggies on a test pattern with three pivoting lines, as well as a test with a rotating white line We also tested disc-loading times, and the BD300 did well. It loaded Mission: Impossible III in a very speedy 14 seconds, which was 6 seconds faster than the DMP-BD55 loads the same disc. Discs with BD-Java were considerably slower, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest loading in 1 minute 45 seconds and Spider Man 3 loading in 1 minute 33 seconds.

12-10-2008, 01:18 AM	#9
owa Blu-ray Knight Member since:Apr 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 96	Looks like the results are close to what they found here in their blu-ray player benchmark: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=74197 I had started to look at the LG for my parents but got sidetracked after it looked like it didn't support DTS-HD MA.

12-10-2008, 10:52 PM	#10
Halcro 1 Senior Member Member since:Nov 2008 Location:Everywhere Home Theater Gallery:12	who cares how fast it is , thats a benchmark to shoot for LG makes poor stuff IMHO......Home Theater Mag reallly went to crap also .. I subscribed for 4 years till 05 , then poor trash , just abit better than Sound and Vision

12-10-2008, 10:55 PM	#11
ryoohki Blu-ray Samurai Member since:May 2007 Home Theater Gallery:6 Blu-ray collection:6 Blu-ray reviews:8 Trading Score:5	Well the LG200 is the only Bluray player Region Hackable and PAL/NTSC compatible on the market with a simple Remote Hack!. I'am trying to get my hand on one right now..

12-10-2008, 11:39 PM	#12
NARMAK Blu-ray Prince Member since:Feb 2007 Location:United Kingdom Blu-ray collection:141 Trading Score:18	The PS3 is IMO the best overall to date even against standalones currently but standalones are catching up pretty fast & for some this is good news as many don't like the idea of running movies on a games console but come on, nobody can deny that having a Blu-Ray player with excellent load times in comparison to many current standalones & having a huge HDD with the ability to not store just BD live content but TV via a PlayTV add-on & store downloaded movies (PlayStation store), transform into a 90% PC via a Linux install, browse the internet from standard albeit with minimal problems & the most special feature to play some of the most mind blowing visually delightful games available all starting from 300 or less Nobody can deny that is not value for money

12-19-2008, 01:41 PM	#14
Hawk88 Junior Member Member since:Dec 2008	I am getting the BD300 for xmas. Didn't realize some other players had internal memory. Oh well. I will not need DTSHD, as my Yamaha reciever does it. I saw today they released a new firmware to enable Netflix HD. Any owners of this player here? How do you like the blueray playback. Anyone tried the new firmware?

12-19-2008, 07:30 PM	#15
FendersRule Special Member Member since:Oct 2008 Location:ID Home Theater Gallery:16 Blu-ray collection:81 Blu-ray reviews:5 Trading Score:15

12-19-2008, 07:54 PM	#17
slaizer2000 Expert Member Member since:Mar 2007 Location:Mooresville, NC 4K collection:67 Blu-ray collection:1117 Trading Score:21	PS3 has the best future functionallity impovement over any standalone. Becasue of the cell processors sony can right code for this machine to do just about anything. DVD and now 3D capability. Don't be surprise if the PS3 makes you coffee in a few years.

01-06-2009, 05:07 PM	#18
HDTV1080P Blu-ray Champion Top contributor Member since:Jan 2007 Blu-ray reviews: 205	The original Home theater magazine article on the LG BD300 just became available online for reading at the following link http://hometheatermag.com/discplayers/lg_bd300_network_blu-ray_player/index.html

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