LG BD590 Reviews

LG BD590 Blu-Ray Disc Player
by Oldman , 2010-07-25

I received this player and found it very easy to get up and running, but that was the good part.

The player would freeze and all you could do to get it to work again was to unplug the unit this was happening all the time, also you would get a blue screen.

After all the problems I decided to look at customer reviews and found that this was a big problem and not just my unit or me, I now wish I had read the reviews first and not just the reviews from the manufacturer.

I sent this product back for refund.

LG BD590 250GB Review
by Randall O. Withrow , 2010-07-23

Wireless network setup was easier than expected.
NetFlix registration was easier than expected.
Can insert memory stick and review camera photos easily.
LG BD Player player plays video files and music files without any problems.
LG BD Player player plays DVDs better that DVD play DVD. No freeze up 3/4 through movie.

One minor problem,
My LG BD Player player appears to play everything . . . but Blue-Ray DVDs
First Blue-Ray DVD froze up befor displaying the movie menu play button.

feeling burned

Nice!
by VideoJockey , 2010-07-21

This is my first Blu-Ray player. I bought it partially because of the hard disk, and partially because it has DNLA support to stream content from my home PC. I had read good reviews for LG products.

The wireless connectivity works fairly well, but you need a strong signal to maintain reliable connections. I was having issues with dropped connections frequently. I called LG, and they said it was because my connection was too slow - that I needed at least 1.5Mbps to maintain a connection. They were misinformed. I repositioned my router antenna slightly, and now it seems to work fine (I've also had several firmware updates since then, so it's possible they fixed something).

Picture quality and sound are really good. DVDs and my old VCR tapes look terrific, upscaled to my TV. It doesn't try and stretch older videos to be widescreen, so they look like they're supposed to. Startup seems fairly quick.

CD ripping to the hard drive works pretty well. I'm not sure I'd want to put my whole music library on it, as the user interface is slow when trying to type with the remote.
Typing information with the onscreen keyboard is frustrating. I wish they supported entry using the remote like a phone (using the numeric keypad), or connecting a USB mouse/keyboard to the front USB port.

The player uses the Linux kernel as the foundation for its software, so there's lots of things they could do fairly easily if they wanted to.

I had hoped to be able to use the online video rental services, like NetFlix and Vudu, but my internet connection is too slow. Unfortunately, you can't download rental videos to the internal hard drive to watch when they're done downloading - only purchased ones. So unless you have lots of bandwidth, don't expect to use those services. The DNLA feature seems to work OK, but streaming hi-def video from my PC seems a bit sluggish over my wireless G router (a little jerky). It supports faster wireless N connections, so I may try upgrading my router to see if that improves things. I had hoped it could play TV recordings I made from Windows Media Center, but it doesn't recognize the file format, so I'll have to transcode any video I record from TV. My TV got moved far from my PC, so the DNLA feature of the BlueRay over wireless was a big reason I bought this model - playing my TV recordings without transcoding would have been a big plus.

LG seems to provide frequent firmware updates. I've downloaded three already since purchasing the player. I haven't noticed huge differences, but it's good to know that at least they're addressing issues as they come up. You can upgrade the firmware by burning a CD too, if you can't get wireless internet to work. There's a document on the LG website that explains how to do it.

superseded
by , 2010-07-20

Sumvision Cyclone MKV Enclosure
The big boys such as LG and Sony etc are trying to beat smaller companies in the technology race but the big boys are failing.

This Blu-ray player has a 250gb Hard Drive, well my sumvision has a 2tb with all my dvd / Bl-ray images all backed up so I don't scratch my discs.

DVD Players have been surpassed by Blu-ray players and NOW Blu-ray players have been surpassed by HARD DRIVE Media Players.
Media Players will be around for the next couple of years then THANKS to Samsung which have wireless media share on their new tv's which means that you can stream from hard drives plugged into your router such as usb hard drives - HOW COOL IS THAT? - No need for anything else under your TV and the technology is available from Samsung RIGHT NOW.

I bet this LG doesn't play DVD ISO and even if it did I bet it doesn't play the menus?
My Sumvision plays full DVD ISO including Menus and surprisingly plays Blu-ray ISO without menus.

My advise would be NOT to spend a fortune on this product because it has been superseded already.

What you will need if your Router does not support USB is a Newlink USB 2.0 Networking Server NAS Quad 4 Port.

Hope this helps guys

REGARDS

Not Mac Compatible, Remote Control Issues, Design Problems
by Tom (Just one Tom) from Albany, NY, 2010-07-20

I have used the LG BD590 for three months. It is unfortunate that the BD90's remote control doesn't have a working volume control. The TV cannot be turned off by the remote. Turning on the BD590 using the remote turns on my Samsung LCD HDTV; however, turning off the BD590 using the remote does NOT turn off the TV. Connecting a USB flash drive (thumb drive) requires keeping the plastic front cover open which exposes the area to dust, makes the cover more prone to accidents plus it is awkward and unsightly ruining any design esthetic. The LG is not Mac compatible. The LG website says "With MyMedia, it's easy to bring your digital entertainment libraries within easy reach to the big-screen" That is not true for people with Macs. The LG BD590 is not Mac compatible for Media Link so if you have a Mac the BD590 will not play/display video, photos and music files from your computer. The BD590 Home Link feature cannot connect to an Apple wireless home network. Although it's not network compatible with Macs it will pick up the WiFi signal from an Apple Airport Extreme wireless router (but so does any wireless device including Windows computers.) Page 43 of the Manual says, "You can copy music, photo, video file(s)/ folder(s) from disc/USB storage device to the internal hard disk drive." However, the BD590 cannot read a Mac formatted USB External Hard Drive for copying files to the hard drive. It should be noted that LG never claimed its BD590 was Mac compatible however there was no disclaimer on the advertising or box that the LG BD590 was not Mac compatible. I would recommend the LG BD590 for anyone who has a Windows computer for transferring/displaying media files but their "MediaLink" does not work with Macs. While I've grown used to the on/off button and the open/close button placement by now, they are positioned counterintuitively since the tray that opens and closes is on the left next to the on/off button and the tray open/close button is on the side of the unit that is opposite of the tray. This may be picky but together with the issue of having to keep the front cover open if a USB flash drive (thumb drive) is connected for playing music or video media files, it shows poor engineering design. The ability to have unlimited streamed movies-on-demand in 1080i HiDef from Netflix for $8.99 using the BD590 has been so rewarding and unbelievably inexpensive that I haven't watched Cable TV for three months! Netflix streams TV series seasons too. Why pay $3 - $5+ per movie for cable or dish/satellite movies-on-demand when with the LG HD Network Blu-ray player you can have unlimited movies and TV series on demand for under $9? Of course you can do this with any internet connected DVD or Blu-ray disc player that has the Netflix service available but it surely works well with the LG BD590 because the wireless internet connection is so fast and solid. The free Pandora Internet Radio is a great feature plus ripping your own CDs to the hard drive is very easy and works perfectly seamlessly with the Gracenote database of cover art and track data. Watching You Tube videos on my LCD HDTV is a nice feature too. Bottom line: If you want a wireless, networked, internet connectible Blu-ray disc player with a hard drive this is the only unit available with an internal hard drive at this time (07/19/2010.)