LG BD390 7 channel quality, streaming media and multi region?

[Pete Shields]

Read the good reviews of this player in the latest magazine and I'm considering a purchase. Couple of questions:

I have an older amp, so I like the idea of using the individual channel outputs to feed my amp. Currently using a digital coaxial on my current Panasonic BD30. Planning on resigning that to the family room (which also has a 42" panasonic plasma). Will I notice considerable improvement and how much should I allow for interconnects (and what type would you recommend)?

I use an xbox 360 on a wired network to stream 720p divx files. Was considering buying another one to stream in the other room. Anybody had experience of streaming with the BD390? How well does it work?

Need the DVD element to be multi-region. Is it or can it be hacked?

 

[Pete Shields]

Richer Sounds' LG machine is multi region DVD, so that's a plus.

Just seen that the Sony 760 is only £30 more but appears not be multi-region and does not stream media.

Also the Panasonic BD80 is £30 cheaper than the LG and I do tend to like the Panasonics as they can share TV remotes. Is this model now considered previous generation?

Any help on choice.....

 

[Anonymous]

I would go for the 760 out of these 3, as this would give you the best picture and sound, my opinion any way as I do not stream anything.

 

[Andy Grange]

The one thing that is tipping me towards the LG rather than the Panasonic is the MKV file support. This and the built in wireless.

 

[Pete Shields]

I suppose the only question that needs answering now then, has anybody tried streaming media on the LG?

 

[Andy Grange]

I've read on other forums that via a wired connection the LG responds to any media streaming fine. If you have a wireless N network you should also have no problems. From what I have read (and I must stress this is only me reporting what a few other people have said, it's not gospel) if you have a standard wireless network streaming HD content can be quite choppy and laggy.

 

[Pete Shields]

Thanks Andy. I've got a wired network in the house so should have no problems getting a full bore stream. I do find that I'm using HD streaming on the Xbox360 all of the time, so it would be a great addition to have

 

[Andy Grange]

No problem. Just out of interest, you said you're streaming HD Divx to your 360? I didn't know divx was HD to be honest, just thought mkv's were the usual file format for HD material. I'm going to see how I get on with my standard wireless, and then if it's no good either upgrade to an N network or invest in some homeplugs.

 

[Pete Shields]

I read (but never understood!) that MKV is a container that holds the video/sound/subtitle files. The common form of HD media is AVC (i think HD video cameras produce these files) but there are other formats such as apple's.

I would think that most people (including myself) that are streaming media are streaming ill gotten movies, catch-up (or future US) tv shows, etc.

The format that I stream to my xbox (via Tversity on a wired network) are called 720p BRRIPS Xvid - AC3. They are only 720p, because Xbox does not allow files over 4gb and they are only AC3 (or 5.1 surround). The quality is great. Not as good as 1080p Bluray - but the family can't really tell anyway...

If the LG can seamlessly play MKV/AVC/720p xvids, it's cracked it!!!!

 

[Andy Grange]

Ah, very good....thanks for the info! I'm pretty sure you should be fine playing mkv's on the BD390. At the moment the only thing I can do is plug my laptop into my TV using a VGA cable, and plug a cable into the headphone socket that ends as an RCA cable in my amp. A horrendous solution, and one I hope to have a much better solution to next week

 

[kinda]

Slightly off-topic I suppose, but can the BD390, (or other players), access an ISO over the network. As in if I backed up DVDs or BlueRays to a NAS, to get them off my shelves, could I then play them via the 390?

Or would they need converting to some other format?

 

[Andy Grange]

Just had a look online and it doesn't seem to be able to play ISO's, you'd probably have to burn them to disc for them to play.

 

[kinda]

Cheers. Bit lazy of me - I should have just looked it up.

Obviously other kinds of media players do VOBs, but might not have the quality, and then don't decode the HD audio to PCM over HDMI, which I need for my amp.

 

[Andy Clough]

Video review and full test both now online.

 

[Andy Grange]

I've finally got a BD390 and I'm going to get hold of a blu-ray or two today, but was wondering what the best audio settings would be? The BD390 is going into a Sony STR-DA2400ES via HDMI, just for reference. The audio options are:

HDMI : PCM Stereo, PCM Multi-Ch, DTS Re-Encode, Primary Pass-Thru
SPDIF: PCM Stereo, DTS Re-Encode, Primary Pass-Thru
Sampling Freq: 48KHz, 96KHz, 192 KHz
DRC: Off or On

I'm guessing the SPDIF options shouldn't matter, as they'd be for an optical cable and I'm sending everyhing over HDMI?

Thanks in advance