Posts tagged ‘LG’
Why-Fi? LG Electronics BD390 Blu-ray Disc Player – washingtonpost.com
LG Electronics BD390 Blu-ray Disc Player – washingtonpost.com.
This PC World reviewer raves about the top of the line LG Blu-ray player stating:
The images it delivered to an HDTV were among the best we’ve ever seen. And with support for BD-Live, CinemaNow, DLNA, Netflix On Demand, Wi-Fi, and YouTube, the BD390 provides top-flight networking capabilities.
However, just the only thing he finds lacking is the built-in Wifi networking:
Speaking of poor video quality, the BD390 is one of two Blu-ray players we’ve seen with built-in Wi-Fi (the other is the Sony BDP-S560). This is a convenience for viewing BD-Live and YouTube content, but unless you have an exceptionally strong signal, we would advise against using Wi-Fi for CinemaNow or Netflix. When we tried it, we noticed a serious drop in image quality.
If that’s not screaming for a wired home network connection, either Ethernet or MoCA, to the living room – expect to hear more. Stay tuned for more news from CES on why MoCA is THE way to go for networking to the Home Theater.
VUDU on the LG BD390 review
This recent review on Engadget shows how VUDU has done a complete switcheroo from a hardware provider to a video services company. For those of us blessed with a super high speed Internet connection, VUDU streams “real” HD movies through the LG BD390 Blu-ray player with the best audio and video quality of all the current over-the-top VOD services. However, you end up paying for that quality to the tune of $5.99 per movie with a 24 hour rental limit. Still, if you want the best on demand HD video don’t forget to use a MoCA connection to get the best entertainment experience possible.
LG BD390 Blu-ray player to get embedded Vudu | Crave – CNET
Another way to get your videos on demand? Well, Vudu is making a strong comeback, first with Mitsubishi HDTVs and most recently showing up in the flagship LG Blu-ray player. Why would you go for the Vudu-enhanced device vs others?
Vudu has set itself apart from other Internet-on-demand providers like Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, and Apple by stressing audio and video fidelity: it offers over 2,000 titles in 1080p high-def, many with full 5.1 surround soundtracks.
Plus, the LG player is a top rated Blu-ray player device just in case you wanted to play movies the old fashioned way. Why entrust your 1080p happiness to Wifi streaming when MoCA will give you worry free viewing nirvana?
For the article click here.
Vudu Moving to Embed Online Video Service into TVs
Vudu’s CEO Alain Rossmann says that Vudu will embed the new Vudu service directly into the TV, eliminating the expense and hassle of purchasing, installing or connecting another device to the TV.
LG TVs will, of course, have some of the first TVs with Vudu embedded that will be available to purchase. Rossmann also says that the platform will have features like instant start, instant fast forward and rewind and a faster and more refined user interface. The LG TVs, with Vudu built-in, should be available to customers sometime next month.
Gizmodo Hands-on with Vudu on LG
Gizmodo has gotten hands on with LG’s connected HDTV with Vudu, seems that with the few minutes that Gizmodo had with the service, it didn’t feel quite right.
It’s got nothing to do with Vudu‘s service, which is largely unchanged from the days of the Vudu set-top box. (I mean, we’re still in those days, technically, but hey, narrative! ) The interface is the same easily navigable set of panels and menus, which seem to work fine with LG’s standard remotes—no standalone clickwheel controller here.
The strange feeling I got from the movie samples, whether in SD, 720p or 1080p modes, was down to LG: The NetCast sets that’ll carry the Vudu option have LG’s 120Hz Trumotion interpolation technology, meaning that they essentially insert frames between what’s already on the source material, with the stated purpose of “smoothing” the video output. As we—and others—have complained about before, though, the effect can be strange, making motions seem unnatural, and giving a multi-hundred-million-dollar films an odd, camcorder-like aesthetic.
But despite this, Gizmodo believes that set-top boxes are on the way out to be replaced by multi-service web-connected TVs.
Korean Firms Join to Develop New Chips
Normally bitter rivals, Samsung and LG join forces to create the next generation of semiconductor chips for televisions.
Samsung, the world’s largest maker of microchips for digital gadgets and second largest mobile phone producer, will work with LG Electronics to make global digital TV receiver chips, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.
While SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier will be working on wireless chips with other chip makers.
Meanwhile SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile carrier, will develop a wireless connectivity system-on-chip for smart phones with other chip makers, it said.
Connected HDTVs are the Future
Although LG has just launched two broadband equipped HDTVs, it is not the only company bringing connected HDTVs to consumers. Toshiba is preparing its Regza models to enter the connected HDTV space later this year. Toshiba also plans to provide its consumers ways to access content such local weather reports, sports scores, and news in addition to being able to access content from networked PC’s.
According to a study by Parks Associates, 2.5 million U.S. and Canadian households are ready to buy an Internet-connected TV. In addition, they would be willing to pay up to $100 for the feature addition.
Market analyst The Yankee Group expects 50 million connected HDTVs, 30 million connected Blu-ray players and 11 million digital-media adapters to be purchased by 2013. These are a lot of devices that need to be connected to your home network. Of the many ways to connect your TV, and other devices (i.e. Blu-ray players, digital-media adapters, etc) to your home network , MoCA would seem to be the logical solution for media streaming if you don’t already have wired Ethernet.
MoCA will enable the maximum experience from the LG and Toshiba HDTVs from watching Netflix movies/TV shows, streaming YouTube videos, and accessing content from your networked PCs.
Connected HDTVs are definitely in our future if they’re convenient and useful and offered at a reasonable price.
via Cnet
LG Integrates Netflix Streaming Into Televisions
LG is going to be the first company to begin releasing televisions that include the Netflix streaming service built right into the TV itself.
LG Electronics today extended its groundbreaking partnership with Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), as the two companies announced the first broadband-enabled HDTVs with Netflix streaming software embedded directly in the TV, requiring no external device. LG’s new LCD and plasma “Broadband HDTVs” will display the growing library of movies, TV episodes and high-definition (HD) content that Netflix members can watch instantly directly on the TV with Ethernet connectivity.
This is a perfect reason to use MoCA! Using Wi-Fi you would be waiting longer for your movie to start up, as well as having to endure the inevitable downgrade to less-than-HD video quality due to network interruptions or weak signal strength. MoCA will enable you to fast forward and rewind with less buffering time than with a traditional wireless network. With MoCA you will be able to enjoy HD Netflix content all the time, without having to worry about the unpredictability of Wi-Fi.
