Previously, I have proclaimed Panasonic’s BD80 the king of the affordable Blu-ray players. Then I got the opportunity to take LG’s BD370 for a spin. It seems Panasonic’s reign has come to a premature end…
This Blu-ray deck is a budget AV-Holic’s dream. Available for around £180 if you shop around, it offers excellent BD video performance, can bitstream DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD (as well as decode internally), and is fully ‘profiled’ to 2.0. It offers, like the BD80, YouTube connectivity via Ethernet and a USB 2.0 port.
But that’s where the similarities end. To my mind. it’s much prettier, aesthetically. There’s also a charming simplicity to its menus and general operability, and a Blu-ray disc can be viewed a mere 20-30 seconds after it’s been inserted (about the same as with a DVD). But although these are all highly impressive features, none of them explain why I’m so enamoured by LG’s latest...
First published in Home Cinema Choice 170
You can also download the pdf here
Copyright 2006 - 2010 Future Publishing Limited
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I agree ...
a-david (not verified) - 25 July 2009 - 1:50pmI always wondered about your next door competitor. Y do they pan a product w/o actually going all the way w/tests or they don't know much about mean machines. I've always admired LG/ Samsung. I am looking forward 2 change 2 this 1 player in near future. Thanx guys, you are the greatest.
MKV
Dennis Geers (not verified) - 27 July 2009 - 12:43pmHi
Philips has included MKV replay on their top deck 7300 through a firmware update
Thanks but no thanks,
KevMull (not verified) - 30 July 2009 - 1:36pmThanks but no thanks, Panasonic for build quality & long term reliability for me.
Good value though
BD370 (not verified) - 15 September 2009 - 2:35pmWhen you consider that the LG BD370 is about £70 cheaper than the BD80 it makes it a great value for money player. The retailers seems to be having a few offers on this player which suggests to me that it is not selling well - a shame because it is a good player - I would be getting this model if I needed to buy a Blu-ray player now.