We jumped the gun a little a few weeks ago when we told you that the LG BD390 firmware update that would enable access to
VUDU was live, so we wanted to let you know it was finally available -- for real this time. So next time you have a chance, turn on your player while it is connected to the internet and you should be prompted to install the update. After that is just a matter of activating it on VUDU's website, so yeah, pretty painless. If you're still unsure, you should check out
our full review, but we think you'll find it as useful as we did.
LG ELECTRONICS, FIRST WITH VUDU ON BROADBAND HDTVs, FIRST TO BRING HD MOVIE SERVICE TO NETWORK BLU-RAY PLAYER VUDU's Library of Streaming HD Movies, Dolby Digital Plus Expand LG 'NetCast Entertainment Access' Offerings SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2009 -- LG Electronics, the first to introduce broadband HDTVs with the high-definition (HD) movie service from VUDU, Inc., now brings instant-access to the hottest new releases in HD with Dolby Digital Plus audio directly on their Wireless Network Blu-ray Player. Starting today, owners of the LG BD390 will receive a free automatic software upgrade that will enable them to enjoy VUDU at the click of a remote. VUDU offers an immersive home theater experience on LG's HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players with "NetCast™ Entertainment Access." allowing consumers to instantly buy or rent from VUDU's extensive library of movies and TV titles, including an industry-leading catalog of more than 2,200 HD movies. Consumers can enjoy movies in VUDU's HDX format, the only streaming format offering Full HD 1080p resolution and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound. "The combination of LG's award winning Blu-ray Disc player and VUDU's 1080p high- definition experience and extensive HD library is a movie lover's dream," said Alain Rossmann, CEO of VUDU. "We are thrilled to add the LG BD390 to the lineup of products, including LG flat-panel HDTVs, enabling the VUDU service." Peter Reiner, senior vice president, marketing, LG Electronics USA Inc., said, "Our alliance with VUDU exemplifies LG's commitment to delivering the ultimate HD viewing experience, by providing instant access to more 1080p movie content than ever before. VUDU is the latest enhancement to our NetCast Entertainment Access feature and we are excited to now provide consumers with one of the most extensive on-demand, high-definition entertainment options on our Wireless Network Blu-ray Player and NetCast HDTVs." The BD390 with NetCast Entertainment Access and integrated WiFi connectivity is available now at nationwide retailers at a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $349. Beginning in August, VUDU on-demand movies have been available on LG's 47- and 42-inch class* LH50 1080p LCD series and 60- and 50-inch class* PS80 Plasma 1080p series with NetCast Entertainment Access. LCD models 47LH50 and 42LH50 carry MSRPs of $1,699 and $1,399, respectively. MSRPs for plasma models 60PS80 and 50PS80 are $2,899 and $1,799. With LG's Netcast HDTVs, consumers have instant access to millions of streaming movies, TV shows and web videos through an Ethernet connection. These models also include access to content from Netflix, Yahoo! Widgets, YouTube and more. With this enhanced connectivity, LG's Broadband HDTVs transform and personalize the home theater experience by offering a virtually endless array of entertainment options. VUDU's streaming movie service delivers an instant viewing experience – movies start immediately, including high definition HDX movies, and viewers can fast forward, rewind and browse chapters without the delays or the frustration associated with slow buffering. The VUDU catalog is updated weekly, and newly released movies from major studios are typically available months before they are available on subscription-based services. About LG Electronics USA LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $45 billion global force and technology leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. In the United States, LG Electronics sells a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances and business solutions, all under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. For more information, please visit www.LGusa.com. About VUDU VUDU is a leading provider of digital technologies and services that deliver Internet entertainment to consumers' HDTVs. The VUDU entertainment service supports native instant start HD and, for the first time, instant-start HDX, which, with 1080p resolution at 24 frames per second, the cinematic gold standard, is the highest quality on demand format available anywhere. Through relationships with every major U.S. movie studio and more than 40 independent studios and distributors, VUDU offers a vast array of on-demand choices at the highest quality. The VUDU collection is constantly updated, and newly released movies from major studios are available on the same day as the DVD is released. Consumers can finally watch great movies without the hassles associated with traditional services: no driving, no mailing, and no monthly fee. For more information, visit http://www.vudu.com/.
posted Oct 12th 2009 5:34PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sandfarmer @ Oct 12th 2009 6:30PM
I'd grab this in a heartbeat. But for network sharing, they use a third party Windows only app and not true DLNA. Was looking at the Samsung series, but they compromised on the video chip.
Next vendor with the greatest box please step up.
sandfarmer @ Oct 12th 2009 6:32PM
I'd grab this in a heartbeat. But for network sharing, they use a third party Windows only app and not true DLNA. Was looking at the Samsung series, but they compromised on the video chip.
Next vendor with the greatest box please step up.
PMF @ Oct 13th 2009 1:43PM
I use MediaTomb on a linux server and it works just fine. no reason to suspect DLNA is incomplete...
Jamie @ Oct 12th 2009 7:35PM
@sandfarmer: 3rd party Windows only app isn't necessary. I share media from my Mac using SMB without any third party software, and I imagine you can do the same on Windows.
John Crane @ Oct 13th 2009 11:08AM
Jamie
I have been trying to connect my Mac to my BD390, without any luck. Can you point me in the right direction to get started?
minimalist @ Oct 12th 2009 10:41PM
Downloaded it and rented my free HDX movie (Fifth Element). Really nice picture and surround audio. Got several instances of annoying buffering though even with 17 Mbps down on a completely hardwired system (no wifi).
The Vudu selection is a bit thin and the payment system is a joke. They draft out 20 plus dollars at a time from your credit card. So its like Microsoft's sleazy points system... designed to make sure you always have a remaining balance. I expected more of Vudu.
Ben @ Oct 12th 2009 10:42PM
The buffering is supposed to be fix, how fast is your internet connection?
I think the minimum draft is because of the fees CC processors charge, but yeah, lame.
minimalist @ Oct 12th 2009 11:41PM
I'm getting 14-17 Mbps whenever I check the speed at the Speakeasy site:
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
I'm not sure how accurate or consistent the results are from that site. The buffering happened 3 times in a row during the first 15 minutes. So far the rest of the movie has played without incident (about another hour). It is indeed quite impressive. Especially the surround mix.
I understand the credit card transaction fee issue but its just bad business to pass off that problem to your customers, especially if you are struggling to get people to use your service. All it does is raise the barrier to entry. They could tack on an extra 50 cents per rental and I'd be fine with it.
Ben @ Oct 13th 2009 8:48AM
It is actually against Visa's policy to charge a credit card processing fee. So the only way to make sure you don't lose money is to charge a minimum. You see this all the time in small stores etc, but I agree that $20 is steep (the store on the corner has a $10 minium). Sunpass for prepaid tolls does it the same way and it's just as annoying. At least you don't have to keep track of a points conversion rate.
As for the buffering, I'd contact support. There is a long file generated when you watch a movie and they can analyze it to assist in the troubleshooting. If no one complains then how will they fix it?
Edward @ Oct 13th 2009 5:00PM
Indeed, you should not be experiencing any buffering with that sort of bandwidth (the minimum bandwidth required for HDX is 4.5mbps). Definitely contact customer support and we'll see what the issue is.
Regarding the payment structure, it's important to note that unlike the MSFT points system, the $20 deposit is fundamentally your money - if you choose to cancel your account, any unused balance will be refunded to you.
Thanks, Edward
EVP, VUDU, Inc.
minimalist @ Oct 13th 2009 7:59PM
I will indeed contact customer service. Maybe they can use the data as Ben suggested was collected during streaming and help troubleshoot the issue. Other than the three instances of buffering about 15 minutes into the film, the experience was flawless. Picture and sound were pretty amazing.
Edward, Its good to know that the money would be refunded to members should they cancel their membership but its a shame it has to be deducted in the first place. A 20 dollar draft is a pretty big commitment from someone who might just use the service every once in a while. It just seems like a bad idea to give anybody a reason to hesitate before trying an otherwise impressive service. I have to admit that whenever my credits get low I'd hesitate before pulling the trigger again and hitting the credit card for another 20 bucks. I regularly choose Apple TV's rentals over XBLM for precisely this reason.
John Petrocelli @ Oct 13th 2009 7:53AM
I am a little confused and frustrated by my new LG Blu-Ray Player and the online video services it contains.
You Tube: fun, free, but the quality is really bad, lots of blockiness, and it stops to buffer often painful.
NetFlix: Free for 2 two weeks – Not sure I will continue when I have to pay. Again the quality is bad, it is blocky, it takes a long time to start, when I fast forward it is weird and then it buffers for 30 seconds to a minute. Then some times the video stops and has to buffer because it is “adjusting quality” and then it gets Blocky...Frustrating is how I feel about NetFlix.
CinemaNow: This is a good quality but the problem is I have to pay for videos. In fact I would say the quality is great it is better than DVD and my Comcast service. I notice that it starts up fast and I never had it “buffer” and I have never seen it “adjust quality” picture is crisp. It would be great if this had free content or subscription like Netflix.
Vudu: Again expensive. The picture quality is great but the video constantly stops to buffer. I was unable to watch a single movie too painful.
I assume all these services use HTTP (ergo buffering).
Why do most of these have buffering problems I thought all of these service have dynamic bitrate?
Why is CinemaNow so much better ?
Are some adaptive streaming better than others?
Can you clear this up?
Patrick @ Oct 13th 2009 8:26AM
John - I am experiencing none of the problems you are. I suggest you look at your internet connection before blaming this on the LG player or the services themselves. From YouTube HQ videos to Vudu and Netflix, my player loads the videos fast and they never stop to buffer. I notice absolutely none of the blockiness you mention except for when I am watching low-quality YouTube videos shot on cellphone cameras. But for Netflix - even the SD content looks great on my 52" LG TV. Make sure you have at least a 7Mbps internet connection or these services will run slower and at lower quality - surely not the player or the services fault!
John @ Oct 13th 2009 6:09PM
Hi Patrick,
I think you are missing the point these services are supposed to function on lower badwidth services like in most people's home and the BD player should work on wireless...
Why can CinemaNow handle the low bandwidth with high quality and the others cannot
7Mbps? I do not have that kind of bandwidth at home nor do most people. The promise of these services are they adapt.
Also I tried the same things on a hardwried account player ... why the slow start up and fast foward buffering on Netflix even when I have hardwired at 67Mbps?
Srini @ Oct 17th 2009 1:44AM
I have been streaming using Netflix for about a month now...the HD movies on Netflix have no problem playing and I never get the issues being mentioned above.
Same with VUDU...picture is smooth and I get the highest picture quality (3 bars) when I play the movies.
I have Comcast with 16mbps connection. I suspect most of the problems you are experiencing is due to your internet connection.
Tukom @ Oct 13th 2009 10:31AM
I think this kind of media players or other media extenders are not feasible solution in long term as they are so limited with they functionalities. You would be better of getting a home theater pc such as mac mini to get all online video services without tricks. Alternatively if you like to have simple media player in the living room, why not use iPod to stream video content to your TV: http://mymediaexperience.com/how-to-use-ipod-or-iphone-as-media-player-for-hdtv/
mark.monroe@hotmail.com @ Oct 13th 2009 12:48PM
On another subject, my local Fry's Electronics Store here on the West Coast, had the LG BD390 for $149.00, as far as I can tell, these were
new and not refurbished models.
Texasgrillchef @ Oct 13th 2009 3:42PM
The quality of the HD on VUDU is fantastic. Although the pricing is HORRIBLE!
$10.99 to rent one HDX movie.... for that amount I can buy the "used/pre-viewed" Blu-ray disc from Blockbuster or my other local independant video store.
Same thing applies to the $4.99 SD rentals. For $4.99 you can go buy the used DVD version.
And buying? Why? You can buy the NEW version of the same movies in DVD/Blu-ray for the SAME amount. When you buy the disc you can play it on any DVD/Blu-ray player. Or rip it to be played on any other iPod style video player. You buy the movie here, your stuck playing it ONLY on VUDU devices.
Vudu is nice... I love the concept, I love the quality. Economically though.... Go rent/buy your movies locally from Blockbuster/Redbox/Netflix or other independant movie rental retailer. It's much cheaper than Vudu.
Edward @ Oct 13th 2009 3:30PM
Hi, I'm EVP at VUDU. Our pricing is:
New Release Rentals:
HDX - $5.99
HD - $5.99
SD - $3.99
Library Rentals:
HDX - $3.99
HD - $3.99
SD - $2.99
Thanks, Edward
kevin @ Oct 13th 2009 3:19PM
I have this player, and love it. The DLNA works fine, however you don't need it as you can also simply connect to any windows/samba share. I have mine connecting to my windows file share, my linux box samba share, and it also picks up my play on server on windows with out issue.
I also get excellent quality watching netflix, youtube and cinemanow videos. Do not have any buffering waits either, as they start almost immediately. I also LOVE the fact that it plays xvid and mkv files pretty much flawlessly from my experience.
My single gripe is that it doesn't offer pandora like the samsung players. I read one too many poor reviews of the samsung however, and went with the LG anyways.
I've used similar devices over the last 5 years (had the original buffalo linktheater) and this lg works very well based on my experience with other players.
mike mancari @ Oct 13th 2009 6:35PM
I purchased my vudu in February of 2008 and I couldn't be happier. I've used it on everything from my 1080p 42" LCD in my bedroom to my 106" front projection system. Until HDX movies were available the HD ones looked blurry on the 106" screen but I understand why. The HDX looks amazing on all of my tv's. The one thing I wish they would include is a 1080p/60 option. My projector displays the 24fps perfectly but since my LCD doesn't have 24fps I'm limited to 1080i or 720p(which I use). Not a huge deal but would be a nice option. I've had only a couple of buffeting problems but it was my Internet providers issue, not vudu's! Not that they are putting the players inside some displays I am actually basing my next purchase (which will be within a month most likely) on a tv that has the vudu service included. As far as the purchasing set up, I have mine set to draft $50 from my card when the funds are needed. This way I don't have a bunch of small purhases on my card. Keep up the good work vudu! I look forward to any new products you may have in the works.
Srini @ Oct 15th 2009 2:26AM
Well the VUDU upgrade came and broke the ability to play VOB files. All the VOB files I had were playing fine until after the upgrade and now I get an error message Not Supported Audio Codec. Does LG even test its upgrades?
I am unable to get the VOB files for any movie to play whether its on a hard drive attached, flash drive or over the network via NERO.
Has anyone else experienced this problem....this is a major issue.
Chad @ Oct 26th 2009 2:37AM
Ever since this latest update, my BD390's Wi-Fi connection seems to be hampered. I used to be able to watch Netflix movies with little or no buffering, now I get a warning that my Internet connection is too slow.
Nothing has changed...both the BD390 and my wireless router (AirPort Extreme) haven't moved. I have full streaming speed on my laptop everywhere in my house. The only variable in this is the new "Vudu" firmware update.
Any ideas?
Srini @ Oct 17th 2009 1:45AM
I got a response back from LG regarding the VUDU upgrade that broke the ability to play VOB's.
LG said they are aware of the problem and other problems with this upgrade and are working on a fix to this upgrade and will release it when it is ready...no ETA on this.
Reynaldo Lay @ Oct 16th 2009 4:55PM
Did LG take down the update? The player reports that one is available, but then it fails trying to download it. On their site they only have one dated Aug. 2009 available for a manual firmware update via USB stick.
toyama @ Oct 27th 2009 4:35PM
LG tech support? They have no clue. The BD390 used to play VOB (dvd) files and after firmware upgrade no longer. Speaking with their customer service - tech support does not take calls - told me to send the unit back for service as it need a new board. Amazing, stupid, ignorant.