LG BH100 High Definition Player
REVIEW: LG BH100 HIGH DEFINITION PLAYER Blu-ray and HD DVD Under One Roof
March 2007 By Grant ClauserBoth formats claim success, and both are still struggling to gain the movie-lovers’ confidence. We’ve been stung by format wars before (DVD-A/SACD). Imagine having to choose between white toast or wheat toast because your toaster couldn’t make both? LG came forward as the peacemaker between the two disc formats by offering the BH100, a DVD machine that plays back both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. This is the kind of product that many enthusiasts, sitting on the fence, were waiting for.
The LG high def player is a very attractive and uncomplicated-looking product. There are no buttons on the front and barely any lights to decorate or distract. The player’s buttons are located on top and are flush, touch-sensitive buttons similar to what’s on Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Around the back the player includes one HDMI output, a set of component jacks, a composite jack, stereo jacks and both optical and coaxial digital audio jacks. It has a set of 5.1 analog audio outputs for passing uncompressed audio—common on a lot of high definition discs. There’s also an Ethernet jack for service updates.
In addition to the Blu-ray and HD DVD playback, the unit will work with most other DVD recordable formats. It supports the new high definition audio formats Dolby Digital+, Dolby Tru HD and DTS-HD in addition to standard Dolby Digital and DTS. The player will up-convert standard DVDs to either 720p or 1080i via the HDMI output.
I hooked the player up to a 56-inch Samsung HS-S5679W DLP TV with a Monster HDMI cable and started tossing in a few Blu-ray and HD DVD discs to see just how well this peacemaker worked. The first disc, the Blu-ray version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, took about 30 seconds to load. The HD DVD version of Peter Jackson’s King Kong took about 45. While neither of those load times compares well to a good standard DVD player, they’re much better than most other high def players on the market. The first HD DVD launched last year took one and a half minutes to load, while the first Blu-ray only rated slightly better.
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What planet are you from e=mc2? All new formats start expensive. price will come down. I think Bluray will eventually win and all DVDs will be BR
its suggested retail price is $1199. so I could go to a theater and watch 150 movies on the big screen. or subscribe to hd hbo or other hd movie channel and not have to choose between bluray which is from sony, who in their right mind would want to buy anything from sony? everything I've ever bought with sony on it has broke down or gone up in smoke as soon as the warranty is over. no more sony for me. I'll watch hdtv.
LG is probably one of the best in the electronic industry, why do they waste their time on a failure like bluray. sony beta is the future for bluray.