Customer Reviews
Excellent Upconverting DVD and Blu Ray Player 
2008-07-15
Although the LG also plays HD DVD, I got it primarily for Blu Ray and DVD.
- Very fast to load Blu Ray (much faster than my previous Sony and Samsung Blu Ray players).
- Excellent DVD upconversion (leaves the Sony BDP 300 and Samsung 1200 (the ones I owned) in the dust)
- Decodes all the HD audio formats (I make the player convert it to DTS and output to my receiver via optical - sounds great)
- Nice form factor and excellent build quality. Only the Pioneer Blu Ray player is in the same league when it comes to build quality.
- No 5.1 analog out (but not an issue for me since my receiver only accepts 5.1 via optical or coax).
- remote should have been backlit from this price point.
This is an excellent if somewhat under appreciated product. This is a great looking and performing product.
We're pleased with our LG Blu-ray 2008-06-28
Our old dvd/vcr combo was driving us nuts. We are delighted to have an efficient, hi-tech, and good looking replacement.
Great player that plays nearly EVERYTHING 2008-05-23
I've had this product for about a month now (I also have the BD-UP5000) and it's been great. Personally, I like this boxier design than the more round-edge Samsung player, and gotta love the buttons. The bottons do not stick out much and it's pretty much level with the front plate of the player so it functions almost like touch operated. The blue lights on the buttons are very modern too but it will not turn on while you watch the movie so it won't be a nuisance. Depending on the format you are watching, either the bluray or HD DVD logo will be on. If you are watching DVD, no logo will be available.
This player uses QDEO chip for upconversion. It's not as great as the REON chip but some say it's comparable. Personally, I found the upconverted material to be a bit softer at the edges compared to the REON so it may seem a little less sharp. And with the preset QDEO selected rather than using the user defined settings, it has a hint of bluish tint. Unless you compare the on and off side by side, you wouldn't notice when you first use it.
So far, I have had no problems playing any of the discs except for loading T2 Ultimate HD DVD import from germany. It doesn't recognize the interactive mode that uses Dynamic HDi. But all american movies, I've had no problems with. This player also plays PAL DVDs and can be made into region free for DVDs. It was mentioned in the manual that it has USB port for expandable memory, most likely in the event LG plans to upgrade it to profile 2.0 (not yet confirmed). It's currently profile 1.1 compliant (via firmware update) and bitstreams all audio.
There were reports of some audio dropouts and is limited to 2 analog channel output, but overall, the player's been great (I've been using HDMI only). LG did announce the discontinuation of this model starting in the 2nd half of this year, so if you want a DUO format player, it's recommended to pick one up soon before it's gone.
Buy it for Blu Ray discs 2008-05-23
I don't have Hd dvd disc.
I have a lot of Blu Ray discs.
I own Panasonic BD-30K which is a perfect Blu Ray disc player.
Then I happen to buy another which is this one.
Don't get me wrong. Panasonic Blu Ray player was perfect. DTS-HD, Dolby Tru-HD all plays stright without compressing.
But this one has the same quality with Panasonic's player.
Now that I can buy HD dvd discs as well, I will buy some of the cheap HD discs since they are all in great sale.
I also can watch regular DVD discs upconverted. All region!
I love the design and with the latest firm ware update, this play is perfect for Blu ray...
A Questionable Formats Reader? 
2008-05-14
My "good news" experience with this player began with my very first impression after trying it out on two high definition types of DVD discs, one Blu-Ray (Planet Earth) and the other an HDTV-DV (The Sting). And, I thought that the image color and definition on both of these were just about astonishingly beautiful, clear and well matched. Also, I didn't find it to be an objectionably long wait for the player to make its initial determinations of the type of format being introduced, each time a new disc was loaded (although I would just a soon prefer that its designers had left out the little animated circle that kind of annoyingly pops in just about any time the player encounters even the slightest delay in performing a newly assigned task to perform.
So, next, I tried out an older, standard DVD formatted disc (Dances with Wolves), which I thought had an improved appearance that came surprisingly close to that of the two higher definition discs. This led me to the question of whether it also would appear to improve the definition of some DVDs that I produced and burned myself, for a letterbox type of widescreen appearance (which used to fill the complete screen of my widescreen TV's 1.78 x 1 aspect ratio, with the TV changing to its Wide-Zoom mode). But, this is where the "bad news" began, in my experience with this player.
Apparently because of the HDMI cable connection that I am using (connecting both video and audio to the player in a single cable, supposedly to achieve the best definition and quality for each), the wide-zoom mode on my TV became disabled. Instead, the entire 4 X 3 ratio of my DVD's recorded image, which includes the black, horizontal top and bottom borders, became stretched horizontally to fit that 4 X 3 image onto the wider, 1.78 X 1 screen. This resulted in a display that has letterbox black strips at the top and bottom and a horizontally stretched picture area where all the people look exceptionally short and fat, etc.
So, next, I grabbed one of my favorite commercially manufactured, standard format DVDs that uses a same-as-my-screen, 1.78 X 1 aspect ratio format (the CLOUD: Wild Horse program from the PBS Nature series) and the same thing happened (only, in the virtual absence of human subjects, it was the wild horses who looked extra fat, if they were running toward or away from the camera, and exceptionally long bodied if they were viewed horizontally). After that, I finally got rid of at least the letterbox format type of horizontal top and bottom borders, when I popped in a standard DVD formated, "full screen" (4:3 ratio) disk. But, here again, it stretched the whole thing horizontally, so that I was looking at more squashed and fattened people.
Then, something occurred to me about that HDTV-TV formatted disc of The Sting, that I had tried out. I remembered checking on its aspect ratio before buying it, to insure that it preserved it's Hollywood type of widescreen appearance, which is wider than a wide-screen TV, and reading that it did, indeed, have an aspect ratio of 1.85 X 1 (meaning that it should display slight letterbox borders, even on my 1.78 X 1 TV. But, it wasn't doing that. It was, instead, filling the complete screen, apparently clipping the sides of the full image. And, the complete screen even was filled when I next clicked onto the "Special Features" interviews. Only, I was back to another return of horizontally overstretched people. (I'm guessing that those interviews were produced at a less costly 4 X 3 aspect ratio.) AND, THIS IS WITH AN HDTV-DV FORMATTED DISC PLAYING ON A DEVICE THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE AN HDTV-DV FORMATTED PLAYER!
My quick-fix solution to all this, until I possibly can come up with a better idea, has been to leave my new player connected the way it is (for apparently best definition and quality in viewing the actually higher definition main features, while replacing on the shelf my old, standard format DVD player, reconnecting it with its three component video and two audio channel cables, for use most frequently with "Full Screen" DVDs. (For some reason, the new player so far has been producing absolutely gorgeous letterbox displays on most of my standard DVD recordings of the really widescreen, Hollywood type movies. Apparently, where that extended widescreen look is concerned, my new high definiation players only has a problem with my new HDTV-DV copy of The Sting. Go figure!)
LG came through with the firmware update they promised! 2008-05-10
The Super Blu Player offers increased HDTV entertainment choices, because it can play 50 to 60 percent more high-def movie titles than either single-format player. With full networked interactivity available from selected HD DVDs, and the capability to handle networked "BD-Live" interactivity in forthcoming Blu-ray discs, it is the latest available technology that plays both disc formats.The LG Super Blu Player, which can output up to 1080p video resolution at 24-, 30- and 60-frames-per-second, supports various A/V formats, including MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio. The unit also includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI 1.3 out, component/composite video outputs, digital optical and analog audio outputs as well as a LAN Ethernet port for network interactivity.LG Super Blu Player customers will enjoy superior quality video output with HDMI 1.3 Deep Color output to improve color tones and achieve finer color gradations to deliver the smoothest and most brilliant video output available. The player also features QDEO advanced video processing for superior up-scaling accuracy up to 1080p, improved noise reduction and consistent color precision.The new Super Blu Player incorporates LG's SimpLink connectivity solution, enabling easier control of other LG SimpLink compatible equipment. The units are connected with an HDMI cable and use the HDMI-CEC communication standard. This allows the user to control other components on-screen or directly from each component. The BH200 also is equipped with a USB Media Host for easy access to digital music and photo libraries.
This Combo Player is the Best on the Market 2008-04-28
I didn't have a whole lot of HD titles (maybe 4 movies), but some of the best shows that I did have was only on HD (Battlestar Galactica). I own a HD DVD player for my XB0X 360 but since then HD took a beating. After doing a lot of research and a lot of waiting, I decided to jump into the game with this combo player. It was easy to set up and it plays all three formats (Standard, HD DVD, and Blu-Ray). I have been dying to see The Fifth Element in Blu-Ray and it was well worth it. I have this hooked up to my 50" plasma via the HDMI cable (the only way to go, by the way) and this player plays everything flawlessly. Sure, there is a bit of a pause when its trying to figure out what format you are playing in. Also there is not a last known play memory (or its simply I haven't figured it out yet). So when you turn it off, in the middle of the movie, you might have to jump to the chapter all over again. But, Like I said, it just may be me that hasn't figure how to turn that feature on. The only other thing that I can complain about is that there doesn't seem to be a screen saver for some movies, so if you pause the image, it will stay on that image (found this out with Casino Royal). But that may be the movie, I don't know because the HD aspect, the Screen Saver does come up (but its the universal studio one so it may be related to the movie). I still have more reading to do on it, although I have own the player now for 2 months. I figure out the feature later, but thats not important. What is important is that you get a great player that upconverts your standard dvds to as perfect as standard can get and its not bad at all (Lord of the Rings look fantasic as well as The Incredibles), but if you have a lot of HD DVDs, just buy this player. And if you don't, buy this player, then buy HD DVDs from amazon (they are going cheap now). I was lucky because I bought this player a 100 dollars cheaper here than what it is going now. You will NOT be disappointed.
BH200 Super Blu is for you 2008-04-08
Ignore the fact that this plays HD DVD. This is an excellent BR player with recent firmware, will stream trueHD and DTS-MA straight to the receiver (instead of decoding it).
It's profile 1.1 but should support 2.0 as it has the hardware required for 2.0 as well (assuming LG does a firmware update to support this).
Super Blue Ray HD/DVD 2008-03-24
This is the perfect player for anyone undecided between the Blue-Ray or HD/DVD format. This player is very easy to use and automatically detects the format of the DVD. Definitely worth the money!
LG BH200--Quality Product 2008-03-04
I began my HiDef odyssey with HD DVD (about 80 discs) and want to have the ability to buy Blu-Ray if I find a title I feel I just have to have. The Toshiba players are terrific, but they're limited to HD DVD and great upconversion (could probably keep me happy for years, but I'm greedy: I want it all!). I got my BH200 through Amazon for $599, a little pricey, but I've got 2 formats in one. I was immediately disappointed because the picture and audio were not what I was hoping for. THEN I realized I was trusting LG's default factory settings. Once I got into the Setup menus and upped the brightness and adjusted the color, I had a crystal clear picture (on my LG LCD widescreen) and great audio through my Onkyo home theater system. Surprise, surprise! The upconversion is terrific! I have a hard time seeing the difference between many HD discs (both formats) and the SD version. This is going to save me a lot of money. Seriously, there are a few discs where HD makes a real difference--titles like "Planet Earth" and "Bladerunner", but I'm happy with the upconverted SD versions on most.
The unit operates flawlessly so far. There is a little pause while the unit figures out what kind of disc you've fed it, but it's nothing extraordinary. It fast forwards from scene to scene rather quickly. The remote is very easy to use, and hooking up the unit to just one HDMI (all you need for all three formats and one optical plug for sound for all including great-playing CD's) is simple as pie. I was up and running in 10 minutes.
This is a great product. I save space, need fewer HDMI and optical connections, and get great reproduction! For those like me with a significant library of HD DVD's and a desire to view Blu-Ray as well, this is a unit that I know will serve me and many others well.
