I had a Panasonic BD30 connected to my 58″ Samsung plasma for about 2 years and was very happy with it. I also have a PS3 on a 26″ LCD that is used almost exclusively for gaming. I always felt I was missing something because I wasn’t getting the hi-def audio from my Blu-Ray movies. My Yamaha RX-V1400 receiver is great but it does not have HDMI connections. So I decided to get a Blu-Ray player with 7.1 analog outputs. After a long search, reading many reviews and from suggestions on some forums, I decided on the BD390. Wow, what a difference I thought the Blu-Ray quality was great on my Panasonic but the LG is another whole level. I didn’t know my Plasma was capable of such sharp Blu-Ray quality. That is a big bonus I wasn’t expecting.

The Blu-Ray audio with the The 7.1 analog is out of this world. I can use my receiver’s remote to switch between digital optical and 7.1 analog inputs to compare the difference. It’s better than I expected.

Wireless streaming is also a feature I was looking for. I was a little disappointed in the Netfix streaming. I get the Netflix movies OK without any problems but the resolution is maybe a little better than VHS quality and only has stereo sound. But Vudu is a whole different story. The Vudu movies are almost Blu-Ray quality and with surround sound. I can also stream video, pictures and music from my computer but with Windows 7 I had to install the included Nero program. Streaming stuff from my computer is not one of the reason I bought the BD390 and is a feature that I will rarely ever use but it’s nice to know I can if I want to.

Overall this is a great Blu-Ray player that does a lot for the $259.00 I paid for it. Rumor has it that this player is no longer being produced because a new model is coming out early next year so the price will probably continue to drop.
Rating: 5 / 5

If you plan to use this LG just to play Blue-ray via HDMI it will serve you fine. However, there are significant problems if you plan to use this LG on your home computer network and/or over the Internet and THAT was supposed to be one of the best features of this unit.

1. When Network was activated from the LG menu the LG demanded the SAME IP address as my system! This locked up my system big time.

2. I needed to open my network router to allow more connections (IP addresses).

3. I had to fix my computer network address at 192.168.1.10 (this address may NOT work for you). My system wanted that address too and thus a conflict.

4. Then I discovered (by accident) that a significant LG BD390 software update was required. That update took about 25 minutes to finally download and install.

5. The NERO Media Home 4 software installed, but never worked. After 4 attempts to install and run the program my system locked-up again!

6. I went to NERO support pages and they immediately wanted to sell me a “UPGRADE”. The file to update the Media Home 4 software “shipped” with the LG was buried, but I finally found it and downloaded. That update did not help. Media Home 4 never started and always asks for a re-install.

7. No matter how many hours I’ve lost trying to get this LG to show files captured on MY BOOK, the files have NEVER been accessible to my home network or system. The message, “No Server Found” ~ NOT GOOD. The LG, however (at this point) CAN access the Internet.

8. The LG manual, LG support pages, Nero Support and the Nero Media Home 4 manual are useless. None of them mention network or software installation repairs. I do NOT recommend this LG to anyone who does not have a good understanding of networks and fixing network addressing conflicts.

Finally I was able to connect and watch YouTube files, but the clips I watched locked-up more than when I use my computer system to watch them directly. Attempts to get Media Home 4 working NEVER worked, but I am not alone. The support forum at NERO has many others reporting similar problems with NERO Tech Support providing no solutions!

My next mission was to purchase a Western Digital MY BOOK for saving videos (I hope), but also to act as a ‘buffer’ to greatly augment the on-board internal flash memory buffer of the LG. Sorry, that didn’t work either because the MY BOOK was formatted in NTFS and the LG will only work with drives formatted to FAT 16 or FAT 32 for BD Live services!

More lost time because I had to hunt-down MY BOOK FAT 32 formatting tools. With MY BOOK formatted to FAT 32 the LG now sees the MY BOOK fully, my network never does and the LG can not access any media files I have on my system! Even when I downloaded the Media Home 4 Demo version, that program didn’t work either.

For the record, I have XP Pro, Service Pack 3, 1 GB memory, 1 TB of hard drive space and my system works fine in all other respects.

Here is the bottom line, the LG BD390 is NOT ready for prime time. Both LG and NERO need to do significant troubleshooting way before this product (or any others the make) hit the shelves.

Please, save yourself hours of lost time and frustration! This LG is going right back to the store and I am fairly confident you will do the same if you buy one.

Rating: 1 / 5