Official LG BD690/670/650/6xx Series Thread - Page 14

I've just noticed a DVD playback issue with my BD690. When playing a regular DVD (Revanche Criterion D1), there is a very brief stutter (sound dropout, picture freeze) at every chapter mark. I've replicated this on 4 other DVDs, both owned and rentals. I looked for the issue on a BluRay but don't see the same issue, so I think it only affects DVDs. After trying 3 DVDs, I did a soft reset (power off, unplug > 5 sec) to reboot and it is still stutters at chapter marks. I have watched many DVDs on the 690 previously, so I don't think this issue was present before. Could this have been something introduced in the last SW or FW update? I've got Main Ver: BD.8.62.276 and Servo Ver H90358.

Is anyone else seeing stutter at chapter marks on their BD6xx?

When checking the Other > Software information menu, I see there's a new option called "Network Play". The info at bottom says "Allows playback of media streamed from home networked devices". It was initially set to off, but I've now turned it on. I've been streaming from Mac and PC CIFS/SMB shares since I've had the 690 (and a 390 previously), and even with this option off, I can stream movie and music files just fine. I checked the BD690 manual and the "Network Play" option is not documented. I don't know which of the recent updates introduced it. It's not the same as the "Wifi Direct" or "Media File Sharing". Those are on the Network menu. On the small chance it enabled Apple's AirPlay, I tried playing a video on my iPhone 4 & iPad to see if the LG was now listed as an Airplay target, but it is not...only the ATVs.

Anyone know what this new "Network Play" option is used for?

Though I haven't tried on my 570 (I use my A35 to upscale SDVD) as of yet, there are a few folks on the BD5xx thread that have mentioned/complained of the same discrepancy occuring so my guess is, yes, it was introduced with the latest FW update.

After my daughter stops playing her Wii and gives me control of the TV back, I'll try a couple SDVD to see if the problem replicates on my 570.

i'm a newbie, and i hope i'm posting in the right place. i have the lg BD690 (and it's great!) but that's not my question. i got the BD690 to go with our new 50" LG PZ950 tv (which we also love). i can use HDMI to hook up the blu-ray to the TV... but i'm having trouble using HDMI to hook up the TV to the cable box.

does anyone have any experience with scientific atlanta 8300 HD DVR cable box? no problems when i use THX component cables, but no audio when i use HDMI. i know the HDMI is OK because i tried it on the lg blu-ray player: no problems.

before i go out and buy something new, just wanted to see if anyone else has run into this problem. thanks!

Yes, I am seeing the same issue here on my BD670 (with same firmware you noted) as well as on my BD570 (as of the most current firmware update).

I also experienced an issue last night and this morning on my BD670 where the player got into a state where it tried to read Blu-Ray video discs as data discs. Prior to this happening, I had been watching DVD Video discs on my BD670. I subsequently inserted a Blu-Ray and it showed the disc icon with "Data" instead of "Blu-Ray". When I tried to play the disc, I just saw the folder hierarchy on the disc, the video would not play. Last night when this happened, I shut down the player, restarted it and inserted the Blu-Ray I wanted to watch and it worked fine.

This morning, I was able to reproduce the issue by initially inserting a different DVD, then inserting a different Blu-Ray. Again, powering down the player seemed to make the issue go away. Then I tried to play the "Salt" Blu-Ray and the player would alternatively read it as a data disc or it would eject it immediately after insertion without attempting to play it. Even after I powered down the player, the disc would not play. Subsequently, Mad Men Season 4 would load its menu, but would not play any video (including the video integrated into the menus). When I attempted to start a video, the screen went black for a moment, then I was taken back to the main menu. After rebooting the player a few times without improved results, I attached a USB flash drive to the player. That seemed to resolve the problems I was having with both the Mad Men Season 4 and Salt Blu-Rays. I assume this was a Blu-Ray Live problem of some sort, but interestingly, I am not able to reproduce either of the Blu-Ray specific issues (video not playing and discs being recognized as data discs) at all now, even though I have removed the flash drive from the player.

Of course, I *am* still experiencing the brief drop outs following chapter changes on DVD video discs that djmaltby described. I have also tried a number of different DVD discs, all of which have exhibited this problem and I have also not observed this issue on any Blu-Ray discs.

Needless to say, the latest firmware seems to problematic in terms of disc playback. I'm tempted to roll back to an old firmware version, except that I don't particularly want to lose support for all of the Premium streaming services, especially now that Amazon VOD support has been added.

Wrong forum, go to the TV thread.

Anyone here have the : LG BD690? It's goin for $250 on Amazon, the older model is still around that price $230. Should I might as well jus get the newer model? I always wanted it, the LG BD590... especiallly for the 250gb HDD

is the newer model better, better built? i know its 3d compatible now. how's the upscaling of sd dvds?

spanx

I can't imagine why you would want to have the old model if you were going to purchase an LG Blu-ray player. You get 3D support, more streaming services and SmartTV with the new models, plus they're likely to support these models longer. That said, all of the firmware issues of late (affecting both model years) would make me think hard if I was in the market for a new player now. I'm trying to be optimistic that these issues will be resolved soon, but we'll see...

i didn't say i wanted to buy the older model, i said i always wanted to, but never did. but now that there's a newer model.. i'll get that but im curious how well it upconverts, build quality etc

I am considering purchasing either the LG 670 or the Sony BDP-S780. They have similar features, but the Sony also has 2D>3D conversion, Skype, and super bit mapping. Did any of you consider buying this Sony? If so, why did you go with the LG?

I went from a LG BD570 to BD690 and did seriously consider the Sony but there were a lot of discussions that I found that mentioned streaming Netflix was a serious issue (dropouts etc.)

I just wanted to report that the audio dropout after switching chapters (for DVD) on the new .276 affects the LHB536, too.

Apparently, this audio dropout happens with the 2010 players, as well. Weird.

Upconverting is fine and comparable to other players I have owned including my LG BD570. However, the cropping function will not properly crop letterboxed content. 16:9 DVD content encoded letterboxed (not anamorphic) will output windowboxed on 16:9 displays and the LG crop causes the sides of the image to be cut off. This was also a limitation of last year's players, but might not be a concern depending on the options your display provides and the content you watch.

Build quality of my BD670 is good, feels better than my BD570 ( I don't have the BD690, but would expect they are comparable.)

One thing I really like about the LG players is the flexibility they provide for playing back media files (via streaming and usb) and the ability to playback PAL format DVDs.

Amazon VOD and more compatibility with playing media files off my computer were the biggest factors on why I went with LG over the Sony. If your primary function of the player is to use blu rays and the 3d functionality I would go with Sony (assuming the 2d to 3d conversion is halfway decent). If you stream a lot of files off your computers at home, I would go with the LG. PS3 also is a great option, but there was size limitation on MKV files it would play (I think 4 gb, but not sure anymore).

so what ya mean is that im gonna get black bars? ugh, thats not good. i own an oppo bdp-83, oppo bdp-93, and a sony BDPS1000ES, and they all fill up the screen, no bars.

so LG shows the black bars?

my tv is 16:9

Only for content that is not optimized for 16:9. To provide an example, if you have the 2 disc versions of any of the original Star Wars movies on DVD, the 1st disc "Special Edition" versions play fine because they are anamorphic. The second disc (original theatrical versions) will play windowboxed (black bars on all four sides) because the content is letterboxed and the player plays the content back at the video's native 4:3 aspect ratio. Every player will do that by default (unless configured to stretch 4:3 images to 16:9), my concern us that if I attempt to use the zoom to correct the problem, the sides of the image get cut off (the player won't output anything wider than 4:3 if the content is encoded at 4:3). In short the zoom feature is pretty useless.

The only way I can correct for this on my system is to set the BD690 to output a 480p 4:3 signal then use my television to zoom in. I'm not sure how other current Blu-ray players handle this, I had a Samsung BD-P1600 which also did not have a function to correct this, but my Panasonic DVD recorder has a zoom feature that corrects for this in two button pushes.

I'm having a new and serious problem. Basically my BD650 cannot play and video files on USB or over the network. Some of these files I have played on the machine before. Now anytime I select a video file, whether on the usb drive or over the network, the player just powers down??? WTF?

I couldn't pass up on the $179.99 sale on the 670 @ BB. Will pick it up mañana.

Does play audio files and photos. But movies of various extension type just drop the machine. It powers down. Anyone seen this behavior????

And in turn would I be able to access those files (say WAV and Mpeg) over the network? Using a Sonos, for example. Anyone doing this regularly?
I guess the question is does the drive on a network attached 590/690 show up just like any other in my network places/

The Sony PS3 media server download was recommended as the best software for interfacing Mac devices with the 670/690. I will be setting mine up in a household with 2 Windows XP devices and one Mac OS device. Does the Nero software work just as well across platforms as the PS3? Issues with accessing iTunes files at the 670/690 in either case?
Any suggestions/observations are appreciated.
LAN use of the 670 would be mainly as a photo viewer and MP3/WAV player
If I opt for the 690 then we would burn CD's to it and use it as NAS for music files, which we would then hope to share via the Sonos interface.

Does anyone know if firmware BD.8.62.276.E is available for download anywhere?
I know it's not available on LG's site and their phone support is useless.
Maybe someone here can post it on dropbox or filedropper or something.

I've tried the update countless times and even though I'm connected to my home network through a wired (NOT WIRELESS) connection, it still fails.
I can stream 1080p content but all updates fail.....ridiculous.

And now I can't even bring up the Vudu app because it asks to update and the update fails so it just kicks me out.

LG...you need serious work on your update system!.....ARE YOU LISTENING??

so basically, and pretty much just older movies that are in 4:3 wont be stretched out on 16:9, will have bars instead?

edit: sorry for the dbl post

I'd recommend you call a higher tier of tech support: 877-543-8325 - LG Executive Services. If they don't have an immediate software solution for you, I'd request a return authorization number and that they send you a replacement unit immediately.

Before you call, make sure you have the time, phone number used, and the name of the LG rep that previously could not help you. You should also have your purchase information and your unit's serial number ready in case the Executive Services guys need that information from you.

Yes, it was very painful when my BD690 automatically loaded up that rogue software release that broke all of the premium apps a week ago. Fortunately my unit automatically detected and loaded the working .576 release via my WI-FI network. It took about 10 minutes to complete the update process.

Despite that update, I would rather be in control of ALL software and firmware releases for my unit. I have a trouble report logged with LG from a week ago to request they eliminate their automatic software and firmware updates in a future software upgrade. Their internal factory testing is pretty shaky, when they release software that partially breaks previously working units and they can't even consistently show the software release number that their players are currently using (some screens show .276 and others show .276.E for the same release). Not exactly confidence-inspiring...

For content which is actually 4:3, there is a preference of playing it back on 16:9 sets with black bars (preserving the aspect ratio of the content during playback) or stretched to fill the screen. My previous post discussed non anamorphic widescreen content, which is encoded as a 4:3 image with black bars embedded in the top and bottom of the image on the disc.

spanx, i think i got ya o well, if i see bars, i can always switch to my other blu-ray player. i mainly want the new LG for the 250gb HDD. can you pretty much add anything? i downlload a lotta AVI files.

Really? Is that not the dumbest thing you've ever heard considering one of the features posted about the LG TVs is that they support 2D -> 3D conversion? Are they thinking I'll buy the LG TV and buy a Samsung blu-ray players? It'd probably be a better bet to get the Samsung TV too.

Does anyone else know for sure? I'm looking for a black LG blu-ray player with WiFi and built-in apps (namely Netflix) with 2D to 3D conversion. Do they make such an animal?

I'm having a similar issue with my BD650, running latest s/w ver BD.8.62.276. When I select one of the media buttons on the home menu (i.e. movies, photos or music) the player just displays the wallpaper and then hangs. Sometimes the player just shuts itself off instead of hanging. I can only use the power off button on the player to turn it off (soft off) and typically have to do a full power off and reboot to get "normal" functionality although still without access to those menus.
Now, if I have a disc loaded, then I can access those menus and do see my network devices. I can use the remote to highlight the different devices but as soon as I select any one of them the player hangs again and then requires a full reboot.
If I insert a USB flash drive, then I can play the files on it. However, backing out of the USB menus also leads to a player hang and requires a reboot.
All very frustrating as I really would like to have DLNA access. Has anyone managed to use DLNA features with the latest s/w version or at all?