Official LG BD690/670/650/6xx Series Thread - Page 3

I wish I had come across this post before making my purchase. I bought the 650 model from Newegg and noticed on the box something about purchasing a wireless adapter separately. Newegg had it listed as wifi included at the time of purchase. I haven't opened it and planned to return it but it's going to cost me about $15 just to return it. I can't seem to find where to buy the official adapter and if it's worth it.

FYI I've been hunting for the BD650 and finally ordered it from Electronics Express on Amazon for $179.99 + free shipping after Best Buy (2 local stores and their national 888 number) couldn't give me any ETA on when they'd have it in stock or what it would be priced at. Interestingly, one local Best Buy store got all the other 600 series players in on Sunday (except maybe the 690? They definitely had the 670) but still couldn't give me any info about the 650 when I called back today. So just passing it along for anyone else who's been looking too.

I'll report back when I get it on the differences between the 550 and 650 since the 550 is what I've had for the past couple weeks and will be returning to Best Buy as soon as the new player shows up.

I just visited my local No. NV Best Buy today and had the same experience as Eljimador.

The sales people could not tell me prices or availability times for the 6xx players and had nothing in stock. BB did have some in stock BD590s and BD570s on "clearance sales" today , but the prices were about 10% higher than the regular prices were for the same players 30 days ago. Some clearance...

It's strange that some BD6xx players are being shipped in the USA, while, as of this date, the USA lg.com site still does not really acknowledge the presence/availability of this product in this market from some sources. On the other hand, the support part of the lg.com site continues to allow downloads of certain BD6xx model manuals (I have a .pdf copy of the BD690 manual which was downloaded from the USA LG site several weeks ago).

I ordered the BD650 from Amazon / Electronics Express last night $179 delivered. Will post my findings once I have it. I am upgrading from a BD390 that has served me very well. I do not need nor want wireless although I do lament the exclusion of the 7.1 analog outs. In any case I have been using HDMI so I will continue to do so.

One major reason for me to upgarde is the MLB service. I pay for the MLB.tv season so this is nice. I also plan to dump verizon finally for pay tv but not net.

If you look at the CNET review of the 690 it lists NHL, Hulu, Amazon etc as features of Smart TV. http://reviews.cnet.com/blu-ray-play...-34468441.html
Can anyone confirm or is this just FW not available yet?
Lastly if you search you tube for Smart Tv you can see the browser on European models. Sure hope this will be part of the US model FW upgrades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKlqJ...eature=related
How much of this will show up on the BD650 / 70 / 90

[quote=One major reason for me to upgarde is the MLB service. I pay for the MLB.tv season so this is nice. I also plan to dump verizon finally for pay tv but not net. [/QUOTE]

Empirical, how's your experience w/MLB.tv been? I intended to sign up and dump my TV service (Comcast) and that's what limited my search for a blu ray player to LG and Samsung in the first place since they are the only ones that offer MLB.tv. But then I found out about the local blackout rule and decided to hold on to Comcast just through the end of the season.

By next season I figure I might bite the bullet and sign up even if they haven't ditched the local blackout policy, even though it means watching my team a day behind. I'd really want MLB.tv to be almost flawless to do that though -- ie. getting all the games HD, no hiccups in playback, etc. If not then I'll be signing up and cancelling TV service every year just around baseball season.

I signed up 5 years ago because my team is not local. It's great get all the games, choice of home or away audio, sometimes video. Initially watched all on the PC, and a PC hooked to the TV. Now I have stream to the Ipod and hopefully in a few days to the TV via the BD650. The quality is in almost all cases very good to excellent. Have seen some hiccups but in general it has gotten smoother each of the past 5 years.

My BD390 works great but I was compelled to get the 650 because of the MLB and impending freedom from cable bill. Seriously hoping the extras found in LG Smart TV platform all end up on the 650.

You may be able to get around blackouts via ip spoofing.

Other than 3D capability, is there any reason a firmware upgrade would not allow the LG BD570/590 to have the same UI and streaming services of SmartTV like the LG BD6xx models have?

Even if this were possible and I doubt it is, it almost certainly wont happen for the same reason that my 390 was never upgraded to have MLB or the new Netflix interface, etc.

I suppose it is just business in order to try and sell more Bluray players. I am not an expert when it comes to this technology, but I would think as long as the codecs exist and the hardware is in place to connect to the net and so forth, the streaming services and UI are just firmware code changes. Some tout the advantages of being a networked system is that it won't become obsolete because firmware can be upgraded over time adding other services. Perhaps that is not the case when it comes to bluray players.

Well there is the os and the fw. Maybe some really software savvy person on here can tell us whats what on these machines. My belief is the the new interface requires more than a fw upgrade. Not saying it's not possible but i know if it is it wont happen.

It would be good to hear from some experts on the matter. If you look at Apple TVs, Roku players, and other media players, they continuously add services and features to these little boxes via firmware. I don't understand why bluray players could not do the same thing.

Well you are talking about the same machine being updated in those cases. It is a rarity for any CE company to update old hardware to match its current models features. I worked in the industry 10 years and have seen many examples of this.

This is one of my biggest questions too. I'm really a novice on this stuff and after spending the last 3 weeks or so educating myself I decided it would be worth it to pay a little more for the 650 and return the 550 I just bought and have been happy with so far because I wanted the DLNA and USB playback. I figure as long as those meet my expectations that will be worth the extra cost alone. However it's still a mystery to me whether the Smart TV offering is really going to be any upgrade over the UI and streaming services the 550. Like others here I saw mentions that it would include a web browser, only to find out that's just for LG TV's and the new Smart TV Upgrader box and will not be packaged with 600 series blu ray players. And whether it's technically possible to make that available w/a firmware upgrade later I highly doubt it would be because wouldn't LG rather package that with next year's line to try to entice you to buy a new player instead? Maybe that's cynical but I just don't see something like that coming in a firmware upgrade.

Realistically, I'm thinking there's at least a 50/50 chance that Hulu Plus and Amazon VOD will eventually be available because it seems like LG has already advertised those would be included so I expect they'll feel some pressure to deliver on that. Beyond that maybe 1 or 2 things will eventually appear in the apps store that I'll be interested in. I am definitely trying to temper my expectations in regards to content though. In concept, I think the Smart TV platform if LG remains committed to it should be close to future proof as I personally should need, eventually offering everything I want in one box with firmware upgrades. In reality, I'm not sure that marketing will allow that even if technology does.

If that's cynical and somebody knows better, please correct me. Like I said I'm a novice on this stuff and the last thing I want to do is pass along bad info here since this thread has been extremely helpful for me. Just offering my impression FWIW.

Thanks Empirical. Sounds like the service is worth it if I can just get around my issues with the blackout rule. Either that or I'll eventually have to learn about IP spoofing, because I really hate giving any more money to Comcast.

The big question that all of us BD5x0 owners want answered is, did LG fix the skipping and freezing issues with almost every new disc at 1080p/24Hz? That alone would be the most compelling reason to upgrade for us.

As far as upgrading the older models to Smart TV, of course they could if they wanted to. It's all Java based. Don't get your hopes up, though. LG didn't even manage to update Netflix to 2.0 in the 5 series. I wonder if the 6 series of players has the newer interface with full search capability.

Updating is a TWO-STEP process. First, is the downloading of the update file; but that's all that happens in the first step... nothing has been updated yet. The update file(s) is stored in internal memory

The second step is to perform the actual update. On my BD550 - I was prompted (after the download had finished) if I still wanted to go ahead with the update or not.
Apparently LG gives you a last chance to bail-out of the process. If your player had powered down before you OK'd step #2... it probably would take you right there after re-powering.

AutoPower-off function is a cool thing - in every situation EXCEPT when updating
This function is the first thing I turn off in the Setup Menu.

If it is that easy why hasn't somebody got a hold of the image and modded it to upgrade 3 series, 5 series, etc?

I just ordered the 670.

Actually - I had ordered the 570 from an Amazon source on Monday (that said it was "in stock"). They emailed me this morning saying they didn't have stock of the 570... and offered me the 670 for the same price (but only becaused they screwed up by claiming they had stock of the 570).

I sure hope the USB port on the 670 will play "computer-type" videos... the darned 550 would not

It does but I've only tested my 670 with .AVI .MP3 and .JPEG via the USB

I've tested a few other formats via the network. I think it supports the same formats either way.

Thank You !!!

In support inquiries pertaining to the BD670, I have been told that a firmware update is planned for later this month (March 25th) which is to include the following:

"· Activate the web browser, search and media link functions. (currently a “coming soon” message appears)
· Make the “top 5” on the premium partner card customizable by the user
· Add the following content partners: CinemaNow, Napster, NBA, Amazon VOD, AP, iPlay (games)
· Add additional apps to the App Store area."

I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much as there is an LG press release from January which states that the Blu-Ray players would *not* have the Web browser. I also saw a CES report which suggested that the "Media Link" functionality would only be included on LG SmartTV television sets (as opposed to the SmartTV equipped Blu-Ray players and standalone "Upgrader" box. Maybe they changed their mind or information regarding the other SmartTV device upgrades is getting mixed up (in which case the information above may not be accurate). This information does seem to pertain to other devices in the SmartTV line-up because Cinema Now and Napster are already supported in the BD6x0 series and there is currently no "top 5" premium partner display in the BD6x0 UI. However, I wrote twice and both response suggested the same features.

I was told that support does not have any information about the availability of Hulu Plus at this point, but hopefully we'll at least get the Amazon VOD option later this month.

One thing that I have noticed while testing the streaming of the BD670, is that I am able to play .M4V files. This format is not listed as a supported format in the printed manual I received with the player and these files will not play on my older BD570 player. A nice format to be added though, for those who have Apple computers or devices (though it is my assumption that the protected versions of these files from the iTunes store will not play).

The files I tested were made using the AppleTV2 preset in Handbrake as a starting point to do DVD rips. This saves an MP4/.M4V file using the H.264 (x264) codec, though I experimented with different audio options. The BD670 will play back these files with either AAC or AC3 audio. When both formats are present I can select between the two options and/or a separate commentary track. However, I experienced a problem where the audio was out of synch with the picture whenever I used AC3 pass through. The same files play with the audio and video in synch in VLC player on my Mac. The content I was testing had a 2 channel AC3 soundtrack on the source disc (have not tested anything with surround yet).

I never said easy. I said LG could if they wanted to, but that would obviously be a bad marketing move.

You implied it would be easy "of course they could if they wanted to. It's all Java based"
My comment was if this is so why has someone ( NOT LGE for obvious reasons) done it? I see no hacks for these players outside of region hacks. Anything and everything gets hacked nowadays. If was so simple it would have been done by now.

If you know specifically that the 3, 5 series run the same OS and have compatible hardware that could run 6 series FW / SW that is one thing. If you do not have this specific knowledge then you are just speculating.

This sounds promising.... fingers crossed

LG has the new models featured on their website now
http://www.lg.com/us/tv-audio-video/video/index.jsp

BD 670 " 3D-Capable Blu-ray Disc™ Player with SmartTV and Wireless Connectivity"
BD 650 "3D-Capable Blu-ray Disc™ Player with SmartTV"


But how smart??? lol

Here is the SmartTV press release that lists the BD650/70/90
http://www.lg.com/us/press-release/a...-offerings.jsp

Note however the asterisks, lousy asterisks!

Just go to www.lg.com and click the "Contact Us" link in the footer and you'll see an option to contact by email.

I sent the following e-mail to LG support


And received the following answer


I'll wait until the 25th and see if either of these features are added.

I too received an email from LG, stating that a new update should be coming end of March which should push down more apps over your Home network. Only app she confirmed was Amazon VOD.