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LG BH100 Combo Player Quick Review - Page 2

post #31 of 368
1/21/07 at 2:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jameskollar View Post

Too many decisions.


Yes, way too many, indeed. I waited for a long time to replace a CRT pj. Then an interim DVD that does progressive that ended up costing a lot after the warranty labor expired, now this decision Or, should one get the playstation and an HD player? Hooking up two? Room? HDMI switching?
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post #32 of 368
1/21/07 at 2:44pm
Quote:


Since this is not an HD-DVD licensed player it doesn't support iHD (LG officially said support will not be in any firmware release) since the use of iHD would require licensure.

I do not understand this part, So are you saying it will only play back BD at the moment and not HD DVD??

Thanks!




Thanks!
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post #33 of 368
1/21/07 at 2:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Gouger View Post

I do not understand this part, So are you saying it will only play back BD at the moment and not HD DVD??

Thanks!




Thanks!

I don't think so, Alan.

I think what folks are saying is that it just doesn't FULLY support ALL of the interactive, "iHD" features for HD DVD.
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post #34 of 368
1/21/07 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sketcha View Post

I'd like to hear some more comparisons between DD and DD+.

Roger Dressler from Dolby says there isn't much difference because no one is taking advantage of the full capabilities of DD+ and he can't hear the difference between the 2.

Says it was specifically designed to work with the architecture of HD DVD.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1&page=1&pp=30

Quite a nasty thread they have going on there! Currently don't have any DD+ on Blu Ray. I am using the analogs on my A1 and DD+ is all I use except when TrueHD is available. All I can add is that DD+ to my ears sounds far superior to plain old DD.
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post #35 of 368
1/21/07 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jameskollar View Post

Quite a nasty thread they have going on there! Currently don't have any DD+ on Blu Ray. I am using the analogs on my A1 and DD+ is all I use except when TrueHD is available. All I can add is that DD+ to my ears sounds far superior to plain old DD.

Cool. So I'm guessing that you've A/B'd the 2 with the same disc?

What about DTS? Any opportunities to compare all 3 on the same disc?

I'm still on the fence, back in the stoneages with SD DVD, but me sure likes me DTS! It's night and day with DD, AFAIC.
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post #36 of 368
1/21/07 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sketcha View Post

I don't think so, Alan.

I think what folks are saying is that it just doesn't FULLY support ALL of the interactive, "iHD" features for HD DVD.

Ok, thats not so bad. Thank you.
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post #37 of 368
1/21/07 at 3:41pm
The concept of a dual format player appeals to me, and I know I will buy one at some point. Maybe this model after it drops in price, or a future generation model. I know the fact that it does not play HD DVD iHD features such as U-control or PiP commentaries is not significant to me personally..........I rarely if ever watch extras other then trailers and 'previews'.


Edit: If anyone has this player and would not mind, I would be interested in seeing a picture of what the 'custom' HD DVD menu looks like.
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post #38 of 368
1/21/07 at 3:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by IeraseU View Post

The concept of a dual format player appeals to me, and I know I will buy one at some point. Maybe this model after it drops in price, or a future generation model. I know the fact that it does not play HD DVD iHD features such as U-control or PiP commentaries is not significant to me personally..........I rarely if ever watch extras other then trailers and 'previews'.

Careful about that. An example. As I understand it, King Kong which is on Universal only will not play on a Toshiba A1 with firmware 1.4 and before. Version 2.0 of the firmware in addition to other features added U Control (if I remember correctly) and enabled playback of KK. Don't know whether the lack of HDi will prevent playback, but lack of U Control may affect playback of some titles. I too rarely watch extras so I really don't know what the diff is in the two and really don't care. I just want to playback the movie.

Anyone willing to try King Kong on this player?
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post #39 of 368
1/21/07 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterShipp View Post

The unit does support 1080p/24 and it works. We have it feeding our Lumagen Vision HDQ (with the latest firmware) and it looks great.

Just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. You are saying that the player itself will output 1080p/24 and not just that it will output a signal that the scaler can convert to 1080p/24, right? I'm guessing you know the difference, but since this confuses some people I just wanted to make sure.

--Darin
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post #40 of 368
1/21/07 at 5:28pm
I posted pictures of the HD DVD custom menu in the official owners thread. It is not much of a menu but the content is still viewable... but have to hunt for it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...65#post9537665
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post #41 of 368
1/21/07 at 7:45pm
Thank you for the pictures. The menu doesn't look very fancy, but certainly functional enough to watch a movie (assuming you're not the type that is very interested in extras).
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post #42 of 368
1/21/07 at 7:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by darinp2 View Post

Just want to make sure I am understanding this correctly. You are saying that the player itself will output 1080p/24 and not just that it will output a signal that the scaler can convert to 1080p/24, right? I'm guessing you know the difference, but since this confuses some people I just wanted to make sure.

--Darin

When you press the OK button on the Lumagen remote the on screen menu reports the input signal and the output signal. The Lumagen indicated 1080/24p on input with both disc formats in our prelim testing. The first day with the LG player it refused to output anything but 1080i or 480p. Then we updated the software in the Lumagen and activated the EDID setting of EXT+. This enabled the 1080/24p output from the LG.
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post #43 of 368
1/21/07 at 9:55pm
this whole 1080p/24 is of interest to me too. what do you mean by "activated the EDID setting of EXT+."? From what I gather when I read this post you updated the lumagen and got different readings after you updated that unit. Was anything changed on the LG unit in order to change the output?

It seems odd that LG would deny this specification (or at least not tout it).
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post #44 of 368
1/22/07 at 5:48am
The EDID file is provided by the display manufacturer to communicate to the source over hdmi what resolutions the display supports. This is a plug and play feature designed to prevent the consumer from selecting a resolution his display does not support and entering a no picture situation. We have this same EDID relationship with our HD cable box. The problem I have seen is when the manufacturer does not write the EDID file correctly and the source determines the display does not support a certain resolution (even though it really does) and removes that option from the output menu in the source. With a external scaler we enjoy the luxury of an EDID file that can be updated to adjust for new sources. In the case of the LG BH100 Lumagen recently updated the EDID file to support the Sony BD player at 24p and this update also worked for the LG.
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post #45 of 368
1/22/07 at 6:44am
Could we get some clarification of this?

Is the Lumagen EDID facility being used to FORCE the LG to output 1080p24, or just ENABLING it?

I know that EDID edit allows Lumagens to extract 480i from DVD players that only output 480p over HDMI when left to their own devices, and I was wondering if the same could be happening here with 1080p24.

Cheers, Nick
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post #46 of 368
1/22/07 at 7:02am
The Lumagen simply provides the answer the source wants to see and this enables the resolution.
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post #47 of 368
1/22/07 at 7:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterShipp View Post

For most people buying a player this year HDMI 1.3 and HD audio is not going to be at the top of the list and for them this player will get them off the fence.

I disagree. For most people buying a player this year, this player costs way more than they're going to spend.
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post #48 of 368
1/22/07 at 10:15am
From the owners manual:

"Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD (DTS only) capa-
bility is limited to 6 channels (5.1)."
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post #49 of 368
1/24/07 at 2:44am
Anybody know which scaling chip this uses?
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post #50 of 368
1/24/07 at 5:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by fa8362 View Post

I disagree. For most people buying a player this year, this player costs way more than they're going to spend.

I'll stick to the facts which is that LG can't make enough of these and demand has far exceded forecasts. That tells me the price isn't too high; simple supply and demand.
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post #51 of 368
1/24/07 at 11:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DocDVD View Post

Con's:

2) No ethernet for direct networking or updating. The RJ-45 is a service port only.
3) No 24P (at least for now)
4) Even though this is the first player with DTS-HD MA decoding internally, LG screwed the pooch as the HD decoding only decodes 2-channel over HDMI. Only the 5 analog outs decode 5.1 for HD. This should be an easy fix via firmware, but again, this is the biggest mistake I have seen on any of the players, as this was a bigger plus to me even than HD-DVD playback so I could enjoy Fox and MGM BDs with lossless compression over LPCM 5.1, but nope. I won't go back to analog out's when I have a preamp that can decode LPCM 5.1 over HDMI.
5) DD+ again is only 2-channel PCM over HDMI when set to PCM. It is decoded as DD legacy when set to bitstream. Plus must also be decode and sent to the analog outs to get 5.1.
6) DD True HD is also 2 channel PCM, and that does NOT change even on the analog outs. Again, as with plus and DTS-HD, this should be able to fixed just the A1 series was upgraded with a firmware upgrade.


This player could be great if it got a quick firmware update, but for now, I wouldn't buy it unless you have no use for advance audio codecs via HDMI LPCM. This lack of support is a generation back at least, and something I am personally extremely disappointed in.

Does anyone know LG's track record re: firmware upgrades for their products?

Hopefully, you will be able to burn an update to a DVD±r(w) (not a cd-r cuz it don't play 'em ).

I'd guess upgrading for outputting the Dolby TrueHD as 5.1 to the analog outs is possible since DD+ can do this.

Less likely that 1080/24p is an easy firmware upgrade.

Does anyone know what kind of bass management this unit has for the analog 5.1 outs?
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post #52 of 368
1/24/07 at 12:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterShipp View Post

I'll stick to the facts which is that LG can't make enough of these and demand has far exceded forecasts. That tells me the price isn't too high; simple supply and demand.

How do you know that? The player has only been available for a few days.
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post #53 of 368
1/24/07 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm_etue View Post

Does anyone know LG's track record re: firmware upgrades for their products?

Hopefully, you will be able to burn an update to a DVD±r(w) (not a cd-r cuz it don't play 'em ).

Less likely that 1080/24p is an easy firmware upgrade.

Firmware upgrades will be via a DVD ROM. Perhaps when this unit has been out for more than 1 week you will see a firmware release but I don't own a crystal ball.

1080p/24 is already supported. 1080p/60 is not.

I know about the supply situation and how firmware upgrades will work because we are an LG dealer and authorized service center.
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post #54 of 368
1/24/07 at 11:01pm
...and I can confirm that the LG supports 1080p/24 and not 1080p/60. I have a display that does only 1080p/60 and another that does 1080p/60 and 1080p/24.

In addition, it only supports DVD upconversion to 1080i/60.
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post #55 of 368
1/25/07 at 12:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DocDVD View Post

4) Even though this is the first player with DTS-HD MA decoding internally, LG screwed the pooch as the HD decoding only decodes 2-channel over HDMI. Only the 5 analog outs decode 5.1 for HD. This should be an easy fix via firmware, but again, this is the biggest mistake I have seen on any of the players, as this was a bigger plus to me even than HD-DVD playback so I could enjoy Fox and MGM BDs with lossless compression over LPCM 5.1, but nope. I won't go back to analog out's when I have a preamp that can decode LPCM 5.1 over HDMI.
5) DD+ again is only 2-channel PCM over HDMI when set to PCM. It is decoded as DD legacy when set to bitstream. Plus must also be decode and sent to the analog outs to get 5.1.
6) DD True HD is also 2 channel PCM, and that does NOT change even on the analog outs. Again, as with plus and DTS-HD, this should be able to fixed just the A1 series was upgraded with a firmware upgrade.

Does this player really decode DTS-HD MA?

According to a LG rep at LG CES booth, it does not support DTS-HD, it only supports DTS core playback, and TrueHD would support 2ch decoding only. I suspect it's just decoding DTS core in the DTS-HD stream, downmixing to 2ch and output as 2ch PCM. I heard that 2ch only decoding of DTS-HD MA is not qualified to get DTS-HD Master Audio logo licence.

Is there the DTS-HD Master Audio logo on the player? And how about Dolby TrueHD logo?
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post #56 of 368
1/26/07 at 5:26am
This unit is already sitting on the shelf of my local Best Buy...I can't resist the temptation to buy it and bring it home to play with it... I'll let you know what I think...I have 1080P/24 capable projector and also 2 720P projectors. (I just "gotta" know how good this thing is)...
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post #57 of 368
1/26/07 at 7:43am
Avoid this player. I ordered it on BestBuy,com and I've had it for two days. The sound track is out of sync with the video with no way to adjust it. HD DVD's the problem is worse. I had a Toshiba HD-2a which I retuned when I got the LG BH-100 player. The video quality was much better with the toshiba. I'm also disapoointed with the Blu-Ray quality, although I;ve not been able to compare the quality.

The player seems to run hot. It locked up in one spot when watching the Borne Supremacy.

I will be returning the player to Best Buy.
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post #58 of 368
1/26/07 at 8:53am
My BH100 does not run hot... perhaps you had it sitting on another piece of equipment?

I did see the lip-sync issue once... I simply pushed the "audio" button to switch to a different sound track and switched back and the sound track was back in sync.
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post #59 of 368
1/26/07 at 10:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry928 View Post

The Lumagen simply provides the answer the source wants to see and this enables the resolution.


Lurking on other threads. What does the pic look like using the LG and the Lumagen together????
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post #60 of 368
1/26/07 at 3:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldorfSalad View Post

Would you then return it to BB after you've played with it?

Only if it doesn't work correctly...and it doesn't!...There is no audio through HDMI. I can't believe it!...If you have an HDMI receiver (which I do) you cannot go through the receiver!...I can plug in to my projector direct, and get a great picture, but then I would have to use coaxial or optical for sound!...It simply will not even play through an HDMI receiver...I have 2 HDMI receivers and it will not play through either one!...I have swapped the unit out already but the other one is the same...wow!...BUMMER!!!!!!....NO HDMI AUDIO!...
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