Hands-on with LG's BD300 Netflix Blu-ray player
We get up close and personal with the LG BD300--the first Blu-ray player that will also access streaming Netflix movies.
When it's released in the fall, the LG BD300 will be the first Blu-ray player that will also have access to Netflix's online Watch Now library of streaming movies. But thanks to LG's sneak preview of the product (at its Manhattan press event last night), we have a pretty good idea of what we'll be getting when it hits stores in a few months.
The Netflix functionality is, not surprisingly, effectively identical to that of the standalone
The Netflix function is just one feature accessed by hitting the "home" button on the remote. Other network-friendly features include music and photo streaming--presumably from networked PCs or flash drives plugged into the front-panel USB port. On the Blu-ray front, the BD300 will be fully Profile 2.0 compliant, so it will be able to access the online and interactive BD-Live features that will be becoming more prevalent in Blu-ray discs. Bonus View (picture-in-picture commentaries and special features) will also be supported. Beyond a mention of "Dolby TrueHD support" on LG's spec sheet, audio details weren't specified, so we don't know how--or whether--the BD300 will handle DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks.
The BD300 will be LG's first Blu-ray player since the
CNET will have a full review of the LG BD300 as soon as it becomes available.