Photos: LG BD370 Blu-ray player hands-on

Blu-ray rocks our world these days -- our only hope for beautiful HD content on beautiful HD screens. The LG BD370 adds extra coolness by letting you watch YouTube

Ian Morris

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Ian Morris

March 4, 2009 4:15 a.m. PT

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Blu-ray, it seems, is here to stay. Despite posturing from some that digital downloads would rock our world, rather than physical media, we've yet to see any practical evidence of that. LG has always been at the forefront of physical media players -- it was the company that wanted to mute the format war by producing a player that could handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray. Now it's introduced the BD370, a profile 2.0 player with access to online video via YouTube.

The addition of HD means YouTube content is increasingly suitable for viewing on our glorious high-quality screens. And let's be honest, watching Ninja Cat never gets old.

Our initial tests with it indicate it's capable of loading our test disc in as little as 1 minute. Now that might sound like enough time for civilisations to rise and fall, but for a standalone player, it's actually one of the fastest machines on the market.

The BD370 also has most of the outputs you're likely to want, with component, composite and HDMI, as well as both optical and coaxial digital outputs. The only glaring omission is the lack of analogue RCA audio outputs, but on an entry-level player we can generally forgive that.

LG hasn't announced when the BD370 will hit the shops, but when it does, expect to pay about £220 for it. Expect a full review soon, but make sure you click through for more photos of the player in action.

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The front of the player is punctuated with this glorious illuminated power button. Surrounding it are the play/pause and eject buttons.

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Depending on the mode, the button illumination will change. Here, when it's red, the player is booting up.

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The disc tray is hidden beneath a drop-down flap. Neat, tidy and stylish too. The tray also pops out very quickly when the eject button is pressed. No more lengthy waits to put discs in your player.

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Outputs are fairly standard. There are both optical and coaxial digital audio connections. Obviously HDMI 1.3 is present and correct, and there is component and even composite video out -- although these sockets won't give the best picture quality. You'll also notice the Ethernet socket, for BD Live and YouTube content, which we think is a great addition. The only obvious omission is analogue 7.1 audio out, which we like to see on Blu-ray players. Even so, this machine has pretty much everything else you need in terms of outputs.

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The remote control is quite light, and fairly basic. It does the job, but there's no real joy in using it.

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The one awesome thing about the remote is the single AAA battery it uses. The advantage of not festooning your controller with LEDs is that it uses much less power.

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The menus are truly lovely to look at. LG has led the field in both TV and Blu-ray player menus for some time now, and this machine is no exception. This screen shot is from the 'home' menu, from which you can access all of the player's features.