LG BD690

-Hey, I'm Matthew Moskovciak at CNET.com. We're gonna take a look at the LG BD690 Blu-ray player, which is currently selling for about $260 online. That's a lot of money for Blu-ray player and the reason it cost so much is its unique CD ripping feature. It has a build in 250 gigabyte hard drive. It allows you to rip your music right to the player. So, you don't have to stream it off on other device. If you pop in the CD, The Gracenote service automatically gets album art and track information, so your music library stays organized. Still, the process isn't as easy as you could be and there strangely no menu option that says rip CD or a button on the remote. You just have to know to press the button to bring out the CD archiving option. There's also no bulk ripping option, so you have to go through the same steps every time you rip the CD. You get the hang of it probably after reading the manual, but it could be a lot so good. The BD690 is more typical Blu-ray. Features are great. It's 3D compatible. There's built in Wi-Fi and an outstanding collection of streaming media services including Netflix, Hulu plus, and Amazon Instant, MLB. TV, and Pandora. The user interface for the streaming media services also excellent with big large icons for selecting the service you want. The connectivity around the back is pretty standard with an HDMI output in both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. We tested the image quality, which was excellent overall and when we put the BD690 to our Disc loading speed test, it was about exactly average for 2011 player. Overall, the main question with LG BD690 is whether you actually need a CD ripping feature in 2011. If you're into technology, you probably already ripped your CD collection and they are just in snags in the ripping process that might rip up some of the non-techies that would like a product like this. Still, the LG B690 is a unique product, and if you're willing to pay for all its features, it's good enough to recommend. I'm Matthew Moskovciak and this is the LG BD690.