LG BD300 Blu-ray Player Comments

I got through no less than 4 LG DVD players (with HDDs) ranging from £200 up to £450 before I gave up them. Every machine suffered the exact same problem - after trying to play any Region 1 disc, they would no longer play any single layered Region 2 discs. A very strange firmware fault. I managed to get a refund and ended up with Panasonic.. far superior. I have a few LG products in the house and am retty happy with them all, but I won't touch their disc players again.

Is it just me, or did DVD players get under £100 quicker that Blu-ray players have? I understand that Sony has to recoup dev costs, and early players were basically repackaged desktop pcs with p4 chips in them... so perhaps what is needed is a cheapo chipset from the no-name manufacturers? Blu-ray has been around for a while, and I still see the format as an indulgence for enthusiasts. Sorry this sounds so negative! DVD to HD formats isn't quite the step that was taken when we went from VHS to DVD. Will Blu-ray ever be widely adopted or squashed flat by internet-connected media centres and video on demand?

Although this and the other players in the 250 bracket review very well I'm just not convinced by the price of the media (ouch) nor the apparent boot up times & loading time of the blu-ray disks - go make yourself a brew. Having owned 1 expensive Sony DVD deck from back in the day, and now experiencing the joys of almost instant viewing from WD's HD TV, I'm now viewing the future. Having to find my film of choice (amungst my extensive DVD collection) and then open a tray and eventually eject it seems a thing of the past. Just give me my 1080p HD experience on download and I'll be happy. Blu-ray Blu-late Blu-it for me!

@GhehinG, I think it's just down to supply and demand, there is not mass appeal for BlueRay, as such it's taking longer for the price to drop. Also the format war didn't help. Like you pointed out nowadays there are more ways to get HD, some would say was there really any need for BlueRay?. Maybe even ReadOnly USB pens might have been a better media.

HDRE, downloading 1080p HD may be the best solution for you, but with my connection (broadband, just not that great) I could probably get the Blu-Ray delivered in the time it takes to download - and that's assuming my ISP doesn't cut me off for "breach of fair usage policy" halfway through.

That said, I am not ready to invest serious money in Blu-Ray. Some discs are reasonably priced - Hellboy 2 cost me less than the DVD version - but personally I can't see myself buying a standalone Blu-Ray player. Personally I think multi-purpose devices like the PS3, and PCs with Blu-Ray players, are the way to go at this point.