I've come late to the Blu-ray party. Like most Hd junkies I was waiting for the fight in the middle of Hddvd and Blu-ray to be won, which it was in convincing fashion in 2008. Now that I've arrived at the party with martini in hand, I'm happy to be here. What I've ended up with is an Lg Bd300 Blu-ray player with built in Netflix streaming capabilities. If you've dismissed Blu-ray or streaming video you owe it to yourself to explore this. What's sitting in my entertainment town now is proof unavoidable that we've reached an age where even stupid citizen can be hazardous with technology.
First, Netflix has all the time seemed like an alien plan to me. I hate using snail mail. Now don't get me wrong, I think that the Us Postal assistance is the best business agreement to be had on the planet. Paying someone a few dozen pennies to hand carry a piece of paper across the country is an anticipated deal. However, it's the main theorize that I never signed up for a Netflix account. It seems like a immense hassle.
However, the built in Netflix streaming capabilities in the Blu-ray player had me intrigued. Since my Xbox is not on my main television, I didn't go that route after it was implemented last month on Xbox live. The surprise was how easy of a set up this whole outfit turned out to be. It's proof unavoidable that even the world's most tech-ignorant goon could be hazardous with technology.
![]( "Blu-ray and Netflix Streaming Video - So Easy a Caveman Could Do it (Wait, Is That Copyrighted?)")
First, the most invention in the history of humankind to this point is Hdmi. Had I been the guiding hand in the evolution of man, I would have skipped the wheel and gone straight for Hdmi. For every woeful man that has spent a immense part of his life curious entertainment centers and spending hours untangling wires, rerouting speakers, and basically contemplating suicide because of it, Hdmi is wonderful. One cable. Video. Sound. Perfect. I'm not sure that there's any real capability revising in the photo over the old Dvi format, but the hassle factor is beyond measure.
Lets walk through the steps of setting this monstrosity up.
I removed my progressive scan upconverting acceptable Dvd player, leaving the Hdmi cable in place. Replacing it with the Blu-ray was simple. The total time it took was a couple of minutes running the power cable and the Lan cable (to use the streaming Netflix features).
Providing network connectivity was the next step. No Lan interface in my living room and no wireless preserve on the Blu-ray player meant that I had to get a Netgear Powerline network extender into an outlet near my Tv. The Netgear expedient was straightforward to install. There's no software required for this, just simply plug the transmitter into a power outlet near the router, hardwiring it with a Lan cable to an open router port, then the receiver into a power outlet near the Tv and run a Lan cable into the back of the Blu-ray player. The wireless extender required actually no soft set up. They automatically connected to my network and were up and ready to go. In fact, I use the term "transmitter" loosely. Both boxes are identical, whichever one you plug into the router becomes the "transmitter". The initial investment was in the Netgear Xe104 that functions using the power circuits in your home.
Once I booted the Blu Ray player it had some problem finding the network when I went to the Netflix choice in the root menu. This was resolved actually enough by going into the network set up and re-affirming it as a "dynamic Ip." I'm assuming this just forced the Dvd player to renew it's Ip address. As soon as I had network connectivity, it promptly informed me that there was an modernize to the Netflix software and it took less than a little to download.
I took the plunge and went online and signed up for the Netflix 2-week trial on the .99 plan, the bottom unlimited plan they offer. Even though the first two weeks are free on the trial, it did want credit/debit card info. It also requires you put the Netflix expedient Id of the Blu-ray player in when you sign up online. Very simple, as soon as the Netflix modernize downloaded it gave me the Id on screen. Within seconds of entering the Id into the Netflix website the player informed me that it was authorized.
The .99 plan entitles you to put up to 9 films in your Netflix queue, 6 of which can be streaming picks. Only excellent titles are available for streaming to your device, and roughly none are new releases, any way this plan allows you to do mail and/or streaming in any combination. There are still thousands of streaming titles. Once you perfect the sign up, you can add any "instant titles" into your queue and they show up immediately in your Dvd player Netflix menu. From the player's menu you can also take off the films from your Netflix queue promptly or hope in the middle of multiple features on the same title. It's actually incredibly cool.
Overall, from not having the seals on the boxes broken to set up and ready to go was about 15 minutes. other noteworthy plus on the Lg Bd300 is that it that my Toshiba Lcd picks up the fact that the Blu-ray player has been turned on and automatically changes the input setting on my television over to it. I found this particularly curious because the this was not the case with my Lg upconverting acceptable def Dvd player, hooked up to the same input and using the same Hdmi cable.
The unlikeness in the middle of the upconverting 1080P acceptable Dvd and the Blu-ray is considerable. The Hi-Def photo is good than you get through your cable or satellite victualer (most networks aren't broadcasting 1080p yet anyway). The first disc we watched in Blu-ray on our 52inch Toshiba Lcd was The Dark Knight, and it was stunning. The Imax sequences, mainly the long cityscapes, were mind-bogglingly sharp. It's actually a perfect first choice film to start with.
Pixar's Wall-E was other mindblowingly sharp presentation. It's odd nowadays that when you sit down and watch a film like Wall-E, you're watching a goods that in spite of being called a "film" actually had actually no film involved. straight digital change to a 1080P photo that is sharper than the 3rd blade of a brand new cartridge in my Gillette Fusion Razor.
With the lessons of Xbox Live/Netflix issues expressed in the narrative referenced above, I did start to become somewhat implicated about the photo capability of the Netfix streaming. And sure enough, the first film into my queue, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wasn't giving us Hd quality.
Here it came as described, the "cheesecloth" capability video, suddenly I was watching Youtube on my big screen Tv. It was quite disappointing. Then about 30 minutes into the start of the film, we lost association completely. I was getting steamed about my stream. I went back the Dvd player Home menu and re-entered my Netflix queue and tried to resume Spotless Mind where we left off. Then, suddenly poof, the signal meter zipped all the way up informing me that I was getting full Hd quality. We watched the rest of the film and the photo capability seemed ok.
Subsequently though, every title we picked looked like hell. After doing some explore I found the any tech sites like Endgadget pretty much said the Netgear Xe104 generally could not handle the bandwidth of an Hd signal and in average operating conditions tested by the reviewers ordinarily didn't even conduct the bandwidth for acceptable def quality.
Further investigation led me to the Xdh111, Netgear's newest and most powerline Ethernet adapter tested to and advertised to handle the bandwidth of an Hd signal. The practical advantage of this was that not only did I get to upgrade to a good product, but it was .00 cheaper at Fry's Electronics than the substandard Xe104 was at Best Buy, where it was originally purchased. Fry's in store had it for 9.99. The cheapest I could find online was 3.99. Good old Fry's Electronics.
The Xdh111 improved the situation immediately. The signal meter shot to it's highest for the first Hd title we streamed and to the top level of the acceptable def level on the non-Hd titles. The Hi-Def titles look astonishing over the Netflix streaming, but the acceptable def titles still seem just a tad soft even though the signal meter on the player is showing the best signal. I'm going to experiment by curious the location of the Netgear hub to a different location in my house on the same electrical circuit as the player - fortunately, I have some options here because I have hardwired Ethernet jacks at any locations in my home.
Stupidly, when I built the house 5 years ago, I never carefully needing an Ethernet jack behind my Tv. I mean, after all, game consoles would never offer online play and there's no theorize to have a Pc in my living room...Ugh, what an idiot I was.
As for Netflix, even though new releases are mostly not available for streaming, there is one huge piece of the Netflix instant queue that I immediately zeroed in on: Tv Box Sets galore. I could get first-rate and new Doctor Who, 30 Rock, The Office (both the Uk and Us versions), Charles in Charge, Heroes, The Tick (the live activity series)....you name it, and there it was promptly watchable on my Tv. In my eyes, this calls for installing a bedpan and refrigerator in my living room couch. For .99 per month this is potentially the business agreement of the century (next to the Us Postal service). In fact, I just enjoyed watching the pilot chapter of The Tick, which I hadn't seen since, well...since the damned thing first aired. I also noticed the they had Heroes Season 3 available for streaming even though it's not available on Dvd yet and the season's not over. The most modern chapter is just about a week or two behind.
I guess I'm still of the plan that Netflix by mail is going to be a immense pain in the ass, but we'll right on be giving that a shot with newer releases.
I have to say that now's the time. Blu-ray is a astonishing thumbs up. Oddly enough though, I would have to say that this whole streaming Netflix highlight may be more indispensable than the disc player itself. It's nice to have both. If you have Fios or a Wideband Cable association (Docsis 3.0) you should be set. I have neither right now, but I'm still able to get Hd capability across, but I dream we're on the cusp of the bandwidth no longer being an issue for Hd streaming. Time to sell your children off for scientific experimentation and finance yourself a Blu-ray Home entertainment system.
On a side note, there were some moments where the investment in a Ps3 was considered rather than a standalone Blu-ray, but in all honesty, I'm not sure I would want to give up the Netflix option, especially with the small whole of Ps3 exclusive titles that intrigue right now. Also, it's other check mark on the list of horrific mistakes that Sony continues to make with the marketing of the Ps3. Netflix wanted deals with Sony and Microsoft. They didn't give a flying flip how they got their content into the home. Sony's John Koller basically told them to take a flying leap. "Our customers want to own the content," he commented. What the hell?
Well, with the .00 I saved upgrading two products levels higher on the Network Adapter I was able to pick up Evil Dead 2 on Blu-ray on sale for .99. Thank you Fry's Electronics! I'm dining with Bruce Campbell tonight.
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Blu-ray and Netflix Streaming Video - So Easy a Caveman Could Do it (Wait, Is That Copyrighted?)
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