As far as I could tell Blu-Ray was not affected-but considering my earlier point that out of my whole video collection that left me with a total of 1 possible video that I could watch using this player. I tried doing a factory reset on my own as well as making sure I had the most recent firmware-all to no avail. When I finally had enough, I pulled out my receipt and noticed that I was 4 days beyond the 30-day return policy of Best Buy. Not being dismayed, I picked up the phone and called LG’s customer service line. Within 10 minutes the rep had approved factory service on my unit. In two days I had received the return labels and LG paid to ship the unit back via FedEx. Exactly 2 weeks after my call to customer service my unit had been returned. They noted that they “replaced the drive.” Upon re-installation, I noticed that on the home screen, not only was Netflix one of the options, but YouTube had been added as well.

The YouTube feature lets you browse and watch YouTube videos on your tv (internet access required). I was able to successfully log in to my YouTube account and watch “My Favorites.” I named this post, “Service With a Smile” as I was quite pleased with how LG handled my problem. They didn’t make me waste time and go through some pointless troubleshooting-they immediately authorized a return. The turnaround time (i.e., the wait) was acceptable. It was right in line with the amount of time I expected to be without the unit. Not only did I get my machine back in working condition at no cost, but received an added feature.

The integration of the internet with our television is finally starting to happen. We now have multiple machines that allow us to access the internet (in our house, the LD BD300 as well as the Nintendo Wii). The newest televisions are starting to ship with integrated internet capabilities similar to those offered by this Blu-Ray unit. The “convergence” that had been talked about for the past 12 years is starting to take hold on the popular level with many different devices being able to talk to each other.

Anyway, thanks, LG, for making right on a bad situation. You saved me as a customer.

We tested the BD300 with the usual suite of video test discs and while it is certainly not the best upconverting player out there, it’s also not the worst. It’s main problem is in handling 1080i Blu-ray Discs, which it does not de-interlace to 1080p properly, losing some detail in the process. But with 1080p Blu-ray Discs (the great majority of what’s out there on Blu-ray), the unit performs extremely well.

The player is also the fastest we have measured in terms of disc loading, bringing up the first screen of a BD-Java Blu-ray title (Pirates of the Caribbean]] in about 34 seconds – faster than the Panasonic DMP-BD55, the Samsung BD-P2500 and even the Sony PS3. It’s also faster than the rest at loading standard def DVDs. If load speed is important to you, the BD300 is one player you’ll definitely want to look at.

Stock on the BD300 is pretty low most places but you should not pay more than the list price ($349).

Our complete review is at Big Picture Big Sound (dot com).

All in all, this is a great player. Blu-ray discs load 10sec to 1min, with the norm being only 10 secs. The description states that most netflix movies are not HD, but Netflix has just recently updated their instant library to include many more HD quality movies. Unlike what has been said by other reviews, I have not needed to have a usb drive connected for Blu-ray live features.

Moserod