BD370

The LG BD370 is an excellent entry-level Blu-ray player for any home theatre system.

Good Gear Guide

The LG BD370 is a great entry-level Blu-ray player that has excellent picture quality and DVD upscaling, as well as BD-Live support, USB playback and the ability to display YouTube videos.

Pros

  • Excellent DVD upscaling, very good Blu-ray picture quality, can connect to YouTube, can play and display media from USB 2.0 thumb drives, BD-Live capable

Cons

  • No 7.1-channel analog outputs

Bottom Line

The LG BD370 Blu-ray player is an excellent entry-level option. The very good DVD upscaling, Blu-ray movie picture quality, BD-Live connectivity and USB playback already make it worth the price tag, but the ability to connect to YouTube makes this one of the best budget Blu-ray players we've seen.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 449.00 (AUD)

The LG BD370 Blu-ray player has a slim body and an interesting design with a large circular power button in the middle of the fascia. Two flaps on either side of the button open to reveal the drive tray on the left side and a USB 2.0 port on the right side.

We were impressed by the fast loading time for discs. Our Blu-ray copy of The Guardian only took 16.37sec to load, compared to the 47.46sec it took the Sharp AQUOS BDHP21X Blu-ray player.

If you've got DVDs at home that you want to watch on a Full HD TV, then you'll appreciate the excellent upscaling provided by the LG BD370 Blu-ray player. The images in The Matrix's lobby scene were well-defined and devoid of artefacts. Motion was displayed smoothly and without any stuttering. The upscaling was slightly better than the very good Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.

The Blu-ray picture quality was also very good; with everything from skin tones to tree trunks and wheat fields coming through realistically. Fast-paced actions scenes from Pearl Harbour were well-handled with a superb level of clarity. The close-up shots of Kevin Costner's face in The Guardian revealed every wrinkle and crease with remarkable (and often unwanted) detail.

The USB 2.0 port is able to play music and movies as well as display images. Pictures can even be arranged as a slideshow with a music track used as an accompaniment.

The LG BD370 Blu-ray player can handle a variety of formats including MPEG2, MPEG4 AVC (H2.64), AVCHD and DivX. It can play MP3 and WMA audio files; the Blu-ray player is capable of decoding Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master audio.

One of the more interesting features is the LG BD370's ability to play YouTube videos when connected to the Internet via the Ethernet port. The customised search facility with an on-screen keyboard works well, and tabs provide easy access to highest rated and most recent videos.

Like most other entry-level Blu-ray players, the LG BD370 has BD-Live capabilities, although few BD titles offer extra online content at the moment. The YouTube functionality finally gives you a decent reason to connect your Blu-ray player to the Internet.

The LG BD370 Blu-ray player has an HDMI 1.3 port that can output 7.1-channel sound and 1080i/p visuals. Component and composite video out connections are provided, as is a digital optical audio port. There are no 5.1- or 7.1-channel analog audio connections, but this is to be expected at this price point.

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