LG BH200 Owner's Thread

[Krobar]

Just wanted to post some thoughts in comparison to my HD-XE1 since many UK user wont have seen one of these.
Info on where I bought it: LG BH200 - Blu Profile 1.1, HDDVD, QDEO, 1080P/24 & Bitstream DTS-HD

Build:
Ligther than the HD-XE1 but better than the cheaper Toshibas. The buttons are really cool capacitive touch ones which make a soothing beep and light up when pressed (Beep can be disabled in setup menu). The tray is very fast and smooth considering its speed. The gloss finish looks good but smudges easily.

Speed:
Faster to boot and a bit faster to load discs than the HD-XE1. Much faster to load HD-DVDs such as USA Beowulf. Ejecting during play takes about 4 seconds as does shutdown.

Use:
The graphics and OSD are lovely; very clear and colourful. It can read JPEGs and MP3/WAVs off USB too. Fan noise is very low and in fact did not seem to turn on even in the hot room today. The remote is not great, easy enough but unecessary TV buttons compicate it and it does not glow in the dark. BD-Live is reasonably fast and works well.

The JPEG support is pretty good and it seems to support high res jpegs OK (6MP images I tried looked excellent). Access of CDs full of images is a bit slow but at least it is easy to use and reliable. Access of images on USB stick is quite a bit faster, I am surprised at how useful this feature is. AVC HD files are supported in latest firmware (July 2009) too.

Performance with HDDVD:
Colours are immediately over blown compared to the HD-XE1 on my LumagenHDP -> JVC-RS1 Setup. This turned out to be caused by the default QDEO processing, switching it off and things went back to normal, an excellent balanced HD picture; identical to the HD-XE1.
Things get more interesting when it comes to audio.

The BH200 does not have analogue 5/7.1 outputs and I miss some of the quality of TrueHD through these on the XE1 although the noise floor is slightly lower with optical. The BH200 is more flexible when it comes to SPDIF output than the XE1. SPDIF can be set to PCM Stereo, DTS Recode or Bitstream. Bitstream allows output of the Dolby Digital core on TrueHD idscs and more importantly raw output of DTS on advanced authored discs, at last I can get the DTS-ES 6.1 off the Top Gun HDDVD

HDDVD Compatability:
I tested 60 of the more unusual discs from my 200ish collection. All loaded and worked prefectly with the exception of three. Planet Earth (UK) and Pan's Labyrinth (UK) both got to the menus but did not display the option leaving no content acessible . UFO - Showtime had similar menu issues. There were also a couple of menu problem with DVE HD and DVE HD Basics but all content was at leat accessible (Interestingly my HD-XE1 could not even load DVE HD).
As I mentioned all other discs seem to be fine and there are no known problems with major studio releases and the BH200.

Nearly six months on there still is not fix in sight for the discs mentioned above. There are slight problems with the extra discs on some Paramount releases too. Overall playback is very consistent but it seems LG need to sort a couple of HDI problems out (I have problems with 8 of 250ish discs).

Janurary 2009 Update: DVE HD Combo discs fixed wirh December 2008 firmware.

Performance with DVD:
Very similar to my Pioneer 868 SDI/Lumagen combination. Colours are a little less bold but deinterlacing quality is excellent. DVE show superb performance with the only minor issue being a couple of cropped pixels.

DVD Compatability:
Tried a few hundred and compatability is perfect, including DVD writeables. I had an issue with one DVD on my Pioneer 868 (Brass Eye) but the same disc works perfectly on the LG.

BR Compatability:
Tried 4 discs so far without problems. Confirmed that you can switch between BD Zones A and B with the remote. (No reboot required although it is quite long winded). BonusView / Profile 1.1 and BDLive 2.0 seems to work fine (Confirmed by mini videos in archives on AVP Requiem Fox USA release and BDLive in Zohan and Iron Man).

Update: Up to about 20 or so Blu discs tried now and not a single hiccup or issue with any of them. Excellent.

Update - July 2009: BD-Live added in latest firmware, works well. Looks like LG are showing up some other manufacturers with some excellent support. 100 or so discs tried now from UK, USA and Germany, the only problem I had was the card game not working in 21 but this was fixed by a firmware update in 2009 so full marks .

1080P/24:
This is the first time it has ever worked for me, my Tosh HD-XE1 was seemingly incompatible with my Lumagen. Not only does the BH200 support this but it automaticaly switches between 1080P/50, 1080P/60 and 1808P/24. No more terrible picture when you try to watch a video based disc with 1080P/24 enabled, this really is an excellent feature that AFAIK so far Tosh, Pioneer and others have not been able to implement.

Times:

Off to Tray Open - 35 Seconds

Open Tray to Picture for:
DVD- 24 Seconds
Sexy Beast HDDVD - UK - 43 Seconds
Transformers HDDVD - USA - 44 Seconds
AVP Requiem Blu - USA - 45 Seconds
Incubus Red Rocks Blu - 40 Seconds

From DVD PLaying to Tray Open - 6 Seconds
From HDDVD PLaying to Tray Open - 11 Seconds
From Blu PLaying to Tray Open - 11 Seconds

Blu Playing to fully off - 6 Seconds
Menu to fully off - 5 Seconds

General Reliability:
Apart from the couple of incompatible HDDVDs, my player has behaved perfectly. I use 1080I and DTS recode, not one skip or hiccup in the 100s of discs I have watched.

Update: Over 18 months now, no reliability issues at all. Looking good from a quality POV.

[Krobar]

Updated. Hopefully Bradavon will buy one of these soon so I'm not the only one

[Nic Rhodes]

It might be a lonely thread atm, but we are reading so keep it coming Krobar.

[Ian_S]

Originally Posted by Krobar

The BH200 does not have analogue 5/7.1 outputs and I miss some of the quality of TrueHD through these on the XE1 although the noise floor is slightly lower with optical. The BH200 is more flexible when it comes to SPDIF output than the XE1. SPDIF can be set to PCM Stereo, DTS Recode or Bitstream. Bitstream allows output of the Dolby Digital core on TrueHD idscs and more importantly raw output of DTS on advanced authored discs, at last I can get the DTS-ES 6.1 off the Top Gun HDDVD

The forced Toshiba re-encoding was a blessing and a curse depending on the model if you use SPDIF. Good to see the LG offers something new here. Would be even better if that same flexibility applied to Blu-ray's when secondary audio mixing is turned on. Does it have separate settings for BD/HD-DVD or are they for both?

I think you are destined to be one of a rather exclusive club...

[paulst10]

Originally Posted by Krobar

Hopefully Bradavon will buy one of these soon so I'm not the only one

I will try and make sure I edit the title to " Owner's " when and if he does



Glad you are happy with the purchase, if you are after a standalone combi this does sound like it could be worth the investment

[Krobar]

Originally Posted by Ian_S

The forced Toshiba re-encoding was a blessing and a curse depending on the model if you use SPDIF. Good to see the LG offers something new here. Would be even better if that same flexibility applied to Blu-ray's when secondary audio mixing is turned on. Does it have separate settings for BD/HD-DVD or are they for both?

I think you are destined to be one of a rather exclusive club...

There is only one setting for both. I havn't yet experimented to see what happens with PIP etc in SPDIF bitstream mode. Will have a look later. I've decided to use Region A for this player and have AVP - Requiem which AFAIK is PIP and should be a good BD test disc.

[bradavon78]

Thanks Krobar.

I'm not sure this thread was needed though. There is so little activity on Combo Players on this forum it hardly seems worth the bother. There is lots of activity over at AVS. I think I may just post there when it comes to Combos.

As Krobar has eluded to it's now possible to switch the BH200 between Region A and Region B, both with PAL also enabled. The Region B codes also disable the Network Update though.

More on it is over at AVS. No offence AVForums Mods but I think we're flogging a dead horse on this forum, until more UK users buy one anyway.

Originally Posted by Ian_S

Would be even better if that same flexibility applied to Blu-ray's when secondary audio mixing is turned on.

I presume this is for PIP commentaries? How are they handled on HD-DVD?

[Krobar]

I'm not sure this thread was needed though. There is so little activity on Combo Players on this forum it hardly seems worth the bother. There is lots of activity over at AVS. I think I may just post there when it comes to Combos.

I disagree, most potential UK users wont know this player is available unless posted about here because it has no official UK presence. The fact is it is available in 240V and Region Free and zone switchable. If mods want to close this thread they can.

Update: BR Compatibility

[Krobar]

Here's how SPDIF handles secondary audio streams on HD-DVD:
PCM Stereo - It mixes them in
DTS Re-Code - It mixes them in
Bitstream - It ignores them

[bradavon78]

Originally Posted by Krobar

The fact is it is available in 240V and Region Free and zone switchable.

Obviously I agree but I don't think "anyone else" is all that interested. Anyway there is no harm trying

You may want to put this thread in your first post:

LG BH200 - Blu Profile 1.1, HDDVD, QDEO, 1080P/24 & Bitstream DTS-HD

[bradavon78]

Here is the info I posted in the original thread:

There are five updates for the BH200. The first two are official the latter three are not:

1. April Firmware - The LG Service site says it's for USA/Canada only but it works on the Swiss player, so presumably Europe
2. 0702 Driver - This can be updated over the LAN connection or by downloading a file, oddly it's not on LG's Service site but I've provided a download link over at AVS. This updates the ROM in the physical drive itself (where you put the disc) and fixes some disc problems.
3. SD DVD Multiregion hack - Again over at AVS, you burn a file to a CD and it then gives you a user frieldy menu to choose the Region/Region Free
4. PAL Support - Only needed on Players from The Americas. You access a hidden menu using the remote.
5. Switch between BD Region A and Region B - Krobar has mentioned this. It's done using the same hidden menu as PAL Support.

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For those who're wondering I have been maintaining two threads over at AVS Forum:

1. LG BH200: Mini-FAQ + Firmware Info (TrueHD 7.1, DTS-HD, 24p) + SD DVD Multiregion + BD Region A/B + PAL Support Thread:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...6&postcount=99

2. Discs the LG BH200 has problems with:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showp...7&postcount=92

It's important to explain I am posting links to old AVForums (UK) information as I've been told to stop posting links to AVS Forum (USA). So when you click on these two threads ignore the information in them and click on the two source links. That will take you to "up to date" information!

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What is the latest firmware and where can I download it? -

Firmware version number: BH02080402F
Which translates as: 02/04/2008 (April Firmware)

That's how LG formats their Combo Player version numbers. Go to:

UK - http://gb.lgservice.com/
USA - http://us.lgservice.com/

But Firmware content is identical across all LG Service sites.

Then:

1. Click on DEVICE DRIVER
2. Under Product Category click DVD&VIDEO& SET UP
3. Click Search above
4. Top one entitled "[US, Canada Only] Software Update for BH200" is the firmware upgrade. It's been confirmed by Swiss and French users it works on Euro models.

I've tried but LG make it impossible to post a direct link.

The 0702 Driver, SD DVD Multiregion and PAL Support need to be downloaded/sourced from the AVS Forum and can be found the link I provide previously.

[Krobar]

1080P/24 info added, I'm really impressed with the automatic support on the BH200. Also watched my first two full length films last night, not a single skip or hiccup.

[rentagas]

OK as posted above. This is a good thread so please keep it running!
As someone who has just bought a US PS3 solely to play region A BR, I was not aware of this player and may have considered buying one. Insead I have two PS3s and two HDDVD players to effectively do the same job.
Why did you have to stop posting on avsforums?

[Krobar]

Originally Posted by rentagas

OK as posted above. This is a good thread so please keep it running!
As someone who has just bought a US PS3 solely to play region A BR, I was not aware of this player and may have considered buying one. Insead I have two PS3s and two HDDVD players to effectively do the same job.
Why did you have to stop posting on avsforums?

I didnt stop posting. I still take part there in the hacking and compatiblity threads but decided to post my general thoughts on the player here.

Update: Times and Picture added.

[bradavon78]

Originally Posted by rentagas

OK as posted above. This is a good thread so please keep it running!
As someone who has just bought a US PS3 solely to play region A BR, I was not aware of this player and may have considered buying one.

There has been a BH200 thread running since September last year -

LG BH200 info site

It's regularly been at the top of this page.

Originally Posted by Krobar

but decided to post my general thoughts on the player here.

It's appreciated. Hopefully it will mean more UK interest.

What Pioneer DVD Player is that?

I own the Pioneer DV-868AVi. It's such a wonderful DVD Player I'll be sad to see it go when I get the BH200 but really I won't need it so it has to go. It's upscaling chip is excellent (notcibaly superior to my TV's scaling chip), it will be interesting to see how it compares to the BH200.

Besides after collecting DVD-As and SACD for 5 years I only own about a dozen combined. So it's time for me to call that a day too, most I've managed to get hold of on DTS CD so while they're not High Resolution it's at least the same 5.1 mix.