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: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=754125

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=754125

 

[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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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/showpost.php?p=6653346&postcount=99

2. Discs the LG BH200 has problems with:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6585197&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!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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]

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]

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 -

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665952

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

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.

 

[Krobar]

I have an SDI modified DV-868AVI, there is virtually no difference between the SDI 480/576I out to Lumagen and the BH200 outputting 1080P. The SDI has a touch better colour I think but I only have 2 SDI inputs and these are better used by my Freeview and Satellite boxes. The BH200 seems better than the progressive HDMI out on the DV-868 (Faster locking to cadence and far better noise reduction options).

I have over 100 SACD and DVD-A so will contune to use the DV-868 for Music only and will leave it connected by ILink only. DVD-A is not a problem since I have ripped them all at full hires PCM quality to my Juklebox which outputs them at full res over ILink. SACD is the big problem and I might eventually replace DV-868 with a Esoteric SZ-1 which does CD and SACD and has ILink for multichannel and an excellent stereo DAC setup for stereo use. One thing I would like is a player that will output some sort of audio over SPDIF for DVD-A and SACD whilst ILink is used so I can feed my Zone 2 (DVD-868 kills all other outputs when ILik is in use).

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

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665952

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


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.

 

[rentagas]

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

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665952

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


QUOTE]

Yes I think the problem is because of the fanboy stuff, this site seperated Blu Ray and HDDVD AND kept a much less read hi def section. Combined with the poor reviews saying that this player was a mediocre blu ray player and could not play all the features of HDDVD discs (as far as I can remember) meant that I would not give it a second look. But the dual region bluray stuff and better firmware means it is now significabtly more attractive.

However a price of $650 plus $85 shipping (and 31% tax/duty) means it is not far short of £500 but it still wins on price and convenience over the competition of 2 PS3's (A and B) and an EP30 HDDVD player- (£260 including duty, £300, £60)-but it doesn't play games!

 

[Krobar]

Rentegas,

Could you be a potential third UK owner? You might want to check the link I gave in the first post to where I bought mine if you live in a 240V country. My 240V model came out at £552 with free Matrix Trilogy HD.

 

[bradavon78]

I have an SDI modified DV-868AVI, there is virtually no difference between the SDI 480/576I out to Lumagen and the BH200 outputting 1080P.

That must of cost you a fair few bob to get modified. What display type are you using? I've never seen a standard TV with SDI. You don't use the Upscaling capabilities of the DV-868AVI or does your Display have a better Upscaler?

The SDI has a touch better colour I think but I only have 2 SDI inputs and these are better used by my Freeview and Satellite boxes.

I presume they've been modified to SDI too?

I have over 100 SACD and DVD-A so will contune to use the DV-868 for Music only and will leave it connected by ILink only.

I've never used the Firewire (I-Link) connection on my DV-868AVi as my Amp is Analogue/SPDIF only. I'm amazed you manage to have that many High-Res. discs, unless you're into Classical?

DVD-A is not a problem since I have ripped them all at full hires PCM quality to my Juklebox which outputs them at full res over ILink. SACD is the big problem

Are you secretly Bill Gates?

As I understand it SACD is much harder than DVD-A to rip. I never looked into it much though as I don't have a jukebox (or the PC hard disk space) to have a need for it. I did once create a DVD-A Stereo DVD using a Redbook CD as the source. The Upscaled (at 192Khz) definitely sounded better. I only created one and seeing as I won't be able to play DVD-A for much longer I won't bother to create any more. It was dead simple though.

It sounds like you have a serious amount of kit there. The trouble (for me anyway) is that results in so much hardware it's crazy.

One thing I would like is a player that will output some sort of audio over SPDIF for DVD-A and SACD whilst ILink is used so I can feed my Zone 2 (DVD-868 kills all other outputs when ILik is in use).

Why would you use SPDIF for DVDs when you have I-Link?

 

[bradavon78]

Yes I think the problem is because of the fanboy stuff, this site seperated Blu Ray and HDDVD AND kept a much less read hi def section.

I wouldn't say that really. The central section is for Non-Format specific HD talk.

Combined with the poor reviews saying that this player was a mediocre blu ray player and could not play all the features of HDDVD discs (as far as I can remember) meant that I would not give it a second look

The BH100 couldn't play all HD-DVDs features, which it turns out it technically can but due to licensing it was switched off, no one has worked out how to switch it back on yet. The second Broadcom IC was disabled on the BH100.

The BH200 is fully HD-DVD compatible and to be fair all the reviews of it are based on Pre-March firmware, annoyingly no reviewer has gone back and re-reviewed it. Is it a perfect Player? No, check out the "Disc Problems" thread for one reason why (half way down the first page of this post) but then neither are other HD-DVD/BD Players:

Toshiba EP30/35 Disc Problems: http://www.avforums.com/forums/poll.php?do=showresults&pollid=2616

I also hear the Panasonic DMP-BD30 BD Player has audio drop out problems, an LFE bug (now fixed) and "some" users have had to get the drive replaced in 2-4 months. I read that over at AVS Forum so cannot post a link.

There is now also a BH200 Bug thread over at AVS Forum too.

But the dual region bluray stuff and better firmware means it is now significabtly more attractive.

Definitely. Personally I was only ever interested in a Combo Player but wanted one which was at least Profile 1.1 and supported all the Lossless Audio formats. That finally happened in March (and then officially in April) but right now I cannot afford to buy one.

The SD DVD Region Free and BD Region Switch is a bonus for me.

but it doesn't play games!

Presumabely you've already bought the PS3 though? Unless you need two PS3s that is.

 

[rentagas]

Yes I have a US PS3, Nintedo Wii, Phillips 9690 and an EP30 in one room and a UK PS3, Xbox 360, HD A1and pioneer 757ai (along with some other stuff) in another room (as well as a hddvdr laptop)

I've tried to rationalise on boxes but each bit of kit does something different the others can't do! (eg sacd dvda, divx) -nevertheless my garage has some very sad looking unplugged silver boxes in it

 

[bradavon78]

Put them on eBay

I thought for a while about DVD-A and SACD but decided they just weren't enough to warranty keeping another DVD Player. My DVD Recorder can play DivX.

 

[JimmytheSaint]

Just a couple of quick questions guys regarding this player..... where does it stand in regards to internal decoding and outputing PCM over HDMI? Can it (or are there plans in a further software updates) decode DTS-HD MA internally? And finally, the 'secret' codes that allow PAL playback and Region A & B BD playback are available on the US model also?

Many thanks

Yas

 

[Krobar]

Just a couple of quick questions guys regarding this player..... where does it stand in regards to internal decoding and outputing PCM over HDMI? Can it (or are there plans in a further software updates) decode DTS-HD MA internally? And finally, the 'secret' codes that allow PAL playback and Region A & B BD playback are available on the US model also?

Many thanks

Yas

It can decode Dolby Plus and Dolby TrueHD to PCM including 7.1 tracks to 7.1 PCM. It can also decode these formats and all DVD formats to PCM and mix them with pip/menu audio etc at full PCM quality.

DTS-HD MA decoding support is not planned and will not happen, DTS core can be decoded but DTS HD-MA can only be bitstreamed.

The codes for Region free, PAL and BD zone change work on all BH200 players. The only difference between a USA and Euro model is the power supply.

 

[Krobar]

That must of cost you a fair few bob to get modified. What display type are you using? I've never seen a standard TV with SDI. You don't use the Upscaling capabilities of the DV-868AVI or does your Display have a better Upscaler?

I have a outboard VP, a Lumagen HDP. With my latest PJ which is a DLA-HD1 I dont think it is better but it is far more convenient to only run one cable from the video processor in the rack to the back of the room.

I presume they've been modified to SDI too?

Factory fitted SDI, made by Elium. A superb quality output and about as good as SD Sat and Freeview gets.

I've never used the Firewire (I-Link) connection on my DV-868AVi as my Amp is Analogue/SPDIF only. I'm amazed you manage to have that many High-Res. discs, unless you're into Classical?

Rock actually but I'm only a couple short of every disc I want that has been released. Sounds like you might want to start sacing for a Pioneer SC-LX90 (I am). The HDMI 1.3 and ILink combo means you would get perfect handling of all 8Cm discs with just the BH200 and DV-868.

As I understand it SACD is much harder than DVD-A to rip. I never looked into it much though as I don't have a jukebox (or the PC hard disk space) to have a need for it. I did once create a DVD-A Stereo DVD using a Redbook CD as the source. The Upscaled (at 192Khz) definitely sounded better. I only created one and seeing as I won't be able to play DVD-A for much longer I won't bother to create any more. It was dead simple though.

I've not come across any PC software that can decode SACDs.

It sounds like you have a serious amount of kit there. The trouble (for me anyway) is that results in so much hardware it's crazy.

Its just about manageable at the moment but keeping the number of boxes down is partly why I got a BH200.

Why would you use SPDIF for DVDs when you have I-Link?

Like many ILink devices my Prepro will not output ILink sources over digital for zone 2. This means I need to connect via any other means for zone 2 (SPDIF or Analogue or even 5.1 Analogue) but the Pioneer 868 mutes all other outputs when ILink is in use.