LG DP547 DVD CD WMA player Multi format playback including DivX HD Progressive scan Karaoke Jack with USB

I bought this DVD player because I love LG and have had great success with everything they make. All the reviews were wonderful, the price was low, so how could I go wrong? The first LG player, however, had a small horizontal strip of silver wire mesh blocking part of the HDMI port on the player, making it impossible to insert the HDMI cable without ripping it, and possibly damaging the whole circuit. I figured this has to be a 1-in-a-million thing, where quality control inspection had just missed it. I returned this one for another one, where the HSMI port is fine, and the HDMI (thing at the end of the cable) slips right in. Then, the first day I am using it, this player freezes up, and no matter what button I push on the remote control, nothing happens on the screen. I finally unplug the power cord, re-plug it, and the player starts to work again. But, throughout the day, the remote is erratic - sometimes the player responds, other times: nothing. I can push "play" over and over, and nothing happens, and then it will finally play, and this is with me aiming directly at the receiver on the DVD player, and about 2-feet away. Other buttons are also non-responsive, but finally, after about a dozen times, the player starts playing again. This is so frustrating. But, on the other hand, the picture is great, really spectacular, even on my "Twilight Zone" DVD's from the early 1963 era. When it works, which is 80% of the time, the picture is the best ever. So, I am sending back this second player, hoping I will get a really good one the third time, that really works properly. So as to not sully the great name of LG, which I revere, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, and giving them 5 stars, figuring that of all the millions of players they made, I got two duds. I have faith in LG, and I'm not going to attack their "Life's Good" philosophy with some sourpuss 3 or 4 star rating. I will wait to see how the third player is, and then we will go from there. Read more

What first attracted me to the product is the fact that it is an LG product. They have long been known for their reliability in electronics (at least in my experience). Then when I saw the price, less than $90, I thought it was the best chance to start upgrading my entertainment center. The unit itself is very thin (depth wise, about what you expect in height though) and just about as long as most other blu-ray players (which is really long for some reason). There aren't any flashy displays or complicated buttons on the unit and the disc tray is situated in the middle of the device with very little fanfare. A USB port is cleverly hidden behind a small rubbery dongle to the far right of the unit, just past the control buttons. Standard connections are present on the back: HDMI, Component, Composite, and of course LAN. The remote is also a wonder, very practical, simple to learn, sturdy, and only uses 1 AAA battery (its been almost 5 years since I have seen an electronics device with a remote that took fewer than 2 batteries), I just hope the downside isn't that the battery needs changing every 2 months. The player itself is great, it ran a variety of MKV and Xvid files I had on a thumb drive, even ones with the encoded subtitles were no trouble. The blu-ray playback quality is excellent, the sound output (used HDMI) is excellent and the player loads every disc with incredible speed (even the Java heavy blu-ray titles). I didn't play much with the LAN/Networking ability as the unit is significantly far from my router/modem making it hard to connect with a CAT5 cable. But the one time I did set it up through the internet the connection was smooth and quick, less complicated than most gaming consoles. The best part though was the delivery speed! This unit arrived in just over 2 days, i was floored that I received the unit so quickly and using Super Saver Shipping no less. In all I couldn't be happier with this unit. Read more

Edit - November 26, 2011 It's been a few months since my last edit so I'm checking in again. LG took back my original defective player and sent a refurbished unit. This has been working fine for a few months. The customer service rep was going to charge $70 labor for them to take a look at it. I refused, saying I could get it new for $80 (which I could), and LG waived the fee as a "one time curtesy". The TV's Regza link still isn't working. The major annoyance now is the Netflix application. It works nicely for movies, but only lists up to about 100 episodes of any TV show.This is a real problem for any TV series that lasted four or more seasons. I keep hoping for a software update to fix this and the Regza link, but I am giving up hope. I'm lowering my rating to four stars. It's not as good as my first impression, but still well worth what I paid. Edit - August 25, 2011 Well, I'm back to comment on this item after owning it for about four months. 1. After a firmware update (not sure which one) my Regza-link from my Toshiba TV stopped working. Not a big problem but it's annoying having to use two remotes when I was using one earlier. 2. Just now, putting in a blu ray disk, the player spun up noisily for a couple of minutes, then spat out the disk with the message "check disk". Same thing with three other Blu rays that played fine at the weekend. DVDs and CDs work. Network is fine. I'll be contacting LG to see what they say about this and will come back. Depending on the outcome, I may be changing the rating. --- Original Review --- This Blu-ray player has features that were premium not so long ago. For what you pay, you get a lot. Network support and Netflix is the new baseline for Blu-ray players. Setting up the player was a breeze, as was Netflix set up. It automatically detected my 1080p TV and switched to its resolution. I haven't tried Vudu or CinemaNow yet, but I'm looking forward to trying out HDX streaming from Vudu. It also comes with YouTube, and as always with such device, search is difficult but not impossible. The speed of opening the tray to viewing your Blu-ray disk is surprisingly fast (especially if you were one of the early adopters with an older Blu-ray player). In comparison to the Blu-ray functionality, Netflix access can seem laggy, but this is due to it having to communicate with the Netflix servers. Remember, this is not WiFI enabled or even WiFi ready. If you need internet support, you need to have an internet connection either near the player, have the ability to string a cable to it, or buy and install a wireless access point. I was fine since my AT&T UVerse connection is right beside the TV. One of the 1 star reviewers returned two for being defective, in that it would keep switching on after power down. This is likely due to its CEC support (eg. REGZA Link on my Toshiba TV) - it will turn on if it detects that the TV is switched to the Blu-ray input or if you keep the TV on the same input. It will remain off if you switch off the TV or choose a different input source. Or you can probably disable CEC on the TV. It's not a defect. There are really no cons - it's a great deal if you're not concerned with what currently differentiates premium Blu-ray players, 3D or wireless. You would have paid $200-300 for this a year ago. Read more