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Blu-ray and Netflix Streaming Video - So Easy a Caveman Could Do it (Wait, Is That Copyrighted?)

Herbal legal smoking buds come late to the Blu-ray party. Like most HD junkies I was waiting for the fight between HDDVD and Blu-ray to be won, which it was in convincing fashion on 2008. Now that I've arrived at the party with martini in hand, I'm happy to be here. What I've ended up with is really an LG BD300 Blu-ray player with built in Netflix buffering capabilities. If you've dismissed Blu-ray or streaming video your debt is it to yourself to investigate this. What's sitting in very own entertainment center now is proof positive that we've reached some sort of age where even stupid people can be dangerous through technology.

First, Netflix has always seemed like an on the planet ? concept to me. I hate using snail mail. At this moment don't get me wrong, I think that the US Postal company is the best bargain to be had on the planet. Paying someone a few a couple pennies to hand carry a piece of paper across the country is an astounding deal. However , it's the main reason that I never signed up for a good Netflix account. It seems like a tremendous hassle.

However , the a built in Netflix streaming capabilities in the Blu-ray player had people intrigued. Since my XBOX is not on my main television system, I didn't go that route after it was enforced last month on XBOX live. The surprise was the way in which easy of a set up this entire outfit turned out to be. It's actual proof positive that even the world's most tech-ignorant goon may just be dangerous with technology.

First, the greatest invention in the heritage of humankind to this point is HDMI. Had I happen to be the guiding hand in the evolution of man, I would personally have skipped the wheel and gone straight just for HDMI. For every woeful man that has spent a substantial element of his life moving entertainment centers and spending a lot of time untangling wires, rerouting speakers, and basically contemplating self-destruction because of it, HDMI is wonderful. One cable. Training video. Sound. Perfect. I'm not sure that there's any real level of quality improvement in the picture over the old DVI format, however hassle factor is beyond measure.

Lets walk via the steps of setting this monstrosity up.

I extracted my progressive scan upconverting standard DVD player, abandoning the HDMI cable in place. Replacing it with the Bluray was simple. The total time it took was a couple of minutes performing the power cable and the LAN cable (to use the internet film streaming complet Netflix features).

Providing network connectivity was the next step. Certainly no LAN interface in my living room and no wireless support to the Blu-ray player meant that I had to get a Netgear Powerline network extender into an outlet near my TV. Often the Netgear device was simple to install. There's no software necessary for this, just simply plug the transmitter into a power wall socket near the router, hardwiring it with a LAN cable in an open router port, then the receiver into a power electric outlet near the TV and run a LAN cable into the back belonging to the Blu-ray player. The wireless extender required absolutely no fluffy set up. They automatically connected to my network and was up and ready to go. In fact , I use the term "transmitter" wobbly. Both boxes are identical, whichever one you outlet into the router becomes the "transmitter". The initial investment within the Netgear XE104 that functions using the power circuits in your home.

Once I booted the Blu Ray audio device it had some trouble finding the network when I went to the very Netflix option in the root menu. This was resolved easily enough by going into the network set up and re-affirming it as a "dynamic IP. " I'm assuming this basically forced the DVD player to renew it's IP address. Whenever I had network connectivity, it instantly informed me that there was initially an update to the Netflix software and it took less than a day to download. I took the plunge and went on the web and signed up for the Netflix 2-week trial on the $8. 99 plan, the lowest unlimited plan they offer. Even though the first a couple of weeks are free on the trial, it did require credit/debit chip info. It also requires you put the Netflix device IDENTITY of the Blu-ray player in when you sign up online. Not difficult, as soon as the Netflix update downloaded it gave me the USERNAME on screen. Within seconds of entering the NO . into the Netflix website the player informed me that it was authorized.

The exact $8. 99 plan entitles you to put up to 7 films in your Netflix queue, 6 of which can be internet picks. Only selected titles are available for streaming to your equipment, and almost none are new releases, however this plan will allow you to do mail and/or streaming in any combination. There are still numerous streaming titles. Once you complete the sign up, you can add every "instant titles" into your queue and they show up immediately in your own DVD player Netflix menu. From the player's menu you should also remove the films from your Netflix queue instantly or pray between multiple features on the same title. It's really incredibly interesting.

Overall, from not having the seals on the boxes ruined to set up and ready to go was about 15 minutes. Another outstanding plus on the LG BD300 is that it that my Toshiba LCD picks up the fact that the Blu-ray player has been aroused and automatically changes the input setting on my telly over to it. I found this particularly interesting because the this was not the case with my LG upconverting standard def MOVIE player, hooked up to the same input and using the same HDMI cable.

The difference between the upconverting 1080P standard DVD and then the Blu-ray is considerable. The Hi-Def picture is better than you will enjoy through your cable or satellite provider (most networks generally are not broadcasting 1080p yet anyway). The first disc we witnessed in Blu-ray on our 52inch Toshiba LCD was The Dimly lit Knight, and it was stunning. The IMAX sequences, predominantly the long cityscapes, were mind-bogglingly sharp. It's really a wonderful first choice film to start with.

Pixar's Wall-E was another mindblowingly sharp presentation. It's odd nowadays that when you sit a while and watch a film like Wall-E, you're watching a product that in the face of being called a "film" actually had absolutely no film anxious. Straight digital transfer to a 1080P picture that is crispier than the 3rd blade of a brand new cartridge in my Gillette Fusion Razor.

With the lessons of XBox Live/Netflix complications expressed in the article referenced above, I did start to end up somewhat concerned about the picture quality of the Netfix streaming. And even sure enough, the first film into my queue, Eternal Sun energy of the Spotless Mind, wasn't giving us HD excellent.