LG BD550

The LG BD 550 is LG’s new entry level model similar in features to the BD570 except for the lack of Wi-Fi capabilities. It features a sleek crystal-edge design; smooth 1080p 24/60hz high-def video and high resolution 192khz surround sound for an immersive home entertainment experience.

Latest Update: The LG BD550 now available on Sale at Amazon.

LG BD 550 Blu-ray Player

LG BD 550 | Player Details Opens in new window

Design

The new LG line is designed to balance the look of LG’s latest generation of HDTVs. The BD 550 Blu-ray player sports an ultra slim look and compact design allowing you to easily blend it into your existing home decor.

The front panel is a simple affair with the disc tray on the left and control buttons on the right. A USB 2.0 port on the front allows playback of media like music MP3s and digital photos directly. The USB is also needed if you want to download BD-Live bonus content like movie trailers. The USB storage must have at least 1GB free space.

Being an entry level player, connectivity options have been reduced to the basics. You get a HDMI output, component video out, composite video out, digital audio out, analog stereo outputs and a LAN port.

Features

Related Netcast Services

Related Netcast Services

This player can be connected to a local area network (LAN) via the LAN port on the rear panel. By connecting the unit to a broadband home network, you have access to services such as software updates, BD-LIVE interactivity and streaming services. Once connected the BD550 offers convenient access to a virtually endless array of entertainment content options with a large variety of content options. LG’s NetCast Entertainment Access allows instant access to Netflix, CinemaNow, VUDU, YouTube and Pandora. LG has also added new content partners like weather forecasts from AccuWeather and Picasa online photo service which allows you to share photo albums with friends and family.

Actual user review:
“After a year of researching and the subsequent “death” of my dvd player I purchased an LG BD-570 Blu-ray player. My television is a 42 inch 720 res LG plasma. The picture on the television is stunning in hi-def and with the addition of the LG Blu-ray player I was shocked at both the depth, clarity and sound. I use all HDMI hookups and route them through a Denon 1910 receiver. The installation was a breeze on this player. I purchased a Netgear ‘N’ router which also was easy to set up, turned on the blu-ray player and it immediately detected the router. I was up and running online with it in less than an hour. The streaming video is excellent as well as the 1080 upconvert for DVDs. The Blu-ray player also immediately notified me of a software update which took less than 5 minutes to download. I am very happy with this machine and also the LG plasma television and would highly recommend both of them.” – A.Davis (USA)

 

To take full advantage of the Blu-ray format, the BD 550 will also provide convenient access to BD Live, which offers a wide variety of content, such as movie scene extras, new previews and the ability to read synopses and rate movies. Also included are Bonus View features which provide picture-in-picture access to Blu-ray Disc special features, allowing you to toggle between your favorite movie scenes and bonus features on the disc. If you have a library full of DVD movies, the BD 550 will upscale it to 1080p for a near high definition viewing experience. To give you a variety of options to choose content from, the BD550 uses Netcast to access sites like Netflix and CinemaNow where you can purchase your choice of movies. You can browse, search and watch YouTube videos over the internet to your TV via the BD550. The player can access GraceNote’s Media Database for music information such as track title, artist name and other text information to be displayed. Also with Gracenote’s Music ID-Stream you can play back a song found in a movie by matching the song’s audio waveform with its database. Interesting features but doing this constantly may affect the flow of the movie.

The LG BD550 is also capable of decoding all the high resolution audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master audio. These audio codecs are supported with maximum 7.1 channels if you use HDMI connection for the audio output of the unit. It is also capable of handling high resolution audio signals up to 192kHz.

If you already own an LG TV with SimpLink, you can Play, Pause, Scan, Skip, Stop, Power Off the BD550 with the TV’s remote.

Bottom Line

As an entry level player sub $200 player, the LG BD550 sure packs in a host of features that will satisfy and perhaps overwhelm the first time user. At this price point it will win a lot of converts to the world high definition entertainment.

Actual User Reviews:
“Recently I have tried four BD players which have Netflix streaming capability. LG BD370, Samsung BD P-1600, Sony BDP N460, and LG BD 550. Earlier I also tried Roku HD player for netflix streaming. Except Roku, all the BD players I tried all use wired Ethernet, no wireless. (I have wired Ethernet in my house so I don’t need wireless network).

I could tell you guys: LG BD 550 is by far the best when it comes to Netflix streaming. I ended up returning all the others. BD550’s Fast forwarding, fast rewinding is just way faster than any other unit I tried. It is even faster than Roku! Among these units, Samsung BD P1600 is the slowest. Also BD 550 not only shows your movies in the netflix instant queue, it also gives you option to pick movie you may like, what you’ve recently watched (even after you removed it from your instant queue), new arrivals, etc. It’s just a perfect Netflix player. If you like Netflix’s GUI interface, then just don’t buy Sony N460! Sony completely screwed Netflix’s GUI but Sony’s GUI is just too awkward.

For other streaming sources, BD550 has Vudu, Roxio CinemaNow, Youtube and Picasa. Among all the units I tried, this is the only unit that has Vudu. Its Youtube and Picasa application UI and load speed is just awesome. I am so happy I finally find one netflix streaming device that works well.

As for BD player performance. Be honest, I really can’t see much difference in terms of image quality.” – C.Liu (WA,USA)

Read more »

“I’m very pleased with this product. It’s brand new, and I’ve had it for about 2 weeks. I have it connected to a wired LAN. Out of the box, I immediately had no problem connecting to Netflix, Pandora or any of the other apps. I previously had a Samsung BD-P1600 that was awful. The Samsung tech support offered nothing, and I tried everything for several days before returning the product. I also have this connected to an LG TV. I’ve always been very happy with LG. Our other system is also an LG TV and the LG Super-Blu player that we’ve had for over a year. With this BD550, I’ve been streaming a lot of Netflix with absolutely no problem, and I just updated the software for the player yesterday.” – M.Baughman (CA,USA)

“This is a great product at an excellent Amazon price. It does everything it is supposed to do. Blu-ray picture is excellent. Netflix streaming was a snap to set up and works great.” – Mike (S.Carolina,USA)

Average User Rating:

Click Here for Latest Offer on LG BD 550
Enjoy Free Shipping & Secure Shopping