LG BH100 Blu-ray Disc/HD-DVD Combo Player - Product Review

[Sonnie]

The BH100 is the new hybrid Blu-ray Disc / HD-DVD combo player from LG. Dubbed "Super Multi Blue". The BH100 plays both Blu-ray Discs and HD-DVDs at full 720p, 1080i, or 1080p resolution via its HDMI output. In addition, the BH100 is playback compatible with standard DVDs and the DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW recordable formats, but is not compatible with standard audio CD playback. In addition, standard DVDs are upscaled to 720p or 1080i via the HDMI output. To find out more about the BH100, and whether it might be right for you, check out my Short and Full Product Reviews, as well as my LG BH100 Product Profile.

By Robert Silva of about:Home Theater

[MACCA350]

From the review:

When comparing both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD video performance against the Sony BDP-S1 and Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Players and the Toshiba HD-XA1 HD-DVD player - using the Blu-ray, HD-DVD, and DVD versions of the film The Italian Job - the Blu-ray performance seemed to be on par with the Sony, but more consistent than the Samsung. On the other hand, the HD-DVD performance of the Toshiba HD-XA1 was noticeably better than both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD performance of the BH100 and the other test players.

Full 1080p output from the BH100 requires a TV with 1080p/24 input capability. TV's with 1080p/60 input capability only, will result in the BH100 defaulting to 1080i output, and will not permit a manual change to 1080p.

The BH100 cannot play BD-R/RE discs.

Interesting

cheers

[Steve Williamson]

Still won't buy it until they sort out a common standard for the production and distribution of the films, why can't they use HD WMV thats been out for a while and settle in the middle ground?

[Sonnie]

Here's another review from HDTV Magazine....

LG Blu-ray HD-DVD Combo Player Review

[mdrums]

I thought this LG player might be the one for me until I checked it out at a HT store in Orlando. The LG rep was just there and even set it up. It looks and feels really cheap in my book. I'd rather have the Sony or Pioneer player or a PS3.

I need to make a decesion in the next few week on what blu-ray player I am going to get for my system which has a Sim2 HT300e Link 720P projector.....any and all opinions welcome!

[Owen Bartley]

Review wrote:

Full 1080p output from the BH100 requires a TV with 1080p/24 input capability. TV's with 1080p/60 input capability only, will result in the BH100 defaulting to 1080i output, and will not permit a manual change to 1080p.

I'd like to know more about this... I'm probably going to be getting a new TV in the next few months, and I was thinking about a 1080p DLP or LCD projection set, but I know nothing about the /24 or /60 business.

Some quick research leads me to believe that /24 is from film source material and /60 is broadcast standard. This article leads me to believe that what matters is the processing, and that most players will perform the conversion before sending the signal to a display. Does the BH100 not have this ability? So any display that won't perform the conversion is stuck with 1080i at best? Forgive me if I'm completely wrong, I just googled a bit so I could add something to the discussion, and now I'm wondering if that is a common feature to have in most players and/or displays?