 "LG BX580 3D Blu-ray Player - Tried, Tested and Enjoyed")
The LG BX580 3D Blu-ray player was sent to us by LG a while back when we were testing their mammoth-sized 55-inch LX9500 TV, and I’ve been using this very Blu-ray player to test all the other TVs and monitors that have come in. It’s fair to say it has served me well, so I thought it was about time I gave it a little extra attention.
Slim and great to look at
Design and features
The BX580 is a gorgeous, slim player that has a combination of jet glossy black on the front panel, and a matte finish for the rest of the body. Its measurements are 430 x 204mm, and it is 44mm thick. The front panel covers up all the buttons and disc tray, as well as the USB port. The only problem with this design is that you will need to keep the front panel open to access the USB port, which destroys the purpose of having the panel altogether. Apart from this, I think the player looks really nice, and LG has added a few extras such as vertical blue lights at the side of the Blu-ray 3D logo that give it a very cool look.
The blue lights make it look cool
As far as connectivity goes, the BX580 is pretty much covered. It has all the usual connections like component/composite, HDMI 1.4 (apparently 1.3 will also work for 3D viewing), optical, coaxial and an Ethernet port for connecting to websites like YouTube and Picassa. But all this is pretty much expected from a high-end Blu-ray player, so what really takes the cake for me is the USB port. This port can not only play MKV files, but can also read hard drives unlike regular players that only accept flash memory. This, for me, is a total win situation!
There are a few connections that LG has left out in this player, though. I was trying to test a basic 5.1 speaker set which had no HDMI, and I could not do this, as there is no output option for analog multichannel audio. And yes, maybe they could’ve also provided a second HDMI port in case you want to send a separate audio signal to a non-3D compatible AV receiver.
No Multichannel analog audio output - sad..
As far as other features go, the LG BX580 3D Blu-ray player is quite loaded. You can watch videos on YouTube, or view images on Picassa. The added DLNA function also allows you to stream content wirelessly from your PC through Wi-Fi or Ethernet. The file formats supported here are MP3, WMA, WAV for audio, MPEG 1/2/4 and MKV for video and JPEG and PNG for pictures. Additionally, Nero’s MediaHome 4 Essential software has been added so that it’s easier for you to use this player with your Windows XP and Vista systems.
When you put in an audio disc, the player has a great feature that will display artwork, artist names and individual song titles, provided you are connected to the internet. You can also use the inbuilt software to rip files from CDs directly onto a flash drive
Easy to use remote
The remote for the BX580 looks nice and fit in my hand very comfortably. The buttons are large, and the writing on them is clear, making the remote very easy to use.
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Performance
I was really thankful that LG had let us keep the 55-inch LX9500 3D LED TV, so I obviously chose that over the others to test the BX580. They’d even provided us with a test Blu-ray disc; a documentary called Spacestation 3D, and although it didn’t have any fast moving action sequences, I was able to get the gist of how good the 3D playback was, and it was not bad. But it wasn’t that great either. This may have been because of the TV’s 3D reproduction capabilities or even the quality of the disc as the depth was pretty standard - as was the clarity, which seemed a little blurry at times. But I don’t want to set this in stone, as I haven’t watched a proper movie in 3D on this player - only a documentary - where all the movements were slow. The visuals, however, were quite smooth, and there were no telltale signs of judder and ghosting.
The LG BX580 3D Blu-ray player
When it came to watching normal movies, this player shone like the star. Everything seems really fluid, making the overall viewing experience an enjoyable one. The images are sharp and crisp, and the colours are reproduced brilliantly, with great skin tone and shadow detail.
A whole lot of features
Using the BX580 was a breeze. The menu has a neat layout and is quite intuitive, so using it is really pretty easy. Even the icons used to denote the functions are literally cool, as they are blocks of ice, which have relevant icons.
Verdict
This is a good player with some neat features, and is priced quite competitively at Rs. 16,990. However, it also has its fair share of shortcomings. I really like some of the features such as the MKV playback and hard drive support, as well as the ease of use. On the other hand, LG could’ve easily put in multichannel audio outputs and another HDMI port.
3D playback for the win!
I give this player 4 stars. I’ve given it points for some great features, ease of use, looks and price. I’ve also cut points for lack of multichannel audio output and the single HDMI port. I won’t count the 3D playback as a negative aspect, as I didn’t really have the best disc to test the player with. So if you can get past the stuff that it lacks, it is a great player to have, and will give you great value for money.
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