LG BD550 Single-disc networking Blu-ray Disc player

Blu-ray Disc goes multimedia with the BD550 from LG. As a Blu-ray Disc player, the BD550 serves up Full HD 1080p video and 7.1 channels of studio-quality surround sound. But, thanks to a built-in ethernet port, this player's NetCast technology also lets you access movies, music, and more from online providers such as Netflix, Pandora, Vudu, YouTube, and AccuWeather. While BD-Live functionality delivers interactive online movie extras, a USB Media Host allows you to view photos and listen to music from a USB storage device.


There's something out there . . .


. . . on the internet, that is. Sure, as a Blu-ray Disc player, the BD550 from LG brings Full HD 1080p video and studio-quality surround sound to your living room. But thanks to its built-in ethernet port and Wi-Fi capabilities, this single-disc Blu-ray player also equips you to discover vast entertainment possibilities on the world wide web. When you choose to use the RJ-45 ethernet port to hook up to your home's existing internet service, the BD550's NetCast Entertainment Access suite serves up instant access to movies and music from a heavy-hitting list of online providers. Stream movies from Netflix (using your pre-existing subscription). Chill out with your own personalized radio station from Pandora Internet Radio. Catch the latest DIY craze on YouTube. Discover even more HD movies at Vudu.com. Heck, you can even check the weather at AccuWeather.com. There's something out there . . . and it's waiting for you.

Oh, yeah, there's more

We've got just two words for ya: BD. Live. Okay, so it's more like two letters and a word, but one way or another it spells an expanded, interactive Blu-ray Disc viewing experience. When you combine internet access, your favorite Blu-ray movie, and a USB storage device, the BD550's BD-Live functionality gives you the ability to delve into a wide array of bonus materials and interactivity features. Using BD-Live you could: watch deleted scenes, hear director commentary, or enjoy special movie shorts; participate in online gaming; or, you can even chat with other BD-Live users via online voice and video messaging.

Blu serves up the full home theater experience

Full, high definition audio and video . . . all thanks to a teeny blue-violet laser. That's the revolution offered by Blu-ray Disc. While DVD technology uses a wide red laser to encode audio and video on DVD discs, Blu-ray Disc technology uses a much narrower blue-violet laser, making it possible to fit a significantly larger amount of data on a disc of the same size. How much more data? Try five times more data! So, while DVDs store standard definition 480i video and 5.1-channel compressed surround sound, Blu-ray Disc serves up full 1920 x 1080p high definition video as well as 7.1-channel, studio-master-quality audio. And that's not all. There's still space left over on Blu-ray discs for a wide range of bonus features, including extra scenes, director commentary, interactive features, and picture-in-picture BonusView viewing. Discover the Blu-ray Disc experience with the BD550 Blu-ray player from LG.

What the director intended for you to hear

While DVD technology marked a huge advancement over VHS, sacrifices still had to be made in transferring your favorite movies from the silver screen to your home theater. And perhaps the largest sacrifice concerned the audio portion of the home cinema experience. Audio data occupies much more space than does video, so in order to fit a movie's soundtrack on a DVD, the audio had to be compressed, or altered from its studio-original quality into a more compact form. Naturally, realism-enhancing detail was lost. Thanks to the dramatically improved storage capacity of Blu-ray disc, however, full 7.1-channel studio-quality surround sound can be placed on a single Blu-ray disc along with the video. Delivering this HD audio experience to the rest of your A/V system, the BD550 from LG sports Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio decoding, the latest processing technologies from Dolby and dts. Further, 7.1-channel audio output delivers this full surround sound experience with superior fidelity. Hear movie audio as the director intended for you to hear it.

Hardly the end for DVD

Fear not: investing in the LG BD550 does not mean "lights out" for your DVD collection. Quite to the contrary. Advanced video-processing technologies allow the BD550 to upscale standard definition DVD video to near-HD, 1080p-equivalent levels via HDMI, optimizing your DVD collection for viewing on your HDTV.



A little multimedia functionality

There's no doubt about it — your HDTV would make a great venue for sharing all your latest digital photos. If only there were a way to get your photos from the computer to the HDTV . . . Enter the BD550 from LG, featuring a built-in USB 2.0 Media Host. Load your favorite shots onto a USB thumb drive, connect the thumb drive to the BD550 via the USB port, and voilà, you and your friends are reliving your adventures on your widescreen HDTV. You can also access music stored on a USB device. Further, with support for a vast array of audio and video formats, the BD550 lets you play everything from CD and MP3 audio to AVCHD home video and JPEG photos.

Included with purchase

The following items are included with the purchase of the BD550 from LG: BD550 Blu-ray Disc player, 1 RCA-type A/V cable, 1 universal remote control, and 2 AAA-size batteries for remote.

Comparison Specifications

•Processing decoding: Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, Digital Plus / dts-HD Master Audio, dts / LPCM

•HDTV-ready progressive: DVD video upscaling to 1080p via HDMI

•Playable formats (disc): Blu-ray Disc, BD-R, BD-RE / DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW / Audio CD, CD-R, CD-RW

•Best video out: 1 HDMI

•Best audio out: 1 digital coaxial out

•Other outputs: 1 component-video / 1 composite-video / 1 L/R analog audio out

•Video DAC: 162MHz / 12-bit

•Audio DAC: 192kHz / 24-bit

•Remote control: 1 universal remote included

Additional Specifications

•NetCast Entertainment Access online streaming: Netflix / Vudu / YouTube / Roxio CinemaNow / Pandora Internet Radio / Picasa Web Albums / AccuWeather

•BD-Live capable (BD Profile 2.0)

•USB Media Host (music and photos)

•Other connections: 1 RJ-45 LAN ethernet port / 1 front USB v2.0 port

•Playable formats (video): MPEG4 AVC, HP@L4.1 / MPEG2, HP@ML / SMPTE VC1, AP@L3 / AVCHD

•Applications: Blu-ray BonusView / Music ID

•ENERGY STAR qualified

Manufacturer Specifications

•Video capabilities: 60Hz NTSC / Deep Color / x.v.Color / 480i composite output / Component output up to 1080i / HDMI output up to 1080/24p, 1080/60p

•Audio capabilities: 100dB signal-to-noise ratio / 2ch down mix

•NOTE: LG Design and Life's Good are trademarks of LG Electronics, Inc.

•Power requirements: AC 120V, 60Hz

•Power consumption: 20W

Dimensional Specifications

•Dimensions: 16.9" W x 1.8" H x 7.9" D

•Weight: 4.4 lbs

LG BD550 Warranty Details

1-year parts, 90-day labor limited warranty

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