Review on 📀 LG BD550 Network Blu-ray Disc Player (2010 Model): Enhanced Connectivity for a Complete Home Theater Experience by Steven Brouillard

. My HDTV is a Samsung LN52B750, the receiver is a Denon AVR4310ci, the HD DVR is a Comcast Motorola, the Blu-ray player is an Oppo BDP-83 and I needed a Netflix/Vudu player to complete the above. Roku is ruled out as it's not optimized for 1080P HDTV playback or 1080P 24fps online video upscaling. Well-designed Blu-ray players have both, and the electronics deliver excellent picture quality. Sony and Panasonic products produce excellent Blu-ray pictures, but both brands are currently lagging behind when it comes to network streaming capabilities and technology. Keyboard response time. I believe that's because LG uses firmware instead of software like Samsung does to control these features (software has more overhead). LG can be set to 1080P and 24fps (if your HDTV can handle both via HDMI) and has done this upconversion on Netflix and vudu SD videos with surprisingly good results. Vudu streaming is at its most impressive in HDX video and with its Dolby Digital+ audio. LG's firmware offers fast and excellent Netflix menus that not only allow you to see your 'instant queue', but also manage your 'instant queue' and instantly select and watch other titles. Samsung only allows you to select the "Instant Queue" selected by your PC. LG's firmware also features a more responsive Voodoo menu and a more sophisticated Movie menu with cast and production info, snippets of Rotten Tomato criticism, and other interesting background information. Samsung provides information about the cast of the film. We are perfectly satisfied with our $135 LG BD550 player. It only costs money for online video streaming. Highly recommended. The key to being happy with any of these products is to 1) purchase the correct wired Ethernet or wireless model and 2) update the firmware as soon as you use the device for the first time. And move on to 2) because the online video streaming business and technology is evolving rapidly. LG today (June 1st) released a firmware update that fixes a brief crash when watching a Netflix movie online on some of the latest BD550 players. This is fixed by the main firmware version BD.8.31.259C and the servo version H80588.