LG to Continue HD DVD Support

[brownriggd]

thanks Oilblue, my receiver doesn't handle DTS, so I take it I won't get standard DD 5.1 via toslink?

[oilblue]

Much more limited for DD5.1 than DTS5.1. You'll only get DD5.1 from a DD or DD+ track (with "primary pass-thru" selected). Anything else results in either 2-channel PCM, or DTS (which your AVR can't handle).

On the other hand, DTS5.1 can be output over SPDIF for every hi-def encode type (DTS, DTS-MA, DD+, DTrueHD, LCPM).

Looks like an A3 is a good fit your your receiver as it does output everything in DD5.1 over TOSLink (well, aside from DTS on DVDs).

Anyway, it's all there in my previous post.

[brownriggd]

Got the BH 200 this morning from FS, set it up and yes DD 5.1 via optical wire works! Picture wise it is the same as my old HD A1, that to say is great.

The e-flyer sent to me indicated a $50.00 gift cert but they gave me 3 free movies instead. would have preferred the certificate as I wasnt interested in the titles (I am legend, hitman and ratatouille)

Other than that its a great little player. The only issue is it won't play my home movies on DVD-R and DVD+RWs despite claims on the box/manual it would.....

[oilblue]

On the DD front, page 36 of the manual should be helpful. While the audio output tables on that page don't perfectly reflect the new beta/pre-release firmware that was briefly available (how could they), the Primary Pass-Thru column of the SPDIF table looks pretty accurate.

As noted in my post above, DD5.1 via optical is there...but only with certain audio sources. If the movie has a DD or DD+ track, you're good to go. Dolby TrueHD will be 2-channel (PCM), and any DTS tracks are of course DTS over optical.

Should be fine for most movies, but there are some that don't have a DD or DD+ track.

Obviously not great news on the home movie front. Does it recognize the disc? Or give errors?

[JaySea]

I purchased the LG LH200 at Futureshop several weeks ago based on the reportedly strong video performance. I managed to get the March “beta” firmware while it was still on the LG site. Installation from a USB drive and the subsequent network upgrade to driver 702 were both done without issue.

My experience so far

Setup: LG outputting 1080p-60 via HDMI to an HP MD5880n DLP TV. Optical digital to a Pioneer AVR.

Video Performance

Blu-Ray: 2001, Blade Runner, Live Free or Die Hard. Great picture as expected. No glitches

HD-DVD: King Kong, Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Forbidden Planet (1956) and Casablanca (1942). Great picture, even from the older films. No glitches

SD DVD: The Fifth Element, Shane (1953), Sleepy Hollow, The Black Book. Despite using a proprietary (no name) chip, the up-converting performance of the LG was first rate. When playing Shane which has an aspect ratio of 4:3, I had to switch the LG’s output resolution to 480p to prevent the picture from being stretched

Audio Performance.

Since my AVR only supports Dolby Digital, I get DD 5.1 or PVM 2 channel (depending on the DVD sound track). It is nice to know that with the March firmware, I will be able to use the advanced audio codecs when I upgrade my receiver.

Other Observations

My Harmony 880 remote had trouble learning the BH200 “Play” command. The command from the database did not work and teaching the Harmony “Play” from the LG remote did not work initially. I had to teach the Harmony the “Play” command using raw format before it functioned properly.

On two occasions, my TV froze (would not respond to any commands) while the LG was booting up. The work-around here is to let the LG boot up completely before switching my TV input to the LG player. This is an issue with the TV, not the LG player

[brownriggd]

Oilblue, after I re-read the manual I found out the problem with DVD R and RW playback is that the discs have to be 'finalized' which they are not.... oh well, I at least have another DVD player hooked to our bedroom TV that will play those discs...

I calibrated the player by turning off the QDeo processor and tweaking the user settings using Video Essentials. Everything looked OK on HD and BD discs but DVD playback was not good. Jagged edges and other noise in the picture. Even with the White noise and BN turned on. (Mosquito noise control makes the picture worse....whats up with that??)

I re-calibrated using QDeo and DVD was much better but noted that HD and BD was a tad softer as a result...turned up the sharpness control just a touch to compensate and now everything looks great!

[oilblue]

I guess that's good news on the recordable front as it's not a permanent error...but not so good if you have a bunch of the non-finalized ones already. Is it too late to finalize them?

Mosquito noise control...I haven't heard anything good about that one yet. Maybe it's there to make everything else look good in comparison.

Thanks for the calibration tips. Video Essentials should be arriving here soon, so those pointers are quite timely. Thanks.

[brownriggd]

I've only scoped out 3 HD/BD movies so far but already I've noticed that the menus don't overlay on top of the video as they did with my HD DVD player. Is this a limitation of the player or the BD format?

The 3 movies were Ratatouille(BD), I am legend (BD) and the Mummy (HDDVD).

Do I need a software update maybe?

[oilblue]

Just a guess here, but make sure you're using the "Title/Popup" button instead of the "Disc Menu" (the former does the overlay while the latter stops the movie and brings up the menu).

[brownriggd]

I've started to notice random audio dropouts when playing DVDs. So far I've only watched one BD movie and the audio with that format was fine.

I'm hooked up using optical (don't have HDMI). Anyone else have this problem? Would a software update resolve this?

[brownriggd]

I stand corrected, watched a BD movie last night and it had dropouts as well........ Will exchange the unit for another one this aft....

[oilblue]

What firmware version were you running? Just want to try to get a handle of which firmware this is happening with, or see if there's a pattern of some sort. Here's a list, with the date portion highlighted:
- BH02071119P (original firmware)
- BH02080124R (latest firmware still available on LG's website -- was posted about 3 weeks ago)
- BH02080314B (the "March" firmware that was briefly posted about 3 weeks ago)

What movies were the problem? Also, which audio track (on the disc) is selected when you're getting the drops, and what is the player's output setting (SPDIF - PCM Stereo; SPDIF - DTS Re-encode; SPDIF - Primary Pass-thru). From the posts above your receiver doesn't decode DTS, so that one's out.

We haven't had any audio problems with the titles we've played, though we're running SPDIF DTS Re-encode (and the March update).

[brownriggd]

Oilblue, dropouts occur no matter what I play BD or DVD and its random.... I'm setup with SPDIF primary pass thru (HDMI is set the same way). I make sure DD 5.1 is selected when possible and thats what I get..

Not sure which software version I'm running as I can't find it indicated anywhere in the setup menu....

[oilblue]

Since you don't have HDMI, try setting HDMI output to "PCM Stereo". It really shouldn't improve anything over SPDIF, but sometimes the two settings affect each other (e.g. the A3 SPDIF audio output is much quieter if HDMI output is set to anything but PCM stereo).

Still curious on which titles, and which audio track, etc. If I happen to have the same movie, it gives me something to report back on...and if we have different results, one of the following could be the reason:
- newer firmware (I'm guessing you haven't updated)
- faulty BH200
- DTS Re-encode (with March firmware) vs. Primary pass-thru (original firmware)

As for checking the firmware version, see here. Reference the firmware versions I listed in the post above to see whether you have the most recent one. I can't emphasize enough that you should try the latest firmware on LG's website.

If you don't have at least the January update, use this post as a general guide to obtain it (though it refers to the March firmware that's no longer there) Just get the first set of files (zip and PDF), and then read the PDF for the specific steps needed. The BH200 firmware update procedure is quite simple. I suggest using a USB stick (as outlined in the PDF).

Good luck.

[brownriggd]

I tried uploading a software update using a USB stick. Followed the instructions in the .pdf document, but nothing happens. The player home menu appears, I put in the stick and nothing happens...... Any suggestions?