It wasn’t long ago that I reviewed the new Sony BD-S350 Blu-ray player and I’m still quite happy with it. However, I was intrigued by the NEW LG offering. The New LG BD300 Blu-ray Player can also stream Netflix movies. As a Netlfix subscriber, the only thing that I don’t like about the service is having to wait for the discs in the mail. Otherwise, I’m in love with Netflix. So when Netflix started offering movie streaming at no additional cost, it got my attention. When the service first rolled out, it only worked on Windows PC’s. While I can certainly boot into Windows on my Mac, I just wasn’t inclined to. It actually had nothing to do with running Windows. It was more about the selection of available streaming titles. While Netflix has over 100,000 titles on DVD (many on Blu-ray), there were only a handful at the start, available for streaming. As a matter of fact I normally have anywhere from 70-90 DVD titles in my queue at any given time. I was shocked to only see 4 out of the 90 titles in my queue available for streaming! Those 4 were older titles that I want to see at some point, but not anything new or urgent.Â
Today, things are a little better. First off, there are more titles. Netflix is boasting over 12,000 Movies and TV shows for streaming.
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Still only a small percentage of my queue is available for streaming
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Out of my 100+ DVDs/Blu-rays, these are the only ones available for streaming
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Secondly Netflix has authorized hardware manufacturers to build the Netflix streaming technology in. The first box that I saw was the Roku. This $100 box has one purpose. It connects to your TV and your internet connection and streams movies from the Netflix service. That’s it! Again, I thought this was cool, but I wasn’t ready to spend $100 to only watch a handful of titles. So I waited. I then saw the New LG Blu-ray player. This “Network” Â Blu-ray player sports all the latest and greatest advancements in Blu-ray technology including BD-Live support. However, it offers one more thing and that is Netflix streaming.
Since I was in the market for one more Blu-ray player at some point for my living room, I decided to move the Sony BD S350 to the living room and put the new LG in my theater.Â
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Netflix streaming
The New LG player is very easy to setup for Netflix streaming. Once you have it connected to your network, you choose the Netflix menu option, you’re given a 5 digit activation code.
You go to your computer and log in to your Netflix account and key it in. By the time I made it back to the theater room (not sure why I didn’t just take my laptop in there with me), there was a message waiting that my account was ready to go.
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Streaming a movie was as simple as selecting it and hitting the OK/Play button. The movie starts playing in about 15-30 seconds (this will depend on the speed of your internet connection. I’m on a fast cable connection).
You can pause, fast forward or rewind any movie that’s playing. You can stop it and it will remember where you left off the next time you go to play it.
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Streaming Picture quality and sound
Although the sound was really good, it was only stereo and not surround sound. As for the picture quality, it’s on par with standard def DVDs. I’ve now streaming movies from iTunes, Amazon Unbox and Netflix and I would say of the three iTunes is best, Netflix is a close second and Amazon is last in terms of image quality. Also no glitches in streaming. The movie streamed back smoothly.
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16:9, Widescreen, HD
The Netflix movies that you stream are NOT in high def. Although I knew this going in, I expected them to all be at least widescreen (with the exception of titles that were never widescreen). I was shocked that the first couple of titles I tried were NOT playing in widescreen. As a matter of fact they even looked a little squished. It was like they were widescreen titles that were being forced into a 4:3 format.
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“Right at your Door” playing back at 4:3 aspect ratio
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I was really disappointed thinking that they they just didn’t stream in widescreen. A quick Google search lead me to see that they do in fact stream in widescreen. So I called Netflix tech support. The tech did confirm that “some” titles stream in widescreen. So I asked him to give me the name of a title that he knows to stream in widescreen. He told me to try “The Mummy.” I went back to my computer and added that movie to my queue (there is no search on the player itself). It was there waiting to be played by the time I walked back to the theater room. I played it and it was not playing widescreen either. The tech put me on hold and while he was checking on this, I tried a couple more titles. The next one I tried was “Glory” and low and behold it did fill the screen in widescreen format.
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“Glory” streaming in widescreen
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When the tech came back to the line, I informed him that it was working with certain titles. We still couldn’t figure out whey The Mummy was working for him, but not for me. Again, I’m not ecstatic that only some titles play 16:9 and some don’t. Even some of the newest titles were playing back in 4:3 format! I can live with it for now, but I want this to improve! The Netlfix tech informed me that they have no control over it. They only get one format from the movie houses and that’s the format they stream. I’m hoping that this situation will improve as they bring more titles online. In my quick tests only a couple of the ones in my queue played back widescreen.
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It’s a Blu-ray player and more
Remember that the main purpose of this box is to play Blu-ray discs. It does a fine job at that with no complaints. I popped in Iron Man and the disc loaded very quickly.
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"Iron Man" playing back from Blu-ray on the LG BD300
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It also upconverts standard def DVDs to HD. The minute I connected the player up, there was a firmware update waiting.
This player connects to your network via Ethernet. So you will need either an ethernet drop near your TV or an Ethernet to Wi-Fi bridge (which I have not tested). It would be great if these Blu-ray players either came with Wi-Fi built-in or at least offered a low cost external option like the one available for TiVo HD.
There is also a USB 2 port on the back of the player. This allows you to hook up USB hard drives or thumb drives to handle content such as pictures or music. Since I use an Apple TV for pictures and music, I don’t really have a need for this on the LG, but it’s there if you need it.
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The Bottom Line
If you need a Blu-ray player AND you have a Netflix account, this is your player! It’s about $100 more than the Sony BD S350 (it’s much cheaper now at $266), which you could argue is the same price as the Roku box. However, having the Netflix streaming combined with a Blu-ray player means only having to worry about connecting and controlling one device. Also since there are never enough HDMI or Optical Audio ports to go around, less is more! Another thing to ponder is that since there is no additional charge to use the Netflix streaming service if you already have a Netflix account, it’s like Netflix is maintaing a growing on-demand video library that is accessible to you whenever you want without you physically having to store the media.
No one service has it all (yet). Each one has the pluses & minuses. Overall, the combination of iTunes and Apple TV seems to be leading the pack (HD Movie Rentals and TV shows, iPod, iPhone, computer and TV compatibility, Streaming and Downloading options, no subscription fees). If Netflix could wrangle more titles loose from Hollywood in a streaming format, add HD and 5.1 surround options, they would be best. Amazon’s Unbox with TiVo HD is a nice option too. Nothing beats the quality of a Blu-ray disc though. So media will be around a little while longer, which is what keeps me going back to Netflix. Nope, none of these services is strong enough to stand on its own yet and that’s why I have Netflix, iTunes/Apple TV, TiVo HD and HBO HD via Comcast. As soon as one gets it right, I’d be glad to give up all the rest.
Best Buy has the LG BD300 for $349. Netflix plans start at $4.99/month (note that the $4.99/month plan only allows for 2 hours of streaming. All other plans allow unlimited streaming).
32 Replies to “LG BD300 Blu-ray Player with Netflix Streaming”
I must be lucky with my location. I pop my return netflix DVD in the Mail and the very next morning I get a email that they have it, 10 min later I get an email saying the next in my queue has gone out, the next morning, it’s in my email. Two days round trip. Now, I’m sure I have a netflix depot close to me (Central NJ) but I’ve seen one difference that makes a day, be sure to put your returning netflix DVD back in the red envelope with the Bar code so it can be seen thru the envelope slot on the outside thus be read that much faster. I’m sure this makes the difference for the 1 day. Nice Review Terry. I am sure in one or two years tops, we see this go the way of cell phones, they will give this away for free with a 1 year netflix contract. (or 2 etc…) Meantime, my playstation and Apple TV are the bomb.
Oh. P.S.
When will Apple TV go 1080p?????
Tom,
I get the same turn-around time. However, 2-3 days doesn’t compare to instant 🙂 Also if you factor in Sunday, you’ve lost another day. Thanks!
Tom,
Apple TV, probably won’t go to 1080p until there is 1080p content available from iTunes.
I agree with all points. It’s a shame because you can get 1080p on the pirate market with I WILL NOT do. But anyway, Blu-Ray is just fine for now I guess. You really are a talented writer.
Out neighbor installs major home video systems for a living. We wanted a Blu Ray disk player for our son. He recommended the LG BD300 and swears that it will work without wires with my son’s Mac and with the AirPort express (Extreme) 802.11n Wi-Fi. Everything I read says that the LG is not compatible with anything other than a direct ethernet connection. This is all way above my grade level. Is my neighbor correct that my son can just use the AirPort base station and then watch Netflix streaming in another room operating wirelessly?
Thanks and I have bookmarked your site to help my son connect everything after the coming holidays.
Jeff,
The BD300 will NOT connect to your Wi-Fi network (wirelessly) out of the box. However, if your AirPort Extreme is nearby, then you could run an ethernet cable to it from the back of the BD300. Otherwise you would need to buy a separate Ethernet-to-Wi-Fi Bridge to plug in to the BD300’s Ethernet port and then connect to your AirPort wirelessly.
Thanks, Terry. The world has passed me by, but I think I got it. He can load the disk on his Mac and plug the AirPort into the wall near his BD300. Then he would run an Ethernet cable from the AirPort to the BD300 and would be able to stream Netflix movies directly to his TV. Sounds like a better deal for us rather than just waiting for the movies to arrive in the mail. Again, thanks so much.
Great review!!!! I’ve been thinking about purchasing the BD300 for the past few months but haven’t found a compelling enough reason to make the leap. You’ve helped me come off the fence and make the purchase. I’ll let you know how it ends up working out. Thanks!!!
Wish mine was that easy. When I hooked up my BD300 to my router, it wouldn’t connect to the network. I verified that I had a good connection by plugging the cable in to my laptop. Worked perfectly.
Then I started the usual phone calls to LG’s tech support. What a waste of time. On two occasions I got passed from one CSR to another, placed on hold for 17 and 20 minutes respectively only to have the call disconnected. The first time, they promised me that the technician who supposedly knows something would call me back “in a few minutes”. Three days later, I gave up.
After describing the problem repeatedly to one person after another, they finally decided to send me a mailing label so I could return it.
Today, I got another one. Same thing happened.
I’ve been through all the obvious fixes. If anybody has any idea how to get this thing to stream Netflix PLEASE let me know. LG doesn’t have a clue… and yes, I have a Netflix account and can stream video to my laptop with no problem using the same cable.
I am having the same problem. I have a DSL connection. I have the BD 300 connected to my router by cable. It does not see an internet connection at all.
If anyone has an answer to this, I’d like to hear it!
KB
Hi all. I’m having the same problems with the LG BD300 as Karen and Larry. Called LG, and that was useless. This thing is going back to Best Buy tomorrow if I cannot connect the network to it.
I am having the same issue with the LG BD300. this player will not connect to the internet no matter what i do. Just purchased it a few days ago; it will be going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Forget about calling LG for tech support, they are ABSOLUTELY clueless. They act like they never even heard of the connection problems that people are having.
I to having same grief as listed above. Is it because it is a DSL connection to web vs. cable modem? Bought from Beach camera and most likely will send ir bacck to them. i heard that samsung makes similiar box will check into and post with results.
We’ve had the same problems setting up my dad’s player that we got him for christmas. We have Verizon Fios with an actiontec router, so I’m not sure if it works for everyone’s issue but I hope it does! We simply unplug, reset the router and let it chill for a minute before turning everything back on (the reset is a small whole in the back of the router. Just poke it with a pen.). In less than 15 minutes, we had a Netflix movie playing. I can’t believe after a whole day of trying to figure it out, it was that easy…. Hope this works for everyone else!
I tried to connect my BD300 to a cablevision modem – no luck. Reset many times, tried a second BD300. Cablevision customer service said their networks esn for the BD300, but that the BD300 is not asking for a dynamic port address. I left the BD300 on overnight, no luck. The BD300 is trying something – because there is a small symbol that shows up in the upper right hand corner of the screen – alternately flashing grey and blue. You would think that LG would give guidance on this problem to their CS reps before they have a pile of returned boxes in their ware house.
I can only figure that the problem somehow relates to a firewall issue somewhere – maybe at cablevision itself.
I wish I had read this before I purchased my LG, I had the same problem and returned it to BestBuy, I tried to call support and it was useless, I returned it and will try setting up the new LG player, I wish LG had some help with this,
I just connected the BD300 via the component video out to an older Toshiba HD TV that doesn’t have an HDMI connection. Unfortunately I can’t get a clear picture on the TV. I tried multiple component video cables and played around with teh resolution settings as well. For some reason the blue and red signal are in sync but the green signal is offset considerably. Any ideas what teh problem may be? Also connected teh BD300 to my son’s Vizeo plasma via component video and it looks great. Any help would be appreciated.
I got my LG set up and connected right away.
however, some discs that i put in the player come thru to my plasma screen (pioneer)as half the screen size in the center and everything is all in a shade of green.LG support has no clue . has anybody had this problem?
i just tried to get mummy and glory to test the wide screen issue and my netflix doesn’t offer them as instant– what gives here?
Some movies are available for streaming only for a limited time.
Has anyone had any luck connecting a wireless game adapter to their LG BD300? When I went through the set up disk on my computer I got the gaming adapter to link with my router, but when I connected it to the BD300. The BD300 says it doesn’t see an internet connection and the gaming adapter has on the lights on saying it’s connected…Help!
Same thing here with the BD300 I plug my ethernet directly into the player and it still says it doesn’t detect a connection?
I unplugged the cable and plugged it into my laptop and I’m connected to the internet so I know it’s not the connection.
Any help on this would be great.
Ok everyone I figured it out.
You need to go to your connection settings on the blue ray player and change the IP MODE to a static ip. Once you do that move down to the IP Setting and press enter.
A screen should come up that asks you to enter:
IP Address
Subnet Mask
Gateway
DNS Server
You can find that info on your internet connections on the control panel or call your ISP provider.
Once I did that I was able to connect!
I hope this helps everyone!
Tried the “Jason Fix” last night (chage to Static IP), but still no luck. Like everyone else, I’ve spent what seems like a life time on the phone with LG service (absolutley USELESS). Any other suggestions / help…….
Thx
After reading all of the above…. I switched to Dynamic and voila! I have Netflix!
We have an Airport Extreme for our base station and used the Airport Express to connect the Blu Ray to via ethernet…. It seemed quite a pain and difficult considering Apple is the easiest way to go. The fun part was all the IP address stuff, making sure to enter the Extreme info not the Express info. I didn’t have any Gateway info so didn’t enter it.
AWESOME!
Mindy – Yours is exactly the setup I want to create. (Except my Base station is a Linksys)
Do you have instructions on how you set up your Airport Express that is connected to the blu-ray? (eg is it in client mode or wds mode and anything else you had to do to get it to work.)
Thanks much!
Greg
Jason’s comment above was right on. After having the same problem that many other people have experienced, i.e. getting an error message indicating that no internet connection could be found, I returned the BD300 that I had for another one. I had the same problem with the replacement unit until I switched the setting to Static IP and completed the four fields. The BD300 worked immediately.
Thanks Jason.
Hi,
We spent hours chatting online with Comcast, our ISP trying to figure out what needed to be done to get internet access located next to our BD300. Had two technicians come out with an electrician in between. Have also taken several trips to Best Buy.
Per 1st Comcast technician, had our electrician install a CAT 5 outlet in our home office where our cable service resides with a direct connection to a new outlet next to our BD300 in our living room. Set up a router to run one line to the BD300 and one line to our existing Airport Express wireless computer network. We discovered that we can run EITHER the wireless computer network OR the BD300…can’t run them simultaneously. The Dynamic IP from our cable service recognizes the first device, but not the second.
The 2nd Comcast tech said we needed a wireless router that is configured with a Static IP for the BD300. Back to Best Buy to return the first router and try the second one. I’m fairly technically savvy, but could not configure the new router manually for my Mac. In addition the confusing security setup, the instructions said to get the Static IP info from my ISP. My ISP insists that I need to get that information from the manufacturer of the router…they cannot provide that info!!!! Gotta love Comcast! At this point, we are just shutting down our computer connection and restarting the modem before connecting to the BD300. Works great and fun to watch instant movies. Just wish we could run our devices simultaneiously.
Does anyone have the Static IP information they can share? Would love to be able to key that in!
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points.Keep working ,great job!
I have a solution to the network connectivity issues! (It worked for me, anyway.)
It seems that these players are sensitive to the DNS server they use. Switch your DNS servers to OpenDNS at:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Others may work too (e.g., Google’s new DNS service), but this did the trick for me. For the noobs out there, here are a couple ways you can do this:
(1) Go into the player’s network settings, and select static DNS server addresses (you can use dynamic IP if your network supports/requires it.. my BD390 lets me have dynamic IP and static DNS if I want).
(2) Change the DNS addresses that your router uses, and set up your player for dynamic IP and DNS. Your player (and probably everything else on your network) should automatically start using the new addresses the next time you turn them on.
Hope this works as well for others as it did for me.
Great article. For those who live outside US like me, you can access Netflix and similar media stations on your LG Bluray by using UnoTelly or similar tools.
I must be lucky with my location. I pop my return netflix DVD in the Mail and the very next morning I get a email that they have it, 10 min later I get an email saying the next in my queue has gone out, the next morning, it’s in my email. Two days round trip. Now, I’m sure I have a netflix depot close to me (Central NJ) but I’ve seen one difference that makes a day, be sure to put your returning netflix DVD back in the red envelope with the Bar code so it can be seen thru the envelope slot on the outside thus be read that much faster. I’m sure this makes the difference for the 1 day. Nice Review Terry. I am sure in one or two years tops, we see this go the way of cell phones, they will give this away for free with a 1 year netflix contract. (or 2 etc…) Meantime, my playstation and Apple TV are the bomb.
Oh. P.S.
When will Apple TV go 1080p?????
Tom,
I get the same turn-around time. However, 2-3 days doesn’t compare to instant 🙂 Also if you factor in Sunday, you’ve lost another day. Thanks!
Tom,
Apple TV, probably won’t go to 1080p until there is 1080p content available from iTunes.
I agree with all points. It’s a shame because you can get 1080p on the pirate market with I WILL NOT do. But anyway, Blu-Ray is just fine for now I guess. You really are a talented writer.
Out neighbor installs major home video systems for a living. We wanted a Blu Ray disk player for our son. He recommended the LG BD300 and swears that it will work without wires with my son’s Mac and with the AirPort express (Extreme) 802.11n Wi-Fi. Everything I read says that the LG is not compatible with anything other than a direct ethernet connection. This is all way above my grade level. Is my neighbor correct that my son can just use the AirPort base station and then watch Netflix streaming in another room operating wirelessly?
Thanks and I have bookmarked your site to help my son connect everything after the coming holidays.
Jeff,
The BD300 will NOT connect to your Wi-Fi network (wirelessly) out of the box. However, if your AirPort Extreme is nearby, then you could run an ethernet cable to it from the back of the BD300. Otherwise you would need to buy a separate Ethernet-to-Wi-Fi Bridge to plug in to the BD300’s Ethernet port and then connect to your AirPort wirelessly.
Thanks, Terry. The world has passed me by, but I think I got it. He can load the disk on his Mac and plug the AirPort into the wall near his BD300. Then he would run an Ethernet cable from the AirPort to the BD300 and would be able to stream Netflix movies directly to his TV. Sounds like a better deal for us rather than just waiting for the movies to arrive in the mail. Again, thanks so much.
Great review!!!! I’ve been thinking about purchasing the BD300 for the past few months but haven’t found a compelling enough reason to make the leap. You’ve helped me come off the fence and make the purchase. I’ll let you know how it ends up working out. Thanks!!!
Wish mine was that easy. When I hooked up my BD300 to my router, it wouldn’t connect to the network. I verified that I had a good connection by plugging the cable in to my laptop. Worked perfectly.
Then I started the usual phone calls to LG’s tech support. What a waste of time. On two occasions I got passed from one CSR to another, placed on hold for 17 and 20 minutes respectively only to have the call disconnected. The first time, they promised me that the technician who supposedly knows something would call me back “in a few minutes”. Three days later, I gave up.
After describing the problem repeatedly to one person after another, they finally decided to send me a mailing label so I could return it.
Today, I got another one. Same thing happened.
I’ve been through all the obvious fixes. If anybody has any idea how to get this thing to stream Netflix PLEASE let me know. LG doesn’t have a clue… and yes, I have a Netflix account and can stream video to my laptop with no problem using the same cable.
I am having the same problem. I have a DSL connection. I have the BD 300 connected to my router by cable. It does not see an internet connection at all.
If anyone has an answer to this, I’d like to hear it!
KB
Hi all. I’m having the same problems with the LG BD300 as Karen and Larry. Called LG, and that was useless. This thing is going back to Best Buy tomorrow if I cannot connect the network to it.
I am having the same issue with the LG BD300. this player will not connect to the internet no matter what i do. Just purchased it a few days ago; it will be going back to Best Buy tomorrow. Forget about calling LG for tech support, they are ABSOLUTELY clueless. They act like they never even heard of the connection problems that people are having.
I to having same grief as listed above. Is it because it is a DSL connection to web vs. cable modem? Bought from Beach camera and most likely will send ir bacck to them. i heard that samsung makes similiar box will check into and post with results.
We’ve had the same problems setting up my dad’s player that we got him for christmas. We have Verizon Fios with an actiontec router, so I’m not sure if it works for everyone’s issue but I hope it does! We simply unplug, reset the router and let it chill for a minute before turning everything back on (the reset is a small whole in the back of the router. Just poke it with a pen.). In less than 15 minutes, we had a Netflix movie playing. I can’t believe after a whole day of trying to figure it out, it was that easy…. Hope this works for everyone else!
I tried to connect my BD300 to a cablevision modem – no luck. Reset many times, tried a second BD300. Cablevision customer service said their networks esn for the BD300, but that the BD300 is not asking for a dynamic port address. I left the BD300 on overnight, no luck. The BD300 is trying something – because there is a small symbol that shows up in the upper right hand corner of the screen – alternately flashing grey and blue. You would think that LG would give guidance on this problem to their CS reps before they have a pile of returned boxes in their ware house.
I can only figure that the problem somehow relates to a firewall issue somewhere – maybe at cablevision itself.
I wish I had read this before I purchased my LG, I had the same problem and returned it to BestBuy, I tried to call support and it was useless, I returned it and will try setting up the new LG player, I wish LG had some help with this,
I just connected the BD300 via the component video out to an older Toshiba HD TV that doesn’t have an HDMI connection. Unfortunately I can’t get a clear picture on the TV. I tried multiple component video cables and played around with teh resolution settings as well. For some reason the blue and red signal are in sync but the green signal is offset considerably. Any ideas what teh problem may be? Also connected teh BD300 to my son’s Vizeo plasma via component video and it looks great. Any help would be appreciated.
I got my LG set up and connected right away.
however, some discs that i put in the player come thru to my plasma screen (pioneer)as half the screen size in the center and everything is all in a shade of green.LG support has no clue . has anybody had this problem?
i just tried to get mummy and glory to test the wide screen issue and my netflix doesn’t offer them as instant– what gives here?
Some movies are available for streaming only for a limited time.
Has anyone had any luck connecting a wireless game adapter to their LG BD300? When I went through the set up disk on my computer I got the gaming adapter to link with my router, but when I connected it to the BD300. The BD300 says it doesn’t see an internet connection and the gaming adapter has on the lights on saying it’s connected…Help!
Same thing here with the BD300 I plug my ethernet directly into the player and it still says it doesn’t detect a connection?
I unplugged the cable and plugged it into my laptop and I’m connected to the internet so I know it’s not the connection.
Any help on this would be great.
Ok everyone I figured it out.
You need to go to your connection settings on the blue ray player and change the IP MODE to a static ip. Once you do that move down to the IP Setting and press enter.
A screen should come up that asks you to enter:
IP Address
Subnet Mask
Gateway
DNS Server
You can find that info on your internet connections on the control panel or call your ISP provider.
Once I did that I was able to connect!
I hope this helps everyone!
Tried the “Jason Fix” last night (chage to Static IP), but still no luck. Like everyone else, I’ve spent what seems like a life time on the phone with LG service (absolutley USELESS). Any other suggestions / help…….
Thx
After reading all of the above…. I switched to Dynamic and voila! I have Netflix!
We have an Airport Extreme for our base station and used the Airport Express to connect the Blu Ray to via ethernet…. It seemed quite a pain and difficult considering Apple is the easiest way to go. The fun part was all the IP address stuff, making sure to enter the Extreme info not the Express info. I didn’t have any Gateway info so didn’t enter it.
AWESOME!
Mindy – Yours is exactly the setup I want to create. (Except my Base station is a Linksys)
Do you have instructions on how you set up your Airport Express that is connected to the blu-ray? (eg is it in client mode or wds mode and anything else you had to do to get it to work.)
Thanks much!
Greg
Jason’s comment above was right on. After having the same problem that many other people have experienced, i.e. getting an error message indicating that no internet connection could be found, I returned the BD300 that I had for another one. I had the same problem with the replacement unit until I switched the setting to Static IP and completed the four fields. The BD300 worked immediately.
Thanks Jason.
Hi,
We spent hours chatting online with Comcast, our ISP trying to figure out what needed to be done to get internet access located next to our BD300. Had two technicians come out with an electrician in between. Have also taken several trips to Best Buy.
Per 1st Comcast technician, had our electrician install a CAT 5 outlet in our home office where our cable service resides with a direct connection to a new outlet next to our BD300 in our living room. Set up a router to run one line to the BD300 and one line to our existing Airport Express wireless computer network. We discovered that we can run EITHER the wireless computer network OR the BD300…can’t run them simultaneously. The Dynamic IP from our cable service recognizes the first device, but not the second.
The 2nd Comcast tech said we needed a wireless router that is configured with a Static IP for the BD300. Back to Best Buy to return the first router and try the second one. I’m fairly technically savvy, but could not configure the new router manually for my Mac. In addition the confusing security setup, the instructions said to get the Static IP info from my ISP. My ISP insists that I need to get that information from the manufacturer of the router…they cannot provide that info!!!! Gotta love Comcast! At this point, we are just shutting down our computer connection and restarting the modem before connecting to the BD300. Works great and fun to watch instant movies. Just wish we could run our devices simultaneiously.
Does anyone have the Static IP information they can share? Would love to be able to key that in!
Has anyone tried the new Powerline adapters that convert A/C to Ethernet? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp;jsessionid=OQGZZTJ0PKZCVKC4D3FVAHI?_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&id=pcat17071&type=page&st=ethernet+adapter&sc=Global&cp=1&nrp=15&sp=&qp=&list=n&iht=y&usc=All+Categories&ks=960? Seems like a simple way to go if it works!
There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points.Keep working ,great job!
I have a solution to the network connectivity issues! (It worked for me, anyway.)
It seems that these players are sensitive to the DNS server they use. Switch your DNS servers to OpenDNS at:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
Others may work too (e.g., Google’s new DNS service), but this did the trick for me. For the noobs out there, here are a couple ways you can do this:
(1) Go into the player’s network settings, and select static DNS server addresses (you can use dynamic IP if your network supports/requires it.. my BD390 lets me have dynamic IP and static DNS if I want).
(2) Change the DNS addresses that your router uses, and set up your player for dynamic IP and DNS. Your player (and probably everything else on your network) should automatically start using the new addresses the next time you turn them on.
Hope this works as well for others as it did for me.
Great article. For those who live outside US like me, you can access Netflix and similar media stations on your LG Bluray by using UnoTelly or similar tools.