LG BP350

The BP350 (BP350-P) is a Blu-Ray Disc/DVD Player manufactured by the LG Corporation in China. It is one in a series of similar looking players consisting of BP250, BP255, BP350, BP450, and BP550.

Review

This smart blu-ray and DVD player is tiny with dimensions 270-mm × 43-mm × 195-mm, but it packs a huge number of functions. Advancements in semiconductor technology mean that they can cram a huge amount of electronics onto a single IC, and when I opened this unit, I found the tiniest printed circuit board I ever saw. Compared to my old blu-ray player, which was over 15 years old, and took up half the shelf, this unit has much faster navigation response and it was quicker to load the discs as well.

Every unit has a region code printed on the back and mine was for region 2 for DVD and region B for blu-ray; however, I noticed that there were units for sale on eBay that had a hacked firmware making them region free for DVDs only. I also noticed that there were sellers offering just the firmware update on CD, so that is something I might experiment with in the future. Interestingly, the manufacturer’s site also has firmware updates and it would be nice if they made one available that provides region free capability.

It appears that the source code contained in this product is available on LG’s Open Source Software site, so I anticipate there will be many unofficial variations and updates making it a very popular Blu-Ray player to have in the future.

This is a basic unit with only an HDMI socket at the back, and the default audio output is stereo on my basic TV with stereo speakers. However, this unit has the Dolby True HD Digital Plus logo at the back and the manual indicates that the HDMI socket can connect to an audio/video receiver for surround sound output. Usually these types of receivers also have an HDMI output socket as well, which then connects to the television. This is something that I might like to try out in the future when I get a compatible amplifier with multi-channel decoding capability; however, in the meantime, stereo audio is fine for me.

In order to make the unit small, the power supply is through an adapter, and providing your domestic supply is smooth enough, it should work fine. I did not experience any serious issues with this unit and for the most part, it is cheap and cheerful with some useful functions. The front USB port allows you to connect a USB Memory stick to play a wide range of media through it. The Wi-Fi function allows it to connect to your broadband router and then you can watch YouTube through the player. This is a very useful function to have if your TV did not already have Android to allow you to watch YouTube. The streaming function is nice to have, but I only watch Star Trek, and alas, I have no friends to stream to.

Value/eBay

I could not afford a brand new unit because it was way out of my price range, however there were some sellers offering refurbished units going for around £40. I think that these were customer returns, and I did not come across any major problems. My unit had a slightly fuzzy image but it turned out my old HDMI cable was not up to the job, and I bought a higher quality one that solved the issue. In the following sections of this multi-page article you can see the inside electronic engineering.

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