The hunt for the perfect Blu-ray player continues, and today we're hoping that today's model--although not exactly brand new--could well be the one we've been looking for.

LG isn't necessarily the biggest name in Blu-ray, but the Korean manufacturer knows what's doing when producing High Definition video for a demanding public. 

Note that we tested the European version, which isn't compatible with video-on-demand, which is reserved for American users.

Hardware and design

Sleek and stylish with a blue-tinged design, the BD390 is without a doubt one of the most powerful CD, DVD and Blu-ray players currently available.  For a very reasonable price you get a device that's so full of features it's almost drowning in them.  To start with, you should know that, like other recent Blu-ray players, this device is actually more of a digital media hub, accepting content from a whole range of sources.  The options are almost endless thanks to the Internet connection, which can either be wired (by connecting the LAN port up to your router) or wireless, which is very handy.  Once you're online, you can update the firmware, or go and look for bonus content for BD-Live compatible discs meeting the Profile 2.0 standard.  These extra features can either be stored on the 1 GB of internal memory or on a USB key.  That's not the end of it though, as the talented little BD390 also includes direct access to YouTube for those quiet nights when you're out of discs.  Picasa is off limits, mind you, but you can't have everything!


What formats and settings are on offer?

The range of compatible formats is just as stunning, with the BD390 only too happy to get to work on MP3, WMA, JPEG, AVCHD, DivX, DivX HD and MKV files--not bad!  And if that wasn't enough, the USB port can be used for an external multimedia hard drive formatted as FAT32 or NTFS without any problems (we've tried it: it works!)  The good news keeps on coming though, with DLNA-like network compatibility.  Once it's joined your home network, the BD390 goes looking for content on DLNA-compatible computers.  Without getting off your sofa, and over WiFi if you don't want to trail cables through your front room, you can show all the photos, watch all the videos and listen to all the music stored on a computer in another room.  Once again, it's not at all bad!

LG has wisely chosen to fill its hardware with serious upscaling electronics, to get DVDs up to 1080p, as well as a 54 MHz 10 bit convertor.  If you can't stand waiting around, you'll be glad to hear that the player gets going in exactly 18 seconds, and the first Blu-ray frame will be on your screen 19 seconds after that.  In other words: it's excellent.  The 390 opens its disc drawer in five seconds, and ejecting a Blu-ray disc is just as fast, again taking ice seconds.

The onscreen menu is wonderful, with similar styling to recent TVs and projectors from LG, with lightweight icons and settings that the vast majority of users will be able to get their head round without too much trouble.


Image Quality

As usual, we tested the equipment using Blu-ray discs and DVDs, using a mixture of recent films and specialist test-card discs for both.  We hooked it up to a Mitsubishi HC7000 TV and an LG AF115 projector (SXRD - Full HD).  The first thing to point out is that we were wowed by how fast the machine is, the standard of the configuration and its general overall performance.  Secondly, upscaling DVDs to 1080 lines went well, with very few artefacts around curved lines, deep colours and reasonable, but not exceptional, levels of detail.  The image is often a little soft, but we're not going to complain, as we prefer that to the blocky MPEG compression found on DVDs.  Overall, the upscaling is above average.

Watching Blu-ray discs takes the experience to a whole new level though: we tried it with The Taking of Pelham 123, Up and Inglourious Basterds.  The detail is incredible in many places, without being over-the-top, and the colours are bright and where we'd expect them to be.  Contrast is lively and attractive and movements are perfectly fluid in 24p mode.  Once again, all of our tests showed a very good handling of video, which is a very welcome feature on a machine that does so many other things and is available for a very decent price.

Audio Formats

The plucky little BD390 goes after every available HD audio format, from one to 7.1 channels, including PCM.  After decoding, it can send audio over HDMI, or via the 7.1 analogue channels reserved for the job, which will music to the ears of anybody with a compatible amp which accepts multi-channel inputs.  Setting it up is easy, thanks to the clear menu that you can see above.

Our Measures

Average energy consumption: 19 W
Energy consumption on standby: 1.5 W
Start-up time: 18 s
Access time for a Blu-ray disc (average): 19 s