Hi, I’m Anthony from Onecall, and this is the BD590 blu-ray player from LG. One key feature this blu-ray player offers is an integrated 250GB hard drive. That allows you to create your own multimedia library, holding high definition videos, standard definition videos, photos, or up to 88,000 Mp3 files. The BD590 offers two ways to connect to the internet, you have the option of using the built in wi-fi connectivity, or use the Ethernet port of the back of the player. The NetCast internet access feature allows instant streaming of NetFlix videos, YouTube videos, Pandora internet radio, and more. The BD590 features full 1080p high definition video. It’ll even up-convert your standard definition disc to high definition. If you want to learn more about this product or any of our other products, feel free to give us a call, we love talking to our customers. You can follow us on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook, for the latest updates and deals from OneCall. Thanks for watching.

Learn more about the LG BD590 Blu-ray Player with 250GB Hard drive at OneCall.

I was amazed by how well everything was designed on the unit. The fold-out doors have wire runs to allow you to plug in your equipment from the front such as the USB/iPod connection and then close the door. The HDMI output to the television also supports version 1.4a with the new audio return channel. This feature allows the audio to pass back from your television to the receiver…providing that the television supports the function.

p.s. As a side note, OneCall also has a killer package right now with the Klipsch HD Theater 1000 package.

The first question I had was “Can Blu-ray movies be ripped to this hard drive?”  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  At 250 gigabytes, it wouldn’t hold very many HD movies anyway.  The purpose of the hard drive is for consumers to store pictures, personal movies,  music, and downloaded VuDu movies.  It is meant to be more of a multi-purpose box, not just a Blu-ray player.  It has built-in 802.11n WiFi connectivity, but oddly enough consumers cannot transfer their music of photos via the wireless connection.  You can use the RJ45 Ethernet port or the USB connection instead.

Another exciting addition on this player is the inclusion of Gracenote’s MusicID-Stream™ .  If you are playing back any movie, TV show, or any other media through the Blu-ray and hears an unknown song, you simply push a button on the remote and Gracenote’s MusicID-Stream™ will instantly provide artist, genre, and album cover art for the unknown song.  This same technology also allows the you to easily archive the music they rip to the hard drive. I believe this will be a big winner.

Subjects include:

• Speaker Bar Buying Guide
• Digital SLR Guide
• HDMI Questions Answered
• Binocular Selection Guide
• Receiver Buying Guide
• DVD Camcorder Guide
• 1080p Info Guide
• What is Blu-ray?

“I have a great Samsung 1080i. How can I play a 1080p blu-ray. What are my options?”

This is a great question Gary, and a dilemma I face at home myself. One of the greatest benefits of Blu-ray is the stunning 1080p video resolution, so is there really any benefit if your TV doesn’t support the full 1080p video resolution?

Yes, absolutely. The Blu-ray players we have available will support a 1080i video output resolution through the HDMI video connection and you will still have stunning High Definition video on your TV. Believe it or not, the 1080i video signal from your Blu-ray movies will most likely look better on your TV than many of your HD broadcast TV signals. At the very least you will be able to connect a Blu-ray player to your TV using the Component Video connection with a 480p video output and still have exceptional picture quality.

Your best option is use the HDMI or DVI input on your TV. There may be an extra step involved in the setup of the Blu-ray player to adjust the output resolution to 1080i. This should be easy to do and we’re always happy to help if you have questions, just give us a call at 1.866.919.4773.

Thanks again, this really is a great question.
Matt

We here at OneCall have all been asked this question more times than any of us can count. “Which is better Plasma or LCD” Everyone seems to expect an answer to this question as either an LCD Television is better, or a Plasma Television is better. Unfortunately neither is the answer for everyone. With large television sets at an all time low, consumers are ready now to gear up for the long haul with digital television. So let’s take a trip through some of the basics for both Plasma and LCD.

Benefits of Plasma Televisions

Plasma televisions generate their image by electrically charging phosphorus gas to generate their image. Contrary to popular belief, this gas does not have to be and cannot be recharged. It’s a permanent part of the television unless the screen was to become cracked or damaged (No raucous parties or throwing things at the television). Here a few of the major benefits of plasma:

Greater contrast is a standard. Better definition between the whites and blacks.
Smoother motion handling for sports and action. It’s made of glass and metal so, they are of a heartier construction and a little easier to recycle.

Benefits of LCD Televisions

LCD televisions are well known for how bright they are. In well lit rooms, they can easily be seen. Most of the sets have very little glare issues, another perfect fit for a well lit room. LCD’s by their very nature I feel do exceptionally well with computer generated content. The rigid structure of each of the cells makes eaking out every last bit of detail quite easy.

Round 2: Drawbacks

Here is where both camps start flinging the venom.

Plasma TV Drawbacks

You can end up with this little thing called burn-in with very rare situations. Most manufacturers have a solution in place to help eliminate this possibility. Over the last few years we have just about seen this issue disappear. Another huge issue is one that cannot be overcome at least not as of yet. Altitude. If you live over 6500 feet above sea level you may want to stay away from plasma. The further up in altitude we go, the less atmospheric pressure exerts force to keep the plasma gas together. This means that the plasma now has to use more power to keep the gas excited and pulled tightly together to generate the light for the image. As you can imagine this causes an unusually excessive amount of noise or humming from the power supply. Does the TV still work? Yes, if you don’t mind the above annoyance.

LCD TV Drawbacks

Well they are getting faster all of the time, but they still quite haven’t caught up. Most people probably won’t notice at first, but you will occasionally see the set almost freeze in place. It does so rarely that you might think your eyes are playing tricks on you. Here is also where that additional sharpness comes to back to play havoc. Regular definition programming looks incredibly soft on an LCD display. Not so much a failing of the set, and hopefully not an issue that we are going to continue to have.

Round 3 – Connectivity

If this were a prize fight this round would really have to go to you the judges. Everyone now seems to offer just about every level of connectivity on their sets. 3-5 HDMI inputs is now just about the standard jack package. With integration of web widgets and internet connectivity also entering the picture, Ethernet and Wi-Fi options abound. Even if you don’t want that as an option, the manufactures have you covered. So at this time we will have to conclude that this portion is an even draw.

Conclusion — The Fall out.

There is no right or wrong decision when it comes to purchasing either one of these technologies. The best way to really tell is with your own two peepers. Perception of value of the technology that you purchase will make watching your new set the most satisfying experience and provide all out happiness when watching the latest hi-def TV show, or the latest blockbuster on Blu-Ray. We truly live in the best of times.

First,  it will add shared ethernet capablitliy so if your HDMI devices are internet/network capable you will not have to run an ethernet cable plus the HDMI.  So, for example you have a Blu-ray player with internet capability and a TV with Internet capability.  You will only have to connect the Blu-ray with the Ethernet and then it will share that connection with the TV through a compatible HDMI 1.4 cable. (if they are both 1.4 devices)  Cool and convenient but last time I checked Ethernet cable was a whole lot less expensive than an HDMI cable. 

Second, HDMI 1.4 will allow digital sound to go back from your HDTV to a surround sound receiver. They call it Audio Return Channel.  So, here is the scenario, you are getting HD content from an antenna over the air tuned by your digital HDTV.  Some of this programming has 5.1 surround sound available.  You have a surround sound system hooked to the Plasma HDTV with an HDMI cable and the surround system and TV are both HDMI 1.4 so now you can send that sound back to the Home Theater from the TV without using a optical cable.  Bottom line; you do not need another cable to connect the digital audio.

Fittingly, third is 3D over HDMI.  Here is what HDMI.org says about this capability:

“3D technology is evolving rapidly, with several competing approaches under development, so the HDMI 1.4 specification establishes protocols for a number of popular 3D display methods”

Key phrase there is “several competing approaches.”  So, this technology is not even available yet.  There is specualtion that you will need additional equipment plus a 3D ready HDTV and 3D capable source.  So, dont throw anything out yet.

Next upgrade over HDMI 1.3 is the HDMI 1.4 capabiltiy to reach resolution capability of 4096 X 2160.  So, new buzz word for you 2160P!  The reality though is that you would have to have a very large display capable of this resolution to see a difference, a source that could play it and most importantly media that is recorded in that resolution, which there is not any and nothing in the forseeable future.   Feeling a little calmer?

Next, it is going to provide additional color space for digital PHOTOs that are displayed on a compatible HDTV.  So, your digital photos will look a little better, if both the camera and HDTV have the following capabilities:

• sYCC601 color
• Adobe RGB color
• Adobe YCC601 color

Lastly, there are going to be some newer connectors with version 1.4.   So, this means that some new smaller portable devices (cell phones) are going to have HDMI connectivity.  Also automotive video system will start to get a connection that has a locking capablity to keep the connection secure in an automobile.

So, to sum it up, none of our current HDMI devices or cables are going to quit working.  The real advantage of HDMI 1.4 is that it just eliminates some cables that are already connected and working fine.  Also, keep in mind that to take advantage of these changes all the components will have to have the capability and there will always be a work around if one or more of the components are not.

For more information you can visit www.hdmi.org, call our experts at 1.866.919.4773 or post your comments here.

I purchased a Tivo HD through OneCall.com over a year ago and have enjoyed the benefits ever since. To begin taking advantage of the streaming service through Netflix took only 3 simple steps. First, I signed up for the Netflix $8.99 package (1 DVD at a time and unlimited streaming). Next, I clicked on “On Demand” on my Tivo menu and follows the links to activate the streaming capability. lastly, I logged onto Netflix and added 8 movies to my “instant” que. Initially i was a bit confused on which movies I could stream to my Tivo, but eventually i leared that I could either click the “watch instantly” tab at the top of Netflix’s web site and pick any movie there, or just look for the movies that had the “Play/ADD” link (movies that you cannot stream will just say “Add”).

I can’t tell you how happy I am with this new streaming service. When the movie first begins to play there is a status bar which shows how good the quality will be. Some internet connections may give you lower quality during peak hours, but I have yet to watch a video stream that was of extremely poor quality. There were a few movies that had lip sync issues but I think this was mainly due to peak hour problems through my internet provider. When i selected the same movie later, there were no sync issues. If I had to stop watching in the middle of the movie, I could beging again later exactly where I left off. Many of the movies I chose were movies I wanted to see but were lower on my priority list. There are also a fair amount of family and kid movies available. This becomes very important here in the Pacific Northwest when the weather turns cold and my existing kid movie collection becomes stale. Hopefully we will see HD content with 7.1 surround streams in the future.