 Great Value, Great Product |
| Review Date: September 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Johnson, Naperville, IL United States |
I was looking to buy a surround sound system for my HDTV I purchased last year. First I was looking for an audio/video receiver (Yamaha, Onkyo, etc), but when I looked at adding speakers I kept choking on the price. I wasn't excited about buying a home theatre in a box, but I decided to check them out. I ran across this system and it had everything I was looking for, plus more.
First, the system worked right out of the box and setup was straightforward.
5.1 Surround- I'm not an audiophile, but far as I'm concerned the sound is great. It definitely enhances the viewing experience.
Blu-Ray Player-I wasn't planning on getting a Blu-ray player (I figured I would wait for the prices to drop), but the price was right for this system. The picture looks great on my 1080P Samsung TV. I have a minor complaint that it doesn't remember where you stopped while watching a movie. For example, if you switch to the main menu to access the player settings it will start at the beginning of the disc when you go back.
Netflix-This is the feature that convinced me to purchase the system. Setup was flawless and picture quality is good. The available movies for streaming are somewhat limited (generally older and less popular movies), but we've watched many more movies on Netflix than Blu-Ray. You select what movies to add to your "instant" queue on a computer and then they are available for selection in the Netflix menu.
Pandora Internet Radio-I didn't know anything about Pandora until I bought the system, but now I love it. You setup an account on a computer and then select the type of music you like. On the LHB 977 you can then play the "radio stations" you've setup on your computer.
Youtube-When I purchased the system it did not have Youtube, however I recently received a firmware upgrade with Youtube and CinemaNow. As you would expect from Youtube the picture quality is not great and videos can be choppy.
CinemaNow- Firmware upgrade brought this feature in. I haven't used it since I have Netflix.
USB Input-You can put MP3s on a USB drive and play them on the LHB977. The LHB 977 music player is very basic. Since it doesn't read MP3 file tags it cannot organize the music by artist, album, genre, etc. I'm hoping LG will upgrade this feature with a firmware download because I would use this feature more often. You can also look at photos via the USB drive, but I haven't tried this feature.
IPOD docking station- I don't own an IPOD so I can't comment.
Inputs-There is more than enough inputs for me. I have my HD cable box connected via HDMI (leaving one still available) and my VCR with RCA plugs. My only complaint is selecting the inputs. You have to cycle through each input one at a time. It would be nice to select the inputs by using the TV menu.
FM/AM Radio-I hooked the antennas up since they were in the box, but I didn't buy the system for standard radio. Honestly the reception is pretty poor right behind my TV stand and I'm not willing to put the antennas somewhere to get good reception.
REMOTE- I don't really use it. I realized quickly that I needed a Universal remote to control all my components.
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Diggin on Blu-Ray and HDMI
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| Review Date: September 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: the Paul G., East TN |
I searched at brick and motor stores and on-line and bought this LG unit for several reasons.
1. I have several LG products and like the quality and features
2. My new HDMI 1080 TV is LG- I was hoping that the remotes would be cross compatible (they are to an extent)
3. I want as few devices to deal with so having Blu-ray and an HDMI amp and switcher all in one is great.
The setup is easy and comes with almost everything you need. I replaced a sony DVD amp combo and the rear speaker cables with the LG are a little short. However unlike some systems with proprietary speaker connections this is just bare wire so replacing it with speaker wire is no problem. The quality of the picture and sound are great. The internet features are easy to use and setup and are allot of fun-We have been catching up on all the TV shows we don't get that are series offered on netflix.
Some minor drawbacks
1. It does not default to the last input used. (If you have a disc in it always assumes you want to watch the disc. Maybe there will be a software update for that.
2. The remote does not allow for programing of devices. It allows you to turn the TV on and off but not mute the sound on the TV ?
3. Some people don't like the blue glow around the volume knob-the night mode allows you to turn this off however.
4. ipod works great with audio and shows your playlists and songs but no video. This may be an Apple thing. You need to plug an AV cable into the TV and select a different input. Kinda clunky.
These are minor in my opinion and do not decrease my enjoyment of this product. I highly recommend this unit. Oh and it was delivered a day earlier than promised. |
Still Waiting...& Redeemed
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| Review Date: October 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: B. Pierre, Earth |
So I'll get right to it. Amazon has always done right be me in the past, and this review isn't so much about Amazon.com as it is about LG. Nevertheless, I'm still a little thrown off by the experience I'm presently having. The setup was easy. It didn't take me any more than 30 minutes to set everything up and get things going, seeming I've had a LG system in the past. The inputs in the back are exactly what I need, so nothing wrong there. The only problem I'm currently having with the system is the subwoofer has little to no power to it. I'm very experienced with Audio systems, so I disconnected and reconnected the subwoofer's wires and rechecked the system's volume and the volume of each speaker connection. At 6db for my surround sound speakers, you can hear everything in that register. On my previous LG system, the subwoofer at 6db was able to vibrate all the wall fixtures...and the volume was set no greater than 12. However, with this system, I could barely hear anything coming from the subwoofer during the speaker setup test. To make sure I wasn't crazy, I played 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' at some of the loudest points of each film. Any audiophile will tell you those films boast some of the most dynamic sound designs and demands. I had to turn the volume up to level 15-20 just to feel something. Keep in mind, on my previous LG system, that volume level would have gotten me evicted. I played around with it for a quite some time, trying to make sure I didn't forget anything. Unfortunately, I had to return it today--just 48 hours after opening the box.
I'll save all of you some heartache, right now. If you EVER speak to LG, please keep in mind that their customer service ABSOLUTELY sucks! Their products are great, but the representatives are mindless idiots, reading scripts from a computer screen half a world away from here! There's no empathy or connection with the representatives because it's just a job for them. How is this different from most companies right now? IT ISN'T! But, when a customer is speaking about the technical aspects of a system and you don't understand what the hell that customer is saying, just say so without treating the customer like he/she is frakkin idiot!
But, I thank GOD for Amazon's return policy. I UPS-ed the system back to Amazon and I'm waiting on my replacement. I'm praying that the next system is fully operational without any defects. When it gets here, I WILL have a better review for the system. Stay tuned...
11/4/09; It's a few days after I returned the malfunctioning LG system to Amazon.com, and they've issued a replacement for it. Looking at the inconvenience this little problem has caused, a good guy at Amazon to whom I give great BIG UPS named Jeramy W. helped me out by overnighting the package. I can say even more about a Jennifer working for Amazon who said she'll be handling all followups after the system is delivered to make sure everything is continuously in working order. The system will be here tomorrow. Again, I have to compliment Amazon on their customer service. These guys have made sure that my situation is resolved in a very timely manner--a compliment I'm unable to extend to LG's customer service department.
When everything is connected tomorrow, I'll post an updated score. Cool?...
11/6/09; So everything turned out exactly as I thought it would. The system, for lack of a better word, is perfect. The subwoofer is wonderful, and I never thought I would ever hear a more perfectly balanced HTiB system than my last one, but I stand corrected.
To TecmoSuperBowl, get the system...trust me! |
Easy setup and configuration but had to buy a few extra items to make it work for our set up
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| Review Date: December 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Hoffmeister, NY USA |
A week before Thanksgiving I started researching inexpensive but highly rated surround sound systems. I remembered from past searches that high priced systems offered the advantage of many receiver inputs to allow the connection of multiple HDMI, component and other devices. I didn't have my hopes up to find an inexpensive system that allowed me to connect all devices (more detail below) without buying additional splitters or switches. Well, I guess LG can prove you somewhat wrong. It does not have that many inputs but will suffice for the most of us since the Blu-ray/DVD player is part of the receiver and does not need another input. I read reviews about various systems and found that this LG system was across the board rated highly. I was expecting to pay somewhat upwards of $500 but to my surprise Amazon was selling the unit for a little over $400 on Black Friday.
Shipping experience side note:
On Friday, I ordered it with the Saturday delivery option but to my surprise, Amazon.com botched the delivery. I received a 6 AM e-mail on Saturday stating the unit would not be delivered and I would receive a status update on the next business day. I went through the same issue last year around Christmas and remembered that past orders can get stuck in Christmas-shopping limbo land and I immediately placed a second order. To make a long story short, in the end both units arrived and I just send one of the back without a problem. I actually never expected the first unit to ever arrive (as the status never updated until Monday night).
After I received the unit, I had a few scary hours when starting to read about my TV having to be HDCP-compliant. I vaguely remembered reading about this years ago when looking at Blu-ray players the last time. My HDTV is from 2005 and does not mention HDCP (copy-protection standard) as a feature anywhere. Turned out it had the option anyway but for those of you still using older HDTVs, check if your HDMI TV input is HDCP compliant.
Unpacking and setting up the unit is simple. I can all be done in 30 to 60 minutes. Since we do not have carpet but hardwood floors, I ran the rear wire speakers together with my FIOS cable on top of the base board. The wires are not the right length but work for the time being (see below). I was fortunate enough to have had 2 HDMI cables for the previous set up which you will need if you have HDMI components and an HDMI input on your TV. What took me the longest was to setup a wireless device to connect to the LG system as my LAN inputs are too far removed from the home theater (more below). The sound is excellent keeping in mind that our living room is not that large. I was just a little surprised about the now worse sound quality we get when watching some TV show as they only take advantage of the center speaker. My built-in TV speakers gave a much better experience for that scenario. I am sure there is a way to configure it so that one can temporarily disable the theater speakers if necessary and use the TV-stereo sound.
Here is what I connected so far and what I still have to figure out.
- FIOS TV receiver via HDMI In
- Toshiba HD-DVD system via HDMI In (I did not want to throw away all my HD-DVDs)
- HDTV via HDMI Out
- FM Antenna via FM connector
- Wii directly to TV and TV sound via component connection (I just left it as I had it before but now do not have the surround sound. There must be something that can be done)
- Old VCR directly to TV and TV souns via analog connection
- iPhone via built in iPhone connection on LG receiver (works like a charm for audio but still have to figure out how to get Video to work. Instructions were unclear to me)
- Internet connectivity via a Wireless bridge that gave me 4 new LAN ports from my in-home wireless network by using the D-Link DAP1522 Xtreme 4-Port GigaBit Selectable Dual Band Draft 802.11n N Duo Wireless Bridge/Access Point
Here is what I had or wanted to buy to make this all work (assuming I had no pre-existing cables but all analog or component cables as they came with the other devices anyway). I did buy the wireless bridge from Amazon and the other items from Monoprice.
- 3 HDMI to HDMI cables (about $12/cable)
- Speakerwire and banana connectors (100 feet for $15 and $3 per connector)
- Wireless bridge ($80)
- 2 rear speaker stands ($14 for pair)
It took the longest to set up the wireless bridge as their product instructions are just not covering all set up situations. This has obviously no bearing on the LG product but I want to point out that if you are considering a wireless bridge be prepared to search online for additional blog-style write-ups before installing such products.
Overall, I do not regret the purchase and recommend the system highly. Would definitely recommend it to family and friends or buy again if needed.
Additional information:
I received the rear speaker stands and the banana connectors and will have to ship them both back. The rear speakers have a curved back which is not at all compatible with the stand. I would have to turn them upside down which looks really off. The banana connectors are also to big to fit into the various speakers. Maybe one only uses those on the back of the receiver. What do I know as a novice home theater users. This will reduce the cost for the add-ons by appriximately [...]
Still have not figured out how to hook up the Wii to the receiver properly.
Update 12/20/09:
I finally figured out how to get the Wii and old VCR properly connected. Both of these devices are plugged in directly into the TV either via component (Wii) or regular connection (VCR). I then run an optical sound cable from my TV to the LG unit and turn off the sound coming from the TV built-in speakers. The only thing to remember when using the Wii or VCR is that I have to chnage the TV signal input from LG to Wii or VCR while changing the LG input to optical. This works great and took just a little to get used to. I am unsure if all newer HDTVs have that many input options but mine did come with quite a few options. Still enjoying this LG system tremendously. Using the Pandora constantly to feed Christmas songs right into the living room. I even started to enjoy the Netflix feeds which I never got into when viewing Netflix streams on my PC.
Update 01/04/10:
Still enjoying the sound of it but at times have to tone it down. You can hear the sounds 2 levels up in our attic rooms. One night while watching a fighting scene in Watchmen (what a waste of 3 hours) my wife upstairs thought someone broke into our house and was fighting with me. Lord of the Rings was just awesome in 5.1 mode. The iPod on-screen menu has its glitches if you scroll through very long lists of songs (it keeps jumping to the one currently playing after scrolling down some pages). I have gotten used to remote and am not that bother by it. I am mostly using the LG remote except for Channel selection on the FIOS DVR. A little annoying to have to click through FM, AM, etc. until you finally get to HDMI 1 (FIOS) but this system was $400 which is nothing if you start looking into decent receivers with decent inputs. Still highly recommending the unit. |
Great Home Theater System
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| Review Date: August 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Barry, Florida |
| The LG LHB977 is a great product. The applications, specifically Netflix integration has been a huge boon--I never realized how much I'd use that feature. Same goes for Pandora. At first I was disappointed by it not supporting wireless rear speakers, but now that it's all set up I realize fishing speaker wires under the carpet is not much more difficult than finding power for the rear receiver! I'm very pleased with the system; the craftsmanship on the speakers is top notch too--they are heavy and do not look cheap. |
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