LG BD-590 BluRay Player Running Napster and Pandora -- Poor Design LG!! (1 Viewer)

[DennisSoundEngr]

I just purchased an LG BD-590 BluRay Player with built-in Wifi, and a 250GB HDD - since the selling point was that it would run with Napster, unlike my Sony which does not. First of all the Wifi is so insensitive to access points (it only sees one or two of them, and sometimes NONE at all), while my HP computer sees around 8 of them. LG tells me that the player is only supported within 30ft. of the W/L router (terrible design -- as I don't want to buy a new smaller house to support my BD player). My Sony sees around 8-10 access points and it's on the other end of the house (farthest from router). When the LG BD-590 does hookup to internet, it only will work with Pandora and rebuffers all the time with Napster (not useful) -- although Napster runs excellent on my computer which is wireless also, and never rebuffers with Napster! Also, this player gives you a pop up menu telling you that Network Congestion is occuring, and boots you back to the main menu. Besides that being BAD Enough, the HDD of which I have about five folders with .mp3's in them, sometimes Locks up on a folder when I try to open it up, and I have to Power Off the BD Player and hard reboot it. LG's Wifi engineering, and the software I find very BUGGY, and they at LG are of little help... Anyone else experiencing this with LG BD players?

I am ready to trash it, and buy something that works better -- any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Marko Berg]

While I don't have any experience with your particular gear, I offer this suggestion:


Instead of relying on the apparently underpowered built-in WiFi, get an external wireless bridge and hook up your equipment to that. I went this route myself when it not feasible to run Ethernet wire to where my entertainment centre is located. I purchased a D-Link bridge (http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=663) and hooked up my Samsung TV and Blu-Ray player to it using Ethernet cables. I have total control over where to place the piece of equipment that provides Internet connectivity to my equipment for best signal strength. The Samsung WiFi solution requires two separate WiFi dongles (one each for the TV and the Blu-Ray player) which not only costs more but also may cause similar signal strength problems since the dongles are attached to the back of the player and TV, both of which are located deep inside the entertainment centre.


Configuring the wireless network was painless, after unboxing the bridge I hooked it up to my router and used my computer's browser to set the password etc. before placing it in a convenient location on top of the entertainment centre. I haven't had any problems with signal strength at all.

 

[DennisSoundEngr]

Marko,


I thought of doing just that. I have a Linksys W/L bridge and was going to try it out, and see if it can see more AP's (Access Points). Like today, my HP desktop is seeing 9 AP's right now, and the LG BD player is only seeing two of them. I moved the Range Expander right next to the LG player, and it did not help much, maybe one more AP, and that is it. For whatever reason, LG certainly did not Engr. their built-in wireless antennae like HP did on their computers!! Also, LG has no way of increasing the internal antennae's sensitivity, and they do not support a dongle either. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Victor Nugent]

I have two BD-570's which is the same sans hard drive. My wireless works flawlessly even in the unit that is a good 100 ft from my Wireless G router.

Have used Pandora and Netflix extensively and have NEVER had a rebuffer or glitch of any sort.

Sounds like you have a wack unit.