LG Super Multi Blue BH100 review

LG Super Multi Blue BH100 Review

Reviewed by: Ian Morris

Reviewed on: 1 May 2007

Performance
To get the best out of the Super Multi Blue we hooked it up to a 1080p television, the Toshiba 37X3030D. We tested a number of discs, recorded on both formats, including our Blu-ray faves Casino Royale and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and our HD DVD copies of Serenity and Happy Gilmore.

The picture quality was excellent -- overall there were no obvious problems with playback of either format. Happy Gilmore looked as bright and colourful as ever, while the initial black and white scenes of Casino Royale were moody and grainy, as they were intended to be. Later scenes had plenty of colour, and fabulous definition. We were particularly blown away by the sweat pouring down Bond's face after he's poisoned. Serenity looked similarly stunning -- the star fields and planets were detailed and the impact of the sci-fi movie was conveyed brilliantly.

The BH100 sports a full range of outputs and comes with cables to plug into them, too

Standard-definition material can be upscaled by the BH100, although the output is limited to 1080i. Quality was generally very good, but we did notice the picture didn't look quite as stable as a high-definition source. On the plus side, the colour was vibrant and there was plenty of detail in the picture.

Start-up times were also pretty good. We found that with a Blu-ray disc in the drive, we could get a picture on-screen after almost exactly one minute. Curiously, when we tried it with an HD DVD disc, the start-up was slightly quicker at 50 seconds. On our Toshiba HD-E1 HD DVD player, we can go from the unit being off, with the disc loaded, to playing in 47 seconds.

We compared the start-up time to a PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray disc in the drive -- the PS3 was quicker by a few seconds, but by the time you've messed about with the controller and hit play, the time saving is insignificant.

The biggest fault with this player is its lack of support for HDi, which means that none of the advanced features will work on HD DVD. This has a wide impact, and means that even the menus won't display correctly. You'll still be able to access everything on the disc via a specially designed -- but very basic -- menu. The problem is, accessing special features relies on guesswork, because while you can select the extra features, they aren't labelled properly, so you won't be able to tell in advance if you're watching a deleted scene, an out-take or a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Conclusion
The picture quality is superb and the ability to play HD DVD and Blu-ray is a fantastic feature.

The main problem is that you can buy a Blu-ray and HD DVD player separately for less money -- indeed, you could get a PS3, an Xbox 360 and an HD DVD add-on drive for the same money.

The lack of proper HD DVD menus is also another major downer, but the Super Multi Blue is still a big step forward in the world of high definition and won't have a major competitor for some time -- Samsung's hybrid player won't arrive until the end of the year.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide