We've talked time and time again about the fact that digital downloads would become a very serious contended for Blu-ray in the near future, and we've seen certain examples (like Vudu's HDX announcement) that bring solid proof to this theory. And even if Sony dismisses this possibility, other companies have a much more cautious approach, one of them being LG, which recently introduced the LG BD-300, a HD Blu-ray player with support for NetFlix Instant Streaming.

As expected, the main selling points of the device from LG are related to its playback capabilities. Thus, besides being able to play BD discs, as well as upconvert old DVDs at a resolution close to 1080p, the LG BD-300 also comes equipped with an Ethernet connector, used either for accessing BD Live content or for streaming Netflix movies (of course, only by those users who actually have a Netflix subscription and a fast-enough broadband connection to support such a process in a relatively decent time interval).

The sound department of the LG BD-300 is actually pretty OK, since the multimedia box supports either 7.1 audio systems (Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD sound decoding) or just 5.1 ones (Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1).

It's also interesting to mention that, besides the connectivity options noted above, the device also sports several other outputs, namely HDMI, USB, composite video out, digital optical, digital coaxial, and component video output. In fewer words, everything one might need in order to connect this thing to a HDTV set.

One of the details that will most likely make this player quite popular is its price tag. Thus, the LG BD-300 can be found at select retailers for an estimated 350 US dollars, which makes it quite an affordable product, even during these rather “bleak” financial times.


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