Those of you that read Blazing Minds will now that when it comes to reviews of movie, we like to mention the sound that is a key part of the movie experience, this also goes for home viewing and a Home Cinema System is part of the joy of watching films.
For many years now I had been the proud owner of a rather amazing Sony DD5.1 amp, which had served me well when it came to getting a good surround mix watching not only Blu-rays via the PS3 but also DVDs and SkyHD.
So when the day came that my beloved system decided that it just couldn’t go on any more and decide to just give up, it was time to sort out a new system.
But today it is harder to get just a stand alone amp with satellite speakers without a built-in Blu-ray player, but looking at an affordable market to save money was the option I had to take.
Looking at the various costs of the machines and what they were capable off, I opted for an LG system.
LG 3D Blu-ray/DVD Home Cinema System
The model I went for was the BH4030S, which consists of five rather compact satellite speakers a nice sized sub-woofer and the 3D Blu-ray player, the system comes in black and is not overly a compact player, but it does fit in nicely with the other tech that I have in the TV area.
Wiring up the Home Cinema System is easy enough to do, the wiring is a simple case of just attaching one end to the clips in the back of the player, my only issue with the LG is that you don’t get a HDMI cable included, which is what you really need for the Blu-ray quality on your HD TV, but these can be picked up for a good price, I picked up mine from Sainsburys in a sale.
So once you have everything wired up, connected to your TV, you’re ready for the menus and setup, hang on! Where’s the instruction manual? Yes it’s another one of those products where you have to download the manual from the internet, shame that really, as it is nice to have one supplied!
A nice function of the LG Home Cinema System is that you can connect you TV to it via optical TOS-link cable, this will turn this on (from standby) to allow the sound to come through the amp, for my purposes, I have connected the cable (which I had to supply myself) to my Sky HD box, now when I press the Sky button on the remote, the Sky HD box turns on, which then turns the TV on and in turn the LG player has kicked in for some DD5.1 sound (broadcast material depending).
LG BH4030S Putting It Through Its Paces
One thing that is a nice feature of the system is that it will covert your TV in to a smart TV, via the options built-in to the player, but to do this you have connect to the internet and sadly this model does not have WiFi, you have to connect to your router via an Ethernet cable, if you haven’t got your router nearby, then this is an option your can’t use, shame.
So the first night I got the system up and running I put it through some movie test, first testing it out with the optical input from the Sky HD box.
The sound via the optical TOS-Link cable works a like a charm, the DD5.1 films on Sky come out lovely and clear with a nice feel of depth in the rear speakers, even TV shows that aren’t recorded in Dolby Digital have a nice quality in stereo or mono.
The next test was DVD, I have a great collection of DVDs so picking one to watch was a tough decision, but in the end I went for Avatar, which I know has great images and sound, the LG certainly didn’t let me down, the vibrant colours and the sound mix worked very well, with all 5 speakers and the sub-woofer working nicely.
Finally Blu-ray, this was a chance to re-watch the extended edition of Stargate, which my PS3 had trouble playing, but no problems with the LG, the first thing I noticed was the sound, my old amp was great, but it was over 10 years old, but it did have superb sound or so I thought.
After starting Stargate on the LG, I noticed certain instruments in the opening music that I hadn’t noticed before, the sound was crisper than I’d heard with the old system, the DD5.1 mix was a joy to listen to with sound coming from the rear speakers so nicely that I really felt that it was like watching the movie for the very first time.
The picture was also crisp, colours standing out, the desert scenes looked great with the sand looking fantastic, but you see the wires much more on the alien ships attacking, you’d think that would have been removed in the new cut.
Other features of the BH4030S include:
PRIVATE SOUND MODE
Send sound from your TV to mobile devices via Wi-Fi. Now enjoy sound through earphones while the rest of the family stays asleep.
2D TO 3D CONVERSION
Convert any content you are watching into amazing 3D with LG’s 2D to 3D conversion technology.
FULL HD UP-SCALING
Full HD up-scaling dramatically improves the resolution of any original content to Full HD.
DLNA
Enjoy the freedom of a wireless world! Wirelessly share any file on your PC, including movies, photos and music, with your LG device – no more complicated hardwire connections. Enjoy the content as if it were originally embedded in your TV.
EXTERNAL HDD PLAYBACK
Just connect your portable storage devices and playback your favourite movie, music and photos on a bigger screen.
DIVX HD
Download DivX movies to enjoy at home.
With so many different image, audio and video formats available today, it’s a comfort to know that your LG system will play back everything from CD to DivX movies from the internet.
SMARTSHARE™
Browse and access files stored on your external devices, such as your PC, smartphone or tablet, directly from your LG device and watch them on your TV screen.
PROGRESSIVE SCAN
For the smoothest picture possible, progressive scan technology delivers flicker-free images with no image break-up for the perfect movie and TV experience.
SIMPLINK
SIMPLINK allows you to control your LG device with just one remote control.
Overall I’m impressed with the LG BH4030S, with a punch of 330 watts and so many great feature, for the price of around £179, this piece of tech is a great package to replace your old system with something that can deliver great sound and picture quality. It may fall down on the fact that you have to go and buy HDMI and optical TOS-link cables, but for under £200 you can’t really complain.
Author information
Karen Woodham
Owner at Blazing Minds
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds, an avid blogger and bona fide journalist. She is also a Cinema Film Reviewer, based in Rhyl, where she reviews the latest movies, she has also had several articles published in various publications. She has recently become an Award Winning Blogger, Radio Presenter and is listed in the UKs Top 10 Film Blogs.
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The post LG 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema System [Review] appeared first on Blazing Minds.
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