LG Adds CinemaNow To BD Player Pair

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 6/2/2009

Englewood Cliffs, N.J. — LG Electronics said its network Blu-ray Disc players —BD370 and BD390 — are shipping now and will include NetCast Entertainment Access and Wi-Fi capabilities with content-on-demand offerings from Roxio CinemaNow, Netflix and YouTube.

The players, announced previously at International CES, incorporate Ethernet ports and, in the case of the BD390, Wi-Fi capabilities to link with in-home networks to access the Internet.

The BD390 is being billed as the first-ever Blu-ray player to offer interactive download-to-own and Pay-Per-View options, allowing consumers to purchase content from Roxio CinemaNow through the player.

The BD390 also has 1GB of built-in memory for BD Live functionality.

Both the BD370 ($300 suggested retail) and BD390 ($400) began offering the Roxio CinemaNow service through a free, automatic firmware update on May 14.

The players also continue to offer access to YouTube, and Netflix streaming video content.

Both players include UBS inputs and will output a range of resolution formats including FullHD 1080p, with 1080p up-scaling for standard DVDs.

Both also support Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential advanced surround sound formats.

The BD390 model is BD Live ready out of the box with 1GB built-in memory. It also includes built-in wireless access.