LG’s BD 270 provides those of us who are looking to jump into the Blu-ray water a chance to do it without getting soaked. It has a limited number, ok almost no – bells and whistles. But for your money you get a good quality player that’s easy to use and gives you a great picture.
The BD 270 comes boxed with the player, a remote control with battery, and a set of composite cables for connecting to audio and video. LG’s first notable miss on this player is the lack of an included HDMI cable. This unit has only composite and HDMI connection options, which may make it a no-op for those with older HDTV’s that only use component connections for HD and want HD signal from the player.
Out of the box, the unit is slim and black with set of simple controls on the front, and a set of basic connections in the back. Set up is very easy, just take it out of the box, plug in the attached power cord and use one of the outputs, either the HDMI or composite, to connect to your tv with the appropriate cabling. The unit runs an easy set-up menu where you choose from a few options like language and then you are ready to watch a blu-ray disc.
One of the features LG touts for this unit is called Express Reaction star-up which makes the tray open and close quickly to eliminate time spent loading the disc. It seemed pretty fast but not dramatically so. The BD 270 includes the ability to output to your television with a full 1080p signal when you play a Bluray disc. It will also play standard DVD’s and upscale the picture from those to 1080p also. The Blurays that we tried in the player produced an extremely bright a clear picture, that was really enjoyable to watch. The upscaling was also very good, the enhanced DVD’s were clear and crisp. Sound capability includes 7.1 channels with Dolby Digital Plus & TrueHD & DTS-HD. There is an output for digital audio on the back of the player but it is coaxial rather optical.
The form factor of the BD 270 is light and slim. It will fit easily into most any entertainment space or shelf. There is a rocker switch on the front for both powering the unit and opening/closing the tray. Some users seem to find it problematic that a single switch controls both functions, but I found it to be convenient, especially since the switch is large and well marked. There is an LED on the front face that displays the run time when a disc is playing. Other controls on the front include, play, stop, skip forward, and skip back buttons.
The unit includes a remote that is well designed and lightweight. The most commonly accessed buttons are in the middle of the remote, rather than at the bottom. These buttons and those that control TV function would be more user friendly if they were a bit larger. The player also does not include support for LG’s Simplelink which would make it sync easily with other LG devices.
The player has the capability for updates with the USB 2.0 port located in the front, but a big limiting feature is that is has no way to connect to the internet either via a wireless or wired connection. This means that users miss out on many of the more compelling interactive features of bluray discs, including BD Live content. For the new Bluray enthusiast who’s main concern is watching movies, and who would like to also watch their collection of DVD’s, this player is a solid performer. It can often be found on sale for a price under $130.00 making it a bargain entry into the world of HD viewing.
Summary: The LG BD270 is a good entry level player if you are just getting into the market for HD viewing, especially if you can find it on special for under $100. The lack of certain key features will leave more advanced consumers underwhelmed.
Pros: Inexpensive Price, Simple Controls, Blu-ray Picture Quality, DVD Upscaling
Cons: No net connection for BD Live, Minimal Connection Options, No support for LG Simplelink, Only has Coax Digital Audio Out, No Component Connections
Overall Rating 3.5 stars 
