LG BD690

LG BD690

Prices can change how you view a product. If its price is too high, a great Blu-ray player becomes just okay when compared to similar models. The LG BD690 suffers from this problem. It's a very well-built, fast, full-featured Blu-ray player that supports 3D and includes built-in Wi-fi. It also costs $349.99 list, a full $100 bump over the next-highest Blu-ray player in LG's lineup, the BD670 ($249.99, 3.5 stars). It features a 250GB hard drive, but when you can pick up a 64GB flash drive for well under $100 online, and keep several seasons of a TV show or several dozen movies on it, and still use it for personal storage, the premium seems just too rich for a Blu-ray player. Based on its performance and features, the BD690 could have been a contender, but when players like the Samsung BD-D5700 ($199.99, 4 stars) offer nearly as many features for less than $200, it simply doesn't stand up. DesignThanks to its built-in hard drive, at 2.3 by 16.9 by 9.8 inches (HWD) and 6.6 pounds, the BD690 is a beast, built far larger and heavier than less-expensive Blu-ray players. It dwarfs the BD670 by 0.4 inches of height and 1.9 inches of width, and weighing over 2.6 pounds more than the smaller Blu-ray player. Besides simply being large, the BD690 stands as one of the more stylized and elegant players we've reviewed.