Netflix on LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 Review

There seems to be a lot of interest on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box ST600 based on the number of hits I'm getting for that particular blog entry so I thought that I would write a few separate blog entries for each of the services that I use it for... and even though I have a few electronic gadgets that I've tested/used, I'm at a lost of topics to write   ;-)

As of this review, the firmware/software on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is ST 8.79.198.

One of the main reasons that I purchased the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box was to try Netflix and after trying it, I can definitely say that Netflix works very well with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box. With my internet connection (the speed varies dramatically but the average speed is ~2 Mbits/s download), the pausing/buffering happens very rarely once the movie or television show starts.

After selecting the movie or television show, the video starts after approximately 30 seconds (based on the internet connection speed) and rarely buffers/pauses during playback of the video. Based on my experience, I would say that it pauses less than 5% of the time which is far better than the results that I've gotten with using this box to watch some YouTube videos.

The Netflix's video and audio quality using this LG box is very good. Since I have an unlimited download/upload internet connection, I set my Netflix video/audio settings (done on the account settings page after logging onto your Netflix account on your computer) to "Best quality (up to 1 GB per hour, or up to 2.3 GB per hour for HD)". I've seen some of the Netflix offerings in HD and the video/audio quality is very good with this box.

Excluding Netflix content (which has nothing to do with this box), I only have 3 negative comments regarding using the box to watch Netflix content. The first negative comment that I have regarding watching Netflix on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is that the search feature is very limiting. You can only search based on the title of the television show or movie. You cannot do a search based on the actor or actress. The second negative comment that I have regarding watching Netflix on the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is that sometimes you will not be able to watch a particular television show since the entire episode listing for the television show will be blank. I'm not sure if this is because Netflix is doing an update but within a few hours, the television show episode listing is back to normal and you will be able to re-select the episode that you want to watch. The third and final negative comment that I have regarding using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box to watch Netflix is that sometimes after stopping, you will not be able to continue from where you left off and you have to start at the beginning of the video again. This seems to happen more with television show episodes than with movies. It is a minor inconvenience since you can easily fast forward to the point where you left off and continue watching from that point onward.

Speaking about fast forwarding, when fast forwarding, you get a preview of the video (no audio) so you are able to estimate where you want the video to start. You also get a "time bar" on the bottom of your screen so you can also use this to estimate what point in the video you want it to start.

The interface when selecting a movie or television show using the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box is very similar to what appears when you select a movie or television show on your computer. You are presented with what you recently watched, the top ten items that Netflix assumes you will like based on what you've previously watched/rated, some of the genre categories, some selections based on particular movies that you've liked, etc.

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the video/audio quality that I get with the LG Smart TV Upgrader Box when  I am using it to watch Netflix.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.