Home Theater Rocks

The LG LHB535 is among the first systems of 2010 we're looking at and its feature set is outstanding. No competing Blu-ray HTIBs at this price have any HDMI inputs, and the LHB535 has two--plenty to add a cable box and game console. It also features built-in Wi-Fi, whereas Panasonic's SC-BT300 and Samsung's HT-C5500 both require you to purchase a pricey adapter for Wi-Fi. We were less impressed with the sound quality, which didn't have quite enough impact for our home theater tastes, although it'll still probably work for less critical listeners. If you're looking to get the most features for your buck, the LHB535 is basically unbeatable, but it likely won't be the best-sounding system in 2010.

It would only seem appropriate that the 2010 line of Blu-ray HTiBs upped the ante over previous years. In 2009, we saw the rise of quality Blu-ray players bundled inside these all-in-ones, and for 2010 we're getting more systems with integrated Wi-Fi and a slew of streaming media services.

User Interface All of the LHB535's functionality can be controlled onscreen using the GUI. Everything from input select to iPod playback to radio tuning all has visual representations. For the novice user it's certainly a welcoming sight, but for those who are slightly savvier, most of the functions can also be controlled via the remote. The main screen can seem sluggish at times, because of the animated floating ice cubes, but it's not unbearably slow.

Design The LHB535 is a sleekly designed system, with black shiny plastic trim throughout. The Main Unit itself is a little beefier than a standalone Blu-ray player, measuring 16.9 inches wide, 2.5 inches high, and 11 inches deep. The 5.1 system consists of four identical front/surround speakers, a skinny slimmed-down center channel, and a passive subwoofer. The four main speakers are small enough to be almost completely unobtrusive in a living room environment. Overall, it's a stylish package, but the plastic speaker cabinets give it a cheap feel that's common to all home-theater-in-a-box systems at this price.

The main unit houses a hidden iPod dock that flips down when you press the center of the front panel. There are six playback buttons to the right, which are located directly below a volume knob. On the left side of the unit there's a flap, which hides a USB port, line in, and a tray-loading Blu-ray drive. It a compact unit, considering how much functionality is packed in.

Overall the included remote works well and feels good in your hand. We appreciated the large volume rock in the center of the remote, as we do the sizable playback buttons above. However, direct input access buttons would have been a nice touch--especially for "HDMI 1" and "HDMI 2"--although we did find it easy to navigate inputs using the graphical user interface (GUI).

The LHB535's user interface is a little quirky, but it's straightforward to use.

Just like the BD570, the onscreen interface is simplistic with a home screen outlining the various functions. The menu system is clean and logical, though the brief one-line summaries describing your options could be a little more user friendly.

Netcast includes the vast majority of major content providers. This year, all the manufacturers are offering a healthy selection of streaming services, so it really comes down to personal preference as to which model suits your taste. Yes, it's possible that Samsung will have more services because of its expandable Samsung Apps platform, but we were really satisfied with the variety of services offered by Netcast.