Review by Rick Fox for LG LHB335 1100W Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black
Rating:
I recently purchased a LG LHB335 BluRay all in one surround sound home theater system from Best Buy. The center and right rear speakers emit a whistling noise that sounds like a teapot when boiling. Not quite that loud, but enough to be a very undesirable noise in a new unit. I took the first one back, BB gave me another. Same thing. Then another. Same thing. I have connected it to another location with speaker wiring and a Monster Power supply and yes, it does the same thing! I called LG and they said they have no reports on this problem, but when a search is conducted, many people are complaining. Until this issue is resolved, I would suggest not buying this unit!

EDIT—More details:

The LHB335 has a horrible “Tea Pot” whistling noise emitted from the center speaker. It also comes from the right rear speaker at times. It is so annoying that I took it back to Best Buy. Exchanged for another and same thing! I relocated the unit on a different electrical circuit and that did not help. Bought an expensive Monster power supply due to Best Buys recommendation which did NOT help at all. They asked me to try unit #3 and it also had the same noise! To make sure that it was not just a building electrical problem, I installed it in a friends home. SAME ISSUE! I called LG to discuss the problem and they said they had no reports of such a problem. That is NOT true. The internet has many comments regarding this speaker noise issue. After talking with some friends, they too have returned units with the same problem. I really liked the features of the LHB335, but will not buy another one unless LG can assure me that it will be one that does not whistle!

Review by mrcatman for LG LHB335 1100W Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black
Rating:
We have a very simple setup, with 90% of our use being watching cable company’s DVR on the TV. We purchased the upgraded 535 model, returned it, and purchase this 335 model as well. Same exact problems on both, with an added problem (one of the worst) on this 335.

PROS:

- Very easy to set up

- Small speakers (i.e., wife-friendly size/dimensions)

- Wired internet worked quickly/easily

- LG updates downloaded quickly, installed easily (wired internet)

- HDMI input on the device is nice (can use HDMI switcher for multiple devices)

- Support for internet streaming is nice (YouTube, Netflix, etc.)

CONS:

- Sound quality is horrible

- Omnipresent tea-pot “whistling” through speakers

- Popping sounds changing LG’s input

- Popping sounds using DVR (even with each channel change)

- Awful “reverse” communication through HDMI to DVR

Let me give some more details on the CONS above.

Sound Quality

The 535 and 335 models both had this same problem. The sound from these speakers is best described as extremely “tinny.” All dialogue sounded nasally, like the actors had a cold. It’s not a subtle thing. It’s very noticeable, omnipresent – and completely distracting. We tried to adjust the speaker volumes, but the sound quality did not improve. The subwoofer had no “sweet” spot. It seemed to either produce almost non-existent low end or a dull “woofing” that was obviously too much – and nothing in between.

Our previous all-in-one home theater was nothing special, and is 5 years old already; and it never sounded this bad. Even our TV’s built-in speaker (also nothing special) sounds significantly better than the LG. To us, the poor sound quality of the LG was enough to outweigh any of the positives this box has. We tried out the various sound field options (pcm movie II, etc.), but it simply didn’t add enough of the missing rich, warm middle range. The new Sony and Samsung HTIBs have significantly better sound (though each has downsides, like no HDMI input on Sony, and Lip Sync issues on the Samsung). Funny enough, I would compare the overall sound quality of this unit to the new Sony HT-CT150 soundbar/sub HTIB.

Omnipresent Tea-Pot Whistling Sound

As others have reported, my LG 335 had the annoying, always on, whistling sound from one of the front speakers (right, in our case). This happened as soon as the LG was powered on, and even if the LG had nothing connected to it, and the volume down and muted. We took the left/front speaker (which made no whistle when connected to the LG’s left/front out) and connected it to the right/front out, and the whistle was there. So it seems like the issue is not the speaker or speaker wire, but really an issue with the LG receiver itself. I didn’t bother testing the rears, but others have mentioned it was whistling from back there too. If the whistling was the only issue, it would be reason enough to not buy this product.

Popping Sounds Changing LG Inputs

When you change the LG inputs from anything to anything, you hear a popping sound in all speakers. It’s not loud, but it’s loud enough to hear it from the couch’s normal TV-viewing position. The popping happens regardless of listening volume level and even with sound muted. It happens whether you change inputs from the face of the box or using the remote. It happens no matter what you had connected to the HDMI ports (or if those devices were powered off) and even with nothing connected in/out HDMI. We called LG support on this. We triple-checked speakers were correctly connected, that there were no power/speaker wire cable crossovers and did their normal troubleshooting steps (reset the box, download all current LG updates, etc.). The popping persists. I don’t know if this is merely a defective unit or a problem with all their boxes, but it is a pretty annoying thing.

Popping Sounds Using DVR

The same popping sound from above (changing LG inputs) also happens during normal operation of our cable company’s DVR. Change the channel on live TV, it pops (every time!). Play a recorded show, it pops. Switch to On Demand, it pops. Our DVR is Time Warner’s DCH3416. It was connected from the DVR’s HDMI out to the LG’s HDMI input. The LG’s HDMI out was going to the TV’s input. As basic as it gets. The popping happened whether the DVR was connected to LG’s HDMI input #1 or #2. The popping happened with a second DVR box (we have two of them, same model). The popping happened even when no devices were connected to the other inputs. We don’t hear the popping if we connect the DVR to the TV directly (and TV optical audio out to the LG input). So it’s unlikely to be a defective DVR. Again, I don’t know if this is a defective unit or a problem with all LGs, but it happened with both the 335 and 535 we tried.

Reverse Communication through HDMI

Strange as it may seem, the LG sends info backwards to the DVR through HDMI (DVR is HDMI out to LG HDMI in). The net result is that the LG would change the DVRs settings and stop displaying the video/audio. You’d get an on-screen message saying it could not display anything. In researching this more, we found the DVR had a user settings, where you can set the “4:3 Override” mode. The factory default is “480i,” which will display standard-definition programs in 480i (720×480), but will automatically change to 1080i (1920×1080) when watching high-definition programs. This “switching” between resolutions messes up the LG, which results in the error and shutting off the video/audio.

So the easy solution was to set the “4:3 Override” mode to “Off” in the DVR which will create a widescreen version of standard-definition programs (adding black bars on left/right of picture). The result is that the cable DVR box now STAYS on 1080i resolution no matter what kind of program you are watching. The LG likes this, and is able to display video/audio properly. We’d be happy as a clam is this was the end of the story.

But now you turn off the TV. When you turn off the TV (leaving the cable DVR box on, and the LG on), the LG resets the cable DVR box to “480i” mode, and the LG no longer can display video/audio. That means that the TV sent info back along the HDMI cable to the LG (even though it’s only connected from LG out to TV in), and the LG proceeded to send info back along the HDMI cable to the DVR (even though it’s only connected from DVR out to LG in). It’s the strangest thing we’ve ever experienced.

The net result is, every time you turn off the TV, the cable DVR box was unviewable the next time your turned on the TV!

Obviously, this was completely unacceptable. After working with LG support, there was no solution. I don’t know if this was a defective LG unit (vs. a problem with all their units) or a problem specifically with our DCH3416 model DVR (i.e., newer DVRs might not have this issue?). But since we have two DVRs (same model), and the same thing happened with both… and we had this same issue on both the 335 and 535 we tested, I don’t think it was a defective DVR unit. It appears to be an issue with the LG units.

There was another setting in the DVR to change audio from “pass through” to something else, which fixed the popping sounds (only using DVR, it still popped changing LG inputs), but because the DVR kept resetting as described above, the popping would return each time the TV was shut off. So the HDMI reverse communication issue would ensure that the popping continued and the DVR’s video was unviewable EVERY time you shut off the TV.

Summary

Even if the popping sounds were not there, and the DVR was not resetting each time the TV was shut off, there still remain the biggest issues of all – the omnipresent whistling and the very poor sound quality. Those alone are reason enough to get a different product. If LG ever releases a firmware upgrade to fix all this stuff, you’d still be left with low sound quality – but at least it makes this unit a viable option (if you’re willing to sacrifice the sound a bit).

Our other research in case you’re interested…

Other Products We Tried

We also bought (and returned) the Sony HT-CT150 soundbar/sub HTIB. It has 3 HDMI inputs (no Blu-Ray, no streaming, no real surround) and had sound quality on par with the LG 335. We bought (and returned) the new Samsung HT-C6500 (the best sounding, WAY better than this product), which would have been perfect except it had lip sync issues. We bought (and returned) the new Sony E570 (no HDMI inputs, but very good sound) with the idea of using the TV as the HDMI hub, and running TV optical audio out to the Sony just for sound. This would have been the perfect solution, but our TV is old, and the optical out (which we learned too late) does not pass the HDMI audio along. We also bought (and returned) the new YHT-S400 soundbar/sub HTIB. It sounded on par (or slightly better) than the Sony HT-CT150, but was expensive for what it was.

Conclusion

At the moment, all the HTIBs (1) in this price range, (2) with internal Blu-Ray and (3) with HDMI inputs have unacceptable issues (to us, at least)… assuming you use the HTIB as the “hub” for all our incoming sources. I recommend you get a decent HDMI receiver and grab the $135 Panasonic BD65 (Blu-Ray with streaming).

Review by M. Bartenhagen for LG LHB335 1100W Network Blu-ray Disc Home Theater System, Black
Rating:
We have another LG Blu Ray player and love it. It works so much better and faster than our Sharp Aquos, which we want to throw in the trash as it doesn’t play most new Blu Rays.

Since we love the LG so much, we decided to get this surround system as well. It now has Pandora as well as NetFlix in YouTube, which we love. (It’s a bummer that NetFlix doesn’t have more “on demand” options, but that’s not the player’s fault.)

We are installing the speakers this weekend … so far they look great. We did an in-store demo at a chain electronics store and it sounded fab, so I’m sure it will liven up our living room just fine. Our house is pre-wired for surround sound, so we have a definite advantage there.

Note, this does not have wi-fi, so you’ll need to be able to plug it into the wall if you want to use the BD Live capabilities.