LG BR625T / BR629T

Bad move from LG as this product was released without thorough testing!!! – Bought a refurbished unit online and have been plagued with problems ever since. It is extremely slow when starting & shutting down & freezes up often. The timing recorder has a mind of its own & does not correctly record the beginning or the ends of a program. Also there is no accurate reminder of timer when recording to blank media & you have… Read more

to estimate yourself or risk ruining an entire pricey disc as this unit does not finalise the data for you. Although it claims to be compatible with dvdrw media produced from computers this is not the case. Many original disc titles across the board arent recognised & there are no firmware upgrades. Also the screen size is not widescreen compatible, producing large black borders on hd tvs and only giving you a half-sized picture. This product should have been thoroughly tested before release rather than rushed out to the market. Best to avoid !!!l

Problems developing, now unreliable – No I've had my LG PVR for a good 3.5 years so far and for the most part its been a good PVR, but not with out some issues. Most notably the unit sometimes freezing when editing programs, only solution is to pull the power plug. Then after it's started back up it's fine, until the next time. But now I've been having issues where it sometimes… Read more

won't turn on properly, this includes turning on to automatically record preset shows. This has now become a daily occurrence, even if it seems likes it's working just minutes before. Again pull the plug is the only fix. Another issue I've had since day one is if you turn it off when in AV mode and it is set to record a show on FTA (tuner) I just doesn't want to work.

I use it daily, recording at least 3-4 hours of shows nightly, editing and watching or dubbing to DVD for encoding to mp4 and archiving to my computer. Again this had been a good machine but it now seems like it needs a firmware update or something as this issues feel like they are not a hardware problem.

EDIT - correction, I've had this just under 3 years but luckily I got the extended warranty which covers it for 5 years. I now think its a hardware issue with the power supply. Its basically a 50/50 shot if it powers up when you want it. I've also found holding the power button on the PVR (not remote) for 5-10 seconds shuts it down when it locks up, then powers up normally the next time. Not tried this when it's working to see if it powers up correctly every time afterwards.

The Answer to all my Dreams . . . Or my worst Nightmare ?? – I bought an LG because someone told me that LG always made stuff for all the other Big Names, but then decided to do their own thing. Sounded good, so Father Christkringel left one of these BR625T under the Christmas Tree. It was to replace my old single Tuner unit. After Christmas, I hooked it up, but the "TV Guide" didn't fill up with all the… Read more

channel program information? The TV and the old HDD Recorder had all the station channel information. I fiddled around for a week. I tuned in the stations again, I "Factory Reset" the unit, I re-tuned the Stations - again. I tried to see if there was a software update available, but there wasn't.

I have been told by someone who should know, that I have to wait 8 days for it to properly update. I have already left it for 3 days to see what would happen, and nothing had changed since I had initially re-tuned the Channels (for the 3rd time). So now I will wait the extra 5 days and see if that populates the EPG. The wait begins. But reading these reviews (which I wished I had read prior to Christmas), I am not holding my breath. . . This might very well mean a trip back to get my money back. . . so much for LG.

piece of junk – Had nothing but trouble from day 1. EPG failed after 2 days. DVD play back locks up with system error 3 out of 4 tries. Sub titles on all recordings need to manually switch off. Unit locks up so often installed a remote controlled mains switch so i can reset the unit 2 or 3 times each time i go to use it. Pulling out the hard drive the rest goes into the bin.

Good Product until it stopped working – Was a good unit, recorded well once I learnt settings, played dvd, blue ray well. Only snag I hated was the EPG was SO SLLLOOOWWW to load, and when you wanted to scroll up or down, it would take a while to load again. But I was happy with my purchase, until....... One day It would not work, would not do anything. Display had " ERR P "… Read more

on it.

I rang LG and they gave me a couple of things to try, which did not fix the problem. so they suggested I contact their sevice agents " Metropolitan Appliances Myaree WA.

I rang service agents and advised receptionist ( lady who answered phone) of my problem. she advise a fee for them to check the unit. I asked if anyone there ( a technician ) could advise if this ERROR CODE was a usual easy repair OR would I be better off purchasing a new product. Lady advised, no-one can help but for a fee they will look at it.

Well I am looking any where else but LG now, encase I was to buy another LG set top / blue ray player and same code appears after couple years. I would have been happy to look at LG again if service was more knowledgeable on codes.

Recording – This is worst machine ever,to record anything I have to leave my TV on,I have never had to do that before,I have tried numerous times to record but as soon as I switch my TV off its wont record,has anyone else had this problem

Horror Hitchcock would be proud – Wow wish I had seen reviews before I purchased. This machine comes from a Hitchcock horror movie only surpassed by the tech support from a d grade horror. I'll start with the positive has quite good edit function so cut ads and excess with advantage that this cuts file size so reducing storage. The epg problem everyone has I've traced to it being… Read more

prone to antenna changes rain weather, needs to be precise even if moves in wind by a cm have to readjust. Have had many similar problems others have mentioned.

The major defect and fatal flaw is the external hdd. Will not register harddriveorUsb or if it do it goes through all the procedure to transfer files you press ok then it just spins and seems to freeze never transfering. You have to turn power off then back on to unfreeze. 'Despite it saying compatible with 64gig to 4Tb harddrives it doesn't work with many. I. Have tried 11 different ones and found only 2 that work. A 1tb elements portable and 2tb My Book both western digital. Seagate 2tb and 3tb western digital in particular don't. When I rang tech support I got nonsense they couldn't even understand the problem had to repeat many times and got nonsense solutions that had nothing to do with the problem. I had to inform them that the instruction manual claims capatable with 64 to 4tb. Ido feel sorry for them as I asked one guy where he got his tech from they just had the instruction manual the same one we got with the unit. It took 5 hours and many attempts to try and speak to someone who actually had tech ability but alas no-one available. Totally unhelpful refused to acknowledge any problems.

Major fatal flaw is you can only ever register 8 harddrives or usbs. If you deregister one you can never register again as you will loose all files on disc when register again.

LG have lost another customer who due to their poor tech support inability to even acknowledge problems with these pvrs and the pvr machine doesn't even have the specifications claimed. LG adjust your treatment of valued customers and provide REAL tech support. Refund our money or replace with a higher unit to compensate for all our time and frustration.

Better than i expected after reading the comments here, very happy with my purchase – After reading these reviews i was very skeptical, but with the discount offered at Harvey Normal, $316 i thought i would give it a go, even showed HN sales person the comments on these review site, i was offered a full refund it it didn't work as it should, being a bit off a teck head i like a challenge, have had it running most the night now,… Read more ·  1

no issues, it all works perfectly, set a record program, it worked, i do see how some would complain about the EPG and yes it could be improved, but so could my Teac PVR dTV unit as could my DGTEC twin tuner pvr, Ones persons idea of perfection might not be anothers, but i can happily live with the LG unit, Yes you do need to read the manual, but once you do a few times it seems every thing falls into place.

Audio and Video Quality is fantastic, the unit plays my region 1 DVD's so xtra happy with that (thanks LG) that alone means i can retire my Toshiba all region DVD player. If you are reading this LG i would love to be able to replace the internal Hard drive when the time comes and do it correctly with out having to resort to a internet Hack. So in conclusion either i got really lucky and got a one of a kind good working unit . Or others have just been unlucky getting the odd dud. I could not be Happier even at this early time, if things change in the next 6 day i will come back and comment. 9/10 busarob1969@gmail.com The Price $316 Harvey Normal, ease of use, plays my region 1 DVD's, Viseo Audio Quality. EPG is a little slow, but as are many other brands, Still it could be improved.

What a piece of rubbish – Bought this so called machine,. i have had it 3 weeks after recording once it will not turn on and continues to flash "wait". tried depressing on/off switch, factory reset ect nothing. what more can i say but it is a lemon. i would not recommend anyone to buy one!!

A lemon that came good – I purchased a br625 t and was initially very unhappy with it as it did not load epg consistently,,,had to manually record my desired shows.I checked online for a software update,,,none available,By chance I went to my local television repair man to check my reception as this May have been a cause of my woes.He checked signal strength,,'twas… Read more

excellentHe took my unit,did a firmware upgrade..now is working wonderfully..and response time of unit is a lot quicker . So after a frustrating start am now very happy. With my LG unit .in closing..this experience has taken from my willingness in future to trust LG products as I once did.

Don't buy an LG BR625T – I purchased an LG BR625T Blu-Ray/HDD Recorder earlier this year and have been experiencing continuous faults with it ever since. At last count, I have experienced the following faults: 1. Doesn’t update program title when selecting channels and is often 4+ hours behind. 2. Unit jammed off with ‘’BYE’’ on display – wouldn’t turn back on until… Read more

unplugged from power and plugged back in.

3. Unit froze during recording two programs (DTV and AV) simultaneously and had to be turned off and back on.

4. Unit jams after less than a minute of recording with no visible indication it has – this was only discovered on playback.

5. Wouldn’t record via AV input (error E17 warning appeared on screen) – tried several times but didn’t record until unit was switched off and back on again.

6. Flickering of picture and regular complete loss of picture.

7. Unit switched itself off during recording with timer.

8. On-screen warning informed me a recording had failed due to poor signal but the unit had in fact recorded the title – hard to rely on especially when recording with timer.

9. Complete loss of audio when watching a DVD – audio returned when unit was restarted.

10. Recording initially worked on playback but had become corrupted (heavily pixelated & loss of sound) when playback was resumed 12 hours later. Recording is now unwatchable.

11. Picture flickers when watching a DVD, the screen then turns blue for 2-3 seconds before turning blank with ‘’no input’’ box on screen.

I have contacted LG on multiple occassions and each time they have been of little to no use and deny any issues with this product despite all the negative reviews. I was told by LG that the problems would be fixed by downloading a software update and despite doing as instructed, the faults continued. LG then told me to take it for repair under warranty at an authorised service centre. Again, I did as instructed and after a week of waiting for the unit to be repaired, I picked it up 10 days ago. After only a week of having the unit repaired, the issues are beginning to occur again. LG has now removed this item and all related material from their website. To me, this is a blatant admission of guilt by LG. The item is clearly not fit for retail and the endless negative reviews and the fact LG seemingly no longer have enough faith in their own product to continue to advertise it on their own website is proof of that. It really is pathetic that LG can on one hand deny any BR625T issues exist yet remove the same item from their website. I have requested several times that the unit be replaced or my money refunded but LG have refused to do the only fair and reasonable thing by their loyal customers under the circumstances. Over the years I have owned 4 LG VCRs, 2 LG DVD players, 3 LG HDD recorders and 1 LG TV - I will never again buy an LG product again and will tell everyone else I know not to as well. LG's customer service (or lack thereof) is disgraceful.

LG Product Support Please do something!!!!! – I have 2 LG TV's and have purchased multiple LG CD/DVD players. I am delighted with the rest. Whoever was doing quality control on the BR625T dropped the ball. I suffer the same problems mentioned already - freezes and very slow responses. My issue is why have no software updates for the product been released? My BX580 had multiple software… Read more

updates and is a stable and great product. LG please address or you will lose loyal customers!!!!

No software updates, freezes during DVD's, unit locks up and needs a regular reboot, very slow to change channels

LG BR625T is Rubbish – The remote is slow to react and the forward reverse buttons badly placed. Worst is its not accurate on the title names of TV shows recorded . We all know that the TV stations don't come on at the exact time as per the book.. So if I set timer to record NCIS at 2030hrs and NCIS doesn't actually start until 2035 the contents will show the TV show on… Read more

at the time the recording starts. .. Expensive Rubbish I wish I had bought the Panasonic

remote is not sensitive. Remote is slow. Can't manually type in TV show recording

epg trouble – I agree with others that this product leaves a lot to be desired. The epg function is a dog & sometimes there are a number of stations showing & at other times there are none. My little teac 22 inch at the same time will show them all. To record with out subtitles I use AF mode when it worked it was good If the EPG does not work what is the point of the product Not fit for purpose intended

Bad Product - Bad Service – -Continually locks up on power cycle (manually cycling the power button each time) -The EPG does not work. Some channels the guide comes up and some do not -This is the first dual tuner PVR that I have owned that does not support pause and catch-up TV -The menu navigation is woeful. It’s slow and sluggish to the point I’m pushing buttons twice… Read more

thinking the first hadn’t registered

-The Simplink is not working with my LG TV purchased around this time

After speaking with LG I got fobbed off but the first person. Amongst the other problems she had indicated that slow menus were measured against their standards. After asking to get a copy of the standards she indicated that they couldn’t. After asking to speak with a manager (and initially told that they would tell me the same thing) spoke with a nice guy who told me his hands were tied. I needed to take it to a service centre for assessment.

All I wanted was a different PVR model which was a lesser value and I didn’t want the difference in price. It’s all gotten too hard. The service agent is only open business hours, the same hours that I work...

I would have expected LG to be more supportive of a badly designed product

Problems from day 1 – I have just re-tuned my br625t in Adelaide following manufacturers instructions. The electronic programme guide is now not working. I have contacted lg customer support and been told that they are aware of this issue and are searching for a solution to fix the problem. Meanwhile I have been told that I will have to put up with no EPG until they… Read more

do. Not good for a brand new unit. Also each programme recorded automatically records subtitles. When you playback a recorded programme you have to physically turn off the subtitles for every recorded programme. Customer service couldn't fix this after 5 phone calls and over 2 hours on the phone with technical dept so now just have to put up with it. Again not great. Had a Sony before this unit and wish I had bought another one.

So many problems it's not funny! – We purchased this machine on Saturday 28th April 2013 from an RT Edwards store .. since installing the machine the following problems are happening: 1. I have it set to record a show on 7TWO at 9.30 - 10am Monday - Friday - so far it has failed to record on those days. 2. I have it set to tape Packed to the Rafters every Tuesday night - it… Read more

also has failed to record

3. When we put a DVD movie in the machine freezes and has to be complete rebooted

4. the set up for recording is bloody terrible - hubby will NEVER work out how to do it - I manged to work it out in the end - but you can't go to guide, hit record then go to the timer and change set to tape at that same time for that program whether it be weekly, daily or monthly

5. it is dreadfully slow to load the channels - for instance we are watching channel ten and want to change to channel 7 - we end up watching channel 9 for approx 20 seconds while it moves down to channel 7. not much to like about this machine, very disappointed terrible timer recording, slow to change channels, fails to record programs even when set up

Bad timer recording setup – Just bought this and will be returning to the store. Timer recording set up is not well thought out. If you wish to tape a show for the same weekly time slot you can not set up the recording from the EPG and it will not save the show under its title rather a code. No soft padding or time shift whist watching tv. Terrible recording format

Audio Drop Outs – Purchased this last week from JBHi Fi have the same problems as the previous comments, the audio drops out from time to time and Ive also had the whole picture freeze up and at with one disk the picture pixulated and froze, mind you all the disks are brand new, so go figure! LG Please Explain!!!! Its great watching when there are no audio drop outs or picture freezing Audio drop outs and picture freezing and sometimes pixulating.

No audio on Blu Ray discs – Just paid $600 for a brand newLG BR625T and had it set up professionally with my home theatre system. First time I used it, it froze and had to be rebooted. Then it seemed to work okay for standard DVD's although sometimes it wouldnt recognise there was a disc and it wouldnt load at all. Finally tried to watch an ABC Life of Plants Blu-Ray DVD and… Read more

although the trailers had sound, the audio disappeared as soon as the main feature started. Seems this is a known issue with many BluRays but this is the latest model (not even on the LG website so i cant access any troubleshooting) This supposedly 'do everything' unit is useless and I wish I had kept my $50 Woollies DVD player - it worked every time without a hitch. I am still waiting to hear back from LG about this - Very disappointed!

Unreliable