Ten pounds extra

Life Another Monday, another replacement piece of technology. The LG BD350 I won in that competition last year gave up the ghost last night, wouldn't you know just outside the warranty period, refusing to play most blu-rays at all, and dvds only with a kind of weird juddering sound from the player and in the picture.

It's not been the best player I've ever owned, weird and plasticy and unreliable even after accepting firmware updates so now it's in silicon heaven. Nevertheless there was a certain poigniancy as I scrapped it, remembering the excitement of the day we first met. Or rather met the original player for which this was already a replacement.

In its place is a Panasonic DMP-BD45K which like all "Pannys" is metal and has a robustness. It's also much quieter, has what seems like superior picture quality and actually plays discs, which is an improvement. We'll see how this new relationship develops.  Ten pounds extra at Richer Sound makes this five year commitment.