Lite-On LVW-5005 DVD Recorder

I have to admit, after reading some of the reviews ...

Posted Oct 31, 2004 - I have to admit, after reading some of the reviews of other entry level DVD Recorders (and the problems people encountered), I was not sure I was ready for the step up to a DVD Recorder. Then I saw the Liteon LVW5005 at one of the major Warehouse Clubs for a great price. It also featured All-Write technology, which means it would write to both of the major DVD Recordable media standards (+/-). Since the Warehouse Club had a good return policy, I decided to give it a try. I couldn't be happier with my decision. I found unit setup to be easy, and user guide documentation good. This Liteon model has great screen display interfaces, making internal setup also a breeze. Most impressive is their "Easy Guider" GUI interface. Just hit "Easy Guider" on the remote, and a graphical interface leads you through whatever you want to do - playback, record, format, finalize, etc. In fact, I was able to record, edit titles, finalize, etc. even before thoroughly reading the manual, just by using the "Easy Guider" interface. This is one feature Liteon has done a great job with. I have already made several recordings, from both TV and VHS media, without any problems. After finalizing the DVD media (be sure to finalize if you want to be able to playback on regular DVD players), I had no compatibility problems with my two DVD players (one of which is a few years old). I have finalized several disks so far without any problems or glitches. Even the ones I recorded at EP mode have great playback quality. This unit can also record audio on CD-R/RW media. It can also do VCD/SVCD recordings. I have not used these features yet, so can not comment. But is is great this unit has those potentials. It has line in jacks on the front, as well as a DV-Link, behind a hidden panel. On the back it features s-video and composite inputs, as well as component, composite, and s-video outputs. It also has both coaxial and optical outputs for digital audio. Again most impressive to me is the ease of use of this recorder, and it's logical interfaces for both setup (including channel setup), and use ("Easy Guider"). Again, it does't have some of the "other" extras of the higher priced machines - but for a DVD Recorder at a good price, for a first time user (that also being me), I couldn't be happier.

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I purchased this DVD recorder so I could put all o ...

Posted Aug 11, 2004 - I purchased this DVD recorder so I could put all of my home movies onto DVD. I chose the Lite-On All-Write model because I was fearful of what would play on the majority of my DVD players I had already owned. The first time I recorded I used an Imation DVD-R, and it worked perfectly on 3 different brands of DVD players as well as my laptop and desktop computers. This is the format I will use for now. The system did come with a DVD+RW which I used to test various situations out. If I didn't have Tivo I would probably use this more to record my favorite shows. Also, for you Tivo users, you are able to transfer a show to DVD. Just go through the menu saying you are going to transfer to a VHS tape but actually start your DVD recorder (of course you have to have it hooked up correctly). I did go to the Lite-On website to find what brand of media they recommend. I had read reviews before I bought that stated people had all kinds of problems finding a brand that worked. I stuck with a couple of brands given from the list (there are many to choose from but not ones I could go out to a local store to buy). I have had success with Imation DVD-R ($1.50 each with a case) which I bought at a local office store as well as Ritek G04 DVD-R ($.50 each on a spindle) which I found online. Both brands have worked for me, so I have no plans of trying any other. There is an easy guider button that guides you through the recording process. You do have to make sure you finalize your DVD-R before trying to view it on another DVD player, but it's no big deal. You have different recording modes to select from: 1 hour, 2 hrs., 4hrs., and 6 hrs. I have only used the 2 hour mode but have actually had it record up to 3 minutes over before it stopped. The only real negative I have found about this unit is that you can't move forward or backward through a DVD unless you have the remote. There is an eject, play, play-slow motion, and stop on the front but no fast forward or rewind. That seems a little strange but not something that would stop me from buying this model. I felt I got a great price 3 weeks ago, but you can get them even cheaper now. I did make sure I went to a website that offered me to return it for credit if I wasn't completely happy with it. There were several websites that only offered to replace it with an identical model which always makes me skeptical. You still get a 1 year warranty on parts and labor, but I'm not sure why some won't let you return it if you are not satisfied. Anyway, I was going to wait until Christmas time to actually buy one thinking I would get a great price then, but I love that I went ahead and purchased this model. Watching home movies on DVD is so much nicer than watching it on tape. I will be using my DVD recorder a lot!

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Some have said it has a slow startup, but compared ...

Posted Oct 26, 2004 - Some have said it has a slow startup, but compared to my first DVD-Recorder (Go-Video 6530), the LVW-5005 has a quicker startup and response to commands, and it's less noisy. The noise occurs only when it is spinning up to start recording or finalizing, I guarantee it will not bother you at all. You don't hear a thing while it is recording the program. I have Dish Network with the PVR. When I want to keep a show, I transfer it to a DVD. And I record cartoons/movies for my kids and transfer them to DVD and play them in our Honda Odyssey. In order to do that, you have to have a DVD-R recorder. The DVD+R recorders do not set the 'booktype' bit, at least most don't. The Go-Video did not, and neither does the Lite-On. Therefore, a DVD+R disk is not fully DVD-ROM compliant without this bit set, and they will not work in the Honda Odyssey.

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I have shopped around really well before I ended u ...

Posted Dec 12, 2004 - I have shopped around really well before I ended up buying this model. I'll be honest, I am big fan of bigger electronic names out there like Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba in which almost all models in this level I already compared to this one, nothing comes close to the this Lite-on model particularly. For the price, the value just gets better and better with the amount of features availbale. One particular excellent feature is the "write all" feature which makes you record on any DVR format which can save you lots of money in the long run. I'm a gadget guy so I don't mind complicated controls, but this one has so much simplicity that it is so fool proof that even my mom can record TV shows through this recorder. I am very much positive with the reliability of this product. Liteon is well-respected in DVD drive and recorder products such as the ones found in most PCs today. I personally have one installed in my PC and it has been 2 years now and it still runs like new. This is the best DVD recorder in the market out there in its class, I assure you that.

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This is my first experience with a DVD recorder. I ...

Posted Nov 3, 2004 - This is my first experience with a DVD recorder. I had no trouble setting it up. I had no trouble with recording. It was nearly $100 cheaper than any of the others I looked at such as the Sony or Panasonic. I have recorded VHS to DVD and I have recorded TV programs. I love the fact that you can use DVD-RW. I record and watch and erase. But, can choose to erase one or more programs and leave others. I love that!

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Very easy to setup and use. Be sure to use separat ...

Posted Aug 14, 2004 - Very easy to setup and use. Be sure to use separate video connections to TV besides cable. Be sure to check the approved list for blank disks. Check with customer service for updates.

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What really makes this unit special, is the fact t ...

Posted Feb 7, 2005 - What really makes this unit special, is the fact that it supports ALL the CD based media available. IOW, its supports DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, and plain CDs. That in itself is worth its price, which by the way is quite accessible compared to other burners out there...that do not have the media support that this unit has. The screen user interface is quite straightforward and easy to use. The only two improvement possibilities that I have been able to find are. 1) Not all LVW-5005 have a 3 hour recording mode for DVDs. The firmware updates available from the manufacturer depend on the manufacturing date of the unit. Only units manufactured after a certain date (I don't know which date it is) have firmware available that supports 3 hour recording. My unit was manufactured BEFORE that date; and therefore there is currently NO 3 hour recording firmware available. LiteOn says they are working on it; but so far there is none available. 2) When I connect my satellite receiver direclty to my TV I get much more vivid colors than when I connect it through the LiteOn DVD recorder. For some reason the LiteOn DVD recorder alters the colors of the pass though signal; and sometimes that is quite anoying. If the scene includes a dark scene (at night for instance) the image that passes through the Lite-On device looks almost as if it was a black and white image; whereas the direct signal shows some colors. That usually only happens on dark/night type of images.

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Recording DVD is pretty simple, insert blank DVD ( ...

Posted Jan 3, 2005 - Recording DVD is pretty simple, insert blank DVD (+ or - R or RW), select source and hit Record. Recording time in SP mode is 2 hours 4 mins 9 secs, so you can squeeze a bit more than 2 hours. Macrovision can be bypassed by recording first couple of seconds from another non_macrovision protected source, like digital camera, then pausing, and then connecting VCR, and restarting recording. Read more about it on videohelp.com section for this recorder.

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I have been very pleased so far with this unit. I ...

Posted Dec 18, 2004 - I have been very pleased so far with this unit. I have made several recordings, from Digital 8, standard 8mm, TV and VHS media without any recording problems. I have yet to use a media that would not record on this unit. So far I have used Maxell (TYG01 media code), Maxell (MXLRG02 & MXLRG03 media code), TDK (TTG02 media code) & HP(PHILLIPS 041 media code) and they have all recorded without problems. All the above mentioned media play back without problems on my Hitachi, Toshiba and one of my Apex dvd players. The only compatibilty problem I have had is for some reason the taiyo yuden(maxell tyg01 media code) disks will not play back on an older Apex player I have. It is really strange because I can take the liteon lvw-5005 recorded disk and copy it on my PCs DVD burner using the same tyg01 type media and the copy will play on the player(????). This has not been much of a problem since the other media types work without problems. I did shop around quite a bit before I ended up buying this model and could not find any other unit in its price range that comes close to the Lite-on 5005.

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LVW-5005 DVD Recorder

Posted Jul 13, 2005 - I was able to connect this unit up to my TV and get the thing setup without even needing the user's guide. It's all pretty straightforward. The Guider feature I found to be very useful to guide me through recording. Timer recording (which I use the most) is fairly straight forward, but you'll probably need the book for the first time. I've used DVD-r and DVD+RW discs, which both recorded fine. I found that when using the standard recording (2 hours) on play-back the colors will occasionally fade and appear washed-out. A little annoying. Also when using the SLP (6 hours) setting, the disk has trouble playing back in other DVD players. The picture will freeze and/or skip and the audio gets out of sync. Also you can't fast forwrd/rewind greater then 4x - it'll freeze. This isn't a big deal to me, after all I'm trying to cram 6 hours worth or recording onto what's really a 2 hour disk - something's gotta give! All in all not a bad DVD recorder for someone getting their feet wet, well worth the money.

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This will Definitely be a VCR replacement. I wi ...

Posted Jul 31, 2004 - This will Definitely be a VCR replacement. I will be transferring my old VHS and Hi8 videos to DVD so they will last longer. Very Easy to use. (But I read the manual :-) You can record and output to any device (variety of input and output ports). The RF-In(TV/Cable) tuner only sends its player output to one of the output ports not the RF-Out(TV/Cable only directly passes the input cable signal) connection; So if your TV does not have Composite input, RCA video/audio input, or S-Video input then you better use a VCR or another device as a tuner for the older TV and connect it to one of the output ports on the LVW 5005 Recorder. Wish I had the feature like my VCR where I would see the contents of the DVD playing or just tell it to pass thru the RF(Cable) signal since I have a old TV, then my VCR would not be needed. Found a Bug in the Firmware that only lets you create 29 sessions on a DVD that needs to be finalize. (DVD+RW media does not need finalizing). You create session when you stop and start on the same DVD media. This is nice in that you can go Right to that point on the DVD using the Top Menu during playback, and it creates a Thumbnail picture on the top menu. Most people will not create 29 sessions on a single DVD. LiteOnIt tell me they do not know if they can fix it. Their support people are nice but weak on working on none user guide problems.

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I researched DVD recorders for 2 years,and settled ...

Posted Feb 22, 2005 - I researched DVD recorders for 2 years,and settled on this INCREDIBLE UNIT !!. The About.com user reviews , the price ( $159.00sale at BIG _ ),and the multi-record format beat out the big name brands. It seems only one reviewer had a bad one " out-of-the-box ", so I put it through the paces within the first two weeks. I also checked the date of manufacture on the box, and got the most recent ( within four months ), I assumed it would have the latest updates configured in. I purposely purchased from a big box retailer, because it gives you 90 days,and in fact their regular price is $ 179, at least $ 10 cheaper than everywhere else !!. The two blanks and the rewriteable that comes with it all work fine, and play in my LG (Zenith) player. I am testing discs on my friends units ( 3 different brands ) this week. I purchased 2 pack DVD-R 's for testing before buying any quantity. The weaknesses I listed are minor ( more inconvenences) , compared to all the great features. Also, suprised that you can "pause" the recording process,didn't expect to be able to do this, my cd recorder doesn't have this option.This unit may go down as a " CLASSIC" (like the Pioneer rt 707) someday.!!! ????HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

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Manual is easy to use and easy to understand. Hook ...

Posted Dec 4, 2004 - Manual is easy to use and easy to understand. Hookup is very simple, especially if you are replacing a current DVD player. Remote is easy to use, requires a short training period. I record dieectly from a Directv DVR to retain lasting DVD recordings of music and shows. This makes editing a snap.

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Good piece of equipment

Posted Sep 15, 2005 - Wish I had found this one before I bought a jWIn that was a piece of junk for more than twice the price. Lite-on is reasonably priced and as easy to use as a VCR. It was good to finally be able to transfer the VHS footage of my dog as a puppy on a DVD! One of my purchase criteria was that the recorder plays European recordings. It said on the box that this Lite-on only plays the DVDs of the region marked on the box, but luckily that's not true. I think they mentioned it on Lite-on's website that they manufacture them to play all regions and it is advertised as an all-region player as it is sold all over the world. Lite-on's recording quality is good. I had some problems with sound when hooking up to my receiver (digital noise), but a digital audio cable eliminated that problem. The erase and format functions seem fast (my previous recorder took almost four minutes), which is a plus as I use re-writable DVDs like I used to use video tapes. Formatted DVDs play fine on other DVD players.

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I use this unit strictly for everyday recordin ...

Posted Feb 26, 2005 - I use this unit strictly for everyday recording of TV, a vcr replacement, so my priorities and review are directed to this end. Also keep in mind that I use an older TV, w/non-digital composite connection, which has a good picture, but not the resolution of a digital set. There are super-video and component connections for better quality picture. The unit is extremely easy to set up and use. Its interface is user friendly to the point of saying 'Hello' and 'Bye' on startup and shutdown. The 1- and 2-hour record modes are indistinguishable on playback from the original source. The 3- and 4-hour modes are still very clear. I don't know or care why there isn't a 5-hour mode. I recorded the Super Bowl on the 6-hour mode, and while the picture was still clear, the action was 'jerky', like frames were missing or spaced, which makes sense due to the long recording duration. It was actually pretty cool to watch, like a Sportscenter highlight film! I didn't notice any loss of audio quality on McCartney's halftime show, if you don't mind mono sound. The fact that the tv tuner records audio in mono really sucks, but my home theatre can enhance the sound so it 'simulates' surround. I've been having a low frequency 'rumble' on audio portion (only noticeable when noise levels are low) of recordings. I'm still troubleshooting this problem and it may not be the unit. One time the audio portion of TV I recorded had so much noise on it that the dialogue was inaudible. It only happened once and why is a mystery. There are digital optical and coaxial jacks for audio as well as the standard composite. The remote must be pointed DIRECTLY at the unit, no leeway at all there. However the remote buttons are very well marked for function and also easy to use. My biggest gripe is with the program recording capacity of the timer. I could schedule 15 recordings with my VCR. The LVW-5005 can only schedule 5 recordings on the timer. While featuring All-Write cabability, not all DVDs will work and you should pick from the 'qualified' DVD list they provide (also on website). This list might as well been written in Chinese. Besides, while the DVD may work in this unit, it may not play back in other units. So plan on playing back all your recordings on this unit, and if you are lucky, they might work in other players. The DVD+RW that came w/the unit won't play on my Pioneer RW capable DVD player. Other formats must be 'finalized' to play back, which the unit does easily. This thing also records CDs and VCDs. If I ever get a DV camcorder this unit will be good for recording (DV-Link IEEE1394 input in front panel). Also has front inputs to record old video tapes onto DVD. All in all, I'm pleased with the quality of video recording , it's easy to use, and the price was right.

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