Lite On LVW-5005 DVD Recorder

Let's face it; most people prefer DVD technology to video tape. So much so that companies are banking on it to become the standard playback machine in everyone's entertainment center. Or more accurately they are laughing all the way to the bank with all the money that they are taking from people who are looking for ways to convert their video libraries to DVD. So every company is pushing a deck out on the market and touting it as the best thing since sliced bread.

Of course, that doesn't mean that they work, or do anything that people expect them to be able to do. Here's the deal: DVDs are not video tape. They don't record like video tape; they don't start and stop like video tapes; they are digital technology in an analog world. Look at it this way: They're a computer technology that has been modified to fit into your home entertainment system.

Keeping that in mind…

View from 15,000 feet.
Consumer DVD recorders fall into four basic categories: 1) The Cadillacs; Overpriced and feature rich with hard drives, multiple TV tuners, HDTV out, network cards, and usually bells and whistles that the average user isn't ever going to use. 2) The Keeping up with the Jones: They have all the features of the Cadillac models; but in ways that make no sense such as you can only record to the hard drive in timer mode, and they are usually made by companies that are selling the name brand and not the item. 3) The pick-up truck: Dependable, durable and get the job done. May not be the best looking or the flashiest, but they are at least made by companies that have been in the DVD game for awhile. 4) Lost in Translation: Usually they look pretty, they are cheap, and they are about as durable as a wall safe that you bought at the Dollar Store.

The Lite-On LVW-5005 falls into the pick-up truck category.

It's not your mothers VCR.
Right up front: If you are looking to convert your video collection to DVD, or an alternative to buying a TiVo, this is not a deck for you. If you are looking for a way covert your home movies/camcorder tapes to DVD, or record your weekly TV shows when you are not around like you did with the VCR that you have already sold in a yard sale. Then this is more in line with what you are looking for.

What's "All Write" about it?
Why did I buy this unit? Well, ignoring the fact that the cheap Cyberhome 1500 unit I bought was a POS that died in less than three weeks and created recordings that all but sucked. Ignoring that. Basically it was the features. Come on. I was looking for a basic recorder to replace my VCR that I got rid of when I bought the previous model I had.

I have three DVD player decks in my house already what I needed was something to fill the gap left in my entertainment unit and had more flexibility than most of the DVDRs on the market. I like that I can drop a DVD-R/RW, a DVD+R/RW or a CD-R/RW into the unit and record. This multiple media capability is something that most of even the higher end recorder units do not offer. About the only type of media it doesn't use is DVD-RAM; which is fine, because I don't have any of that laying around anyway.

Out of the box.
The unit worked as I expected out of the box. A simple straight forward set up; but it is missing the automated configuration that most DVD decks (recorders or otherwise) have. For me this is not such a big deal, but it is one of those things that can cause problems for people that are new to the DVD world. Lite-On includes everything that you need to hook it up to your television in the box, and one blank DVD-RW disk to get you started recording. For those of you with home theater systems it has progressive scan, digital connections, and DTS decoding.

The remote is straight forward, although the layout is a little strange. Whatever you do, don't lose it because there are almost no controls on the unit itself. It also seems very proprietary since my Universal remote didn't operate the unit.

The unit itself works exactly the way that it was advertised. Straight recording using the record button, timer recording, and using the Guider menu. Lite-On's own way of managing your DVD recording and erasing with simple graphical user interface (GUI). Just like video tape decks there are various record settings that will give you various degrees of playback quality. For DVD media the HQ will get you 1.5 hours of high end recording, SP gives you 2 hours like a video tape, EP gives you 4 hours (with surprising good video and audio playback), and LP gives you 6 hours of VHS quality playback. For blank CD media you can either record in VCD or SVCD mode. If you are not sure what that means the unit falls into the category of a feature that you probably not be using anyway.

Time marches on

So, fast forward three months. I haven't had a problem with my unit yet. Which is a good thing as far as I can tell. I have found that there are good and bad media to use with the unit. This holds true for any DVD recorder that you buy. Whether it be one that you have in your computer or for DVD recorder decks in general. When it comes to rewriteable media it is recommended that you buy better quality discs that are rated 4x or above.

You should be aware that it is not recommended that you use this deck as your one and only DVD deck. Well. Let me rephrase that. If you have owned a DVD player in the past you would not be happy trying to use this deck as your only DVD deck. It is not as responsive as most non-recorder decks, discs load slower, and it doesn't always remember where you left off in a movie if you turn the unit off.

Something else to be aware of, that I found out during the latest firmware upgrade. There are two different versions of this model. The newer one seems to be less problematic than the older one. Fortunately I was lucky and got one of the newer models.