Lite-On LVW-5005 user reviews

Pros Allwrite technology, Burns all DVD's except DVD-RAM, and CD's

Cons Top quality video for only 1 hour maximum

Summary Out of the box it was easy to incorporate into my current home theater system. Wired it through my current VCR. No picture quality drop. Burned a CD from my DV cam. Quality was great with some degradation due to SVCD limits. DVD quality from the same video on the DV camera seemed like an exact duplicate of the original. It did a fine job in recording TV shows and showed little degradation when dropping down to SP (2hr recording) mode. Futher degradation occured as I increased the recording time up to 6 hours which is still good enough for a throw away program. The only con goes to the format which cannot allow you to record great quality video for more than 1 hour. If you want to archive a Super Bowl or other important video, there is no option on this type of format. Cnet reviewer is flat out wrong. I bought this machine for $160 at BJ's. There is not a better deal on the market today.

Pros Very nice unit for the price, Firewire, multi format, coax and digital audio output, I have been using this recorder for one week now and it does what I wanted it for great!

Cons none so far

Summary The picture quality of this unit is great when it comes to comparing it to VCR. I don't know about how much more the video quality can be in the more expensive units. I used the one, two and four hours settings and even the later is ok. Very simple to operate and the menu system is very easy and fun to use. I have a HD tv and I even recorded HD channels but ofcourse you don't get HD output from this unit. The result was outstanding never the less.

Pros Does what it says it will

Cons Remote is a little contrary sometimes

Summary I bought this about a month ago for the primary purpose of transferring my VHS movies, I have about 300 and some of the older ones are beginning to show some signs of deteriorating.

It was easy to set up and connect to my TV and the set up instructions included steps on how to connect the VCR to do the copying. The Guider function makes it a snap to begin the recording, and has a small window to show the picture from the source being recorded - be it TV, Front or rear A/V jacks, S-video jack or direct from camcorder - so I can FF the tape thru any ads or promo features and begin recording just the movie.

The titling is also easy to use and allows for capitals, lower case, symbols and an international setting. One tip, be sure to retitled and do whatever other editing before finaling the disc, once it is finalized nothing else can be done to the disc. Finaling is also one easy step and gives a progress read-out and tells you when its' completed.

I haven't had a reason to erase any of the RW discs I've used so I don't know how that function works but based on what I have used on this recorder I don't doubt it will work fairly easily. So far I've completed 25-30 movies and haven't had any problems. I have been using Imation brand +R/RW discs, I have been using Imation CD's for a couple of years for my PC and liked their quality, and the quality continues to the DVD discs.

The only problem I have had is with the remote. It seems that it needs to be in a pretty direct line for the recorder to read the signal, and sometimes I need to press it a couple of times to get it to operate but that's a minor flaw.

It would also be nice to have a 3 hour recording time, it has 1, 2, 4 and 6 hour settings, but I seem to remember reading somewhere on the Internet where there is a download available to fix this.

Overall I find this to be exactly what I wanted. It's simple to set up, use and operate and the produces a good quality final product.

If you are looking for a recorder with the primary purpose of archiving your VHS files, as I was, I feel confident in highly recommending this brand and model. It's a good value.

Pros Records all formats, DV in front panel

Cons Slight softening of recorded images. Guide graphics and functionality low quality.

Summary This is my third DVD recorder purchase. I bought this one for it's multi format capability and price. It's great for recording home movies. Don't expect the quality to be as good as a movie you purchase. You could spend 2 or 3 times the price for another unit and not get a great difference in recording quality. One thing that gets annoying is that it doesn't remember the last input you recorded with. So if you want to always record from the DV in you have to hit input and scroll to DV in each time.