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CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
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Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 06/08/2005
- Released on: 02/15/2005
Lite-On's first hard-disk/DVD recorder costs less than just about any comparable product on the market--close to $300 online. Competitors such as the Panasonic DMR-EH50 and the TiVo-driven models from Humax cost more and, in some cases, deliver inferior features. For example, the Lite-On has a FireWire input for recording from digital camcorders, but the Panasonic does not.
The Lite-On LVW-5045 also boasts a refreshingly simple interface that puts the arcane menus of competing, better-known decks to shame, and its speedy dubbing makes it a snap to archive your favorite recordings to DVD. So what's the catch? Aside from the deck's pedestrian styling and lack of a few important DVR-like features, the LVW-5045's tendency to introduce lip-sync problems into long recordings will keep most users away.
Measuring 12 by 17 by 3 inches (about as high and deep as other recorders in its class), the boxy, silver-and-black Lite-On LVW-5045 looks decidedly ho-hum, and its haphazard collection of logos and an ultrabasic LED display contribute to a somewhat downmarket feel. Nestled beneath the display are the unobtrusive open/eject, play, stop, HDD/DVD mode, record, and source buttons, while a set of A/V inputs (including FireWire but not S-Video) sits exposed in the bottom-right corner.
The LVW-5045's basic-looking remote comes with the typical five-way navigational keypad and such niceties as a one-touch button for copying HDD to DVD (or vice versa), as well as a time-shift button that lets you pause and rewind live video (see Features). We had little trouble using the remote, but we wish the display and setup buttons were closer to the playback controls, rather than up near the numeric keypad, and we would have also liked to see a dedicated button for record mode. More annoying was the deck's tendency to disable the eject function when certain menus are engaged.
We're big fans of Lite-On's beginner-friendly Guider menus, which take you step by step through the recorder's main functions, including playback, manual and timed recording, and copying. No other HDD/DVD recorder we've used makes everyday operation so reassuringly simple. Advanced users may grow annoyed by the hand-holding approach, and we wish the Guider took you through the initial setup process--as it stands, you must go through the deck's myriad setup options manually, which could be confusing for novices.
The list of recorded shows seemed less polished. We like the inclusion of thumbnails for each program, but the thumbnails are annoyingly slow to appear, and you can see only six programs on each page. Once you select a recorded program, pressing the big Enter key immediately causes playback to begin. We'd prefer Enter to summon a list of options for editing, erasure, playback, and so forth in this situation. With LiteOn's setup, you have to remember to press the tiny Edit button if you want to do anything besides initiate playback.
The Lite-On LVW-5045 has some limitations that aren't quite balanced by a few unique features. The worst limitation is its inability to do anything else while recording. You can't watch one title on the HDD while recording another--a feature found on every other hard-disk recorder we've tested so far--nor can you access any menus. This may seem like a small thing, but trust us, once you've been able to watch a recorded program while recording something else live, you'll never want to go back.
Like most standalone recorders, the LVW-5045 won't record two live shows at once, although it will let you chase playback--that is, begin watching a recording that's still in progress. To do so, you must hit the time-shift button, which pauses playback until you resume by hitting Play (annoyingly, hitting the actual pause button while watching a program has no effect). Unfortunately, you cannot skip ahead in 30-second increments; you must fast-forward manually.
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