Lite-on dvd recorder

carlwils73

Morning all

I am considering buying a dvd recorder in the next week or so - and have been tempted by the LITE-ON 5025 and the LITE-ON 5027 - both due to their specs, the fact they have a HDD and their current prices on Amazon or Play.

Does anyone have any personal experience of using either of these machines - and if so, what have been your thoughts? Or if any of you feel there are better machines for the price out there?

Any comments or suggestions welcome..... cheers.

gantybop

I've used lite-on products for ages, not those exact models, but each one I've used has been superb. Never a problem.

carlwils73

here are a couple of links for those interested...

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/264/344/-/3252667/LiteOn_LVW_5027HC_HDD+DVD_Recorder/Product.html?searchtype=genre

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LiteOn-LVW-5027HC%2B-Drive-Recorder-Support/dp/B000GBT6VC/sr=11-1/qid=1164876053/ref=sr_11_1/026-3760192-7146852

From what I have read / heard so far, they seem to be quite a good, if not well known, brand.

carlwils73

sorry to "bump" this up ... but has anyone else got any views / experience on either of these models?

:think:

bazzab

I had the liteon 5005 recorder and was generally a good budget recorder but had a clock faullt where it would gain time and could gain around 5 minutes per month. Was a bit annoying resetting it all the time. Then I upgraded to the 5006 which had a 3 hour recording mode and thankfully fixed the clock bug. Decent support through firmware upgrades on the liteon website too.

Can recommend them as a good quality budget recorder.

toonfan

Not the model you are considering..... but I bought the lite-on HDA740GX 160GB Divx DVD HDD Recorder from ebuyer here a couple of weeks ago and so far I am well impressed.

DGARRAGHTY

carlwils73 wrote:

sorry to "bump" this up ... but has anyone else got any views / experience on either of these models?

:think:

I have the 5027HC. Bought it from CPC last month for just £117 delivered, but they're no longer stocking it.

This is a christmas present for someone, so I've only really played with it for a couple of hours. Not bad, would be my summary. Very little fan noise, easy multi-region hack (same hack for all Liteon recorders), nice remote, very good manual, easy-to-use 'guider' menu system. Tuning was easy - just let it auto-tune, then move the channel order around.

The thing works as a 'media centre' because it allows you to copy your music, photos and videos from CD/DVD to the HDD (and back again if you want). You can then play all your photos/music/videos from the HDD. You can even watch a photo slideshow while it also plays some of your music files!

The unit also works as a nice CD copier - stick in a CD, select 'copy to HDD', let it create a folder with the .wav files on the HDD, then select 'copy to DVD', stick in a blank CD and it copies it back in CD audio format. This also works for unprotected DVDs too. Stick in a DVD, select which title you want to copy to the HDD and off it goes. You can then play them from the HDD, or copy then back to another DVD later. Copying speed is great. Copied an entire CD to the HDD in just a few minutes, and took about the same to write back to the blank (don't forget to finalise the CD so you can play it in another player). DVD copying/writing is eqaully fast, and it definately used the 8x disc I used at full speed.

The unit writes to every format (except DVD-RAM, but who cares about that!?), including CD. If you stick a blank CD in, it will use it as an audio disc, VCD, SVCD, or even CD-ROM format. That way, you can easily copy some of your photos, etc. to a CD-ROM to give to someone else if you need to.

It plays back pretty much everything, including DivX. Again, you can stick those on a CD or DVD and copy them to the HDD for viewing from there if you want to. Unlike some cheaper recorders/players, it will play media files from DVD as well as CD. You can get a LOT of photos on a DVD!

The ILink/firewire input works fine. Tried it with a JVC camcorder, and it worked a treat. The firewire cable isn't included, so you'll need to get one of those. Copy the recording to the HDD first, then use the editing features on the HDD, then copy it to DVD.

The box contains all the cables you need (SCART, RCA, aerial) along with batteries for the remote, and even a DVD+RW disc.

mikelawson

I have just treated myself to a LiteOn HD-A740GX and wonder if anyone can recommend the best dvd disc make to copy to and from - this is my first dvd recorder so I haven't a clue. Thanks

Marty999

I have LiteOn 5025, and very pleased with it I am too. It's so convenient, not having to bother with a set of VHS tapes. the best feature is the ability to start recording a programme, then you can start to play/watch it while it is recording ahead of you. This means you can flash through the ads, or not have to wait for the end of a programme before you start watching.

No problems with it at all, except it can be a bit more sensitive than my old DVD player when it comes to playing my sons' DVDs which are slightly marked, and refuse to play them. It would be handy to be able to record two programmes at once, and it would be nice to be able to record a programme and watch a different recording at the same time, but you can't. You can get these features on pricier machines but overall, I am delighted with my LiteOn and I think I got a bargain at £150, and it was down to £130 when I last looked in Currys.