I got my LiteON LVW-5045 today...initial impressions.

[neftv]

I am new to this forum and I thought I would post my initial impressions on the LVW-5045.
I hooked it up to my in house cable system. Without looking at the user's guide I recorded a few minutes of the History Channel to try out the Hard Drive in SP mode and the quality looked and sounded just as good as the source in playback. This particular model I got is suppose to be region free and I can playback and record PAL as well. I will test that when I get my Cousin from Australia to send me a DVD.
I looked at other models and the above features, recordable CD-R -RW too made 5045 more versatile then what I spec'ed in other units.
It has the 10bit 54mhz process.
I did read most of the User's guide and it looks simple and straight to the point. I will have to try some more things out over the next couple of weeks. My purpose for getting the unit is to become tapeless in 2005. I will weed out my collection of old VHS tapes, burn them to DVD and anything new will be on HD unless I want to keep it on DVD.
One question I have is when I want to make say a music video DVD but I want build it over time making each music video a chapter. If I dont finalize the disk till its completely full, will that cause a problem? Say I put two chapters today I don't finalize then take the disk out and in two day I want to add 2 more chapter to the disk is this doable with say a DVD+R or +RW for that matter on the 5045?
Thanks.
Happy New Year to all.
Nick

[Guitarman]

Neftv,

If it is anything like the ILO HD04, which it should be, you should be able to copy new recording from the HDD to the disc until it is full. Once full, you just finalize the disc and all the different recordings will show up as menu choices. I have done this plenty of times on the ILO with no problems.

[leo_canada]

Hi Neftv,

Thanks for posting your first impressions on this player.
Many of us are interested in this DVD recorder and
appreciate your feeback.

I have a few questions regarding this unit.

Is your Lite-On 5045 a dual voltage (110-240V) unit?

Where can we find a multi-region model, with PAL recording capabilities, in the US?
(Or is it that *all* the US-model Lite-0n 5045s
come with these features?)

Some postings in other forums claim that the "new" 5005 Liteons have
a black rendering problem (during play back, blacks tend to be
more greyish or dark green). Did you notice any such problems?

Thanks for the information!

[qkholland]

One question I have is when I want to make say a music video DVD but I want build it over time making each music video a chapter. If I dont finalize the disk till its completely full, will that cause a problem? Say I put two chapters today I don't finalize then take the disk out and in two day I want to add 2 more chapter to the disk is this doable?

If you mean making each a title (not a chapter) yes it is doable and very straightforward.

If you really mean making each a chapter, yes it is doable as long as you record them at the same setting. You would record them on the HDD (this will make each of them a title initially) and then use "Merge with..." feature to merge them into a title; merged pieces automatically become separate chapters in that title, so you would end up with a single title with multiple chapters, each of which is from your original VHS tape.

[neftv]

Hi Neftv,

Thanks for posting your first impressions on this player.
Many of us are interested in this DVD recorder and
appreciate your feeback.

I have a few questions regarding this unit.

Is your Lite-On 5045 a dual voltage (110-240V) unit?

Where can we find a multi-region model, with PAL recording capabilities, in the US?
(Or is it that *all* the US-model Lite-0n 5045s
come with these features?)

Some postings in other forums claim that the "new" 5005 Liteons have
a black rendering problem (during play back, blacks tend to be
more greyish or dark green). Did you notice any such problems?

Thanks for the information!

The 5045 I have is only 120v unit and it is a version with ICOS HARDWARE CHIPSET MODIFICATION which I don't know what that means.
I not sure if I'm allowed to post vendors names on here but if you go to Google type in LVW-5045 then click on Froogle you will see a listing of 5045's for sale and near the bottom its plan as day for the Region free/PAL unit. Mind you the vender is not the cheapest but the unit is very versatile and I didn't mess with firmware upgrades. I also believe they sell the ILO unit with the same features except with the 80Gig drive.
Watching on my 14 year old 27" Zenith TV I did not notice any issues with black level but I will bring a scope from work and look at it to be precise.
I recorded the opening 2004 Olympics from my VHS copy in SP mode and it look like my VHS copy(Pretty decent). It was almost 3 hours without the commercials. I did other test recording TV to HDD then to DVD+RW and I notice I can't downgrade the record speed from HDD to DVD. I had the speed on SP and after I got done recording on HDD I change the speed in setup for LP then tried to Record HDD to DVD but the DVD recorded in SP because the source was in SP.
So far the USER's guide has been helpful and to the point. I will be doing more testing with the editing functions soon.
So far I not finding anything really wrong with the unit.

[Gezzerboy]

Thought i would add my comments to the thread regarding the LVW 5045.

I have had mine now for about 3 weeks. Purchase for £349 from a uk seller and am totally happy with it. I have read loads of forum discussions and the reaction is mixed.

Plus Points
Huge Hard Drive and SP mode is very good quality 66hrs recording time
Title merge options is very cool
Time shift works very well
Interface and GUI is very easy also.

Negative Points.
TV Tuner is poor. Use a scart input from freeview or sky ! Dont use the tv tuner as wavey lines show on all channels

Remote is a bit sensitive and to easy to double click

MP3 list does not sort by name

Ugly Box

On the whole I am very happy with it. Its replaced my dvd, vhs and stereo system with 1 small box. Recording direct on to dvd is great and also the transfer from hdd to dvd is very good. All in all for the money its a superb piece of kit

[Gezzerboy]

Ohhh and if you want to make region free there is a code. If you want it let me know.

[neftv]

Thought i would add my comments to the thread regarding the LVW 5045.

I have had mine now for about 3 weeks. Purchase for £349 from a uk seller and am totally happy with it. I have read loads of forum discussions and the reaction is mixed.

Plus Points
Huge Hard Drive and SP mode is very good quality 66hrs recording time
Title merge options is very cool
Time shift works very well
Interface and GUI is very easy also.

Negative Points.
TV Tuner is poor. Use a scart input from freeview or sky ! Dont use the tv tuner as wavey lines show on all channels

Remote is a bit sensitive and to easy to double click

MP3 list does not sort by name

Ugly Box

On the whole I am very happy with it. Its replaced my dvd, vhs and stereo system with 1 small box. Recording direct on to dvd is great and also the transfer from hdd to dvd is very good. All in all for the money its a superb piece of kit

Gezzerboy,
The Scart input must be on the European model I dont see that on mine US Version. I think the Tuner in mine looks pretty good actually. I recorded stuff on one channel so far and it looked like the broadcast did and I dont see any level or blooming problems. I will test it more as time goes.
I think the remote's pause button seems sensitive but you get use to just pressing it real quick to not double it.
I dont think its that ugly but I'd rather have a ugly box and it work properly than to have a appealling box and not have it work right.
I think my unit suppose to be Region free and PAL capable in playback and record but I dont have any DVD from another region to test it with yet.

[Gezzerboy]

Here is the region free post as requested

Switch on player without disc in tray
Press setup
Highlight exit then press 2,9,6,0
Press right and press enter on "region 2"
Press right arrow again and select "0"
Then exit

[junkmalle]

Here is the region free post as requested

Switch on player without disc in tray
Press setup
Highlight exit then press 2,9,6,0
Press right and press enter on "region 2"
Press right arrow again and select "0"
Then exit

Same as the Liteon 2002.

[qkholland]

The 5045 I have is only 120v unit and it is a version with ICOS HARDWARE CHIPSET MODIFICATION which I don't know what that means.
So far I not finding anything really wrong with the unit.

I do not know what ICOS Hw modification is, but my stock US model 5045 has PAL/NTSC input selection in its setup menu and says dual voltage support in the manual (neither of which I can test, though).

[neftv]

The 5045 I have is only 120v unit and it is a version with ICOS HARDWARE CHIPSET MODIFICATION which I don't know what that means.
So far I not finding anything really wrong with the unit.

I do not know what ICOS Hw modification is, but my stock US model 5045 has PAL/NTSC input selection in its setup menu and says dual voltage support in the manual (neither of which I can test, though).

I have the US Model too but it has that modification supposively. I hope I didnt get taken to the cleaners because I could have gotton this unit for $130 less than what I paid for. I have to contact my Cousin in Australia to send me some DVDs.

[neftv]

Here is the region free post as requested

Switch on player without disc in tray
Press setup
Highlight exit then press 2,9,6,0
Press right and press enter on "region 2"
Press right arrow again and select "0"
Then exit

Thanks for the info but I thought with mine having that modification I shouldnt have to do that.

[neftv]

Well I did another recording from the tuner in EP mode to the HDD and I got a problem. The Video is skipping as is the audio too Skipping. It's to late to talk to tech support tonight. Just to be sure I record the same channel in SP mode and it was fine.

[neftv]

Update to my last post. In the last post I used the timer to record in EP.
So I did a manual record in EP and it played fine then I did a timer record in EP and that was fine too. I guess it cleared up for now.

[neftv]

I used some of the edit functions in the unit last night.
Merging chapters and inserting chapter worked well meaning playing back final product looked good. You cant merge clips recorded in different speeds. Only thing is if you want to unmerge a chapter it makes a copy of the chapter as a separate clip but I cant see how to delete a chapter from the merged clips without deleting the whole thing when you just want to delete that one chapter of the merged clips.
If anyone else more experience with this please chime in. Thanks.
I had rented the movie Troy on DVD. I tested the copyright thing and it would not allow me to copy to Hard drive.

[Guitarman]

neftv,

The ICOS mod is a mod for region free use. As far as I can tell, this mod does not remove Macrovision. So, the bad news, you could have purchased the recorder cheaper, without the mod, since the LiteOn and ILO recorders have a region-free code you can punch in.

The video/audio skip/echo you mentioned is one of the issues us ILO HD04 user are having. This is suppose to be fixed with a new upgrade this week for the ILO. Hopefully they will do the same for the 5045 soon.

You can not delete the video between chapter marks. There are 2 way to edit out a part of the clip.

1. You can hide the chapter so that once it is copied to a DVD and finalized, the chapter will be skipped during playback.
2. You can split the clip at the chapter marks into seperate clips, delete the clip with the content you don't want and then merge the remaining clips back into one clip.

It would be nice if it had the ability to select a portion of a clip and trim it out.

[neftv]

neftv,

The ICOS mod is a mod for region free use. As far as I can tell, this mod does not remove Macrovision. So, the bad news, you could have purchased the recorder cheaper, without the mod, since the LiteOn and ILO recorders have a region-free code you can punch in.

The video/audio skip/echo you mentioned is one of the issues us ILO HD04 user are having. This is suppose to be fixed with a new upgrade this week for the ILO. Hopefully they will do the same for the 5045 soon.

You can not delete the video between chapter marks. There are 2 way to edit out a part of the clip.

1. You can hide the chapter so that once it is copied to a DVD and finalized, the chapter will be skipped during playback.
2. You can split the clip at the chapter marks into seperate clips, delete the clip with the content you don't want and then merge the remaining clips back into one clip.

It would be nice if it had the ability to select a portion of a clip and trim it out.

Well supposely my unit suppose to be able to record in DVD in PAL and I thought that ICOS mod makes that possible. That audio skip echo problem was only that first time I used it in that speed so far all records in that speed are fine.
I hoped that I was getting something better for the little more money with the mod in place.

[Guitarman]

Here is what the ICOS chip does.

The CODEFREE ICOS 725 chipset technology provides the best picture quality when watching movies from regions 1,2,3,4,5,6.

So it seems it is giving you region-free playback and enhancing the picture quality while viewing DVD from different regions/formats. Nothing said about being able to record PAL.

Something to remember. Region Codes have little to do with video broadcast standards. They're just a way to track the region a DVD is meant for. Here is a great site with DVD region map and info.
DVD Regional Coding Map and Other Information

These code are independent of Video Broadcast Standards ( PAL - NTSC - SECAM)

Your deck may be able to play, say, a region 5 PAL format DVD but unless the recorder is set to PAL specs and the TV you are using will recognize a PAL signal, the video will be unwatchable.

Put in a Japan region 2 DVD (NTSC) and it will play like a breeze.

This is one of the common misconceptions of have a recorder/player that is region-free and "capable" of PAL playback.

[neftv]

Here is what the ICOS chip does.

The CODEFREE ICOS 725 chipset technology provides the best picture quality when watching movies from regions 1,2,3,4,5,6.

So it seems it is giving you region-free playback and enhancing the picture quality while viewing DVD from different regions/formats. Nothing said about being able to record PAL.

Something to remember. Region Codes have little to do with video broadcast standards. They're just a way to track the region a DVD is meant for. Here is a great site with DVD region map and info.
DVD Regional Coding Map and Other Information

These code are independent of Video Broadcast Standards ( PAL - NTSC - SECAM)

Your deck may be able to play, say, a region 5 PAL format DVD but unless the recorder is set to PAL specs and the TV you are using will recognize a PAL signal, the video will be unwatchable.

Put in a Japan region 2 DVD (NTSC) and it will play like a breeze.

This is one of the common misconceptions of have a recorder/player that is region-free and "capable" of PAL playback.

Thanks for that link. I will read it.
I called the vendor where I purchased my unit from. He told me the tech person is on vacation till Monday but he knew (the guy I was talking to today) the modification has something to do with the Hard drive and that I can play different regions with better quality than if the unit was left as "factory". Also I should be able to get a PAL DVD and play it on my unit on a NTSC tv. It has a Converter. I'm going to wait till Monday to talk to the other tech guy. My other question was about recording in PAL.

[neftv]

Ok tonight I was using more of the Edit features of the LVW-5045.
What I did was extract one commercial promo from a program I recorded. The running time on the promo was about 1min24sec (was recorded in EP originally). In order to do this I have to chapter mark the split second before and after the 1:24 promo. Then I use the Hide Chapter function and hide the chapter before and the chapter after (I probably dont have to do that). Then I use the spilt function and do two splits one before the promo and one right after the promo. Walla I am left with the 1:24 promo. It took a couple of tries to get the edit points right but it worked, probably as I get use to this unit it will be easier and more precise.
Now here is a interesting thing, I took my LP formatted DVD+RW disk which is about half full and I did a copy of the EP recorded 1:24 promo to the DVD and it worked. I reported before that I could not record different speeds on the DVD but today it worked. It's strange but this unit is learning itself or something with what I am getting to do.

[Guitarman]

neftv,

Yes, you can copy or record different formats to the same disc with no problem. What you can't do is take 2 recordings of different formats and merge them. You can only merge clips of the same type.

[seekninfo]

Where can I get one of these machines to purchase in the United States.

Thanks for any suggestions...

[qkholland]

Where can I get one of these machines to purchase in the United States.

This is not an endorsement but just a datapoint. I got mine from www.compuplus.com on Dec 20, 2004. $363 plus shipping.

[marquis6461]

Did some investigation into the manual ant the firmware for the Ilo DVDRH04 and the LVW-5045. Guess what? The manual is almost a page by page copy. There is only few differences. The Ilo refers to the ON Screen Menu and the LVW refers to a Guider.

The firmware breakdown is as follows:

DVDRHD04.............. LVW-4045
Prime Boot........ Same........ Same
POST ................Basic........ Basic +1
Menus................Same....... Same
HDD IO..............IDE (Standard) .... IDE (Extended)
Transfer Prot .... Same....... Same
DVD Driver........ No ID in Firmware ........ Sony Corp



For those that are interested. Used UltraCompare from Ultracompare.com with several toolbox translators to break some of the code down.

Looks like the firmware could go into the DVDRHD04 but it does address some different areas that I am not sure of. Seems to address some controllers differently. Could be the only differences in the build is the vector points and ports for the different board.

[neftv]

I like the unit for what I have used it for so far. Tonight or the next day I will try recording to CD-R for audio.
I wanted to try to see if I can Macro free the unit from the hack someone posted for the unit but I not a programmer and I have not had success with the expert directions given. I need more layman term directions for that. I may just leave it alone.

[D_arkTrooper]

Had my 5045 for about 2 weeks (from eBuyer U.K) and apart from a very slight audio/visual sync problem was generally happy with the machine.
This was until last night when I noticed that the timer record no longer functions.The machine will switch on and go through the "preparing" phase but when the exact time to start the actual recording comes,the machine shuts down.

Anyone else had this happen?

[belder]

There are all carbon copy problems with the Wal-Mart iLO HD04 here in the USA. Their firmware is abysmal. The tuners may as well have not been put in the machines. From reading your posts it looks like the nice stereo tuner in the 5045 is as cheap as the mono one in the HD04...that's a shame.

The lock up is what happened with the last firmware upgrade of the iLO HD04. You would set to record and the next morning it would either work, or the "hello" would be frozen on the display and would have to be unplugged to reboot.

Sorry for the trouble, as I had been hoping this deck would be the one that would be the one that would work.

[Hihu]

Had my 5045 for about 2 weeks (from eBuyer U.K) and apart from a very slight audio/visual sync problem was generally happy with the machine.
This was until last night when I noticed that the timer record no longer functions.The machine will switch on and go through the "preparing" phase but when the exact time to start the actual recording comes,the machine shuts down.

Anyone else had this happen?

I had it after updating firmware to version 191. Most of timer recordings ended up like you said.

I had little email conversation with Liteon support and they thought that recorder was faulty and should be returned back to store. Since I live in Finland and bought recorder from Germany, returning the product would have been quite difficult.

I did some testing and managed to get over the problem by erasing HDD, using the system restore and plugging off the AC cord for 10 minutes.

Since then recorder has been working fine! I don't know what it was that helped but now it works.

[D_arkTrooper]

Ok...thanks for the quick reply.

Will give it a try and see what happens.

One other thing,I noticed the message "Write to fail" appear briefly at the top of the screen when the timer program dies.

Oh and I set up a timer record program using a blank dvd rather than the hard disk and that worked fine as did instant recording straight to the hard drive.


**edit** I tried your little fix and it seems to have worked perfect.Thanks again.