LiteOn LVD-2001 DVD player review.

[mmastriker]

Guys,

I have posted some pages of my review of the LVD-2001 here:

http://www.kitsapcomputers.com/lvd2001.htm
Still working on some more testing but I thought you might enjoy it.

Feedback is welcome. More to come soon as I am still testing it.

MMAStriker.

[henk schuifkaas]

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying this one, but I would like to know if it displays subtitles (*.sub or *.srt) with the divx...

[dun4cheap]

mmastriker, interesting read. Is it possible to put a wireless pcmci card, and play media from a local wireless network from shared drives with this device. Probably pretty far fetched but would be interesting. Maybe the digital projector and this little device would work together very well if this was the case.

[volfan]

Hey, great job on the start to the review! I would like some info on the MP3, JPG, MPG, AVI navigation screens. This sounds like maybe the all-in-one player I'm looking for. If you could snap some shots of that navigation, I can help out with hosting if you need. Thanks again!

[vitualis]

It looks pretty good!

DivX.com has (finally) started a certification program which is just what it needs to get it mainstream. I personally would probably hold off until I see a "DivX Certified" player...

Regards.

[aybesea]

Also, this unit lists as a feature the ability to support NTSC/PAL televisions. Does this mean that I could play a region-free PAL DVD (or SVCD) on this unit and have it display properly on my NTSC television?

[mmastriker]

Thank guys for the comments, at least I know that some people are interested. Keep posting the questions that you may have, that way I will include (if possible) the answers in my review or test the unit on a specific aspect. I recently tested the unit with overburned CD (up to 84Min) so far it has done very well.

MMAStriker.

[rvl123]

How much does this thing go for?

[mmastriker]

"Also, this unit lists as a feature the ability to support NTSC/PAL televisions. Does this mean that I could play a region-free PAL DVD (or SVCD) on this unit and have it display properly on my NTSC television?"

Aybesea,

Absolutely. The LVD-2001 uses the EM8500 chipset which has an integrated PAL/NTSC encoder on board. This means that it can either output a PAL or an NTSC signal to your TV. I have played French DVDs(PAL) on my NTSC TV here in the US without any problems.

Sorry folks, I don't have much time to answer your questions right now, but I have read them all and address them in my review. I plan to open this puppy tonight and see what it got.

Sorry about the delay, a full-time job, a consulting business, a wife and 2 little kids take a big chunk of my "geeky" time.

Thanks for the comments much appreciated.

MMAStriker.

[aybesea]

@mmastriker - thanks very much for the reply! I have one on order.

[EatMoreChickens]

Thanks for compiling such a thorough review and answering our questions.

Where did you get your player? PC Club? How much did you pay? PC Club list the player for $140 plus $15 shipping to my area. They expect the players to ship on July 18.

This question is a bit obscure, but can you test if the Lite-on plays GigaRec discs created by Plextor Premiums? Or the 1.4GB CD-Rs created by OptoRite DD0203 DVD burner.

Can you test if it plays DVD-VCD and DVD-ISOs without resampling the audio 48kHz?

thanks for your time!

[mmastriker]

EatMoreChickens,

I got mine through PC Club, but I did special order it about a week before it was officially available online. I was referred to PC Club by the Sales Manager at LiteOn (very nice people by the way).
I paid mine $139, plus tax and shipping which came up to a total of $157.

I am not 100% sure if the LVD-2001 can handle the CD-R you talked about, but my recent tests with overburning were pretty good. The DVD player inside my LVD-2001 is a Liteon LTD-163 (see the new pages added in my review), so basically anything this dvd rom drive can handle the LVD-2001 should be able to read it.

I have tested VCD, CD-R ISO movies without having to resample the audio and it worked fine. So far, I am really impressed by this player. Some DivX 3.11 (all error free and checked) movies didn't play on the LVD-2001 despite my firmware upgrade, but a quick conversion to DivX 5.05 or 5.02 worked perfectly.

Check out the new pages that I added to my review.
MMAStriker.

[Art99]

I ordered one of these and hope to have it in 10 days or so where I will be happy to answer questions after I fool around with it awhile. I'm buying it mainly to play Divx since I have 2 DVd players already. I've accumulated several divx movies of varying resoulutions made by different software programs & will be curious to see if and how well they play. Also have Dr Divx and made a few with it which are super nice. I'm also curious to see if it might play ogg movies when the extension is changed to .avi . Lastly , it is supposed to play dual audio track divx movies which would be nice to have on some movies so you can also use the directors narrative that is common on many DVD's.

If gone to many site seeking info about the player and nearly every one who own it gives it a thumbs up. Here's hoping I can do the same.

Cheers all

[hk_traveller]

I saw in the review that the package of LVD-2001 includes 2 PCMCIA adapter for various memory cards. Is it the standard accessories bundled offer from PC Club?

Thanks!

[mmastriker]

dun4cheap,

I have got the same exact idea. Installing a wireless PCMCIA card to network the player to my basement file server. However, it would require some serious tweaking of the firmware. I am thinking about starting a LVD-2001 community, maybe we could all work on a new firmware. My C++ skills are pretty rusty but hey why not.

volfan,

Excellent suggestion, as soon as I got the time, I will shot a few more pictures of the menus. Be patient. Thanks!

Art99,

I don't like Dr. DivX as much as VirtualDub. Some of my DivX movies have been screwed up with the audio while encoding it with Dr. DivX. Never have this problem with VirtualDub. As a matter of fact for the LVD-2001 test I have encoded the same rip with 2 different encoders to test the results. VirtualDub is faster and does a better job than Dr. DivX (at least on my machine).

HK_traveller,

So far, it seems like it, although the documentation says that they are optional.

[zeus163]

Holy cow! Kitsap County? I live in Kitsap County.

I was looking into one of these DVD players and to think the reviewer is living right in my neck of the woods.

Keep up the great review!

[mmastriker]

zeus163,

That's correct. I live right next to you if you live in Kitsap County, Washington. Coming originally from France, via Norway, then San Diego California, now Bremerton, Washington. I am not in the woods though... Have you called PCCLub in Tacoma? They might have one of these puppies left.

Folks another great news, I will get the opportunity to test the LVD-2001 with a high definition TV this week-end. We will see how the EM8500 chipset can output its highest resolution with hi-res DivX encoded movies.

Can't wait to do this test.
Feel free to ask any questions.

MMAStriker.

[thayne]

This looks sweet

[hk_traveller]

zeus163,

That's correct. I live right next to you if you live in Kitsap County, Washington. Coming originally from France, via Norway, then San Diego California, now Bremerton, Washington. I am not in the woods though... Have you called PCCLub in Tacoma? They might have one of these puppies left.

Folks another great news, I will get the opportunity to test the LVD-2001 with a high definition TV this week-end. We will see how the EM8500 chipset can output its highest resolution with hi-res DivX encoded movies.

Can't wait to do this test.
Feel free to ask any questions.

MMAStriker.

Hi,

Looking forward to your great review.

I cannot found LVD-2001 in Hong Kong. Maybe I need to order it from PC Club. It is even cheaper than in Taiwan (Taiwan sells at US$200). However I am worry about it is 110V while HK using 220V.

[mmastriker]

HK,

The power supply for the LVD-2001 supports 110V and 220V. If you are going to order it from the USA, you just have to change the power cable. Have you considered ordering it from France or Europe. It is available in France. My best friend who lives in France just bought one.

I am sorry folks my review is lagging, work is eating up my free time. However, I had a quick look at the firmware (ISO busted the NRG image file) and it's based on a Linux OS. You can even change the LiteOn background to yours. The firmware seems to be hackable.

[zeus163]

Hmm...I swear I responded to this earlier and nothing ever showed up.

mmastriker, yes, I live in Kitsap County in Washington, in fact, I live in Bremerton. My parents moved to Silverdale, by way of California, when I was 10.

I live in East Bremerton near Lion's Field.

I'm on vacation right now, but I'll have to check into this when I get back (probably after pay day--you know how vacations are!)

Thanks for the reviews!

[hk_traveller]

HK,

The power supply for the LVD-2001 supports 110V and 220V. If you are going to order it from the USA, you just have to change the power cable. Have you considered ordering it from France or Europe. It is available in France. My best friend who lives in France just bought one.

I am sorry folks my review is lagging, work is eating up my free time. However, I had a quick look at the firmware (ISO busted the NRG image file) and it's based on a Linux OS. You can even change the LiteOn background to yours. The firmware seems to be hackable.

Thanks for your advice. I will check other source of LVD-2001. Yesterday I heard from other friends that it is available in HK now but the price is about US$250.

Wow, the firmware is hackable? It is very strange that your DVD player can have personal logo page when starts up. Maybe someone should try it and show to his friends!

[henk schuifkaas]

Hi,

Looks like this firmware has already been hacked. Download at http://membres.lycos.fr/razorbladeteam/firmware_liteon/ I have no idea what this firmware does, since my french is un petit peu rusty.
Seems this "lecteur de salon" is pretty hot in La France, too bad I don't understand most of what they'ra talking about at the french forums.
Maybe mmastriker could do a little research?

Btw, merci pour le review.

[mmastriker]

Bonjour Henk,

This is not a firmware hack. It was a pre-release of the 0224 firmware, the 0222 beta in fact. I am not sure where they got it from though. I had a close look at the 0224 firmware last night. Good news, it is Linux based (actually a mini-Linux OS) and should be easily hackable for Linux programmers. Adding modules support for IDE hard drives and other components should feasible. As a matter of fact, just for fun, I tried to replace the background image with one of my own, and rebuilt an ISO image of the firmware and re-flash the firmware with it. It didn't work. My firmware was still intact after several infructuous attempts though. If anyone is interested into hacking the LVD-2001 firmware contact me, I might start something. Good Linux programmers wanted. Funny thing is that the firmware has been written by Sigma Designs engineers and not by LiteOn. A good news for us actually, because I believe the code used in the other EM8500 chipset based DVD players is going to be similar.

MMAStriker.

[mmastriker]

BTW, my review has been updated. Refresh/Reload your pages and check my part 6.

MMAStriker.
LVD-2001 Review at Kitsap Computers Website
http://www.kitsapcomputers.com/lvd2001.htm

[Art99]

Excellent job. By far the best review I've read.

[sushix]

The picture of the connectors looks interesting. Any idea what is that for?

[henk schuifkaas]

Allright then, good to see that the subtitles work! What format did you use, *.sub or *.srt?
I've read that it took the KISS a lot of firmware upgrades to get the subtitles right, ie. centered, synchronized, sub and srt.

[hk_traveller]

Allright then, good to see that the subtitles work! What format did you use, *.sub or *.srt?
I've read that it took the KISS a lot of firmware upgrades to get the subtitles right, ie. centered, synchronized, sub and srt.

Subtitle works? So far the review shows that subtitle does not work at this version of firmware.

[henk schuifkaas]

Hmmm, the last page http://www.kitsapcomputers.com/lvd06.htm says:
DivX 5.02 and 5.05:

Passed with mp3 encoded sound at 48000Khz pass. Did not pass with WMA encoded sound.

Passed with 720 x 576 @ 25fps, mp3 encoded sound at 48000Khz using DivX 5.05 codec.

Passed using subtitles and 720 x 576 @ 25fps, mp3 encoded sound at 48000Khz using DivX 5.05 codec

and

Overall a fairly good performance for the LVD-2001. I hope that a new firmware will give a better support for the DivX 3.11 encoded movies but since this codec is dying anyways. Good news, the subtitles seem to be supported at least with the only video I had available using them.

So it does seem to be supporting subtitles. Allthough, this is the first time I've read that they're supported, so I'm very curious what format was used with the one video that used 'em.