LiteOn LVD-2002 DivX/MPEG-4/DVD Player

[Roundabout]

O.K., Give it a try and let me know what happens. I'll check back in later today/tonight and see what you found. Good luck.

[bmwracer]

O.K., Give it a try and let me know what happens. I'll check back in later today/tonight and see what you found. Good luck.

Roundabout:

Got it!!!! Woo hoo!!!

I must've bungled the previous extraction, 'cause I ran the "extract to .mpg" this time and it worked! I got a playable .mpg file, then simply authored it using Nero and a CDRW (just in case), and it plays in my PC, my Sony (it's not finnicky about CDRWs for some odd reason), and the LVD-2002.... Whew.

I still don't know why the original disc was authored that way, unless it was intentional to prevent copying using Nero, CloneCD, etc... Weird.

Riding that wave of confidence, I also managed to re-author that other bad VCD, by just copying the .dat file to disk, and creating a new VCD using Nero... And the new VCD works everywhere as well... What a relief.

Thanks for all your support and great suggestions. Props!!

Mike

[Roundabout]

bmwracer,

Good 'ol ISObuster does it again. Its saved my butt more than one time, I have recovered all kinds of data with it that seemed to be lost. My other fave, WinISO, works equally well.

I'm glad you were able to get your data. The key was when I saw your screenshot of the file structure, there was no doubt that this wasn't a VCD, there was no VCD files there, just data. I should've asked about a screenshot in the first place, so I could have told you sooner. Anyway, now you know what to do in the future if a similar problem crops up, and use ISObuster to look at what's really on the disc, if Explorer can't see it.

Glad to have been of help. Cheers!

Roundabout

[bmwracer]

Anyway, now you know what to do in the future if a similar problem crops up, and use ISObuster to look at what's really on the disc, if Explorer can't see it.

Absolutely. ISObuster looks to be a great tool to always have handy, like a swiss army knife.

[Roundabout]

LVD-2002 is still available at Barrel of Monkeys for $199.95. Seems the price keeps going up on the LVD-2001 and 2002. Apparently both are very popular, and both now discontinued.



Also available at Videos2DVD for $239.00



LVD-2010 is coming out before too long, might be worth it if you want to wait.
See below: Erwincomp will have the LVD-2010 for $198.95 but there aren't any in stock as yet. Contact them if you're interested.

[EatMoreChickens]

The 2010 has a USB port for wireless too? Cool.

[mwick]

Nothing to read about the usb thing on product site.
AND:
The specifications dont mention divx, just xvid:


CONTENT FORMAT SUPPORTED
Top of Page

1.DVD-Video
2.DVD+VR (DVD-Video compatible)
3.Video CD
4.Super VCD
5.Audio CD (CD-DA)
6.MP3,WMA,Ogg,WAV
7.JPEG, GIF, TIF, BMP, PNG
8.AVI file (RMP4, XviD+MP3/AC3 up to 2.5Mbps)
9.MPEG1 (VCD,*.DAT)/MPEG2 (up to 8Mbps) (*.VOB, *.mpg)

VIDEO FORMAT
Top of Page

Digital Compression
MPEG2 for DVD/SVCD
MPEG1 for VCD
MPEG4 (XviD)

So it doesnt play divx ?
Huh ?

m*

[syncmaster108]

Sorry, I don't follow this topic, do you know why LVD-2002 is discontinued?

LVD-2002 is still available at Barrel of Monkeys for $199.95. Seems the price keeps going up on the LVD-2001 and 2002. Apparently both are very popular, and both now discontinued.



Also available at Videos2DVD for $239.00



LVD-2010 is coming out before too long, might be worth it if you want to wait.
See below: Erwincomp will have the LVD-2010 for $198.95 but there aren't any in stock as yet. Contact them if you're interested.

[Roundabout]

Why is it discontinued?

Reason #1: Money

Reason #2: See reason #1

But seriously, they discontinued it because they are coming out with a newer player, the LVD-2010 that has networking capability, and they have decided (for whatever reason) they don't want to make the 2001 or 2002 anymore. Maybe not enough profit margin for them, who knows? The 2010 will retail for about $200.00, the 2001 and 2002 retailed for about $150.00 (MSRP) so the profit margin is higher on the newer unit.

You can still find the previous models on Ebay for around $140.00, or can order new from the websites I mentioned above. If you don't need the networking capability, then the 2001 or 2002 will work fine for you.

Hope that helps.

[sreemv]

And then they will come out with LVD-2020 with Networking and a HD inside for $300 at which point they will discontinue LVD-2010. 6 months later they will introduce LVD-2030 with built-in wireless for $350 and discontinue LVD-2020 and so on and so forth..you get the drift!?

[bmwracer]

And then they will come out with LVD-2020 with Networking and a HD inside for $300 at which point they will discontinue LVD-2010. 6 months later they will introduce LVD-2030 with built-in wireless for $350 and discontinue LVD-2020 and so on and so forth..you get the drift!?

That's probably about right: the life cycle for consumer electronics is very very short... By the time you decide on your gear, it'll be obsolete and you have to start all over again...

[Roundabout]

the life cycle for consumer electronics is very very short...

bmwracer is absolutely right. When I was at Sony, we got new products introduced every six months, sometimes less. The car stereo line had new stuff on average every month, with old models being retired almost before they were even known. It drove me crazy, before I had the time to learn how to fix one, there's an entirely new one coming up. When I started there in the early 80's, there were less than 10 total car stereo models. By the time I left in 2000, there were over 500.

It's not that unusual for manufacturers to release a product then discontinue it shortly thereafter, the only thing that is somewhat unusual here is that they discontinued the previous model before the new one was on the market. No exact release date AFIAK on the 2010, but I think it will be soon, since it's already on a couple of websites.

[sreemv]

Its one thing to get new products out but its another to ignore the products they shipped less than a year ago. LiteOn is not keeping its reputation of supporting older products while they seem to aggressively come out with newer ones every so often.

[Roundabout]

Its one thing to get new products out but its another to ignore the products they shipped less than a year ago.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending them. They promised to keep the players up to date and they haven't kept that promise. Now it's months past the time the new F/W is due, and there is no indication that it will ever come. They probably ran into a snag with the capability of the chipset they use, or some other technical issue. Now they don't know what to do to deliver on the "promise" they made. Of course, that is just a guess, but what other reason could they have for taking so long to come out with updates?

I just hope the new player uses the same chipset, or we're screwed when it comes to updates. In other words, they're saying "the is the best it's gonna get", and that's all. If so, I may not buy LiteOn products in the future, if they don't do what they say they'll do. Not a good idea on their part to default on customer support issues, this travels fast in the tech community (like this forum) and word of mouth can kill future sales.

I'm not happy about their lack of support, either. I'm being patient and waiting, but hopes are fading somewhat because of the time it's taking to see some action.

[Zimdvd]

What they have to understand is that this will affect whether I ever purchase one of their products in the future. I bought the 2002 for its advertised ability for upgrades, and knowing that it currently lacked some basic features I wanted (such as random shuffle on music playback... something any CD player has had sinc the 1980s).

This was their one chance. Next purchase will be from someone else that shows a better track record of support.

Generally I am pleased with the 2002. I hope they earn my continued patronage as a customer.

Mike

[bmwracer]

I'm not happy about their lack of support, either. I'm being patient and waiting, but hopes are fading somewhat because of the time it's taking to see some action.

I'm with you there. Before I got the right answers and help here at this forum, I inquired about some of the minor glitches. All I got was a canned reply blaming my discs as being bad. Bleah.

[Roundabout]

Update:

New firmware released for LVD-2002, not working at this point. Read this thread for more information: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=211966

Hopefully they will fix the problem with the firmware.

I also told them that everyone is very unhappy with this message:



I told them it won't help the sales of their new product, the LVD-2010, when they discontinue support for a product that isn't even 6 months old! They agree with me, and it'll be interesting to see what their response is to this issue of non-support. I know I won't be recommending anyone to buy it in the future if this is how they are going to treat update issues.

It's a really "in your face" message to tell people there will be no more updates, like saying "tough s**t, this is all you're getting!" Now you're stuck with our product and we won't support it anymore. I know that I won't consider buying a product from a company that has no more concern than that for customer issues. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way.

[whoster69]

I agree completely Roundabout and I'll email them and tell the so. Do you have their email address handy?

[boroda]

I agree completely Roundabout and I'll email them and tell the so. Do you have their email address handy?

Their email address is tw_service@liteonit.com . I have also written to them and complained about the discontinuation of service and the non-working firmware "upgrade" for LVD-2002. I am afraid there is not going to be any serious effect unless they start getting a flood of letters from the pissed off customers. I am not even sure their web people can read English very well.

This is the first time I've seen a "final" firmware/software upgrade that refuses to install altogether. Those QA guys at LiteOn must have never tested it, and this is unforgivable for a company which claims to be a hardware manufacturer. Does LiteOn even have a QA? I understand that their engineers are under a lot of pressure to get the new products out there, to compete with the guys who already have the network devices and stable reliable MPEG-4 playback. But even the pita vendors at an Arab souk don't treat their customers with so little respect as to say to their face that all the future problems with the goods are going to be the customer's problems. Shame on them!

[Roundabout]

They have an american website at www.liteonamericas.com - this is where I got the 800# to call them today. Everyone, please call them tomorrow and complain, so they know we aren't happy! It's a free call. I talked to a woman named Tammy. She was very friendly and helpful, but she didn't even know there was a new F/W out. She went and told a supervisor about the problem, and promised to e-mail me when something is known (we'll see if that happens or not). Meanwhile, the more people that call and complain, maybe we'll see some action!!!

Here's the info from the LiteOn website, with e-mails for the American division of the company, and also the 800#'s. BTW, all the e-mail addresses have an underscore _ like this between the letters in the username; i.e. us_service@liteonit.com (in case you decide to e-mail them instead of calling).

[boroda]

Well, I did call the LiteOn's Tech Support. The guy on the other end of the line didn't seem to be aware of any new LVD-2002 firmware posted on their corporate web site. When I explained that there was, he tried to put the blame on antivirus! I told him there was no antivirus running (what a lame excuse, man!). The next step in the chain of "explanations" was that this firmware was not intended for the LVD-2002 boxes sold in the U.S. "You have to use the firmware from the liteonamericas.com, the one at liteonit.com is for European market." Of course, there has been no new firmware posted on the LiteOn's U.S. site... Supposedly the chipset is "slightly different". I tried to explain that when refusing to take the upgrade the player was not bitching about the chipset (If the chipset had been the issue it would have crashed after the upgrade, but probably not refuse to take the Linux OS upgrade altogether). Finally, the Customer Service guy promised to look into it. I really doubt he will, but I did all I could. What can I say...

[Roundabout]

Boroda,

Another day, and still no word from LiteOn. I gave them my e-mail address and told them to contact me asap when they find out something. What they are telling you is total BS, of course. If what they said is true, then the 2001 update on the same website wouldn't have worked to update the 2001's. Obviously, that worked, so why doesn't the 2002 FW work? They just screwed up and didn't even bother to check if it actually upgraded the 0229 FW or not. What a bunch of BS. I'm mad, and everyone else that has one should be too. We waited for months for this and now it doesn't work at all?

Everyone needs to bombard their phone lines with complaints about this. Also the clearly stated fact that they won't support the player anymore means that I have bought my last LiteOn product in this lifetime. I don't expect them to support it forever, but they should at least support it for a year or two until something better comes along. I guess they think we have unlimited funds to buy new stuff and chuck the old stuff in the trash. I plan to tell everyone about this that I know, never to buy their products at all, and anyone who buys the new LVD-2010 is nuts to waste their money on something that won't have upgrades in a month or two. What happens when DivX 6.0 comes out? We're out of luck? Sure looks like it.

I hope everyone that reads this and owns one of their products calls or e-mails them now, while there's still time to get them to change their minds and get some action. For God's sake, at least get the FW that you released to work. What a bunch of idiots.

If I hear from them, I'll be sure to post the e-mail verbatim on here so we can all see what they have to say about screwing us like this.

[Magpye]

I just bought this player a couple of months ago. I've sent them an e-mail telling how this is my first and last liteon product.
So, ok, what is the best divx player out there

[Magpye]

Copy of e-mail sent

Hello: I bought your dvd player only two months ago. And now I find that you will now longer support this player. And to make matters worse, the last firmware update will not work on player.
I will be sure to make this my last Liteon purchase and alert all my pals to ask them to avoid this company.
Here is your firmware linkhttp://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download/2002.htm


Yamaha here I come: Perry Letourneau

[Roundabout]

Magpye,

Good, let's keep it up and keep the pressure on them. Keep calling them too so they know we haven't gone away, and we're not going away until we get some satisfaction. Something tells me we're going to see a spate of 2001's and 2002's on Ebay shortly.

Unfortunately, I don't know what's going to take the place of the 2001/2002 units. I wouldn't even consider the 2010 now unless you gave it to me. No way I'd pay $200 for it when you know it'll be abandoned in no time flat. That's twice what I paid for the 2002, so I wasn't reamed like someone that bought it off Ebay for $150 -200.

Need to start doing some research into other units that are available here in the US, that might have better support. There may not be anything else at the moment that is as easy to find as the 2002. I think during this year we will start seeing units from some major mfgrs that have DivX playback capability. Until then, though, we're out of luck. I don't want to pay over $100 for another player, so the Kiss unit is out. RJ Tech, the jury is still out on that one. AFIAK, there hasn't been any new FW released for it yet, and they're discontinuing models more often than LiteOn - not a good sign.

Beyond that, I don't know what else to do. Let's hope we get some action from LiteOn.

[whoster69]

I have some friends in Europe that bought the Kiss player when it first came out. They didn't like it.

I'm still hopeful we can get LiteOn to change their attitude about this. Otherwise LiteOn will become known for not supporting their products and people will NOT buy their DVD players.

The irony here is that it's the well informed, net savy users that would buy it in the first place. These are the same people who will notice and avoid LiteOn if they don't support their products better. I would suggest to LiteOn that they support their players for a MINUMUM of two years.

Are they open on the weekends? If so, I'll call today.

[whoster69]

I will be posting this at a LOT of sites starting next week to warn others. Here's a copy of the email I sent to LieOn, er LiteOn:

I am a knowledgeable computer user/builder who has used LiteOn’s excellent products for many years. About 5 months ago, I heard LiteOn was making DVD players with upgradeable firmware. Since my experience with your company was excellent I decided to buy one of these players. I’ve owned several DVD-ROM and CD-ROM drives/burners from LiteOn and liked them all. First, I was disappointed when a firmware upgrade was promised and then delayed….again and again. That was the first warning sign. Now a firmware has been released (the first one) and it won’t even work with my player (the LVD-2002). Either there was no beta or your beta test team was so poor that they should be fired. The error is egregiously obvious. The final nail on the coffin is the statement on LiteOn’s site for the firmware upgrades for the LVD-2002 that there will be no more firmware updates. This is totally unacceptable. You promise firmware upgrades, you come out with only one that is months late and it doesn’t even work and then you say there will be no more, all on a player barely 6 months old? This is NOT support. It’s a sham. I will NOT be buying anymore LiteOn products EVER if you do not fix this firmware and agree to support this player for a MINIMUM of two years.

Many people rely on my for computer/electronics purchasing advice. I am now adding your company to my list of companies to AVOID. I will be posting telling everyone I know and posting this story online several places to get the word out that LiteOn is a company that will NOT SUPPORT THEIR PRODUCTS and should be avoided. Already I have stopped three people from buying your products. More will follow soon.

Have you considered changing your name to LieOn? It seems more appropriate and accurate.

There are several people including myself that are looking into forming a class action lawsuit against your company. The way you are treating your loyal customers is shameful.

[fzero]

best email ever.

[Goblin]

I'm suprised it hasn't been mentioned (at least, I got no search results when trying to find it), but the LVD-2002 has a rebadged version over in Japan, called the DVX-200.

One of the benefits of the DVX-200 is that the last firmware update for it, gave it the features of the 0301 firmware for the LVD-2001... and yes, with some monkeying around, I managed to successfully flash it onto my LVD-2002, and get SRT, OGG, and MP3/JPEG folder browsing support.

However, you lose the multilingual support (only getting Japanese and English), the English font sucks and is nigh on unreadable (not a concern for DVD's, but the menus and SRT files for DivX movies are difficult to read), and I haven't noticed any real improvement in the playback of DivX movies. 3.11a still sucks, and DivX 4+/Xvid play back perfectly fine.

Obtaining the updated firmware for the DVX-200 is a Herculean feat of its own unless you speak Japanese, and I doubt I'd be allowed to post my hacked up copy of it on here. I will say this, though... the FLASH.FUF file is where all the magic happens, and as for re-burning the ISO properly, the original instructions with the Liteon firmware tell you how to do that.

Again, it isn't recommended to monkey with this, unless you enjoy wasting money on replacement DVD players.

Could you post your flash.fuf, please? I have the japanese firmware but can't figure out what needs to be changed. If you aren't aware of current events, I suggest you to read other topics. TIA

[EHG]

The following reply was also posted in the thread indicated below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sent the following email on 03/19/04 to LiteON's U.S. subsidiary at both the marketing: marketing_us@litonit.com and support departments: us_service@litonit.com. As of the time of this post there has been no response.

I certainly would not discourage anyone else having difficulties from also contacting them - perhaps it might help.
------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir,

I am sending the following email to your support personnel for obvious reasons. However because of the content I truly believe that it is and should be of concern to your marketing staff and therefore am making a copy available to your department. Whatever action or inaction you decide is appropriate is certainly up to you. I just suggest that you contemplate what I have endeavored to communicate which is substantially more then just a single upset customer over a single LiteOn product.

The following is a verbatim copy of the email sent to your support team at: service_us@litonit.com.

You have recently released a new firmware upgrade (v0.T3.02) to your LVD-2002 stand alone player but it will not upgrade from the previous
v0.T2.29.

The error message I am getting is "Cannot update firmware. Current firmware version is newer than Update CD". However this is not the case, since this is your newest and FINAL firmware release for the LVD-2002 as your website states:

http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download/2002.htm

I am not alone in experiencing this problem. By reading these 2 threads in the DVDRhelp.com forums you will see that there are many owners of the LVD-2002 that are unable to upgrade to this new firmware:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=190398&start=280
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=211966&start=0

In addition you will also find disappointed customers who have the same problem with their 2002 LiteOn units complaining in the DivX Hardware forums at:

http://forums.divx.com/viewtopic.php?topic=57954&forum=21

Truthfully, I find myself incredulous that your company after a substantial delay would release a firmware update, apparently without testing it's viability and efficacy on a consumer version of the product it is suppose to upgrade. If they had done so they certainly would have been aware that this upgrade will not install or least will not install with the information made available to those attempting to do so and would have avoided alienating many customers.

In addition the abbreviated documentation as to this upgrade that is available on your site is anything but informative as to exactly what has been accomplished with the 3.02 firmware upgrade from the previous 0.2.29 firmware.

Having once been in the ACE (Advanced Consumer Electronics) business I fully understand how quickly one product is replaced with another. Nonetheless it is extremely disappointing to find out that you shall no longer support this product when it has been so recently promoted and sold in various retail outlets which carry LiteOn products. I purchased my LVD2002 less than 3 months ago from PC Club. Now I find out that should there be any updates to the various Codecs / Formats that the 2002 supports, no firmware updates will be made available, the only alternative would be to purchase a newer model.

That may be the case but I can assure you that since you apparently believe you can ignore your CUSTOMER BASE and simply discontinue supporting your products within so short a time frame, it will not be a LiteOn product that I replace my 2002 with. Needless to say that although I have been impressed with the quality and price of some of your optical drives I will not be foolish enough to purchase any LiteOn product in the future as long as you maintain this cavalier attitude towards those that purchase your product.

I believe if you take the time to read the comments in the various forums above you will find that is the overwhelming sentiment of what once could have been a secure and ultimately a financially rewarding customer base.

I would strongly suggest that you create some interaction between your Marketing Personnel and your Technical Support Teams. Perhaps they may both learn some lessons. Would it not be a wise thing to coordinate such things as firmware upgrades between your U.S. Company and the Parent Company? Comments in the forums indicated above by those that have contacted representatives in your U.S. operation, indicate that your U.S. subsidiary was not even aware of the firmware upgrade until they received complaints from customers!

Alienate enough customers, destroy any goodwill you have built up and you may find that regardless of price point or promotions you have shelf's of unsold products. Retail outlets do not want the aggravation nor the bother of hearing THEIR customers complaints and they certainly will not be willing to risk THEIR customers good will by carrying the product of any manufacturer that alienates the carefully cultivated goodwill of their customers.

In today's competitive electronic marketplace you have little time to learn your lessons LiteON for if you don't there shall be no such entity.

Recently I left an honest but for the most part GOOD review of the LVD2002 on the DivX Hardware forum to the point of chastising the DivX organization for certifying the inferior Polaroid product while claiming that they are attempting to have you pull the DivX certification from your obviously superior product (when compared to the Polaroid). In addition I also was going to recommend your product line to friends looking for a DivX capable home player. I no longer feel I am able to do so.

I would like to be advised when a FIXED version of v0.T3.02 firmware for the LVD-2002 will be available. Certainly should you change any of your policies about product support I would then be willing to reexamine my attitude towards LiteOn Products.

I wish you success in your companies endeavors and hope that you do not end up in the near future wondering what could have been, if you had done certain things differently.

Sincerely,
my name
my return email address