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

[Roundabout]

LisaB,

In my own case, I only use the 2002 for viewing DivX encoded files, not even for DVD's at all. So I couldn't care less about upscaling, though I realize there are some people that do. I'm watching on a 20" Sharp TV that looks just as good (or bad) with any disc. I think most that bought this player bought it for the DivX compatibility and use it mainly for that purpose, otherwise they could've bought a bigger name-brand player for less that has more features, except play DivX.

On another note: I'm a happy camper today, I got my $30.00 rebate, finally!!!

So I paid $99.99 for this player and I have no complaints about it, for the price I paid. I think others that bought around the same time I did that bought it from PC Club should be getting their rebates soon.

Now if LiteOn would just get their act together and get that damn 0301 F/W update done and released...

[absolutic]

I disagree with Lisa, the upscale 1080i picture on my HDTV through Liteon 2001 is superb. I have a HDTV box connected and can quickly switch between the true HDTV and upscaled 1080i on the LITEON 2001. Obviously you won't get as good a picture as true HDTV. However, I get an entirely different picture when press 1080i (as oppose to 480p) button. It has very deep colors, better blacks, and overall reminds me of a "film-like" picture; one you would see at a theater. When changing to 480p, the picture is more "video-like". You can check the www.avsforum.com players threads for discussion on upconversion by different players. Bottom line it depends on the scaler. I think 2001 has a damn good one. BTW a lot of movies on Showtime HD channel are upconverted 1080i films. You have to see the upconverted picture on Liteon 2001 (1080i) truly to understand what I am saying - the picture is stunning.

Additionally, as I stated before, Liteon 2001 goes for 250$-300 on ebay. Liteon 2002 goes for 119$. People are not idiots and they would not pay 3 times the price for a feature, unless the feature was THAT good.

Finally, I do agree with Roundabout that the main reason for buying this player was its compatibility with playing DIVX and XVID. The upconversion is a nice bonus.

[Ryu69]

hi, just wondering what the firmware version is for the 2002 out of the box? i am asking this because they have 0229 version on their webpage, but i heard it is 0229 out of the box. why would they have it on their webpage if it is the same version of the box? any help will be great, thanks

[absolutic]

I think my friends that purchased 2002s in late Dec 2003 had 0229 firmware out of the box.

[Macfixer01]

You have to see the upconverted picture on Liteon 2001 (1080i) truly to understand what I am saying - the picture is stunning.

Additionally, as I stated before, Liteon 2001 goes for 250$-300 on ebay. Liteon 2002 goes for 119$. People are not idiots and they would not pay 3 times the price for a feature, unless the feature was THAT good.

Man, you've got to be kidding, the LVD2001 goes for $250 - $300 on eBay? I should buy a LVD2002 and re-sell my LVD2001. I don't use the PCMCIA slot and don't have a HDTV either. Of course I'd need to figure out how to downgrade it from that buggy beta 3.01 firmware first.

Better yet I could switch to a different manufacturer. One who actually provides the updates they promised, and doesn't put all their effort instead into releasing new models they can abandon on a whim. One who doesn't obsolete two models in less than a year!

Macfixer01

[Roundabout]

Man, you've got to be kidding, the LVD2001 goes for $250 - $300 on eBay?

They might be asking that much, but who knows if they get that price? I just checked on eBay to see what's available.


Note that the one for $199.99 has no bids. The other one only has three. Looks like the true price will wind up being somewhere between the $117.00 on the one has bidding and the one for $199.99 that has no bids. Realistically, maybe it'll sell for $150.00 ~ $175.00, should you wish to sell yours. If I'm not mistaken, this is close to what it sold for new, around $150.00.

Then the 2002 prices:

The 2002 is going for $109.00 ~ $110.00 + Shipping (shipping cost is pretty high - $25.00, meaning they are making up for the lower price in added shipping rip-off costs).

[Macfixer01]

Man, you've got to be kidding, the LVD2001 goes for $250 - $300 on eBay?

They might be asking that much, but who knows if they get that price? I just checked on eBay to see what's available.


Note that the one for $199.99 has no bids. The other one only has three. Looks like the true price will wind up being somewhere between the $117.00 on the one has bidding and the one for $199.99 that has no bids. Realistically, maybe it'll sell for $150.00 ~ $175.00, should you wish to sell yours. If I'm not mistaken, this is close to what it sold for new, around $150.00.

Yes, I paid $149.99 for my LVD-2001 from PC Club back in mid September when I got it. If you check the closed auctions on eBay, they actually are going for between $200 and $300 and some even higher. Of course the most expensive ones are those that are new and un-used. Really though I doubt I have even 20 hours playing time on this one. I travel too much for work to be home watching tv.

Leo

[alex2004]

Hello,
It is about AVI files played by lvd-2002.
I tried several AVI files downloaded from the web. The player read them without a problem. Then I captured some home video with Pinnacle Studio 8 as AVI files with the highest quality, burned them with Nero. The player can list the files, but doesn't play them. The message is smth about wrong audio/video format.
Any ideas please?
Thanks in advance. Alexander

[syphon00]

you might want to use to GSPOT to figure what kind of audio/video codec is used in your homemade AVI cuz it may not be supported by the player

[FulciLives]

you might want to use to GSPOT to figure what kind of audio/video codec is used in your homemade AVI cuz it may not be supported by the player

Exactly!

AVI can be any number of codecs. It can be DivX or Xvid or DV or MJPEG or HuffyUV etc.

So when we say the LiteOn does AVI we are talking about MPEG-4 i.e., DivX and Xvid mostly.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Roundabout]

alex2004,

Since you encoded this, you should know what bitrate you used for Video and Audio. For DivX, if you keep it around 900 ~ 1200 Kb/s for video and use 44.1/48Khz 128Kb/s CBR MP3 audio, the player should have no problem playing them.

Outside those basic parameters, there may be some question about whether or not the player is capable of playing the files. "Absolutic" noted that there is a test disc you can download and check out your player (thanks, absolutic), here is the link: Test CD

Like the previous posters said, you can use Gspot to find out what the file parameters are of the videos you made, if you can't remember. If they are far outside of the specs I mentioned, this could be the reason why they won't play on your player. Do they play on your PC?

[alex2004]

Thanks a lot for your replies. It could not occur to me the issue was that complicated. Now I'm studying aIl these bit rates, etc. I also plan to ask Lite-on about it. Whatever I have I'll share with you. And BTW I can play home made AVI files on my computer without any problem.
Thanks again. Alexander

[TLG-Jaymz]

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.

[whoster69]

How can I tell the my LVD-2002 is operating in progressive scan mode?

[absolutic]

Man, you've got to be kidding, the LVD2001 goes for $250 - $300 on eBay?

They might be asking that much, but who knows if they get that price? I just checked on eBay to see what's available.


Note that the one for $199.99 has no bids. The other one only has three. Looks like the true price will wind up being somewhere between the $117.00 on the one has bidding and the one for $199.99 that has no bids. Realistically, maybe it'll sell for $150.00 ~ $175.00, should you wish to sell yours. If I'm not mistaken, this is close to what it sold for new, around $150.00.

Then the 2002 prices:

The 2002 is going for $109.00 ~ $110.00 + Shipping (shipping cost is pretty high - $25.00, meaning they are making up for the lower price in added shipping rip-off costs).

Ok Lets see.....an update....
That Liteon 2001 on ebay is now at 181$ with almost 3 days to go and you know everyone bids at the last moment on ebay.... I bet it sells for well into high 200$ or even $300.

[lucky777]

Ok Lets see.....an update....
That Liteon 2001 on ebay is now at 181$ with almost 3 days to go and you know everyone bids at the last moment on ebay.... I bet it sells for well into high 200$ or even $300.

You can easily see what it sells for on ebay looking at "completed items". Most of these palyers were recently sold for arround $285. You also can find one completed auction when seller canceled all the bids and decided to keep player for himself, funny...

[boroda]

Are you guys trying to tell us that LVD-2001 is so hot because it sells for a lot of money on eBay? Well, I agree, if it makes you feel better, you made the right choice when you went for the 2001 model.

Let me be clear: the advantages of the LVD-2001 over LVD-2002 are totally insignificant for the 98% of the users. Definitely not worth the $200 price difference. The remaining two per cent, however, may be ready to pay big bucks for the privilege of having this discontinued item so the could watch their DivX copies on cool big screen TVs. So be it. Put it this way: if I could afford a $6,000 TV, I would not be bothered with LiteOn at all. I would go for some better brand name, probably made in Germany or Japan.

Both 2001 and 2002 have so many problems and issues with MPEG4 playback (which is the feature I was looking for when I bought my player) that having the ability to upscale to 1080i doesn't seem like the issue to concern myself with. And I am sure the new firmware release (if it ever comes) is not going to resolve too many of the MPEG4 problems. I hope it doesn't break too many things, that's all.

BTW, the best way to make money on eBay is to sell a discontinued cult item. One can make good money by selling Fisher-Price Safe Embrace carseats, REB1100 ebooks, and other stuff that has a following but doesn't make enough money for the manufacturer. In the hindsight, if we were smart, we would have filled our garages with boxes of LVD-2001, and we would be selling them at 100% profit right now. Does it mean the overprices and hard to find item is really better than anything out there? Of course not! It's just some of us "must have it", because they cannot live without the feature, for which the rest of us would not pay 5 cents.

[lucky777]

I more then agree with you on that. It doesn't make sense to pay $200 for something you never use. From the other hand why even spend $100 -$130 for LVD 2002 if you can watch movies on the computer screen? I think 99.9999% of people reading this forum have a PC with ability to play DivX and DVD but already bought or looking to buy inferior LiteOn player. It is also hard for me to justify people "wasting" money on outrageously expensive audio/video components. People do what they want to do. You really need to look at 1080i picture produced by LVD 2001 on big screen HDTV set when you play DVDs. It is just outstanding...

if you don't have LVD 2001 handy then just follow this link to read more on 1080i upscaling http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?pagenumber=14&threadid=161596

[absolutic]

Mr. s borodoi and Mr. Lucky!

I own the Liteon 2001 and when I was buying it in Nov 2003 for 89$ after rebate from PC Club I was not thinking about upscaling. I was just thinking of a player that can play divx files. I already had 4 dvd players one of them a wonderful progressive scan jvc player. Now once I discovered the 1080i upconversion feature I was hooked because I noticed so much difference and such deeper blacks on my HDTV-ready tv. Would I pay the 200$ difference for that feature? Not really. I already had HDTV over the air for a couple of years.

I've noticed that another "cult" dvd player is Panasonic RP82 with Faroudja scaler. It has been discontinued but is still sold on sites like ecost etc... and people are actually in line to get these (the item discontinued 2 years ago).

What happened to the Liteon 2001? Well, a number of people including myself, had bought HDTV-ready tvs between 1999 and 2003. These tvs did not include the DVI/HDMI input. Starting late 2003, The TV manufacturers started to include DVI and in 2004 HDMI digital inputs. Also in 2003 you could buy a DVD player that would upscale over the DVI.

The problem is that all these people that bought their tvs between 1999 to 2003 and paid $$$ have missed out on DVI. And you cannot upgrade your TV to install DVI. So you are stuck listening to all these lucky people that just got their HDTV with DVI and enjoying the picture from a DVI dvd player. The picture is of course great because you have digital out to digital in without any conversion. Getting an item like LITEON 2001 which can upconvert over the component outputs is like "consolation prize" for people that dont have DVI. Sorry for long post.

[LisaB]

Many of the new HDTV's that are currently being sold have built-in 1080i upscaling, and this will soon become pretty much standard. The advantage of having 1080i upscaling in the DVD player is only useful for those with old or lower-tier HDTV's.

[lucky777]

Many of the new HDTV's that are currently being sold have built-in 1080i upscaling, and this will soon become pretty much standard. The advantage of having 1080i upscaling in the DVD player is only useful for those with old or lower-tier HDTV's.

TV upscaling is completely different feature then 1080i upconversion done by the LiteOn Player

[Gazorgan]

If it can't handle bitrates in the 2500 range then it's useless. Come on folks, let's get away from the 1 movie per CDR mentality!!! You want HD AVI's then you are looking at 2-3 GB per movie (not that you can find a source of HD content anywhere). DVD Quality AVI is 1200-2000 MB/movie, not 700 MB.

[absolutic]

wait wait....did anyone actually check and confirm that it DOES NOT play 2GB+ files? I've copied 4.4 GB movies (MPEG2) and it played it flawlessly....and I've copied multiple MPEG4 files on single dvds but never a 2GB MPEG4 continuous file.

[whoster69]

Geez....

I tried to ask a question about my 2002 and in jumps yet another person that wants to rant about how the 2001 is better. I don't care if it does/doesn't sell for more on ebay. A lot of stuff sells for more on ebay. I don't care if the 2001/2002 is better. Doesn't matter to me in the slightest.

But, can someone answer my question please?

How do you tell on a 2002 if you're in Progressive Scan mode or not?

[Roundabout]

Whoster,

I don't use the progressive scan function, but I think all you have to do is press the P-Scan button until it shows on your screen the mode you want; in this case it's 480p. Each time you press the P-Scan button it will cycle through the different settings. NTSC CVBS&Y/C > NTSC CVBS&Y,Pb,Pr > PAL CVBS&Y/C > PAL CVBS&Y,Pb,Pr > SCART PAL (may not be on NTSC units) > 480p > repeats the first option and cycles through.

You have to have a TV capable of Progressive Scan, and connect to the Y,Pb,PR jacks on the back to use this feature. Don't use the Composite Output (yellow jack).

That's as much as I know about it. When you are cycling through the modes, it also shows on the display on the unit for a short while what mode it is in.

Hope that helps a little, I'm not an expert on these functions of the unit, since I'm using a small TV to watch DivX discs on. :P

[whoster69]

Whoster,

I don't use the progressive scan function, but I think all you have to do is press the P-Scan button until it shows on your screen the mode you want; in this case it's 480p. Each time you press the P-Scan button it will cycle through the different settings. NTSC CVBS&Y/C > NTSC CVBS&Y,Pb,Pr > PAL CVBS&Y/C > PAL CVBS&Y,Pb,Pr > SCART PAL (may not be on NTSC units) > 480p > repeats the first option and cycles through.

You have to have a TV capable of Progressive Scan, and connect to the Y,Pb,PR jacks on the back to use this feature. Don't use the Composite Output (yellow jack).

That's as much as I know about it. When you are cycling through the modes, it also shows on the display on the unit for a short while what mode it is in.

Hope that helps a little, I'm not an expert on these functions of the unit, since I'm using a small TV to watch DivX discs on. :P

Thanks for the info. That does help some. I've cycled through the modes and 480p doesn't work. I've not using the component jacks (I've ordered some). I'm using an S-Video jack. Do I have to have component jacks for Progressive scan to work? My TV, a JVC AV-36F704, is supposed to support progressive scan.

Weird....

Thanks for the help though!
Thanks again for the help!

[jolo]

Roundabout,

I find it rather humorous how so many people focus on little things that are not perfect rather than the positive features that are enormous on the LVD-2001 or LVD-2002.

First of all, there is absolutely no problems playing encoded 5.1.1 or 5.06 videos. They play fantastic.
But it also plays VCD great and plays SVCD and it plays MPEG files and it play xvid and everything I throw at it. I now longer convert my MPEGs to VCD or SVCD. I just do data copies with Nero.

Oh yes, it plays DVDs great, does a fantastic job of playing both NTSC and PAL without any problems with quality loss.

It does progressive scanning.

It has the latest if video and audio ports and the quality of standard DVDs are fabulous.

For those who whine about 3.11, a codec that is SEVERAL YEARS OLD, just convert them. There are several tools. and I have heard that it is playing most of them, but not all of them.

I have written to Lite-on and asked them for forget about worrying about old codecs, but please focus on what is new and coming down the pike. Let their R&D focus on newer codecs and let the golden oldies convert theirs and it will work great.

It is about a perfect a DVD player as there is, there are some tweaks that I would like which are very minor. But for one hundred bucks, show me a player for twice that price that is as flexible on playing high quality formats of all the types mentioned.

Let's talk about the positives.

One more thing, I use Dr. Divx, which is coming along, not perfect, but it is not true that you are stuck with what Dr. Divx's auto settings are. You can change just about any setting. Look at the advanced features documentation.

[Roundabout]

jolo,

I don't have any big complaints about the unit. I'm very happy with the hundred bucks I spent on it. I use it everyday and while it isn't perfect, it works on most discs I have. Probably the single biggest problem with it, isn't really a problem per se, but it's still an annoyance. Anytime I get a DivX file - doesn't matter if it's 3.11, 4, 5.01, or 5.1.1, whatever - and it uses low bitrate VBR audio (below 75 kb/s or thereabouts), it refuses to play the disc at all. It recognizes the disc, seems like it wants to start playing, but just sits there. I finally have to power it off, sometimes it locks up and won't stop. Other times I have to pull the power plug and reset it. Since people out there don't think, they make the DivX files with the VBR audio and it causes the player fits.

I've had quite a few DivX 3.11 files that play fine, a few that won't play at all. That's not really a priority for me, but the ability to play VBR audio properly is a big thing that needs to be corrected. Lots of people like to use VBR because it saves space on the disc for higher bitrate video, but at the cost of DivX players not being able to play them. So I hope LiteOn addresses this issue in the next F/W.

I am aware Dr.DivX has settings, I mentioned that earlier to someone who thought you were stuck with the preset templates. It's an easy to use program that is user friendly, that's why they designed it to have the simple presets, so there isn't much chance for screwups. But if you're a mind to, you can change plenty of settings to achieve the type of DivX file you need. I recommend it to everyone.

I think your post is more directed at others who complain that the player isn't perfect, unfortunately, nothing is. Hopefully they will be able to improve some on the performance, but if it doesn't get much better, I'm happy with it the way it is.

[Roundabout]

I've not using the component jacks (I've ordered some). I'm using an S-Video jack. Do I have to have component jacks for Progressive scan to work?

Since I'm not using that function, I can't tell you for sure. But according to the OM, you have to use the component output to get the Progressive Scan to work properly. It doesn't say if you can use the S-video out, so I'll assume that it won't work out of the S-video plug. Let us know when you get your cables and find out for sure, that'll answer that question for others who might want to use this feature.

[whoster69]

I've not using the component jacks (I've ordered some). I'm using an S-Video jack. Do I have to have component jacks for Progressive scan to work?

Since I'm not using that function, I can't tell you for sure. But according to the OM, you have to use the component output to get the Progressive Scan to work properly. It doesn't say if you can use the S-video out, so I'll assume that it won't work out of the S-video plug. Let us know when you get your cables and find out for sure, that'll answer that question for others who might want to use this feature.

Will do. I looked in the owners manual but somehow missed this. It's not that long of a manual either LOL!

Thanks again for the help!

Anyone know if there are codes for the LiteOn DVD Players so I can use my TV remote to control it? I tried all the possible ones listed for other brands, but none worked...