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

[Roundabout]

PC Club has the LiteOn LVD-2002 for $99.99 (after rebate) this week and can be purchased online or in one of their many retail stores. Lowest priced DivX player out there right now. Plays DviX/Xvid/MPEG-4 as well as DVD/VCD/SVCD/MP3/JPEG discs. Converts PAL to NTSC and NTSC to PAL flawlessly. Progressive Scan / Component Video Output, DTS. Works on 110/220 volts, 50/60 Hz. Has hack available to make it Region Free and Macrovision free.

Direct link to unit details at PC Club click here:
http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1546968#

Update 12/17/03: This rebate has expired, so I removed the price from the subject header and modified this post. I will keep checking to see if they offer it again or lower the price of the unit. Meanwhile, it can be purchased at www.mypcgoodies.com or www.newegg.com without rebates, for a reasonable price with free shipping.


Photo of LiteOn LVD-2002

[Robert Simandl]

Quick question about this player's MPEG-4 capabilities....

Will it also play MPEG-4 files encoded with the Xvid or Microsoft MPEG-4 codecs, or is it strictly Divx-only?

Thanks...

[mrsoul1952]

Quick question about this player's MPEG-4 capabilities....

Will it also play MPEG-4 files encoded with the Xvid or Microsoft MPEG-4 codecs, or is it strictly Divx-only?

I have the LVD 2001 and it definitely plays the Xvid.

[Roundabout]

This is the lowest priced DivX/Xvid/MPEG-4 player out there that I know of. Even the cheapo "RJtech" units available on Ebay are $119.00 + shipping, so I don't think this price can be beat (right now). I'm sure that other mfgr's will be lowering their price after Xmas to try and pick up market share, and most likely some of the major mfgr's (Tohsiba, JVC, Sony) will be releasing a DivX player to prop up sagging sales.
Meanwhile, if you need a player right now, this seems to be a pretty good price for what it does, and it can be made Region-free and Macrovision free through menus.

[whoster69]

I checked their web site and saw nothing about a $10 discount (though the price is listed as $129.99) and nothing about a rebate. Do you know where we can get the rebate forms?

Here's the link: http://www.pcclub.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A1546968#

Thanks.

[Roundabout]

I just bought one of these last night, so I'll update this information as I have time to post answers to any questions to whatever you want to know. Meanwhile, the rebate form is available at the store where you bought the unit from, when I got the unit they gave me a copy of it. The coupon you see posted above was accepted for the $10.00 off the $139.99 price, then the $30.00 rebate applies making the final cost $99.99.

[whoster69]

I just bought one of these last night, so I'll update this information as I have time to post answers to any questions to whatever you want to know. Meanwhile, the rebate form is available at the store where you bought the unit from, when I got the unit they gave me a copy of it. The coupon you see posted above was accepted for the $10.00 off the $139.99 price, then the $30.00 rebate applies making the final cost $99.99.

So we have to go to the store to get the rebate eh? That's too bad. I'm nowhere near one...

[Roundabout]

There is a link for the rebate online:
http://www.pcclub.com/promo/stuff/rebates/a1546967.pdf

However, I can't get the link to work right now, maybe they are having server problems.
If you need the rebate, I can scan the one I have and e-mail it to you, I haven't written on the form as yet. Let me know if you need a copy. It doesn't say anywhere on the form that it needs to be an original form, so a copy should be acceptable.

[Robert Simandl]

The link worked fine for me, but the coupon specifically states the LVD-2001, even though the ad that started this thread states there's a rebate on the 2002...

Is there a coupon for the $30 rebate on the 2002 somewhere? Thanks...

[Stas]

About the question of Xvid capabilities:

LVD-2002 has several diferences with LVD-2001. One of them was reported - it has no card reader. Most important is that 2002 model has a DTS audio digital output (2001 was only 2ch).

LVD-2002 plays with perfect quality all formats of DVD/VCD/SVCD with all kind of -+R/-+RW media and all audio formats. This makes it one of the best standalone DVD-Players. It supports perfect Xvid, Divx4,5 with MP3, MP2, AC3, etc. audio. But...

It has no yet support for external subtitles.
When playing DIV3 there is no sound and the picture freezes after several minutes.
The menu when playing MP3 audio files supports long filenames and the sound quality is very good - the only problem is that I couldn't exit from this menu...!

We are expecting for new firmware from LiteOn, and the player will become the best DVD/DIVX standalone.

Excuse me for my English. I hope I was useful with Info.

[Roundabout]

Is there a coupon for the $30 rebate on the 2002 somewhere? Thanks...

Sorry, since I couldn't check it myself, I didn't know that was for the 2001 unit. I asked the guy yesterday at the store where he got the rebate form from (he gave me a printout of it, not an original) he just said "I printed off the PC in the back". So all I can tell you is that I can e-mail you a copy if you want, because I don't know of any other links for it. I'll have to fire up my scanner and get it copied. Just post a message or PM me and I'll send you a copy. Don't know if the resolution will be great, but it should be readable (he gave me one from a laser printer).
This is definitely for the 2002, it states that right in the list of rebate products along with a couple of DVD burners and CD/RW burners.

[Robert Simandl]

Hi Roundabout,

Seeing as how I've now searched the pcclub.com web site from one end to the other and can't find the rebate coupon to save my life, the PM is on the way. Thanks!

[Roundabout]

Hi Robert, Rebate form is on it's way to you now. Took me a little while to get the scanner going. Let me know if it's OK.

Anyone else needs the form, just PM me and I'll be glad to send you one.

[whoster69]

One other thing I noticed about the online rebate form. It's only good until the 16th of November.

Thanks for all the help/posts.

[Roundabout]

whoster69,
I sent you the rebate form tonight, should be in your e-mail now. This rebate is from 11/28/03 - 12/13/03 and is the definitely the correct one for this unit.
Cheers.
Roundabout

[astroruben]

Wow!

Can it play PAL divx5 files on American (NTSC) TV?

[whoster69]

whoster69,
I sent you the rebate form tonight, should be in your e-mail now. This rebate is from 11/28 - 12/5 and is the correct one for this unit.
Cheers.
Roundabout

Got it! Thank you!

[Roundabout]

@ Astroruben:

Yes, this player will definitely play PAL video discs on NTSC TV's, in fact a lot of the discs I have are PAL and this was a necessary feature for me. This unit will work anywhere in the world, 110/220 v, 50/60 Hz - Converts PAL to NTSC and NTSC to PAL, plays Divx/Xvid, VCD, SVCD, DVD, and every possible variant of same (MP3, JPEG, etc.)
As close to perfect player that is on the market right now, and the lowest price right now.
I mainly bought it to play DivX, because a lot of movies I have are Russian movies for my wife, they are all DivX and PAL format, and I had to have something that would play them without hassling with converting them all to NTSC on the PC and re-burning them to VCD's. Usually it would take hours to convert and then have to use two CD's to fit one movie, now it's all on one disc in high quality with no hassle at all.
The player plays DivX 4.xx and 5.xx perfectly, has a little trouble with the older DivX 3 discs but that's something they are working on. Since most people are using the newer DivX 5.1 variant, that's really not a problem anyway. If I have to, I can use Dr.DivX to change the DivX 3 to DivX 5 anyway (the few that are in that format).
So far I'm very happy with this unit, especially for the price.
I think about all the hours I'm gonna save when I had to do all those conversions...this is really worth it.
This is a must-have unit if you have DivX/Xvid/MPEG-4 discs to play. And you never have to worry about whether they are PAL or NTSC, just stick it in and it plays. Also you can make this unit region free and macrovision free, icing on the cake. I'd recommend this player to anyone without hesitation.
(Disclaimer: I do not work for LiteOn or PC Club. But I like this player a lot!)

[astroruben]

To Roundabout:

Thanks!!

That is exactly what I 'm looking it for, playing Russian (PAL) divx movies on NTSC TV without having to convert to DVDR (what will be much better than VHS but still not "true" DVD quality) but also spending so much time with PAL=>NTSC convertions.
Just to clarify, are all the LVD-2002 being sold have build-in PAL=>NTSC converter?

P.S. If you need any info on where to get Russian movies in divx, let me know.

[Roundabout]

Astroruben,

Yes, the unit definitely will convert PAL to NTSC (actually, even my Daewoo DVD-S150 would do that without problem, but it wouldn't play DivX, of course). That's why I said this comes as close to being a perfect player as anything out there, especially when you consider the price. There is the Kiss unit, the RJTech unit, the Neuston unit, and maybe a smattering of others available, but this is the lowest price one out there and it works.
If anyone has had their eye on one of these, this is the time to get it, while there is a rebate and it's $30.00 cheaper. There's still a few days yet to get one with a rebate, and as I mentioned earlier, I'd be happy to e-mail anyone a copy of the rebate form, as it appears PC Club has dropped the ball on posting the form online.
I want to do a full review of the unit next week and give more information, as there isn't a lot of info out there yet - the unit is still pretty new and not a lot of people have them. The build and quality look excellent to me, runs quiet, and does what it says it will do.
I'll probably need to download and flash the firmware (project for tomorrow) and see if the DivX 3 compatibility improves some. But all the other discs I've tried have worked flawlessly. I even had a Alla Pugacheva (Russian singer, you might know who she is) music/video/jpeg disc that I burned and it refused to play on both of my PC's. I was shocked when I put it in the LiteOn and it came up with a menu for selection of the three things (play JPEG, play MPEG, play MP3). I couldn't believe it played all of it perfectly! And my PC's wouldn't even recognize the disc, let alone play it!
I'm very impressed with this player so far, and I have a lot of discs that I want to test in it yet. Wife is Russian, so she absolutely LOVES this unit for it's capability of playing all the discs from overseas.
It's been said before, but I have to repeat, if it's round and shiny, this player will play it - and you can be anywhere in the world when you do it, as long as you have power and a TV of any kind, this is going to work. It doesn't care about voltage, TV system, region, type of disc...it just plays it. And does it well.
I'm sending you a PM about the other subject (Russian DivX discs) because others may not be interested in that subject.
Thanks for your reply!

Roundabout

[Roundabout]

@ astroruben,

New PM sent to you now. Unit is playing perfectly right now. Found the Zoom function is great if the picture doesn't fill the screen, you can use the zoom to any size vertically and horizontally to suit your taste. Great when some letterboxing goes off the edge of the screen, or aspect ratio doesn't look the way it should.

[Macfixer01]

@ Astroruben:

The player plays DivX 4.xx and 5.xx perfectly, has a little trouble with the older DivX 3 discs but that's something they are working on. Since most people are using the newer DivX 5.1 variant, that's really not a problem anyway. If I have to, I can use Dr.DivX to change the DivX 3 to DivX 5 anyway (the few that are in that format).
So far I'm very happy with this unit, especially for the price.

Have you actually played any divx 5.1 encoded divx files on it? I re-encoded a movie with the 5.1 Macintosh software and it won't play it on the LVD-2001. It doesn't even seem to recognize it as a divx file, the filename just sort of flickers on the screen. Neither of two CD's I made plays on the Liteon but both discs work on both the Macintosh and on a Toshiba laptop I use for work.

I asked this question in another thread and got no replies from anyone actually using 5.1, just a mention that Doctor Divx or another PC program he mentioned should work. I prefer to work on the Mac since the laptop belongs to my company and I can't load it up with a bunch of junk.

Thanks,
Macfixer01

[Roundabout]

I'll have to get back to you on that, because I need to go out now. Sometime later tonight or by tomorrow I'll be able to verify exactly what will play. I have a lot of discs with different encoding to check out. Sorry I can't tell you right now, but I'll try to answer by tomorrow. So far, it has played everything I've tried, so we'll see.

[Stas]

The player is perfect, but for those which want to watch russian divx - don't forget you couldn't load any subtitles right now. And anything else - there is no any firmware update right now (not yet).

The player is not newer model of LVD-2001 - it is different. This one has no card reader, but it is DTS compliant (not only 2ch digital output like LVD-2001). LiteOn still offer both models and LVD-2002 is cheaper!

[astroruben]

Well, Lite-On promises to have new firmware with subtitle support

From their site http://www.liteonit.com/DC/english/q&a.htm:
When do you release a better firmware to resolve the problem of playing Divx movies? TOP

We're sorry that the break through of Divx 3.11?V224 isn't good as practically applied. The pity is that even the new firmware can not cover or recover it totally. But we will go on trying the best to make it as good as possible!
There will be another version in earlier Nov, in the support for subtitle of *.srt. and audio format with *.ogg. also for folder function and improvement of Divx movies. Now it?s under the final reliability test by QA team. Would you please visit our website for the official release at
http://www.liteonit.com.tw/DC/english/csd.htm

[Roundabout]

In case you are not able to find one of these players at PC Club (or if they run out of them) you can order the unit also for $109.00 from mypcgoodies.com, click here for direct link:

http://www.mypcgoodies.com/mypcg/details.asp?item=LT33501R

However, the $30.00 rebate will not apply to purchases from this website, that is a PC Club exclusive rebate. If you don't like dealing with rebates, you might want to consider this option.

[Vegeta_RVPPC]

Is it Progressive Scan?

[Roundabout]

Is it Progressive Scan?

Yes, see my first post above. It has Progressive Scan (480p) and Component Video Output/S Video out/Composite video out. It also supports DTS (Digital Theater Sound) with coaxial and optical output (to go to digital receivers).


From the owner's manual

[Vegeta_RVPPC]

lol, I just got my circualar with that ad in it as I was waiting for a response. Im of to buy one

[whoster69]

Thanks for all of the information Roundabout. Any chance you can post a picture of the remote? I hear it's improved over the 2001.

The rebate is now online at: http://www.pcclub.com/promo/stuff/dmrebates/A1546968.pdf