ILO DVDRO4, $150 may be good deal.

[JasonK]

I downloaded the firmware from the website and it doesnt seem to work on my non hard drive unit. I think it is a mix up.

As I mentioned earlier, it was for the HD version. Ilo emailed me just before it was posted that they would have their webmaster add the link to the website.

It was SUPPOSED to fix the audio glitch. And as has haub stated, it did not really fix the problem and caused the counter problem and video glitches.

I emailed Ilo about this last night, but they have not responded. However, they DID fix their mistake on the website, and they move the firmware link to the DVDHDR04 along with adding a link to download the manual for it.

As for Ilo not listening to what you said... when I called, I talked to some guy with a foreign accent that I could barely understand. I had to have him repeat some things a few times to make sense of it. I told him that it dropped audio once every 30 seconds and that I didnt have LP mode. In the email I got, they had logged it as dropping audio every 5 seconds and that I didnt have SP mode! No wonder the firmware doesn't work!

[Herbyg]

In the manual it says that you do not have to finalize a CD+RW.

WTF is a CD+RW ????

Damn I meant DVD+RW oops.

[Herbyg]

I downloaded the firmware from the website and it doesnt seem to work on my non hard drive unit. I think it is a mix up.

As I mentioned earlier, it was for the HD version. Ilo emailed me just before it was posted that they would have their webmaster add the link to the website.

It was SUPPOSED to fix the audio glitch. And as has haub stated, it did not really fix the problem and caused the counter problem and video glitches.

I emailed Ilo about this last night, but they have not responded. However, they DID fix their mistake on the website, and they move the firmware link to the DVDHDR04 along with adding a link to download the manual for it.

As for Ilo not listening to what you said... when I called, I talked to some guy with a foreign accent that I could barely understand. I had to have him repeat some things a few times to make sense of it. I told him that it dropped audio once every 30 seconds and that I didnt have LP mode. In the email I got, they had logged it as dropping audio every 5 seconds and that I didnt have SP mode! No wonder the firmware doesn't work!

Holy Crap! Are you serious? LOL
What accent does this guy have, is it spanish? Maybe, I could help? I have not emailed any of my problems to these guys and just talked to them on the phone just once, and it was about the comm skip button. I have been very busy with school and so forth and depended on you guys to send the emails and tech questions to these guys. I am leaving to go have a few drinks with my wife in 30 min so will not be able to send anything or do anything. I just registered my unit just now. I am gonna buy some CD-r tonight and try this fix out what the hell.

[JasonK]

No, it wasn't spanish. I believe it was a middle eastern accent, although I wasn't thinking so much about it at the time, just knew I couldn't understand him.

[kcsport]

OK Let me get this right. DVD+RW is the best media that I have found everything to work on in my 3 DVD players and in the auto. I have a 50 pack of Memorex DVD+rw's and the If burned in the DVDR04 more than likely they wont play with out copying in the computer. Should I not get the burner? Will it burn Memorex +rw dvd's? I'm about to change my mind on this burner. Thanks for any help!

[bobcat56458]

My experence with the Memorex DVD+RW's is that they will play fine in the ilo recorder, but will only let you select the first recording session on the menu when playing with my other DVD players, and on the computer.

OK Let me get this right. DVD+RW is the best media that I have found everything to work on in my 3 DVD players and in the auto. I have a 50 pack of Memorex DVD+rw's and the If burned in the DVDR04 more than likely they wont play with out copying in the computer. Should I not get the burner? Will it burn Memorex +rw dvd's? I'm about to change my mind on this burner. Thanks for any help!

[telemike]

The included +RW disc that came with the iLO plays just fine in my Magnavox MRD200 dvd home theater

[NightWing]

Been using the junks stuff from Fry's. The GQ printable ones. Bother no problems. + for the iLO and - for the Pioneer. No problems. Even out to the limit of the disk.

[TwistedLincoln]

I just bought the ilo DVDRHD04 today, and am also experiencing the audio glitches. They're not very predictable, nor are they consistent in their length. Some times there is simply a momentary glitch (like a bit of static on a VHS recording), but in other cases, the audio cuts out completely for an entire second or so, which is very annoying. I watched a test capture that was 60 minutes long, and it only got bad enough to notice (and become irritating) after about the 40 minute mark.

I'll email ilo customer support tonight-- maybe if enough people report this condition, they'll release an updated firmware that actually works.

On the positive side, the unit's features are very impressive, especially considering it is almost $300 cheaper than it's closest competition.

One thing I thought was a bit odd, however: the manual came with a seperate sheet of corrections, one of which states that you cannot copy mp3's or jpeg's from a DVD to the hard drive. Yet the both the OSD and the manual clearly indicate that you can play back these files from the hard drive. Does one have to hook the hard drive up to a PC in order to get the files there, or is there another way? An 80gb MP3 jukebox would certainly be worth the minor audio defects...

[furdog]

AUDIO HUM - Conclusion

The audio hum I heard exists on the tuner. AV front & back sources are quiet. Fine tuning did not help. Move to different location, TV, cables, outlets - the same hum. Recently tried Digital cable, and they replaced the cables and splitters to that location - so know the signal is good.

Returned unit (had August 2004 manufacturing date) and exchanged for a new unit with July 2004 manufacturing date. Same problem.

None of my other equipment experiences this hum. It is not especially noticable unless the channel is quiet. It may be that there is something with my cable company (I did not try the RF output of a VCR as a source, too late now as it is packed up).

I will be returning the unit for my money back. Too bad, because otherwise seemed like a good unit.

Nobody else out there has experienced this ?

[NightWing]

Wondering now if its basically a weak powersupply? IE not enough filtering. Could explain the reason behind strange actions of the tunner.

Burried under some stuff but will try to pop a scope on my unit to see what is going on.

[JasonK]

I listened closely for a hum during silent passages of TV broadcasts. While I sometimes heard some noise which might be considered a hum, I found a "cleaner" station that did not exhibit this. The audio definitely sounds louder and much different than my HDV tuner when attached to the same HDTV speakers. The iLO high frequencies sound much less muffled. But I can't say I've noticed an generated noises from the iLO tuner.

I installed the new firmware

The audio glitch problem has NOT changed. And on a 1 hour recording, it is very predicable to me now that I'm familiar with the problem details. On a 1 hour recording, it becomes very noticable after a while, and later in the recording (for example 50 minutes), it drops out for almost a second sometimes. And the glitch is there every 30 seconds.

The audio glitch is NOT minor. I have already boxed mine up to return. I hope they don't ask me to try another, because they obviously all have the problem, some people are just more tolerant of it.

Friends don't let friends buy iLo DVDHDR04's!

[NightWing]

The audio is about 1db to maybe 3db louder than the 220. The 220 sounds like a normal DVD player. A little smigin lower than normal receive audio.

Also have not had a chance to try it again but when I feed the RS Stereo RF Moduler in the DVDR04 tunner it has all indication of zipo AGC. It looks poor, grany buzzy sound.... buzzy sound..... That could be it!!! Wonder how much signal strength your system is hitting it with?

[D.A.R.J.R.]

Still no problems with my DVDR04.

[JasonK]

Still no problems with my DVDR04.

Just to clarify, it is the DVDHDR04, and the hard drive specifically, that experiences the glitches. I didnt have a problem with the DVD part of it.

I took mine back. the girl at Walmart didnt listen any better than iLO. I told her the problem. I never even mentioned the DVD burner. And she said "OK, it's not recording sound to the DVD?" And I explained again that it was the hard drive that had audio dropouts breifly every 30 seconds. And then on her paper for the "reason for return", she just writes, "doesn't record sound" *sigh*

I didnt waste my time getting another one.

[haub]

i'm still holding on for fear of getting a new player that can't record hbo cuz of cprm. I might still keep it if the quality on a burned dvd is fine. Kinda a pain, but at least a workaround would be to burn the hd copy to dvd and then watch it that way, sigh!

[tkhk]

OK Let me get this right. DVD+RW is the best media that I have found everything to work on in my 3 DVD players and in the auto. I have a 50 pack of Memorex DVD+rw's and the If burned in the DVDR04 more than likely they wont play with out copying in the computer. Should I not get the burner? Will it burn Memorex +rw dvd's? I'm about to change my mind on this burner. Thanks for any help!

Are you sure it's not +R that you are talking about? My +R's work good when going from the iLO to other players (only after they are finalized) but the +RW's won't work unless I burn them to another +RW with my computer (directly from the iLO they will not)

[JasonK]

Media incompatibilities with DVD media go way back.

iLO never did respond to my last couple emails when I told them that the firmware didnt work and that I was going to box it up.

If you want to play it safe, return the thing. And maybe they will get the problem fixed in future models. Or maybe they will come out with a firmware fix. But dont count on a fix anytime soon.

[haub]

I also have not heard back from them yet after their quick 1st Firmware update. I've been looking around, and am seeing my options pretty limited at this point if I want to stay with DVD+R/+RW and not embrace CPRM. I'm definitely not buying another Philips Recorder. The Ilo might have issues, but it's nothing close to what I've gone through with the Philips DVDR985. Philips should be giving me a free flat panel for that worthless piece of junk!

[TwistedLincoln]

I haven't heard back from ilo at all. In fact, the first time I emailed them, the email bounced back -- the address listed in all of their documentation is "sevice@ilohelp.com"

After it bounced back, I resent the email to "service@ilohelp.com" assuming that was the correct address. Can anyone confirm this?

[Mizio]

Hi,
I am almost ready to get the R04. Hard to pass at $150. But I have a question first: can someone with the R04 already please confirm that it is possible to record in PAL from a PAL DV camcorder either via firewire or. less prefereably, S-video/composite connection?

Thanks

[JasonK]

I finally heard from iLO. They basically just told me that the firmware was for the hard drive model with a link about burning the firmware. *sigh* Still no admissions that their product is worthless as an HD recorder.

[NightWing]

I get to bust a myth about the DVDR04. Its simply this. The tunner is NOT stereo. For two reasons.

1) Audio is about 2x what it should be. If stereo should be about what goes in comes out. But it has the level of summing both channels.

2) Ran a test using a real stereo RF modulator from Radioshack. Yep they have one.

Setup to verify was. Play a Test audio CD which has L/R channel test. Used the DVDR04 via composit/R/L into modulator. Into Pioneer 220 TV Antenna. 220 via its composit/R/L Into main TV-Audio system. Can detect by ear and other means seperation and a Right-Left channel test. All ok.

Flip everthing around. 220 via composit/R/L into modulator. Into DVDR04 TV Antenna. DVDR04 via its composit/R/L Into TV-Audio system. No stereo seperation. Cannot flip cables to flip channels etc. Audio sound from center and drop in level only when removing one of the channels.

To answer the age old question. There is no stereo tunner in a DVDR04. Do not have a DVDHDR04 to try the same trick on but its a simple test to run if some one want to try it.

If some one can verify the test would be nice to see if I forgot something. There was one strange thing but want to see if I am going mad or not. I would really not recomend picking a tv program since most are mixes down to a almost mono split. You need to check stereo seperation to really confirm if its stereo.

I may pop its cover in the next few days to see if there is a solder bridge on the main board. But from others. Sounds like its working the same. Can also check if it has a part number if its a stereo tunner set up to do mono but that would be crazy if they did that.

Be intersting to see if that tunner could be replaced with an alike one that does have stereo decode.

[russelle]

I did a whois lookup of iLo's Website and here is what I found:

Domain name: ilohelp.com

Registrant:
YAYEN HU (GXK8F) doris_hu@liteonit.com
LITEON IT USA INTL\' INC
2200 MONROE ST. #112
SANTA CLARA, CA 95050
United States
Phone: (408)6359123 x

Administrative Contact:
YAYEN HU (9A9AK) doris_hu@liteonit.com
LITEON IT USA INTL\' INC
2200 MONROE ST. #112
SANTA CLARA, CA 95050
United States
Phone: (408)6359123 x

Technical Contact:
YAYEN HU (GXK8F) doris_hu@liteonit.com
LITEON IT USA INTL\' INC
2200 MONROE ST. #112
SANTA CLARA, CA 95050
United States
Phone: (408)6359123 x

Billing Contact:
YAYEN HU (KQUJC) doris_hu@liteonit.com
LITEON IT USA INTL\' INC
2200 MONROE ST. #112
SANTA CLARA, CA 95050
United States
Phone: (408)6359123 x

Record last updated on 2004-06-23 00:00:00
Record created on 2004-04-16 00:00:00
Record expires on 2005-04-16 00:00:00

Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.webcontrolcenter.com 216.119.106.2
ns2.webcontrolcenter.com 216.119.106.3

8)

[bugmenot]

DVDHD04 MV hack
http://s13.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0C6FDC5333E5A5CEEFAF4543BF004E16

[JasonK]

Here is the email I got today:

The firmware update DOES work. However, files that were already recorded on the hard drive will continue to have the audio glitch after the update. ONLY files that are recorded after the update will record correctly to dvd.

Thank you for contacting Lite-On Tech Support. If you reply please include all
previous emails.

Best Regards,

Lite-On (USA) Tech Support,

Notice it says Lite-On.

Anyway, you might also notice they talked about the update fixing a problem recording to DVD! Recording to DVD was never the problem with my unit. It was hard drive playback only . They certainly dont listen. Because I had also told them that I had erased my hard drive after installing the firmware update, but still had the problem. *sigh* As long as they continue to deny that there is a problem, then there is no hope that they will fix it.

So I will avoid the iLo and Lite On stuff like the plague.

[JasonK]

I get to bust a myth about the DVDR04. Its simply this. The tunner is NOT stereo. For two reasons.

Do not have a DVDHDR04 to try the same trick on but its a simple test to run if some one want to try it.

Read back. I posted in big red letters the day I got mine that it was absolutely not stereo.... earlier in this thread. (It's the DVDHDR04.) Very easy test to figure that out. And that's another thing I dont like about the iLo. I have an extra PC that will work nicely as a PVR, so I think I'll just roll my own now. It will get online listing and easier to use. Enjoy your iLo's.

[bugmenot]

since you are returning your unit why don't you test the Macrovision Hack I posted. I found it at a site and haven't had a chance to try it.

[JasonK]

I returned mine Sunday.

[DavidEC]

DVDR04 : Chapter Marks and other comments

I am having a strange bit of trouble with my "DVDR04"

It seems that "IF" I have the chapter marks faction on the chapters are not getting written correctly....

I have had the following happen to me in three different set-top players:

"IF" I have the "INFO/DISPLAY" on to show chapter marks when the chapter mark reaches something about 10 the counter starts all over again at "1" and not "11" .

Also if I have the chapters on and have the disk in 'reverse play' {rewind} and they hit a chapter mark all three players jump back to the start of the disc / chapter '1'

The chapter mark error seems to happen at any recording speed.

"IF" I have the chapter marking off I do not have any troubles with going "FF" or "REV" on these players.

--David