LIteOn LVW-5025GHC+

...street in search of a LiteOn DVD recorder. Having had a history with LiteOn there was never really any alternative. My mission began and ended in Currys.digital where I purchased the LVX-5025 for the sum of £129.

The DVD recorder comes with a variety of plus points:

There is a built in Hard Drive recorder that allows between 20 and 100 hours of recording depending on the quality you require. The standard varies from ...
...above. The nice thing about LiteOn recorders is that they record on all format discs + format, - format, ram discs, and Rewriteable formats on both disc styles. But it does not end here should you be fortunate enough to encounter a dual layer disc you can use this with the LiteOn recorder this means up to 12 hours of entertainment on one disc. But this is not the end, with all stand alone DVD recorders you must always buy discs that are 1X speed ... more

With my faithful Panasonic DVD recorder still looking at me from my wheelie bin I decided it was time to head off to the high street in search of a LiteOn DVD recorder. Having had a history with LiteOn there was never really any alternative. My mission began and ended in Currys.digital where I purchased the LVX-5025 for the sum of £129.

The DVD recorder comes with a variety of plus points:

There is a built in Hard Drive recorder that allows between 20 and 100 hours of recording depending on the quality you require. The standard varies from as good as the television signal down to video tape quality. This is particularly handy if you have run out of blank DVD's. If you decide you want to keep what you have recorded to your hard drive you can convert to a DVD using the speed copy system, this copies 90 minutes of entertainment to DVD in roughly 4 minutes, and best of all there is no weakening of picture quality.

Recording on standard DVD has a variety of recording times between 1-6 hours depending on the quality, this offers the same picture standard as above. The nice thing about LiteOn recorders is that they record on all format discs + format, - format, ram discs, and Rewriteable formats on both disc styles. But it does not end here should you be fortunate enough to encounter a dual layer disc you can use this with the LiteOn recorder this means up to 12 hours of entertainment on one disc. But this is not the end, with all stand alone DVD recorders you must always buy discs that are 1X speed or multi speed that starts from 1X, yes I know this sounds confusing but let me finish. DVD's have a recording speed of 1X upwards a popular speed is 8X, this means that you can record to disc up to 8 times the speed of a standard recording so for example a 8 minute program recorded on a 8X disc would record in 1 minute. This is all very grand and all but this is troublesome with DVD recorders that are designed to work with your TV, in short they just don't work. But with the LiteOn recorder and the quick copy method they do. This means you can benefit from incredibly cheap discs from bulk retailers, one company supply 100 8X discs for just £10. However 1X discs are usually 3-4 times the price.

The DVD plays not only DVD's, but it also plays VCD's! What are VCD's I here you ask? They were the popular disc format before DVD's launched. Basically a VCD is a CD with a movie on, the quality is better than a video tape but not as good as a DVD. Ok so you can play VCD's, but what else? Well you can download videos from the internet in DIVX, AVI, Mpeg, and MPeg4 format and play them directly on the machine without having to convert them to another format. Better still you know this latest trend of downloading and watching movies on a limited basis? In the past you have been unable to watch them on a DVD recorder in case your breaching certain regulations, they only way to regulate them is to give them a time limit and only allow you to watch them on your PC. Now this is a thing of the past, you can download a movie on 24 hour hire, copy it from your PC onto a CD or DVD then play it on your machine. The recorder knows its hired and enforces a deadline imposed by the lender, after 24 hours the disc will no longer work and you have not had to sit around your PC watching the movie.

The abilities of the LVW don't end there, ever had one of those phone calls "Can you record Eastenders for me?" Well say its for a family member of friend who does not live with you, and say you have run out of DVD's? Well it's impractical to get them to come round to watch it round your house and watch it off your hard drive. The LVW comes up with another option, the VCD format I mentioned before is not just a thing of the past; with the LVW you can record entertainment of up to 70 minutes (dependant on disc size) to an ordinary run of the mill CD. Better still the recorders has an erase once option on CD's, so if you have an old CD that you don't use anymore you can erase it and record the show for them on this disc. The LVW really does help you whatever the option.

Whatever the method you use to record your TV shows DVD, Hard Drive or VCD the recorder helps you by allowing you to use video plus. When you look at your TV guide you'll see a string of numbers after the show in the listings; this number is a unique code for the particular program. If you push the videoplus button on your remote you can type in this number code. Once you have put the number code in the recorder will record the show on whatever method you want, no need to put set the channel, time or date. Better still if your program is delayed or the transmission is lost the recorders intelligent recording system knows and records the show for longer.

Talking of delays, you know when you get those power flickers that just last for seconds? Well most DVD recorders will stop the recording and when power returns you need to push the record button again, that's fine if your at home. With the LVW when power returns it just continues recording like nothing happened. Better still although the recording will obviously jump it will record the program in one lump rather than in two separate sections.

The machine plays audio CD's as well as MP3's.

Probably the least exciting feature but still a great one is slideshow! Got lots of photographs? Put them on a blank CD and then put it in the machine and it will play all your images on your TV. To give a bit of extra pazazz the change from each picture has a variety of different effects. Want to go one step further? Add some of your favourite MP3 tracks and it will play them while it goes through your images.

One final bonus is that when you buy a DVD you can look at the menu and see the chapter stops, this way if you are watching a DVD in portions you can find the nearest chapter spot. With DVD recorders of the past when recording this option is just not available, however with the LVW you can. Not only that you can set the time between sections, and make chapter spots on bits that appeal to you. One last option of editing is that you can insert titles on each item you record, so you can at a glance see exactly whats on a disc. Again this applies to whatever method you record on.

When you finish recording a disc you need to finalise it in order for it to play on other DVD players, this is often lengthy. With the LVW this is done in a matter of seconds.

There is only one real negative point to the LVW, there is only one input point at the rear of the machine, so if you have more than one input one has to connect via the front of the unit. This in honesty makes the recorder look a bit untidy, but for all the other perks of the machine this is a small issue. Another little issue is there is no zoom option.

Two points of myth that need to be cleared up:

1) LiteOn DVD recorders are slow to start up in respect of recording. This is not unique to LiteOn recorders this applies to ever DVD recorder. The reason being to is that save energy a recorder hibernates, so if you have had a disc in the recorder for more than five minutes it will not start recording immediately. My tip to dispel this is simply to press the play button a few minutes before what your recording starts, this takes the machine out of hibernation mode and you wont miss any of your show.

2) LiteOn products use more energy. This is just a lie stemmed from another manufacturer jealous that LiteOn was ahead of the game. This has been proven in a court to be false and LiteOn were awarded damages for the slander of their products.

I love this DVD recorder more than any of the other ones I own, it's a fantastic and multi functional device; if your considering purchasing a DVD recorder look no further the best is here. 

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