LIteOn LVW-5055GDL+

...years back I bought a Liteon DVD player, at the time it was revolutionary. Not only did it play any region DVD (the world is split up into different regions, each region has its own format for DVD's which means that for example a US disc would not work in the UK) so I could order DVD's from all over the world, but it would also play media in any format. So I could download video clips or movies from websites, and play them on my DVD player without ...
...bargain and very pleased with Liteon I decided to make the purchase. I was fully aware that it had a build in hard drive but found upon returning home that there were lots of other things it did too.


Unpacking And Installation

The box that the Liteon DVD recorder came in was a kind of plastic based material, upon opening the box I was greeted with a message:-

Thank you for purchasing this Liteon ... more

Some years back I bought a Liteon DVD player, at the time it was revolutionary. Not only did it play any region DVD (the world is split up into different regions, each region has its own format for DVD's which means that for example a US disc would not work in the UK) so I could order DVD's from all over the world, but it would also play media in any format. So I could download video clips or movies from websites, and play them on my DVD player without the need to converting them. I was so impressed with the first one I bought that I went off and bought a second one for the bedroom. Six years on and they both still work as good as they did the day I bought them.

With this in mind, I found myself with a bit of extra cash flow recently, and decided to invest in a new DVD recorder. I already have two DVD recorders which work fine, but I wanted to get a new one for the living room as our existing one was too big for the stand that came with our new television. I popped into our local Argos and noted this model for £200, apparently on a special offer £70 off the normal RRP. Never one to turn my back on a bargain and very pleased with Liteon I decided to make the purchase. I was fully aware that it had a build in hard drive but found upon returning home that there were lots of other things it did too.

Unpacking And Installation

The box that the Liteon DVD recorder came in was a kind of plastic based material, upon opening the box I was greeted with a message:-

Thank you for purchasing this Liteon product, here at Liteon we care about our environment. Once you know that your happy with this machine please place this strengthened box in warm water and it will dissolve within 4 hours.

I was quite impressed with this, but not as impressed as I was with the box, which as container style boxes go was the most beautiful packing box I had ever seen. Call me sad but before I started to play with my new toy I spent about 5 minutes studying the box. I still have not disolved the box, i'll save that for a rainy day.

Once I had got over the excitement of the box I studied the contents, inside was a nice flashy but compact DVD Recorder, an aerial lead, two scart leads, rather dated looking remote control, and batteries. The instructions consisted of a diagram showing you how things work, a DVD and a piece of paper saying that all instructions were onboard the system. However the DVD included had a back up set of instructions for use with any DVD player or PC.

I carefully connected the DVD recorder to my television and Sky+ box. Finally installing the mains supply. With a nice buzz and a stylish blue glow the recorder came to life. A nice silver screen appeared asking me if I wanted automatic install or manual install. I selected manual, this option sped through tuning, an all other options within about 90 seconds. The screen then told me the player was available to use; to my amazement I did not have to set up a single thing, the time date and even the postcode had all been installed on the system. This was the most simple installation I have ever encountered in my life.

The Hard Drive Recorder

As well as the ability to record to disc the machine offers a Hard Drive recorder which allows you to store television programmes on the system to watch at a time that's convenient to you. You can record from up to three channels at the same time, and at any point during the programme begin watching any one of the three from the start. This option on its own is worth its wait in gold. It also automatically records as you watch for a length that you designate from 20 minutes to 5 hours. So say you needed to go back and look at something on the same channel you were watching earlier you can. To make that simpler to understand say the machine was left on BBC1 and you had been out, when you came in maybe Holby was on, you can rewind back to the start of Eastenders which was on before with great ease, nd you have not had to go through the rigmarole of setting up a timer. Another great option is the pause button, so again say you were watching Eastenders and the phone went or someone knocked at the door, you simply press pause and return to the viewing when you are ready, the system will allow you to pause for up to five hours.

The Hard Drive comes with 250 GB memory; this allows you to record up to 330 hours of television viewing on the hard drive. You can also record three programmes at the same time, while watching a programme already stored on the hard drive.

Now the real amazing factor to this, say I had recorded a movie of 3 hours length. Highly unlikely but say my hard drive was full and I wanted to free up some space, I don't want to delete the movie as I really want to keep it, so I'll record the movie to a DVD. With a separate Sky+ system and DVD recorder you would need to watch the programme while it records for three hours. However with this beauty, not only could I watch another programme I have recorded but it will transfer the three hour movie to DVD in just under an hour.

But the wow factor does not end there, on the back of the unit are three different input devices, this means I can connect up to three different external units to the machine to record. When connected I can select if I want to record the external source (say a video recording) directly to disc, or if I so choose directly unto the hard drive. A nice touch here is the assemble editing option, this allows you to transfer say a wedding video to the hard drive, with minimal picture loss then at a later stage edit the wedding video to a more watchable format converting it from your hard drive to DVD, allowing you to create a perfect looking well edited wedding DVD.

The DVD Recorder

The first thing I notice is that I can record in different formats. Many DVD recorders come with + or - formats. The Liteon recorder will record to any blank DVD. And unlike other DVD recorders allow you to make perfect recording erasing bits as you go should you so like. On top of this you can record on the new dual layer discs, this is a format so far only used on purchased DVD's, now allowing you to record up to 11 ½ hours of content to a single disc. And if you have purchased a rewritable disc you can keep using the same disc up to 1000 times.

Recording is just as simple as using a video recorder, either simply press the red record button, or set up the timer to record. I tend to record directly to the hard drive, then should I want to put what I record to disc I do so at a later stage, as the machine is all part of the same system you lose apparently o.ooo1% of the picture quality, which I'm sure you will agree is hardly noticeable.
If you are using the machine simply to record to disc, then there are four different speeds you can record at 1hour for excellent quality, 2 hours, 4 hours, or 6 hours (on a standard disc, more on a dual layer disc) the 6 hour option offers the weakest picture but is still better than the picture quality of a VHS tape.

To make timer recording easy, the machine comes with VIDEO+. VIDEO+ is the numbers up to 8 digits long that you see in TV guides, typing in this code will record the programme you set it to record as its on, and better still if the programme starts late the machine will begin to record later.

Rather like the hard drive where you can record from the hard drive to a disc, you can also record from a disc to the hard drive.

Another nice function is that should you want to copy a CD, you can connect a CD player to the DVD recorder and copy it to a CD as well as a DVD should you so wish. So already you can see the options above and beyond the contemporary DVD recorders.

The recorder also allows you to create not just a main menu like other DVD recorders but sub menus too. So say for example you were a fan of Doctor Who, (should you have digital television) you could record the BBC 1 show, then flip over to BBC 3 and record the behind the scenes show. Then the following night you could record the main show again on BBC 3, but select the audio commentary option. Then on the same disc you could record a film. Now on a normal DVD player you would get a menu that listed the four programmes. But with the lit on machine it will show you two programme options; one would say Doctor Who and the other would say the name of the film. Now if you selected Doctor Who you would then get a second menu with three options: The standard show, the show with audio commentary or the behind the scenes show.

But the DVD does not just record, it will play any DVD and it will also play a disc that contains images in any format whether it be MPEG, MPEG4, DIVX, Quicktime, or AVI format (you can download content from the internet on your PC, burn to disc then play on this machine. But even then it's not the end; the machine will play VCD's (the precursor to DVD), CD's or MP3's. You can even store your favourite MP3's on the hard drive to play when you want.

The only downside of the DVD recorder is the remote control, its kind of primitive looking in comparison to the machine itself. Although the buttons are in the right place and easily laid out, it just looks old in comparison to the machine, almost like the wrong remote has been given to you.

I am so thrilled with this recorder, I have had it now for about 90 days an with the exception of the remote control I can find no fault with it, it does everything I want it to do plus so much more. And although its slightly more expensive than most standard DVD recorders on the market this kicks the others into a lesser league, no other DVD recorder is so function packed as this, even models up to £800 from the top makes. Liteon get my full marks, it's a great machine, at a good price. Its still £200 from Argos, or you can obtain it online for £249 from Amazon.
 

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