LiteOn LVW-5006

Author's product rating:   

Picture Playback	Good
Sound Level	Good
Ease of Use	Simple
Range of Features	Average
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	One of the cheapest dual format recorders
Disadvantages:	slow to start recording from standby

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Lite-On Electronics is a well established and respected manufacturer of optical drives for PCs (a lot of Hewlett Packard branded drives are manufactured by Lite-On). Given this prior knowledge, plus the fact that the LVW5006 writes to both + and - discs, I decided to go for this model rather than the Bush/Alba/Goodmans offerings within the same price bracket.

The LVW5006 comes complete with comprehensive instructions, a set of AV leads and a rewritable disc to get you started. Within the instructions, there is a link to the support website, where you can download the latest firmware and view an up to date list of compatible branded blank discs.

Unlike machines from more recognised brand names, this machine is not "plug 'n' play" and channel set up takes longer than I would like. Once the automated process of finding all the channels is completed, it is necessary to do a lengthy swap-around to put the channels where you want them, as they are organised in the order they were found rather than strongest signals first. Luckily, most of the other default settings do not need altering. Aside from this initial annoyance, the set up menus are easy to follow and logical. It is also worth noting that channel set up is required each time you have updated the firmware, and sometimes if you have just had to reboot the machine.

Once the task of connection and setup were complete, it was time to test the recording. Ther are several recording quality settings, ranging from 1 to 6 hours playback from a single layer 4.7gb disc (dual layer writing is not supported on this machine). Purchase of the machine was initially to replace the VCR, and to transfer umpteen years worth of home movies onto DVD, which it has managed to do without too many hiccups. The greatest trial so far has been disc incompatibility (especially with rewritable discs which have been erased a couple of times), so I would strongly recommend that prospective purchasers stick to the compatible branded discs, especially if you are recording something via timer record that isn't repeated again.

When recording at anything up to the "Long Play" (4 hour) setting, picture quality is very good and surpasses VHS quality. Very occasionally, I have found a problem with the picture/sound synchronisation. As this is my only DVD recorder, I do not know whether this is a problem specific to Lite-On, or common with all recorders. Users should also take the phrase "instant record" with a pinch of salt, especially if you are putting a blank disc in for the first time, as it needs to prepare the disc for recording. even at the best of times, there is a 2 to 3 second delay before recording actually begins. Recording can also be a noisy process when the cooling fan kicks in.

Summary

The LVW5006 is a capable machine which is good value for the price you pay. If you are a first time buyer, this is definitely a machine to be on your shortlist, and can always be demoted to spare when and if you upgrade to a higher specification model.