Lite-On LVW5001 DVD Plus Player/Recorder
Not ready for primetime
When I saw this DVD recorder on sale I was amazed that prices had dropped so fast, but after having it for 30 days I just find myself wishing I had been a little less impulsive. At first it worked quite well, the recording quality on HQ,SP and even EP are quite good. I noticed a number of artifacts during quick screen transitions or fast motion, but compared to VHS recordings the colors are much richer, edges sharper, and one of the nicest surprises is the ability to fast forward at various speeds to jump over commercials. How could I give this up? The cons...<br />1) disc failures with DVD+RW media can render recordings and whole discs unusable (happens 5% of time)<BR>2) startup time is a painful 30-60 seconds (swapping discs can take over a minute)<BR>3) you can only record 3h 50m on 4h disc, 1h55m on 2h disc, etc. This seems like no big deal until you start recording 1h programs and up to half of each DVD is wasted!<BR>4) menus are slow and difficult to navigate<BR>5) DVD+R/W media only plays in DVDs made in past 1-2 years.<BR>6) discs are not spun down when idle, and recorder gets very hot.<BR>7) interface for mp3 and jpeg playback is horrible.<br />But judge for yourself; go try one out at the store. It does everything it claims to, but given the above problems, I just can't recommend it. If you are considering buying a DVD-recorder I would wait 6 months for the next generation of recorders to come out in this price range.