Lite-On AllWrite LVW-5005 DVD/CD Recorder
Excellent!
This is just the thing for transferring VHS/miniDV to DVD. Also, with the ability to use it as a DVD \\"VCR\\" and the DV-link, it's a no-brainer at the selling price. Similarly-featured units list for hundreds more. The variety of supported media is good. Operation is easy and intuitive. The quality of recordings from standard cable signal is quite impressive. I was leary of some of the concerns other people had, but the newest revision (LVW-5005) seem to have corrected most of them. Overall, I think this is an incredible product for the price and will hope for the best on long-term reliability.  <br /> <br /> <br />I did notice a few things that are annoying, but not critical: <br /> <br />-No RF modulator on the cable input (can't monitor on ch3/4 like a VCR). You have to use the RCA input on a TV or other device to monitor the unit (No big deal, most TV's have RCA input). <br /> <br />-I found it best (for quality) to split the incoming cable and send separate runs to the TV and LVW-5005. <br /> <br />-I've seen the time counters on other players get confused with discs recorded on the LVW-5005.  <br /> <br />-You'd think that once you created your own DVD, you'd be able to copy it with DVD-XCOPY or the like. That didn't work for me.  The only program I've found yet that makes copies of the outputed media is Clone-DVD. Clone-DVD seems to fix the time display problem mentioned above.  <br /> <br />-DVD-RW and DVD+RW disks created on the LVW-5005 may not play in older DVD players, though finalized DVD-r's seem to play on anything.