Lite-On AllWrite LVW-5005 DVD/CD Recorder
So far the impression of a piece of junk...
Okay, I saw a LOT of positive customer reviews of this DVD recorder on some other web sites (and some 5 star ratings here as well). So I decided to order one. I received my unit yesterday, the setup was very simple. But my unit is defective. It cannot record to ANY blank DVD discs successfully. I've tried three different ones so far, including the blank DVD+RW that came with the device (that disc must be compatible with the unit if they included it, right?). The drive is noisy especially when the recording problems occure: the drive spins down then spins up repeatedly for minutes (up to 8 minutes while you cannot do anything else). Right after when this happens I get a \\"disc write fail\\" message and the recording stops abruptly. I've tried to completely erase the disc (the one that came with the unit) but it fails after 15-20 minutes of recording again and again, no matter what I do. I also tried to use other discs (including a brand new Fujifilm DVD+RW disc, and a tested and good Memorex DVD-RW disc) with no luck. Then I realized that the drive must be physically broken, because it even scratches my discs!!! There are light, but visible scratches on some of the recordable discs in the form of concentric circles, well mostly circles. These circles were not on these discs (brand new media) before I put them into the unit, but the scratches are there after I ejected them!! This physical damage mostly seen on the outer areas of the disc (but not exclusively). I'm not talking about the color change of the surface what occures after even a successful recording, that color change would be normal. There are physical scretches on these discs the unit \\"recorded\\" on them like a gramaphone. This is really bad...and very disappointing. In the rare occassion when the \\"disc write\\" does not fail then the unit makes unplayable recordings. The recordings cannot even played back by the unit itself. IMO, the clicking noise and the scretches are clear indication of a defective DVD recording drive. I believe that the problem is some sort of a mechanical problem with the drive (but not sure what it is). The \\"electronics\\" parts of the unit seems to be working fine. My unit does not get hot at all, so it cannot be an overheating problem. And one more \\"bad\\" thing: I've read somewhere on the net that the built in TV tuner is a MONO one, not a STEREO one!! However, you can use the external RCA-type inputs to get stereo audio signal into the unit - let's say from your digital cable box or satellite receiver. Don't use the built in TV tuner to record programs unless you don't mind the resulting MONO recording. So now I'm returning my defective unit for a replacement and I hope that the new one will work better. After my experience, it is hard to recommend this product to anyone. Oh, and my unit came with an even newer firmware than the version that is downloadable from the Liteon web site. In fact, this new version of the firmware is so new that it is not yet published on the web anywhere. So the reason for my problems cannot be caused by an old firmware either, because the firmware is very up to date in my unit. The drive's clicking noise and the scretches it makes on the discs confirm to me some kind of a mechanical problem of the device. Maybe just bad luck on my part? Or Quality Assurance issues on behalf of Liteon's manufacturing plant in China? More likely the latter, because other people had very similar issues with the LVW-5005, I read it today on a web discussion forum site about this very same recorder. I am disappointed.