Lite-On AllWrite LVW-5005 DVD/CD Recorder

• AllWrite DVD/CD recorder handles DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, and CD-R/-RW optical media; writes to DVD+VR-mode DVD and VCD/SVCD
• Records up to 6 hours on a single-sided 4.7 GB disc
• Built-in NTSC tuner lets you records TV programs directly to long-life recordable DVD; includes advance-programming options
• Convenient 1-touch recording makes it easier than ever to archive and preserve your precious home videos
• Measures 16.5 x 2.7 x 10.6 inches (W x H x D)

I had been holding off on purchasing DVD recorders because of either high prices or poor reviews. I took a chance on this model, because of good reviews on the internet, it being at the right price point, and the fact that I filled up my PVR. It has exceeded my expectations. The recording quality at SP (two hours) is virtually indistinguishable from the PVR recordings from my dish. Four hour LP mode still exceeds a mid quality VCR, with no annoying flicker or color bleeding. The burner worked first time, every time. The controls, even timed record, are intuitive and simple, with an excellent system menu that makes all the features easily accessible. Pop in a disc it is immediately recognized and formatted if necessary. You can easily set the time for chapter marks and append new material.

Amazingly, the burner accepts every type of media DVD + or R and RW, as well as CD-R and CD-RW, although I have not tried making a CD-V or audio CD. The instruction manual is well done and easily readable.

This is one of the best engineered pieces of hardware I have come across in years. Works better than any VCR I have ever owned. Basically, you just hit the record button and get a great recording. I have not used it yet for transferring and editing home videos, but if you just want to record from your cable or dish, this unit can't be beat. One weird glitch: Doesn't display closed captioning at least on my Mitsubishi TV.

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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.

I did notice a few things that are annoying, but not critical:

-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).

-I found it best (for quality) to split the incoming cable and send separate runs to the TV and LVW-5005.

-I've seen the time counters on other players get confused with discs recorded on the LVW-5005.

-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.

-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.

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Somewhere around your 100th-200th disc or 5-7 months it won't read blank discs anymore or record on them. This is due to the short lived cheaper lasers they put in them. They get weak over time. Also if you leave the unit on when not using it, even when there's no disc in the machine, the laser stays on. So just by leaving it on, forgetting to shut it off, you're killing the laser by shortening it's lifetime. I have 2 of these units, plus an older one they made for the AKAI brand name from the year before, but it's almost identical. They all suffer from dimming lasers after a few months or 100-200 discs.

I'm an electronics seviceman & a videographer. Lasers do wear out, & cheap ones go dim sooner.

The machine performed great before the laser dimmed.

So you'll have to ask yourself if it's worth the price to burn only 100-200 discs or only last 5-7 months.

How long your Lite-On machine (ANY MODEL) lasts will depend how much you use it & how long leave it on even when you're not using it.

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Before go to my experience, I want to say I will not judge a product based on where it is produced, I only care the quality.

I just bought one yesterday, tested most functions and it worked great.

Setup is easy. I set it up within 5 minutes without referring to the manual connect it to satellite receiver, cable TV, VCR, home audio and TV. Power on and it works.

Recording is easy. I tested Memorex DVD+RW and TDK DVD+R, both works fine. Also tested schedule recording, works fine.

I played the recorded discs in my two DVD players, 2 laptops, and two desktops without any problems.

Tested all the recording mode, from TV, from Satellite, from VCR (RCA input), and Camcorder(iLink in). All pretty good.

Recoded qualities are impressive. HQ ans SP are pretty good, EP is OK since it is CIF size. SLP is MPEG-1 in CIF, can not expect more from it.

I read the recorded disks to PC and use DVD authoring tools to add better title and cut of not wanted contents, no problem.

Need to verify weekly recording capability, since someone in this forum mentioned it only record 1st and 3rd programs.

One failure so far, I guess it is my fault I formated DVD+RW using Nero, and can not be recognized by the recorder.

So far so good. It may has some flaws, but none product are perfect. We need to be more smarter to make use of it. In my opinion, it is much better than those required only some strange disks I never heard before. I do not want to limit myself to use only some brands of disks even the recorder have 10 stars rating.

From the reviews, most problems will come out in weeks. I will keep on testing it to see what happens and post my result here.

I decided to give up griping and actually compliment a device that works as advertised. The other negative comments that have been written focused on defective machines. That did not discourage me from purchasing this good value, comprehensive recorder as I assumed we were just hearing about the bad apples. And I'm happy to report that mine works like a charm. It is so intuitive and simple to record and set up that I feel like there must be something I'm missing. I purchased to create space on my Tivo and specifically to keep for posterity all the Louisville basketball games from the 80s that I Tivod from ESPN classic. Now I'm on to moving my tapes from my Mini DV player to DVD. I am using TDK +R DVDs and I have not had a problem recording, finalizing or playing in other DVD players or on my laptop. I'm still experimenting so I'll update the review if I experience any more positive or negative results.