Rating: 
Summary: You have to change the setting to use s-video
Review: Bought this to transfer my Hi8 tapes to DVD. It works superbly! The Mepg2 tapes it creates are very sharp and clear and play on any computer. You need to download the update from the website in the manual and burn this to a cd and insert into the drive. It fixes most of the problems mentioned by others in reviews. I plugged my Hi8 into this to burn the DVD's and the DVD looks better than the original! If you have tapes older than 1988 do something with them before you lose them! They will pop and crack and lose color in time. Mepeg2 files recorders create are fine but you can't sharpen, lighten etc. like you can with AVI's you capture with firewire PC cards by plugging your camera into the PC. I tried the capture route first and spent a fortune. It never worked right unless you have a 200gig hard drive or 2 and a new Pentium machine. It is time consuming. This recorder is quick easy. Splice these later on the PC if you want and burn to dvd's.
Rating:
Summary: LITE-ON is pretty darn good.
Review: First of all, I paid $267 for this Lite-On DVD recorder, and it has a $30 dollar MIR. I got free shipping from newegg.com and so far I love this product. I can record from my direcTV clearly and I didn't even need to read the manuals for directions. It was so easy to connect to my TV, Satellite Receiver and VCR and the interface is very simple. I have already recorded television shows and I've already backed up some home VHS tapes onto DVD. And they look fantastic. DONT FORGET YOU HAVE TO FINALIZE DVDs to get them to read on other DVD players!! (Just like a regular DVD burner/ CD burner will finalize discs when you burn them off a computer) Only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because the discs get really really really hot when theyre done burning.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT JUNK-RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!!
Review: Hi and good day...I burn alot...so I thought I would like to own a back up burner (just in case) BAD IDEA!!!I paid $199.99 at some other place (BB) hooked her up and nothing.....All the s-video connects were NOT funtional...sent it back...denied I ever owned it ...if only for a few hours
Rating:
Summary: Nice, Affordable DVD Recorder
Review: I bought this unit for my family for Christmas. I was looking for something affordable and easy to use, and something that would produce nice quality. This unit meets those requirements very well. Some here have complained that they have to turn the unit off and back on to make a recording "take", or some such thing. If you read through the directions, it is very easy to learn how to "finalize" a disc after recording it. The only thing lacking on this machine, as far as my purposes go, is the ability to use DVD/-R media. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a sensible, everyday machine.
Rating: 
Summary: Quality issues
Review: I got the rebranded Gateway version of this DVD+ recorder while it was on sale. I have a Panasonic DVD-R recorder which is much better: better picture quality, better reliability, and better user interface. Also, DVD "minus" discs are much more compatible with DVD players than DVD "plus," although if you have a new player, it should have no trouble with either format.
The real problem with the Lite-On/Gateway is build quality. The player feels cheap, and it does tend to get hot as some reviewers have pointed out, which is a problem for those of us wanting to keep it in an entertanment center. You literally need to put an AC next to it to cool it during long recordings. Also, my particular unit broke after a few months, so I don't have much confidence in this brand.
You might be better served with a Panasonic or Toshiba, which will offer better quality and reliability (important for DVD recordings) at a reasonable price.
Rating: 
Summary: Lite-on LVW-5001
Review: I have bought this recorder from NewEgg.com for $286.00 with free shipping! let me tell you I have researched DVD Recorders for some time now and was going to make the mistake of buying a "BIG NAME" brand, glad I didn't! this recorder is easy to setup and use. Recording quality from cable actually was visibly better as mentioned in other reviews. As far as other reviews that say remote is week - I can be 20' away and it works flawlessly and the guy with the s-video problem - you need to enable that connection in the menu (probably someone that doesn't read manuals). the key selling point is you can upgrade the firmware yourself instead of sending the unit in to the company,costing you $$ unlike the pioneer 310 that I was going to buy, has a date problem with the recorder..no way was I going to buy a recorder that I would possibly have to send back to them to fix before I could use it! why does the BIG NAME companies make you send your product to them? how come they can't incorporate firmware updates for there products? also when in search for DVD recorders I noticed that the Popular ones in stores and online had alot of OPEN BOX RETURN SPECIALS makes you wonder why doesn't it? if you want a recorder with the same features and don't need a hard drive this is the one!Bottom Line LITE-ON ROCKS!!!! Don't waste your hard earned money Paying for a "NAME"
Rating:
Summary: Lite-on LVW-5001
Review: I have bought this recorder from NewEgg.com for $286.00 with free shipping! let me tell you I have researched DVD Recorders for some time now and was going to make the mistake of buying a "BIG NAME" brand, glad I didn't! this recorder is easy to setup and use. Recording quality from cable actually was visibly better as mentioned in other reviews. As far as other reviews that say remote is week - I can be 20' away and it works flawlessly and the guy with the s-video problem - you need to enable that connection in the menu (probably someone that doesn't read manuals). the key selling point is you can upgrade the firmware yourself instead of sending the unit in to the company,costing you $$ unlike the pioneer 310 that I was going to buy, has a date problem with the recorder..no way was I going to buy a recorder that I would possibly have to send back to them to fix before I could use it! why does the BIG NAME companies make you send your product to them? how come they can't incorporate firmware updates for there products? also when in search for DVD recorders I noticed that the Popular ones in stores and online had alot of OPEN BOX RETURN SPECIALS makes you wonder why doesn't it? if you want a recorder with the same features and don't need a hard drive this is the one!Bottom Line LITE-ON ROCKS!!!! Don't waste your hard earned money Paying for a "NAME"
Rating:
Summary: seems good so far
Review: I have only one nights experience with this unit to grade it on but so far so good but I wanted to know does anyone else notice that when you copy a dvd that was already copied say through x-copy or any other decrypter software it seems like the picture is darker than original any one have any ideas on this
Rating:
Summary: Great Product, Great Price!
Review: I just picked up the LVW-5001 on sale for $199 after mail-in rebate and can't say enough good things about this dvd recorder. Set-up was easy and the clear, crisp picture is incredible. It puts my other name-brand dvd player to shame! The "Guider" feature makes formatting & finalizing dvd's extremely easy. Another nice feature is the front a/v inputs, which makes connecting a vcr, camcorder, etc. to it much easier than other models that have the connections in back. And I agree with earlier reviews in praise of the updates available from the LiteOn website. All you have to do is download the updates from the website, burn to a cd, place the cd in the unit and it updates itself to correct for any bugs or to add system enhancements. This is a much more efficient way of making corrections or adding enhancements, and much more cost effective than shipping it off or bringing it to a service center. You can't go wrong with this unit if you're in the market for a dvd recorder!
Rating:
Summary: A decent recorder if you can keep it cool
Review: I like this recorder, but it has a tendency to overheat if not positioned in a well ventilated area. In once incident, the unit got so hot that it literally cooked one of my DVD's (a DVD+RW) rendering it useless. After I set a fan near the recorder to keep it cool, it had no problems. Aside from the overheating problem, I'm actually impressed with this thing. Picture quality is better than I expected and far better than a VHS recorder. I transferred some SVHSC camcorder recordings to DVD as well as some miniDV recordings. I tried to use the firewire port, but either it didn't work or the port on my camera doesn't work (I think it's my cam). The recording quality using the S-video input was spectacular though. HQ and SQ modes were both excellent. When recording, it automatically creates a chapter every five minutes (this is user modifiable) and whenever you begin a recording, it creates a title set. When playing the DVD, the title sets are listed with a screen capture of the first frame along with the recording date. This makes it easy to navigate to a desired recording. The title sets are automatically named TITLE 01, TITLE 02, etc., and I don't think these titles are user modifiable. That would be a nice feature upgrade. Overall, for the price, this unit can't be beat. I read a recent article in Yahoo, however, that claims dvd recorder prices are expected to plummet this year. So if you're not in a hurry, I'd suggest waiting. If you're like me and have to be an early adopter, go for it, you won't be disappointed.
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