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To receive your mail-in rebate: 1. Purchase a Lite-On DVD Recorder (model #LVW-5005) from Newegg.com between 11/17/2006 and 12/17/2006. 2. Send in this completed form with item listed in #3 and #4 below. 3. A copy of your Newegg.com sales receipt with the purchased item circled. 4. The original UPC code from the product package to: Dept 06-59782 Lite-On LVW-5005 $10 Rebate PO Box 540005 El Paso, TX 88554-0005
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Name Address City State Telephone E-mail The above listed item must have been purchased during the listed sales dates at Newegg.com. Rebate requests must be postmarked no later than 12/31/2006. Limit ONE rebate per name/address/household. By submitting this form, you certify that the above item is for personal use only and not for resale. Please allow up to 10 weeks from the postmark date for processing of your rebate. If after 10 weeks you have not received your rebate, visit www.RebatesHQ.com, or you may call 1-888-538-7658. Please keep copies of all materials submitted for your records. Newegg.com and Lite-On and its associated companies are not responsible for lost or misdirected mail. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Fraudulent submissions of multiple requests may result in prosecution under applicable law. Offer valid nationwide, including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. ZIP Code

0407HCC25 DVD Rec Group Test*

4/5/04

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Disc media manufacturer of the year

Tried&Tested

LITEON LVW-5005B
270 (APPROX) N N www.storagecompany.com N OVERALL RATING ####
Not only is it basic, (in terms of features and connectivity) but the 5005B is probably the most compact DVD recorder around at the moment. The overall physical appearance is quite pleasing, and build quality in and out is of a high standard. Underneath the front panels attractive amber fluorescent display is a row of operating buttons, but theres little real fun you can have without the remote. To the bottom right of the fascia is an array of AV inputs, hidden behind a hinged flap. These cater for composite video, stereo audio and unusually at this price point Firewire (aka IEEE1394). Although its inclusion wont necessarily appeal to home cinema enthusiasts, camcorder fans will be well pleased. That said, some might want to buy one of these inexpensive recorders as an adjunct for a Pioneer model that way, digital disc-to-disc copying in real-time would be possible (Pioneer recorders have Firewire output, as well as input). Just the ticket if said Pioneer recordings are in VR (editing) mode -RW, but you want versions that will work on standard DVD players. that are compatible with standard CD players. Yes the machine doubles up as an audio CD recorder, and indeed one that isnt restricted to expensive audio-only media! But the 5005 goes one step further. It is also capable of making MPEG1 VideoCDs (VCDs) and MPEG2 Super VideoCDs (SVCDs) is it any wonder why LiteOn calls its machine All Write! The quality and potential running times dont get close to DVD, but the media is noticeably cheaper. In the days before DVD recorders were the hot
The Liteon also doubles as a CD audio recorder, which is a neat trick!
could record onto CD media as well as blank DVDs but our suggestions fell on deaf ears. If the 5005 had been released two or three years ago, it would probably have sold like hot cakes. Why? Back then, blank DVDs of all kinds were ridiculously expensive DVD-Rs went for 5, and +RWs for a tenner and so the alternative of VideoCD would have been an attractive one for recordings where tip-top quality wasnt required. Problem is, (S)VCD recording is nowhere like as attractive today, because blank DVD prices have fallen sharply. You can now buy quality DVD media, for a fraction of its old price. PLAYBACK Video jitter (36ns) Signal-to-noise ratio Composite (-76.7dB) S-Video Y (-79.2dB) Chroma AM (-71.4dB) PM (-63.3dB) Chroma crosstalk (-75.4dB) Freq. resp. @5.8MHz Composite (-3.1dB) S-Video (-3.2dB) Audio jitter (5,400.4ps) RECORDING Chroma (SP) AM (-65.5dB) PM (-58.2dB) Freq response@4MHz HQ (-2.4dB) SP (-2.4dB) Freq response@2MHz LP (-3.4dB) SLP (-3.4dB)
the industrys prime movers (like Philips) to make machines that
Yes the machine doubles up as an audio CD recorder

Upmarket flexibility

On which subject, the 5005B will itself record to DVD-RWs, albeit only in video (compatible) mode. It wont even play VR-mode discs. But there are compensations it will also record onto DVD-Rs, DVD+RWs and DVD+Rs. The only other machine with anywhere near this flexibility is Sonys somewhat more upmarket GX range. And those Japanese machines wont record onto DVD+Rs not really an issue, though, given that these are more expensive than -Rs. Liteon is a company normally associated with budget computer hardware, and a peek under the bonnet reveals that the 5005 is based around one of its PC IDE-interfaced DVD burners. This drive, like many modern ones you can buy in a computer shop, will also write to CD-R and CD-RW media. Which brings us to the most unusual feature of all. Load a blank CD, and the 5005 will let you make audio recordings

Connection conundrum

OK, thats the main benefit out of the way. Unfortunately, the 5005 is found lacking in some key areas. Firstly, connectivity is diabolical. There are two Scarts input for external source, output for TV but neither of them support RGB. Or S-video, for that matter. Yep, composite is the best youll get from them. And while theres a standard 4-pin S-video output for your TV, theres no such input. The upshot of this is that any (non-Firewire) video recordings you care to make have to be from a composite video source. Ironically, the Scartless overseas version does have an S-video input! In terms of audio outputs, you get phonos for analogue stereo. Both coaxial and optical digital outputs are provided. But, bizarrely for a machine that can make audio CDs, theres no digital audio input. Nor are there phono inputs, other than those accessible from the front panel. This machine is fairly easy to set up, because its so basic. Menus are nicely-presented and easy to drive. An exception is the (analogue) tuner, which uses an American-style tuning system. Basically, it sweeps the entire band and its up to you to turn off the channels you dont require. Channels cant be named, and

Compatibility

DVD DVD-A SACD CD MP3 WMA JPEG HighMAT CD-R CD-RW

G Video CD G G G G G

S-Video CD DiVX DVD+R DVD-R DVD+RW DVD-RW (Video) DVD-RW (VR) DVD-RAM

J U LY

H O M E C I N E M A C H O I C E 119

Average Poor

G G G G G G
consumer items they are now, we can remember trying to convince

Excellent

Lab Report

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GroupTest
Reasonable build quality for this Liteon, but connectivity is poor
Recordings can be titled with a virtual keyboard
Theres also some shimmer around slabs of saturated colour. Unless youre recording from a digital camcorder, dont bother wasting disk capacity with the one-hour mode the two-hour provision will suffice. The 4 and 6-hour modes demonstrate an obvious drop in resolution, and are only recommended for noncritical timeshifting. Bearing in mind the limitations of (S)VCD, I was impressed by the quality offered. VCD pictures are soft, but artifacts are nowhere near as intrusive as with previous generations of this type of recorder. SVCDs actually look better than DVD recordings made in the bottom two modes, with more detail on offer. Unfortunately, not all DVD players can handle SVCDs. That shouldnt have stopped Liteon from offering a non-standard DVD recording mode based around SVCD protocols (MPEG2, 352 x 576 i.e. half the vertical resolution of standard DVD). This would have provided approximately 4 hours of decent-quality recording per disc. Nice idea, but Liteon has more important priorities RGB/S-video inputs and Nicam tuner, for starters. In many ways this is a remarkable piece of kit, that lets itself down on several key issues. Lets hope the company really does get it all write next time.

the numbers given to them are arbitrary they certainly dont
correspond to conventional UHF allocations. The worst aspect of the tuner is that its mono-sound only. Yep, this is the first DVD recorder weve come across thats incapable of recovering Nicam stereo soundtracks! The clocks not set automatically, either. Timeshifters wont appreciate that the meagre 5-event timer cannot be programmed via VideoPlus it has to be set manually. In other respects, things are made easier. Insert a blank rewritable DVD, and its automatically formatted. Then theres the easy guider, a friendly GUI that takes you through the essentials step-by-step. Its split into four sections playback, record, format and initialise. Playback brings up the disc menu. In record, you can choose the channel/source and if youre recording onto DVD recording mode (there are four of these, offering 1, 2, 4 and 6 hours per disc). Formatting reinitialises a recorded disc. If a CD is inserted, options are provided for VCD, SVCD or audio CD recording. Finalising makes the disc whether recordable DVD or recordable/rewritable CD play-only. Rewritable DVDs dont need to be finalised. (Super)VCDs are VCD 2.0 compliant, meaning that discs have a rudimentary menu (in the case of the 5005B, each recording is represented by a thumbnail). To access a particular recording, its number is entered. With DVDs, recordings also employ a thumbnail menu system. The one you want to view is highlighted with the arrow keys, and enter then pressed to start playback. If there are lots of recordings on a disc, there could be several pages of thumbnails to work through. Note that recordings can be titled with a virtual keyboard prior to finalisation. Apart from deleting unwanted recordings, thats your lot as far as editing is concerned. Performance? Recording quality is restricted by the composite-only input, and so theres a restriction in terms of detail.

FEATURES

Specifications: Disc formats supported (play): DVD; MP3; JPEG; Disc formats supported (play/record): DVD-RW (video mode); DVD+RW; DVD-R; DVD+R; CD-DA; VCD; SVCD (CD-R or CD-RW) Main features: Multi-disc compatibility, VCD/SVCD/audio CD recording, mono-sound tuner, PBC 2.0, OTR, 5-event timer, easy guider, titling/protection/deletion of recordings, Region 2-only commercial DVD playback, PAL/NTSC recording/playback, MPEG1 2.0 audio recording (DVD/(S)VCD), PCM stereo recording (audio CD), 4 DVD recording modes, JPEG slide show, repeat play, parental control, 6x search/slow-motion speeds, frame-advance, still frame, firmware updatable Connections: Rear: Stereo audio out, S-video out, composite video out, aerial in/out, coaxial/optical digital out, 2x Scart (compositeonly). Front: composite in, stereo audio in, Firewire in Dimensions: 420(w) x 66(h) x 268(d)mm Weight: 2.8kg