Most PC users are familiar with Lite-On as a company that provides optical drives such as CD and DVD recorders for the PC.  Lite-On also makes consumer DVD players and recorders.  Since this area has a more broad range of users, it is important that any user, whether it be a novice or expert, that they will be able to use the product easily. 

Today, I will be taking a look at a DVD/HDD recorder from Lite-On.  What makes this product unique is that it allows you to record content from a wide variety of sources into the built in hard-drive in the unit.  Once it is on the hard drive, you can then record the digital media onto blank DVD's to allow you to permanently store your important content. 

With the LVW-5045, Lite-On always keeps the consumer in mind by focusing on functionality and simplicity.  This product manages to keep the process of recording content and burning the content to DVD's simplified and easy to use with minimal sacrifice in features.
 

Again, the ease of setup and installation is important when working with a product such as this.  If this process is too complex, it will overwhelm the typical consumer making it difficult to get things done.  When opening the box, the flaps of the box show a nice picture diagram of how the device is supposed to be connected to your Television.  Since the diagram is well drawn and is clear, it should be able to get most people started right away on setting up the unit.
 

Those stickers that briefly tell the capabilities and features of a product are welcome for this kind of product.  The LVW-5045 support time shifting, can record up to 160 hours of content, has Firewire capabilities, 2 way disc backup, and EasyGuider 2.
 

At the front right of the unit, we see that there is one Video In port, and two Audio In ports as well.  These ports allow you to connect this recorder unit with other devices such as a camcorder or maybe even a VCR.  To the left of those ports is a Firewire port which will most likely be used with a camcorder.

 

Labeled along the front of the unit are the usual logos you see typically on DVD players.  This unit support Dolby Digital (no DTS) and is also capable of writing to rewritable discs.  The more interesting thing to note is that this unit support WMA files.
 

There's nothing to see visually at the back of the unit except for the fan at the center.
 

A remote is included with the unit.  I've seen remotes of all shapes and sizes.  Although this remote does have a lot of buttons, it is still sectioned in a way to make it slightly less confusing.  The only buttons in red are the power button and the record button.  The upper section of the remote is mainly used to control the channels of the TV.  The middle section is used primarily for navigating.  The lower section of the remote is used for controlling playback and special features such as timeshifting.
 

What makes this product unique is their intuitive, organized menu system.  When setting up the recorder, I was presented with the screen as shown above.  There are icons on the left of the screen which show the categories of options that you can change.  On the right hand side, it shows what setting it is currently set at.

By plugging in my TV antenna to the unit, I was now able to record from the TV.  While viewing a channel, all you have to do is to press the red 'record' button to begin recording.  When you begin recording, a bar at the top of the screen will show that the time that has elapsed while recording.  It also shows the total available time that you can record.  In this case, you can record up to 70 hours of television.  I recorded several clips from the TV.  In order to access the clips, you just press the 'browser' button.  A screen will be presented which shows the various clips that you have recorded.  I recorded two 1 hour clips of a television show and a short 15 second clip.  Unlike a VCR, there's no need of the hassle of trying to find the spot where you last recorded.  With this unit, everything is neatly separated.  When you record individual clips, you can access them at the same starting spot that you recorded them.

One of the main feature when watching TV is the time shift capability.  Just like a TIVO, you can pause live television.  When you pause the television, it will start buffering the content onto the hard drive.  When you are ready to begin watching again, press the play button and you will start watching again at the same place you paused it.  If you press the time shift button again, it will stop time shifting.  The time shifting generally worked, but there were times where I was uncertain what the time shifting was doing when pressing the button more than one time consecutively.

Overall, the picture quality of the recordings were generally good.  When comparing an original clip to a recorded clip, there is still some slight noise that can be seen.  This is because of all the circuitry that the television signal goes through in the unit.  Although this is expected, the picture quality is still good and the noise is fairly unobtrusive.

Storing your content onto a DVD or CD disc will depend on the mode that was used to record the content.  In SLP mode, you can record up to 6 hours of content onto a DVD disc with a resolution of 352x240.  In SP, you can get 2 hours at a resolution of 720x480.  If you wish to record to a CD, you can record in SVCD or VCD formats.  VCD (Video CD) allows over a full hour of content while SVCD (Super Video CD) allows up to 34 minutes of content.

If you are tired of having to deal with the hassle of using VCR tapes and you like to record content, then this is the product for you.  The Lite-On LVW-5045 is very easy to use.  In fact, I let my parents try it out and they were able to make use of it without my help.  This proves that this unit is easy to use for those who aren't technologically savvy at all.  The 160gb in the unit is plenty of space even for those who record a lot of content.  Even if the hard drive were to fill up, you can easily record the content onto CD or DVD discs.

It's time to get rid of that old VCR and start to record all your content digitally.  If you have a large stach of VCR tapes, Lite-On does offer another product which will allow you to copy your VCR tapes to DVD's or CD's directly.

Reviewed by ronald@digitalreviews.net