Page 1 of liteon 5006 initial impressions

I`ve had 24 hours to play with my first DVD recorder so here are my first
impressions of the Liteon 5006

First of all, the specs may be found here (and on this forum somewere too !)
www.liteonit.com/DC/english/download.htm
specs/manual don`t mention the nicam analogue tuner which it has..

Pros :
1) Setup was a doddle, nice user interface so I didn`t need the manual !
2) Tuner reception better than my old Aiwa VCR and better than my
Thomson TV.. digital cable coming in through an RGB scart
3) Supplied with a +RW disk which was ready to record within a few seconds
after first placed into the recorder.
4) Playback picture quality looks as good as my old DVD player through RGB
5) 5.1 sound also is at least as good as my old player
6) Lots of recording options : DVD 1,2,3,4,6 hour settings per disk with even the
lowest quality at least as `good` as VHS., VCD and SVCD recording onto CDs is
also possible (not tried this yet).
7) Recordings look much better than my VCR (as it should !) and recordings start
quicklyafter pressing the button.
8) Remote is nicely uncluttered, however I use a universal remote for simple functions
9) Simple multiregion hack available (type code into handset)
10) Unit looks quite attractive to me
11) £188 from Novatech seemed quite cheap for the features

Cons/niggles :
1) I`m watching cable fed through the recorder via scarts. For some reason the tv
is not responding to changes in the source material aspect ratio : I have to set
the TV manually to 16:9 for example. Just a minor niggle
2) After a recording is stopped the device is unresponsive for about 15s while it
sorts itself out (displays `stop` on the front LED).
3) Quite Noisy spin-up of disk. Quietens down though once up and running. Not
as loud as my old VCR..
4) No zoom function ! (Well I am a bloke !).

Overall I`m quite pleased with the recorder so far. It will be interesting to see what
any firmware upgrades bring in tems of enhanced features. For example the chip
used in the device (LSI logic 8602) is capable of a timeshift function..
www.lsilogic.com/files/docs/marketing_docs/consumer/dmn8602_pb.pdf
Though that may be wishful thinking :)

My System for reference is a budget home theatre affair :

TV : Thomson 100Hz flatscreen 28" 28WF45 EG
Receiver : Panasonic SAH-90 5x100W
Eltax surround speakers

any questions ?

Martin

looks good (the link to the acrobat review/manual was a nice touce ;) )
looks like its a toss up between this and the toshiba :)

there are a lot of people who have purchased this liteon 5006 myself included who are not very impressed by this player. This player suffers from an intermittant fault of jerky pictures when watching tv throught the dvd player and also there are no rgb in despite the manual stating it has. I have tested this on my tv and sky plus and there is no rgb in. My player is going back. if any further advice is needed http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=159427"] http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=159427

This item was edited on Sunday, 31st October 2004, 18:56

OK,

I`ve now spent the day playing with my new 5006 and it`s going back tomorrow :-( The jerky video has occured on and off all day when watching terrestrial tv via the 5006 tuner, however as soon as I hit the record button the jerky video disapears and you capture pefect video!!! OK if you aren`t going to watch any thing via the 5006 tuner I guess but why does it do it ??? and will it do it when I`m recording at some point???

The horizontal lines / bars are still an issue again with terrestrial tv via the 5006 tuner, I`ve tried everything to get rid of them including a plain connection from the antenna to the 5006 RF in and a good quality Scart to RGB in on the TV Still get the lines!!! even with everything in my system turned off except the 5006 & the TV (although they were improved a little)..

And finally the over all noise of the thing... the disc makes a lot of noise when recording or just watching a DVD (when watching some discs it also makes a rythmic clicking noise as well!), it must be spinning a quite a rate.. Also the fan does make a noise but mine is not that intrusive.

All in all I really wanted this machine to be as good as it`s written spec but although it`s recordings look great (as long as the source is not the 5006 internal tuner) The jerky video, horizontal RF lines & general noise levels are making me take it back... I`m not even sure if I`m going to try another one (at least from the same bacth!)

Cheers

Dave.

Not too sure about the 5006 but the problem with the picture jumping has also been commented on by users of the 5005.
The problem may be related to a player being made multi-region. Some users stated that the jerky video problem was cured by reverting back to R2.
Might not be the problem but just a thought :)

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Quote:
This player suffers from an intermittant fault of jerky pictures when watching tv throught the dvd player

This is how I have the player setup and I have yet to see this, though I`ve only
had it for 2 days now. If it happens I`ll update my review.

A US DVD disk jumped a few times at the start of playback, but was fine
after a few seconds. I attributed this to the NTSC>PAL decoder starting up in the
recorder.

Quote:
also there are no rgb in

The 5006 definitely has RGB in because that is what my digital decoder
is set to output (not composite on the scart). Are you using the Sky auxillary
scart (VCR) socket ? I`ve heard that this does not output RGB (though I`m on
NTL cable so can`t verify this).

Quote:
as long as the source is not the 5006 internal tuner) The jerky video, horizontal
RF lines & general noise levels are making me take it back...

Well I don`t have these problems on my unit. RF reception is good, though my
source is cable, not an antenna which may be the difference. I notice excessive
audio noise only when the disk first spins up..

MartinT

This item was edited on Sunday, 31st October 2004, 21:23

Thanks for the feed back guys..

I`ve not multi-regioned my 5006, didn`t wont to play around with it until I was sure I was going to keep it.. The Jerky video only seems to happen when watching normal TV through the 5006 tuner and not when watching a DVD disc.. It`s quite common to see a slight jerkyness when watching NTSC discs on a PAL based system I think it`s due to the frame rate being different...

As for the RF noise (horizontal lines)... my 5006 is fine if I use my Freeview box as the source through a RGB scart..

I`ve now disconnected my 5006 and boxed it up for return tomorrow... Now I`m faced with a problem..I`ve given my SVHS video deck away and have no recorder!!!

Do I go for another 5006 and hope this one was a duffer or look for another machine.. I need to be able to record on a fomat that both my kids can take up stairs and watch on their own DVD players so unless I want to fork out for a new DVD-R every time the Panasonic E55 is out...shame as it`s got the What HI-FI 2004 award and you can multi- region it.. So now I`m looking at the Philips 610?? DVD+R/RW so the kids can watch stuff upstairs and it looks like Philips have now sorted the fan with some new firmware..But can it be multi-regioned??

Anyone got any other ideas.... DVD+R/RW & multi-region for under £200 Oh and some reasonable level of perfommance / build quality..

Cheers

Dave.

DVD+R/RW & multi-region for under £200 Oh and some reasonable level of perfommance / build quality..

does it Have to be +r/rw ? what about -r & ram ?(panny) or maybe the toshiba -r/-rw/ram
i can atest that the panny`s are bullet proof for reliability.

No -RW would do fine.. I`ll take a look at the tosh...

Just as long as it`s re-writable and plays in most players...

Cheers

Dave

Quote:
I`ve not multi-regioned my 5006, didn`t wont to play around with it until I was sure I was going to keep it.. The Jerky video only seems to happen when watching normal TV through the 5006 tuner and not when watching a DVD disc.. It`s quite common to see a slight jerkyness when watching NTSC discs on a PAL based system I think it`s due to the frame rate being different...

Just a thought here-I don`t know whether this is or could be the case but does the Lite On have a switchable PAL/NTSC output, or is just an `auto` setting? If it has a switch, then it could be that yours is set to NTSC and that would give the kind of playback you are experiencing on your PAL TV