I've asked questions about Cyberhome,ILO, and even Lite-On, andgotten good feedback---but still am apprehensive. I understand thet the recorders mainly record to lay back on themselves, and will play back commercial DVD's, but rarely will recordings made on any of them play on stand-alone DVD players, as they are DVD, not DVR (I think!). One final question, to allay apprehension, is this: As I would like to record stuff on DVD's for saving, and sometimes "w's" to watch and erase, and also use it as a player of regular DVD's, which of the three would be best? The ILO and Cyperhome are about $100-110, and the Lite-on is $200, but Radio Shack has a $50 rebate that makes it $150. Is the extra money worth it? I was also just considering buying a new external DVD-recording drive for my PC, as they now have doubled some onf the disks, but have experienced some of the same troubles many have with the DVR's, not always being compatible with stand-alones. Once againe, feedback and opinons would be appreciated. the rebaate on the Lite-On is only for another week or two. Thanks. Jim (soschief).
I have yet to have a finalized, recordable DVD that didn't play back on my two standalone DVD players -- I can even play them back on my PC's DVD drive AND make copies of them on the PC that ALSO play back everywhere. The only failures I've read about here were related to the ILO-05 model, and most of those happened DURING finalization for me, leaving several useless DVDs. Now, I'm going to make my official DVD-recorder recommendation in the next 24 hours, so lay back and enjoy the holiday (LOL). In the meantime, I'd NOT recommend trying to use any recorder you buy as a playback device as well -- it's not an issue of quality or features, but rather overall wear and tear. These home DVD recorders are very new and untested technology, that's why there are so many websites like this one where we're all visiting to find out "what the &^%$??"... Most of us already have DVD players at home, and if you know what you're doing, finalize your recordable-DVDs correctly, and manage to find a recorder you like (that works), you won't have a problem with playback on another device. Trust me. Official recommendation coming soon -- and it's not a unit mentioned on this site before.
Ok, I am new to this dvd recorder stuff,,so any advice at all will be greatly appreciated!! I to have purchased the ilo dvdr05, and at first was very impressed. However, I have gotten very frustrated with it over the last 2 days. I didn't notice that it says in the manual that it uses dvd+r or +rw to record, and honestly didn't even know there was a difference in them or the -rw & -r...but was using a dvd-r to record movies that we had record onto tapes and home movies as well,,and they worked great! Even played on another dvd/vcr combo that we have. But then wanted to get a dvd-rw disk so that I could use it record tv programs to watch later,,that is when it happened!!!!!!!!! The first time I tried recording a tv program I just put the disk in and hit record,,it recorded until I hit stop, the I just walked away,,I don't know if it said "bad disk" at that time or not or if it asked if I wanted to finalize the disk,because like I said, I just stopped the recording and walked away. When I checked it about an hour or so later, the disk try was popped out and when I pushed the disk back in it said that the disk was empty. Ok, "no big deal" I thought, so I tried it again the next night,,,then things got worse! Of course, basically the same thing, but this time when I pushed stop I stayed in the room and watched,,it looked like it was reading the disk (the little red circle was in the right hand upper corner turning like it does before it asks if you want to finalize the disk) but a box kept popping up say something about the quality of the disk and of course it didn't record. So, I started reading the book and that is when I noticed it saying that it used the +rw & +r to record. NO big deal, just by some later,,but meanwhile figured I could keep recording our homemovies,,,boy was I wrong! Now no matter what kind of disk I put in, a brand new one, a recorded one or a rented movie,,,NOTHING happens,,,it just keeps telling me that there is no disk! Why does it do that? Am I doing something wrong when trying to record tv programs? Why wont' it read any disk now? Did I mess it up by using a dvd-r or dvd-rw to record and not the +rw or +r? Is there something I need to upgrade this product? And if so, where do I get it and how much is it going to cost me? Please help!!! This is driving me crazy! I know it was only $100, but still that is a lot of money when you are talking about something that you only got to use 4-5 times before it messes up!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I started out using the DVD-R discs on my first 05, and had more luck than I did trying to use +R discs. The discs were not the best quality, and also the unit was acting quirky turning itself on by itself so I took it back and exchanged it for another unit at walmart. The second unit would not recognize any of my discs that I had recorded on the first unit, and I made 4 coasters in a row with better quality discs and it smelled really hot when it was recording so I took it back and exchanged it too. Knock on wood, this third unit recognizes all of my previous recorded discs, doesnt seem to get overly hot and using Memorex 16x (the wife picked them up by accident and its a 40 mile round trip to exchange them) I am 4 for 4 on good recordings. Still, none of the discs I have recorded on any of the three 05's that I have had will start from the beginning of the movie on my 1 year old HP computer with DVD player / burner. it wants to start from about 3/4 of the way through the movie (on each disc I have recorded) and you have to forward to the last chapter and let the movie start over again using the repeat feature of WMP. BTW all discs that I have made have been finalized.
Armywife, I recommend exchanging the unit you have, it sound's like it is done for. I have a iloR05ZU unit. I recommend you trying for the ZU model rather than the MU model. The only problem I have had was that it didn't want to record a full 8 hours. After 5 weeks of waiting, ILO tech support finally told me to upgrade my firmware. (from the Ilo site). I have done so and it is working just fine now. I also recommend you only use +R/+RW discs. It seems to me that people tend to run into problems when they try both types (-r and +r) on the machine. (just my opinion)
Ok so i have the ILO DVDR05. We recorded off the Tv and it worked fine...tried to copy some of my VHS tapes and then play back on my DVD player and its not recognized by that or the DVD player in my Chevy Uplander. I am using the +R DVD's. Wonder if I should try the DVDR discs before I return this thing. I am not electronically inclined but this cant be that hard.
Yes i got both the 04 and 05 model didnt care for for one reason they have the cable hook ups but could not watch tv through it like a vcr you still needed the rca cables too the back of your tv but if you dont have this your screwed, like in older models.
Ok,,I have exchanged our dvd recorder. I started recording our home movies again,,and ironically, I am using the dvd-r to do this with and it has recorded fine. However, when I try to record off of the tv it won't. No matter if I set the timer, or if I just record something while I am watching it,,it won't record. It doesn't say that it is a bad disk,,it even tells me that I still have 100% of space left to record on. I used a dvd-r to record that as well. Should I try using a dvd+r/rw for recording off of the tuner? Could that be what it means by using dvd+r/rw for recording is from the tv? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Right now,,the only good this thing is doing me is for our home movies and that is all!
ok, I have used the dvd-r/rw the whole time and never had a problem with it recording. so why am I having a problem now? Of, course since my last posting this dvd recorder is now messed up as well. I was recording my home movies and it just paused in the middle of recording. I think we are going to take it back and just get a differnt brand. Any suggestions on which one is the best?
my ilo works pretty good & it copies copyrighted tapes & dvds for me.& to the people who get bad disc errors..get some good media like fuji,maxell,or sony.i recorded on a sony+rw today and playback is good..only complaint i have is that you can run the discs thru shrink without getting that error message.
can you tell me how you get your ilo to record copyrighted movies? Mine will not do that. It say that the movie I am trying to record is protected.
i just hooked mine up & it did it basically...i thought i was going to have to buy a stabilizer but i havent had too.
now that mine is connected rite & on its own shelf it seems to be working fine we have burned about 50 old tapes to dvd's i did place 2 1.5" dlocks under it to get a little more air flow. if it gets hot agian i will try a CPU fan to blow past it.
ArmyWife, I still think it is the -r designation causing the recorder to go bad. It may be able to see them but the instruction do say to only use +r type. As far as the nothing recording from the t.v., mine did do that once, but I simply ran the auto-tuner again and it was working fine again. Also if you do update the firmware on it, you'll have to run the tuner setup again and reprogram your scheduled recording. But if you must have a different dvd burner, I think Pioneer makes a good one, from what I have been reading anyway. As I said, other than a couple glitches, my Ilo works just fine.
well, I just gave up on the whole ilo burner. after 3, I have had enough. We got an emerson this time,,,it was about $50 more, but have not had any problems so far,,,knock on wood. We'll see how it works.
Armywife- What model/style of Emerson did you get? After you use it for awhile, let us know how it works. Is it the one where there is a DVD recorder and a VCR, both? That's the one I've seen at Walmart that I've seen for about $50.00 more than the ILO. I've wondered about it, as I hear different opinions of Emerson as a brand. Thanks. Jim
It is an Emerson EWR10D5....we have only had it a few hours,,just got it today. So far,,had great luck with it. It has recorded our home movies and off of the tv, which we were having lots of problems with with the ilo brand. And,,what I love about it,,,it uses the DVD-R/RW,,which is what I already had and are the easiest to find in the stores. It was about $50 more than the ilo,,but to me,,well worth it so far. And no,,it does not have a VCR with it,,only the recorder. The one with the vcr was a lot more than I want to spend, besides, it is just as easy to hook up our vcr to the dvd recorder and use it that way,,,just as you would if recording from your camcorder. I will post later if I have any problems with this brand!
