I have been shopping around for a dvd recorder of some sort to replace the failing vcr I've had for years. I was looking at the liteon 1101 from best buy (was 99 bux with a 30 rebate) but like everything that I ever wanted to buy at that store it was "out of stock" once I got there and the guy said they weren't planning on getting anymore real soon since they are currently on backorder.
After reading a bunch of the posts here most people were happy with either the liteon or ilo brand (roughly the same model with a different nametag on the front) I went looking for these brands at the local stores and online. Here's the lucky part after looking for an inexpensive (under $250) dvd recorder at several local stores I stumbled across a NIB ilo dvdrhd04 on a shelf at the local wally world. The even better part is that it normally sold online for 278 but these were marked down to 229.
Now here lies the question....to upgrade the firmware or not? Mainly I'm planning to use it to back up my niece and nephews old vhs tapes and record tv and movies off direct tv. If I update the firmware what's the best version to go with? I'm only looking to disable the macro protection...the region doesn't mean much to me right now if that makes a difference. I've read quite a bit on the forums but just wanted to ask some of the pro's here that have had some experience dealing with this recorder before I try anything that might screw it up.
Oh, yeah ... The 04 ilo is a rebadged LiteOn and, in my experience with my 2 LiteOns, Verbatim +R, Sony made in Taiwan +R and Maxell +R seem to work the best ... If you plan on using RW discs at all ... Don't waste your money on anything except the Verbatim +RW discs ... all the others are not very good with these machines ...
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Have two ilo RHD04 units, one is over a year in use. Both work fine, no problems. I use Verbatim +RW diks but also use Maxell, Memorex, and a few other brands and do not have any problems.
The ilo is a very good unit. but has quirks of its own. Other machines also have them. Learn how to operate this unit. And above do not Defrag the HDD. Erase is fine do not Defrag,. Do not push the remote buttons to fast. It is easy to do and can result in doing something you didn't want.
As to firmware upgrades and what they do check this site.
http://ncc2315.com/ilo/ And than before doing anything check these
http://www.techolio.com/forums/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=9567e... You should have at least firmware 1195, that eliminates any problem with green tint on certain videos
You can check this by entering setup. Look at the numbers the third set will read [for 1195] 0195 ---------- [for 1193] 0193 Or it could be lower If you just bought it I think it will have 1193 You should upgrade to at least 1195. The latest is 1201. Both of mine have 1201.
Again brfore you do anything read the prociedures. Its really very easy. I firmly believe the vast majority of problems come brcause of operator error
Haven't checked the version of firmware installed on machine as of yet but I think I'm going to upgrade to the latest version and add the macro free patch to it when I do the upgrade.
So far I've burnt 4 sony dvd+rw's at 4 hour speed without even a glitch or the talked about green tint...maybe I don't know what I'm looking for but I haven't noticed any green tint in any recordings so far. The rw's play back fine in both my home dvd players (one apex and one sony) and in my computer as well
The timer record is very easy to figure out and has worked great every time I've used it recording off direct tv. Tried for the first time to record to the h/d last night and everything went great. Now all I have to do is edit out the comercials and burn the project to a DVD+R or DVD+RW.
Yes I would say that so far I'm very pleased with the unit and would consider buying another one for my second direct tv setup.
