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Reviewed by UK Guest, 28th Nov 2005. |
| Review Summary: When it's good, it's very good, but ... |
Overall Score: 4/5
 
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Review: I've had my Lite-on 5045 DVD recorder for the last 6 months and I'm impressed with the quality of recordings to the HD and onto disc. It's also easier to use than a JVC model that I bought my girlfriend.
It's just that it's so damned unpredictable - it will work fine for weeks and then suddenly it freezes, often when splitting a file. Typically, after unplugging (the remote control is also locked out) the second part of the file split is corrupt and is unviewable and must be deleted.
Like some other reviewers, I've also had the entire contents of my HD disappear. The first time I lost them for good. The second time, I switched the machine off and on again and waited for the HD to be rescanned and surprisingly the contents reappeared. Perhaps, if I'd done that the first time, I'd have recovered the lost files, who knows.
Overall, I still think the machine was a good buy, especially now that I don't panic when it freezes. It is tiresome dealing with the glitches, but it works fine 99% of the time. It's so much better than my old VCR and I prefer it to the JVC HD recorder (which once froze big time - I had to turn the power on and off 3 times and wait an age before it finally rebooted and recovered the contents of the HD).
It's still pretty good value for relatively new technology, but if you can wait I predict there will be better, cheaper and more reliable models within the next 12 months. |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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4 |
| Review Score: |
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4 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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DVD, TV & Video