LiteOn LVW-5005 DVD Recorder - page 3

Reading Tests

Although this device focuses mainly on recording, we carried out our usual reading tests, because most of LVW-5005 owners will use it for both reading and recording.

In the mode of playback, the device has nothing to complain about. We get an easy access to all the appropriate settings. Below, just for reference, there is a screenshot of the LiteOn recorder while playback. The displayed settings may vary depending on an inserted media type.

You can also choose whether to be presented information about the inserted media, or not.

DVD support

• DVD-Video

The LiteOn LVW-5005 we have in our hands is a region-2 drive, which means that the player is able to decode (play) only the pressed DVD-Video discs coming from the European region. However, there is a simple way in which you can unlock the region on this device. In the setup menu go the Exit button and press 2,9,6 and 0. An extra submenu will appear, from which you can select the region you wish or just stick to the region- free option. Unfortunately, there is not such option for Macrovision remove, as it was in LVW-5001 model.

We recorded a 4.35GB DVD-Video file on various DVD+R/-R, DVD-RW/+RW media. The recorders we used are some of the latest dual-format available on the PC market, as well as some 1st generation recorders. Pressed single / dual layer DVD-Video discs were also verified in the test. All the test discs were created in the same PC /software in the DVD-Video mode.

We checked the player's disc recognition, as well as smooth navigation and playback. The results were very impressive, since all the discs were read completely. See the drives and media we used in the table below:

As it was expected all the DVD±RW disc were played successfully without problems.

• DVD-ROM

The LiteOn LVW-5005 supports reading of DVD-ROM format.

• CD support

The LiteOn LVW-5005 works well with AudioCD, CD-R/-RW, VideoCD and Super-VideoCD playback. The *.cda files of any audioCD are recognized correctly, even when the disc is factory- pressed or is a CD-R/RW. In addition, CD-Text is supported.
Please notice that, when talking about data CD (CD-R/-RW), we refer to either compressed audio files (MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis.), pure *.wav files, or to VideoCD and Super VideoCD.

• AudioCD

In case of pressed AudioCDs the player recognizes and plays all the tracks, offering additional features like CD-Text reading and navigation between tracks, as already mentioned on the previous page. This also applies to CD-R and CD-RW discs. The device played audio files of the CD-R, 10x HS-RW, 24x US-RW and 32x US-RW discs we inserted in the disc tray.

In addition, no problems were noticed either when we played 8cm CD-R/-RW (185MB), 90/99min CD-R or CD business cards, but only as long as they are round- shaped. The player's tray is not designed to accept any other media shapes, which we can sometimes observe in case of smart cards or business cards.

LiteOn LVW-5005 will not let anyone who has purchased any protected audio discs in a music store down. The discs we tested were "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision' Key2Audio system, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come" protected with Cactus Data Shield 200. Both titles were recognized and played without any problems., which is good news as this kind of media are practically not playable on PCs due to the protection schemes designed to discourage PC users from copying.

• Super AudioCD

The LiteOn LVW-5005 does not support Super AudioCD.

• Compressed Audio (data CD)

Let's see now how the player reacts to various compressed audio files stored on data CD-R/RW. Although the specifications of DVP-NS330 clearly indicate MP3 support, it is not sure whether the drive can handle all MP3 compression modes. CBR or VBR encoding mode and variations in the sampling rate could be hard for any reader to decode. The table below shows a list of MP3 and WMA files with a variety of compression settings and reactions of the device to them.

• VCD/SVCD

Both formats are supported.