In House Review - Lite-On PhoMaster LVD-2001 DVD & Plus

[Ian]

Over the years, we've reviewed a number of products from Lite-On. Today we take a look at something new. The PhoMaster LVD-2001 DVD & Plus is one of Lite-On's new set-top boxes. Based upon their award winning CD and DVD technology, the LVD-2001 supports DVD/SVCD/VCD/CD as well as DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW discs.

The "Plus" in the name should tip you off that the LVD-2001 is more than just a mere DVD player. It can also play back a number of audio and video formats, including MPEG4, MP3 and WMA. And yes, let's not forget the LVD-2001's built-in PCMCIA slot that will let you view pictures directly from a memory card.

Lite-On PhoMaster LVD-2001 DVD & Plus

As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Lite-On PhoMaster LVD-2001 DVD & Plus, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below.

[cfitz]

What about region protection control? Is it, or can it be made, region-free?

cfitz

[hoxlund]

im also intrested in the audio capibilities, like specifications

does it do DTS, Dolby Digital Decoding, 480P Progressive Scan

cause not more than 30 minutes ago i bought the JVC XV-N55SL:

http://www.jvc.com/product.jsp?modelId= ... 038&page=2

i wanna know the differences other than divx and pcmcia slot viewer thingy

[BurninMan921]

Great review Ian! Any idea of the cost?

I was planning on building a dedicated PC to play DivX/MP3's (hooked directly to the tv), but may just nab this instead...

[cfitz]

Yeah, I forgot to ask about progressive scan as well. Here are some more specs, hoxlund:

http://www.liteonit.com.tw/liteweb/lvd_2001_2.htm

It does do 480p with 3-2 pulldown, and it has DolbyR Digital (Dolby AC-3) and dtsR Digital Outputs. They also specifically mention that it plays all the DVD and CD recordable formats.

I was going to ask about cost and availability as well, BurninMan921. A quick search on pricegrabber and pricewatch didn't turn up anything.

cfitz

[cfitz]

You can download a set of manuals (including a number of languages) from that site as well:

http://www.liteonit.com.tw/liteweb/imag ... 2001-8.zip

Go check the site, it has quite a lot of information, particularly for a LiteOn site, which typically tend to be pretty sparse.

cfitz

[cfitz]

By the way, BurninMan921, thanks go to Boone on this one.

cfitz

[Ian]

According to Lite-On, the LVD-2001 will have a suggested retail price of about $199.

The LVR-1001 will be about $399.

[BurninMan921]

By the way, BurninMan921, thanks go to Boone on this one.

cfitz

Sorry!

[Ian]

You can download a set of manuals (including a number of languages) from that site as well:

http://www.liteonit.com.tw/liteweb/imag ... 2001-8.zip

Boone will be happy about that. I don't think he got an english manual with the player.

[hoxlund]

as far as i can tell both the JVC i bought and the litey are almost same

just getting divx and pcmcia thingy with litey's

but the audio probably is better on the JVC:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-EO ... 257XVN44SL

looking at the audio and video specifiations towards the bottom

[cfitz]

According to Lite-On, the LVD-2001 will have a suggested retail price of about $199.

Thanks. A little higher than I expect from LiteOn, even though it has a lot of features. I guess we will have to see what it discounts to.

Any idea about the region control?

Boone will be happy about that. I don't think he got an english manual with the player.

It's pretty complete too, at 22 pages long. That's about infinitely more times the number of pages in the typical LiteOn manual... I guess that's the difference between targeting the retail consumer and the OEM's.

Hoxlund, here are some more audio specs from the last page of the manual:

Audio Format
Dolby Digital Digital Output
MPEG1 2-channel
MPEG2 2-channel
PCM 2-channel

Audio Performance
DA Converter 24-bit/192KHz
Signal-Noise (1kHz) ≧90 dB
Dynamic Range (1kHz) ≧80 dB
Channel Separation (1kHz) ≧80 dB
Total Harmonic Distortion (1kHz) ≦-65 dB

Rear Connections
Audio Left/Right Out RCA connector (white/red) X2
Audio Digital Out Coaxial and Optical
Audio 5.1-chanel Out n/a

cfitz

[Boone]

Region Protection - I didn't not explore that due to the fact that DVD Region encoding is the law.

DTS, DD, 480P - Yes. The review mentions optical and coax audio out, as well as component video (480p w/3:2 pulldown). I also believe that progressive divX files that are larger than 480P can upsampled to 1080i. Let me check on that.

I used DVD-ROM movies, DVD+RW, CD-R, CD, and CD-RW discs with it.

[cfitz]

Region Protection - I didn't not explore that due to the fact that DVD Region encoding is the law.

Thanks. However, and please correct me if I am wrong, I don't believe that it is the law. As far as I know, the "requirement" for region protection is simply part of the licensing agreement between DVD CCA and the manufacturers of DVD players. It does not bind the end consumer, and has no force in law with regard to the end consumer. In fact, there have been arguments made that RPC violates global free trade law, so that what may actually be illegal is RPC itself. I think New Zealand is one country that has pushed this argument. Breaking CSS may be another matter due to the obscene Digital Millenium Copyright Act, but as far as I know it is perfectly legal for consumers to bypass RPC.

Still, I understand the burdens imposed on you as an official affiliate of this site, so if discussing this would cause problems with CDRLabs' relations with LiteOn, then maybe it is best to leave this question to digi and dhc014 when the player actually ships.

cfitz

[Justin42]

It was nice to see both an Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio Out be provided for legacy situations in spite of the fact that the entire world has gone optical.

... did I miss a memo somewhere? I didn't think there was one clear-cut standard...

Good review otherwise.. does it have shuffle-play for MP3s on a disc? And just to clarify, it DID recognize MP3s and JPGs on a DVD? That's very nice!

[eliminator]

woot - no DVI output !??

[hoxlund]

im new to the whole progressive scan, 3:4 pull down

what does that pull down thing mean?

[eliminator]

http://www.zerocut.com/tech/pulldown.html

3:4 is an aspect ratio for regular (analog) TV broadcasting (as opposed to other ones, such as widescreen/16:9), not the pulldown

[Boone]

im new to the whole progressive scan, 3:4 pull down

what does that pull down thing mean?

Your PC monitor is progressive, meaning it progresses through each line each time it refreshes. Analog TVs are Interlaced, meaning they draw every other line during each refresh, so it takes 2 full refreshes to change the entire screen.

[hoxlund]

yeah i realize that, but thx for the help non the less

[EatMoreChicken]

Any word on when this will be available in the states? The article mentioned that the player was provided my Lite-on's US location.

[Boone]

The manual wasn't in english, and there were some sort of Asian text on the front (Chinese?), so it was a "pre-release" version. We've received no word on stateside shipping, but they are showing them at this weekend's VideoMaker Expo in New Jersey.

http://www.videomaker.com/scripts/expoprizes.cfm

Saturday, June 21, 3:35 pm
Lite-On Booth #403

Win a Lite-On LVR-1001 Combo DVD Player and CD-Rewriteable Drive!
The LVR-1001 delivers "DVD capabilities and So Much More!" With this unique DVD appliance you’ll be able to backup your CDs or digitally backup your VHS tapes to SVCD or VCD with one touch of a button. With its two drive architecture, one DVD drive & one CD-RW drive, you can enjoy the very best of both worlds. You’ll get the vivid video quality of DVD & ultra hi-speed CD disk duplication. The LVR-1001 also comes with other versatile features such as MP3 audio capability and a digital photo browser that will allow you to playback digital photos on TV directly from your memory card and create slideshows quickly and easily. The LVR-1001 also incorporates features that are especially effective when viewing personal content from a myriad of sources including Compact flash, Smart Media, Memory Stick, SD Card and Multi Media Card (via the PCMCIA slot).

The LVR-1001 has a retail value of $399.
For more information on Lite-On's LVR-1001, visit www.liteonit.com.tw/liteweb/lvr_1001.htm

[Boone]

woot - no DVI output !??

No sir. Component Video Out only. DVI's only for something that would need HDCP anyway.

[dhc014]

Region Protection - I didn't not explore that due to the fact that DVD Region encoding is the law.

Thanks. However, and please correct me if I am wrong, I don't believe that it is the law. As far as I know, the "requirement" for region protection is simply part of the licensing agreement between DVD CCA and the manufacturers of DVD players. It does not bind the end consumer, and has no force in law with regard to the end consumer. In fact, there have been arguments made that RPC violates global free trade law, so that what may actually be illegal is RPC itself. I think New Zealand is one country that has pushed this argument. Breaking CSS may be another matter due to the obscene Digital Millenium Copyright Act, but as far as I know it is perfectly legal for consumers to bypass RPC.

Still, I understand the burdens imposed on you as an official affiliate of this site, so if discussing this would cause problems with CDRLabs' relations with LiteOn, then maybe it is best to leave this question to digi and dhc014 when the player actually ships.

cfitz

The MPAA only wants you to believe that "region free" is against the law. cfitz is correct in the above statement.

As for whether or not Lite-ON would be angry that a region free solution was discussed; I think they wouldn't mind. We still don't know who the author of the Region free tool for Lite-ON DVD-ROM drives is

[Boone]

well hackers, get to work. The "firmware flash" .nrg (nero image file) that you can download is just a linux boot disc that can flash the LVD-2001.