LG Divx Model : LRH-539

[dm_4u]

Anyone have experience with this unit.

It sounds great, 250MB HDD and it apparently plays everything.

[JKR1963]

yes, I bought one last Saturday at Future Shop..........it seems to work well..but it may be going back. The unit seemed to have every feature you could ask for but when I got it home to hook it up I found out that it lacked an s-video input on the back!

An s-video input on the back is an absolutely manditory BASIC feature of any dvd recorder. This is the first unit that does not have an s input on the back, there is one on the front but now I have cables permanently sticking out of the front of my machine.

I need more time to check the unit out but I can tell you that the picture quality from Express vu captured on the hard drive is fantastic. Virtually no loss in quality. The remote control is fantastic, perfectly organized and fits in the hand well and the buttons feel great. Also, the machine responds well angle wise compared to the Panasonic that I had to return (because it kept shutting off during recordings and going into the self check mode).

The build quality of the unit is nice, and the drawer opens in a smooth positive fashion. Man this thing is absolutely packed with features...I think whoever approved this design should be immediately fired due to no s-input on the back.......absolutely amazing to build a machine like this and miss that basic requirement. The price on this unit is very good though, the manual so far seems very good to excellent. I will give some updates as I get more familiar with the unit and try some of the features. The onscreen displays and menu system is excellent ............better than Sony or Panasonic.........

[dm_4u]

Thanks for the update...is there component inputs on the back of the unit...or only composite???

[JKR1963]

Only a single composite input on the back, it does have component and s-video outputs on the back though. Also, it has a toslink and coax digital output on the back.

[rayliotta]

hi im interested in this model, does it have a high speed dubbing feature from hard drive to dvd recorder?..im going to be using it to copy old movies onto dvd...so will these dvds play on any other machine? any info appreciated.

[Q]

Originally Posted by JKR1963

The unit seemed to have every feature you could ask for but when I got it home to hook it up I found out that it lacked an s-video input on the back!

An s-video input on the back is an absolutely manditory BASIC feature of any dvd recorder.

WOW.........I can't think of why they wouldn't put one on the back. I was interested in buying one but without an S-video in the back it is pointless.

[vs1]

-I tried the Sony RDRHX900 $1000 160 GB recorder, and returned it because the TV-Guide would not work (recording without the TV-Guide is a nightmare), and the recording quality with a Starchoice DSR-500, through the component inputs absolutely SUCKS, lots of noise and artifacts at Highest Quality setting.
--I bought the LG at $650.00 after negotiating with the store clerk (the unit is listed at 699.00)

Cons:
-Lacks the S-Video in the back.
-Like the Panasonic recorders I have seen, it should be turned off, for the timer recordings to work. (I thought the VCRs were over) (I do not understand why the engineers could not follow the Series 1 Tivo approach, which has only one tuner and can do timer recordings while is turned on)
-Memory cards can transfer JPGs and Audio files to hard drive, but not AVIs (AVI and DivX will be read from a DVD ISO 9660)
-BIG, BIG Con: The AVIs and DivX do not have Fast Forward (or I have not figured it out). If you press FF it jumps to the next movie in the library. (The TV recordings and your DVDs dubbed to the hard drive do have it)
-Does not encode Divx (it plays them though)
-The manual warns you. Backup your important recordings (they mean the good porn) to dvd in case of hard drive failure. (I never had one but hard drive crashes freak me out)
-No Windows Media Video 9 or 10. And No Internet Surfing! :-)

Pros:
-This is the WindowsXP Media Centre that Microsoft keeps promising. (Sort Of) Without the crashes!
-Dual layer DVD recording. (are the dual layer DVD-RW, and RW+ out yet?)
-Recording Quality:
I am watching the unit in a Samsung 43 inches DLP, and any artifacts would be highly noticeable (like they were with the RDRHX900). The SQ (standard quality) setting is noise free. DSR500 feeds S-Video input in the front of the unit.
It has also a HQ setting, which I find unnecessary for a Standard Definition signal input. The image is a tiny bit soft with the DSR-500 feed, on a large screen TV but not much. Colors are right on.
The SQ setting gives you (sort of) the equivalent of a CCIR-601 720X480 Standard recording from an analog feed (I am comparing it with Ulead Video Studio files recorded from the DSR-500 through my computer s-video input, Ulead creates a pretty good quality CCIR-601 with slightly deeper blacks)
-The unit design does not have a cheap feel like some other LG products.
-The GUI is easy to use for any videophile.
-Accepts Divx 5 and 6 files, and also Divx Helium (!!!this is a new version of the codec and it is very good) on its High Definition profile. The Divx HD profile is not really 1280x720HD, but 720x480, and encoding is very slow (converts about 9 fps) but it outputs better quality files than Divx Standard Profile and Nero Digital Standard Quality (Nero Digital encoding is very fast). Do your encoding jobs overnight.
-Quality of commercial DVDs played through the Component Video does not compare with DVI upscaling of DV7832NXC, but it matches the component output of any respectable dvd player (I am not talking Denon here)
-Can create libraries of MP3 at 320kbps and WMA at 192kbps.
-Aparently accepts XVID and MP43 AVIs (maybe they mean MP4.3), but I have not figured them out yet (I find too technical the Global Motion Compensation 1-point and Interleaved stuff). Aparently it plays also 720X576 DivX (PAL)
-It can dub to hard drive Not Protected (not commercial) DVDs. If your dvd material is DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW (rip with no menus), will recode the footage while copying to hard drive. (Not the best thing).
-It dubs (no video recoding) to hard drive any DVD-VR, or DVD+VR, which means no loss in quality.
-It dubs from hard drive to DVD without recoding (no loss of quality)
-I cannot comment on the firewire input. I do not own a camcorder. Manual says it does not accept a D-VHS firewire, firewire satellite (where is it?), or firewire computer connection.
-My Divx movies (High Definition profile) are about 900 MB each, with 250GB can store about 280 1.5/2 hrs movies. So you can have a little movie library :-)

I think the unit, despite of my ugly S-Video cable in the front, and the "turn your VCR off" issue for time recordings, is a SOLID unit.
Recording quality is outstanding. LG engineers might have been scared of adding a component input, and getting copyright complaints from the film industry.
After returning the Sony RDRHX900 because of its bad recording quality, I am very happy with the LG LRH-539, and if you are a computer guy, you will like it. (If you want a perfect unit, you might want to order the KiSS DP-558 at around $670.00 USD plus shipping)
The manual is not available in PDF but go to LG South Africa web site and look for the RH7624W user's manual pdf. Same as the LRH-539 printed manual except for the Pal Secam stuff.
The link is:

http://za.lge.com/md/product/prodcat...tId=1100000399


Happy DivXing!

pd:
I decided to edit out the following part, and replace it:
-Cannot play Nero Digital files (I have tried MP4UI , the stripped Nero Digital video stream plays perfectly, but if I add any sound to the video stream -MP3, PCM, or uncompressed- the files will not play)

After a few tries I figured it out, but this kind of belongs in another forum, so I will be short:
-It can play the Nero Digital video stream . Strip it with MP4UI, strip the AC3 sound stream from the Original dvd material, and Interleave the sound with the video stream in Nandub -watch out for sync issues- The resulting AVI will play perfectly in the unit (you can download the 30 days trial, Nandub and MP4UI are free, but not for beginers).

[vs1]

Someone just asked me:
Hi, Does this model have a high speed dubbing feature from hd to dvd?

Good question, so I decided to post the answer for anyone else interested:
The manual in page 52 (see the link to LG south Africa, same manual except for Pal Secam, in that manual is page 51) says:
Fast copying
Copying between DVD and HDD is a completely
digital process and therefore involves no loss of
quality in the audio or video. This means that you can
transfer back and forth without having to worry about
the quality getting worse with each copy ‘generation’.
It also means that copying can be carried out at the
maximum speed possible.
When copying from HDD to DVD, the speed of
copying depends on the recording mode and the kind
of DVD disc you’re using.

In the following page says also:
Dubbing from HDD to DVD
1. On the Title List-HDD menu, select a title you want
to dub then press ENTER.
The menu options appears on the left side of the
screen.
2. Use v / V to select [Dubbing] option then press
ENTER.
Dubbing menu appears.
3. Use b / B to select record mode (HQ, SQ, LQ,
EQ, or Fast), then press V.
‘Start’ icon is highlighted.
Fast: See page 51 for more information on Fast
copying.
4. When [Start] icon is highlighted, press ENTER.
Dubbing starts.
5. To stop dubbing at any other time, press
STOP (x).
Notes:
�� The recording time of [Fast] mode could be varied
depending on data size of source.
Approximated Time (Example: 4x DVD disc):
– 1 hour contents of LQ: 5-6 minutes
– 1 hour contents of HQ: 12-15 minutes
�� Stopping dubbing in [Fast] mode partway through
will cancel the recording and any data recorded up
to that point will be lost.
�� If the remaining space on the disc is insufficient, the
[Fast] mode is not available.
�� The [Fast] mode is not available for edited HDD title

That means: If you edited the commercials from a show, or cut off a part, or divided it, Fast Copy will not be available in your options to Dub
(in my case I edited most my recordings, and for those ones I did not have the Fast option available)

If you do a "straight" recording to hard drive in 1hr HQ, or 2 hrs SQ, and Dub it to a DVD the option "Fast" becomes available
I just tried with a DVD-RW in "video" mode, and it worked, 1HR HQ about 15 minutes.
(Their Fast mode not that Fast, that is like 4X speed I believe)
The main advantage is that it avoids recoding = second generation = loss of quality.
I do not know if the "Not Fast" mode of HD-SQ to DVD-SQ , and HD-HQ to DVD-HQ in 1X speed will involve recoding.
If that was the case, shame on the LG software designers, because SQ to SQ, and HQ to HQ recoding would be unnecessary

[stachu]

Originally Posted by dm_4u

Anyone have experience with this unit.

It sounds great, 250MB HDD and it apparently plays everything.

I've had one for about a month now and love it. I had a Pioneer before this, and quite a bit of experience with the Panasonics. The unit needing to be off when timer recording (as other user mentioned) is the worst part for me, but seems like they all are like that.

I have run into a glitch with the unit freezing when fast forwarding to the end while using timeslip.

I also almost took it back when the manual did not mention that you could timer record repeditively (say every Saturday, or Monday through Friday). Then found out how to do it, you go backwards at the date field.

[FrostyTheBeerman]

Hi guys,

I just posted a new post about the LRH-539 and the Starchoice DVR530 HD hard drive recorder.

Does anyone have Starchoice ? and have they hooked this model up to it ?

I'm just debating on what I want more.... an easy way to record TV shows, or do I want something that I can record DVD discs with.

I was going to buy a Lite On DVD burner but did some Googling and see the Lite On LVW-5045 got really BAD reviews...... - bad audio sync problems with it, if you record a long movie - .... pretty sad stuff they can't get this fixed in this day and age. - Geez.... VHS machine never had any of those problems.

Anyway, any info appreciated guys.

This machine looks like a winner though, but wow, what a hefty price ... I know it will drop by $400 a year from now ( or even more )

[nightwing2000]

I've been thinking about one of these units for a while, but don't like things I've read about some units. Curiously, when I wander into Future Shop or wherever, they never seem to have any hooked up.

Just curious about a bunch of things:

Can this LG unit play one recorded file while recording a different one? (Some units I've seen described, can only play the same file they're recording.)

What was the reference to "TV Guide"? Does this unit have some form of TV Guide service available (esp. for Bell Expresvu?)

Can you author a formatted DVD - set chapter points, create a basic main menu, etc. - from a HDD recording off the air? From a collection of recordings? (I see some reference in posts above to "deleting commercials before copying to DVD".

How does the system "name" the files? Does it pick up show names (TV Guide) or are they all date-time names?

[icu_nxtime]

Some pro's the quality of recordings is good (expected in a digital recorder)
Boot's up fairly quick and thumbnails are quick to load.

Cons:
No TV Guide so you just record like a VCR time only

Titles are named after the recording Just as Title 1 etc.. This can be confusing for many titles being recorded in a few days if you don't rename them.

When you burn a title to DVD or vise versa it doesn't take the new title name with it so you have to rename it again.

Dubbing to or from Hard drive in most cases needs to be done in real time which is a real pain. There is a fast option but it doesn't work with anything edited to go from HDD to DVD and if you put in a non copy protected DVD it will not fast copy to HDD it is in real time only.

As other's mentioned it needs to be turned off to record but even worse for me is if it is on timer recording you have to power off to stoip the recording you can't just hit stop in the middle of a timer recording.

For this $$$ it should have a dual tuner to record and watch something else at the same time. I broke off the connection to a tv video source to watch and record something else.

Thinking of returning as i would like more features for the money. I don't know what other models offer though.

Mainly would like the two tuners if availlable and a guide for programming.

[icu_nxtime]

Originally Posted by nightwing2000

I've been thinking about one of these units for a while, but don't like things I've read about some units. Curiously, when I wander into Future Shop or wherever, they never seem to have any hooked up.

Just curious about a bunch of things:

Can this LG unit play one recorded file while recording a different one? (Some units I've seen described, can only play the same file they're recording.)

What was the reference to "TV Guide"? Does this unit have some form of TV Guide service available (esp. for Bell Expresvu?)

Can you author a formatted DVD - set chapter points, create a basic main menu, etc. - from a HDD recording off the air? From a collection of recordings? (I see some reference in posts above to "deleting commercials before copying to DVD".

How does the system "name" the files? Does it pick up show names (TV Guide) or are they all date-time names?

Answers:
You can watch a dvd while recording to hard drive but that's it no dual tuner

No TV Guide
Yes you can set chapter points and edit commercials
See my other post on naming. You can name it anything but will have to rename if you transfer the files around

[Scoobs]

I have a model RH-7624 and it is possible to "fastforward"in a divx by pushing the display button twice and entering the tie that you want to fastforward to in the Divx, the ffwd button does not work.

JohnB

[SPORTPAL]

I have try your trick and it is good for LRH-539, thanks a lot my friend.