Question
Although I have had an LG model 539 for a couple of years, I have not noticed any problems with it. I have not used it extensively and usually watch the DVDs I have recorded with it on a Panasonic DVD recorder.
Because of having no problems and because of the size of its HDD, I purchased the successor model, the 790.
I did notice something with the 790 which irked me.
Because I wish to obtain the best possible quality, I only use it to record programs that are consistent in duration to its fixed recording times. That is, if a film is 95 minutes long, I'll record it with a DVD recorder that has a Flexible Recording speed that fills up the entire disk with the program. As the LG models don't have such a feature, then I use them for programs that are 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours (DVD+DL), etc.
When I record a 2 hour program (the most common duration), I usually set the timer for 2 hours and 1 minute. The machine, just like the 539, indicates that at the 2-hour speed, 2 hours and 4 minutes are available on the disk and sets the time OK.
Later, when I go to finalize the disk (DVD-RW(V)), I only find 1 hour 59 minutes were recorded and no space left over on the disk. On one occasion, it only recorded 1 hour 54 minutes.
So I sent an e-mail to LG Canada and outlined this problem. I guessed that it was using a recording bit rate that was marginally too high for the 2-hour speed. I asked if there were a firmware update to fix this problem.
I received no answer other than a query for an address where to send me a firmware update. A week or so later I received a bubble mailer with a disk in it and "790 Firmware" written on the label side by hand. I cannot even determine what kind of disk it is. There were no written instructions enclosed with the disk.
So I put it in the machine and hit "Play". It spun for a minute or so, and as far as I could determine, nothing happened. My problem did not disappear.
After reading much of this thread, I gather there is a complicated set of commands to go through to get to the firmware update screen. I haven't tried this yet to determine if it also works with the 790 model. (I assume that if they sent me a rewritable disk, when I hit "Record", it will start recording.)
Has anyone performed a firmware update for the 790?