Lite-On A760 DVD Recorder

[KBeee]

I've been using the Lite-On A760 250GB HDD DVD recorder for a couple of months now.
While it does what it's supposed to do, at a reasonable price, it's really too flakey to recommend.
It'll record SD TV programs OK, and play back most AVI/mpeg DVD data disks, but the machine itself is definitively built down to a price, not up to a standard.
If you consider it as a straight replacement for a VCR, you'll probably be quite happy with it, if you can live with it's foibles.
Despite being a dual medium DVD recorder, you can either record or watch, but not do both at the same time. For instance, you can't record to HDD, and watch a DVD, which might prove a problem if you fancy watching a movie, while recording Corrie. While that is true of an old fashioned VCR also, it's seems to mock the advances of the new format.
Also, despite upgrading to the latest firmware, the A760 seems to go into a bit of a huff with the DVD tray opening and closing. Sometimes you'll spend 10 minutes just getting the machine to open the DVD loading tray. Press the OPEN button, it'll display "Opening" on the LCD display, then it'll display "Closing... Loading" - over and over again, without the tray actually moving. If you turn the A760 off, then back on to try to get the tray to open, you'll often be faced with a message stating "Checking HDD - You closed down the machine improperly..."
Yeah - You used the OFF button.
Also it doesn't remember the setting you put into the menu. If you choose to view the OSD contents menu as text instead of thumbnails, you'll have to re-select text every time, because it won't remember your preference.
Another little trick it does, is freeze up if it finds a file it doesn't like. Load an AVI on a DVD that it can't handle, and it'll sometimes just seize up, requiring that you unplug it from the mains to turn it off.
All in all, as a straight VCR to DVD swap it's OK, provided you can get the DVD tray to open, but if you think that after 20 or so years of development OTA TV recording hasn't really advanced, then this DVD recorder will confirm your views.

[Vowo]

Had seen one of these and fancied purchasing it, thanks for the heads up tho.