This DVD Recorder is a JOKE - & not a funny one at that.
We bought our HD-A740 in Jan '07 (so nearly a year). We were also impressed by the reviews, the spec & the price & decided to give this unknown brand a go over Sony which we were originally intending to buy.
The first machine that was delivered had to be returned because it caught fire when we plugged it in!!! Yes, FIRE - not just a bit smoky smelling but actual flames inside the casing. Lovely... good thing it happened straight away & not in the middle of the night.
Second machine seemed fine... to start with. The first of it's 'eccentricities' we noticed was it's cooling fan which came on whenever it felt like it, with the decibel level of a small jet engine & wouldnt stop until you switched the thing off. Next came it's 'fussiness' over discs. Sometimes it would read & play straight off... just like it should, but then it would refuse to read the disc or take its sweet time reading it & deciding whether it would bother or not. Oh, & lets not forget it's habit of 'freezing' requiring it to be unplugged & plugged back in (essentially reset) before you could do anything with it again.
All these little niggles began within the first 3 months of owning it but were lived with... after all it worked & you cant expect the greatness of Sony etc from a machine half the price, can you?
BUT, now the biggy. It has been becoming more & more 'temperamental' & has now stopped reading ALL blank recording media - even the disc that Liteon give you free with the machine. We've tried umpteen different brands but it wont have it at all. It either spins them until it tells you theres no disc, spins them then spits them out or spins them & asks you to change disc. AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!
We wouldnt be quite so stressed but when we had PC probs we loaded all our disabled sons pics (inc baby pics) & the video footage of him onto the HD - thinking it would be safe there until we could get it back onto the PC. BIG MISTAKE. Unless we can find a technician with a magic wand we are going to lose ALL of these precious memories FOREVER.
Liteon Customer Support are as useful as a chocolate teapot - & couldnt give a stuff as they are stopping production anyway because of the problems with their machines i.e. they cant make any that work.
If my word isn't good enough for you then check out any of the many forums on the web that are discussing these lemons. We counted OVER 30 posts from people with the same probs with this model - & didnt bother counting the posts from people who were having probs with other models.
Buy ANYTHING else except a Liteon...
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We bought our HD-A740 in Jan '07 (so nearly a year). We were also impressed by the reviews, the spec & the price & decided to give this unknown brand a go over Sony which we were originally intending to buy.
The first machine that was delivered had to be returned because it caught fire when we plugged it in!!! Yes, FIRE - not just a bit smoky smelling but actual flames inside the casing. Lovely... good thing it happened straight away & not in the middle of the night.
Second machine seemed fine... to start with. The first of it's 'eccentricities' we noticed was it's cooling fan which came on whenever it felt like it, with the decibel level of a small jet engine & wouldnt stop until you switched the thing off. Next came it's 'fussiness' over discs. Sometimes it would read & play straight off... just like it should, but then it would refuse to read the disc or take its sweet time reading it & deciding whether it would bother or not. Oh, & lets not forget it's habit of 'freezing' requiring it to be unplugged & plugged back in (essentially reset) before you could do anything with it again.
All these little niggles began within the first 3 months of owning it but were lived with... after all it worked & you cant expect the greatness of Sony etc from a machine half the price, can you?
BUT, now the biggy. It has been becoming more & more 'temperamental' & has now stopped reading ALL blank recording media - even the disc that Liteon give you free with the machine. We've tried umpteen different brands but it wont have it at all. It either spins them until it tells you theres no disc, spins them then spits them out or spins them & asks you to change disc. AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!
We wouldnt be quite so stressed but when we had PC probs we loaded all our disabled sons pics (inc baby pics) & the video footage of him onto the HD - thinking it would be safe there until we could get it back onto the PC. BIG MISTAKE. Unless we can find a technician with a magic wand we are going to lose ALL of these precious memories FOREVER.
Liteon Customer Support are as useful as a chocolate teapot - & couldnt give a stuff as they are stopping production anyway because of the problems with their machines i.e. they cant make any that work.
If my word isn't good enough for you then check out any of the many forums on the web that are discussing these lemons. We counted OVER 30 posts from people with the same probs with this model - & didnt bother counting the posts from people who were having probs with other models.
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LiteOn HD-A740GX 160GB Hard Drive, Dual Format, Multi-region Capable DVD Recorder with DivX![[Add comment]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/reviews/comment._V20569588_.gif){kind=small}
