LVW-5007 Firmware

hardwarehank 2005-01-04 17:03:05 UTC #1

Hi all. I recently got a LiteON LVW-5007 at Sears. It was a good deal, and so far is a great little machine. Yet, I was trying to back up my classic Star Wars VHS's, and ran into a problem. MACROVISION! OH NO!... So, I did some research, and found this article:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/liteon.htm

Now, it talks about hacking the 5001 and 5005 firmware, and I'm told that a 5007 is just a 5001 with TV Guide. So, I downloaded the firmware, and looked at the hex, and edited it, but I don't want to kill my unit.

Original Firmware is here:

http://liteonamericas.com/us/Download/CE_firmware/LNKA1039.ES1

So, if anyone here wants to take a look at the 5007 firmware and possibly edit it to disable the macrovision, I'd be forever in their debt. Thanks.

gregh 2005-01-06 15:45:10 UTC #2

Hi.
I just bought one too.
Way better than the Apex 9300 I returned to Amazon.
That thing was a turd, it looked good though.

I have not changed the firmware, just the region free.
Not sure if the TV Guide is going to work.
Did you get yours to work?

hardwarehank 2005-01-07 02:09:54 UTC #3

I returned mine to Sears. I'm going to go get a 5005 at Costco for 20 bucks more because of Macrovision. Good luck!

rtiger54 2005-01-22 20:06:48 UTC #4

I just got one as well. I have applied the unpatched firmware but haven't tried patching it yet. Has anyone else had any success (or failures, for that matter)

johnaparker 2005-01-23 05:29:21 UTC #5

Same here. I finally called the 888 number on the top of my 5007 and talked to a very sympathetic human who pointed me to a web site I hadn't stumbled onto yet...

http://liteonamericas.com/us/download_dvd.htm

where at last, I found firmware for my unit.

And it fixed my problem!

I had tried everything, even as far as copying the Hi-8 recording to VHS and it still locked up my system.

Good luck!

rtiger54 2005-01-23 09:38:27 UTC #6

I took the plunge and tried to apply the macrovision hack. Here's what I did.

Download the firmware for your region.
Save the file and extract it if necessary.
Open the file for editing using ultra edit.
Find the hex values: "55 53 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00"
Replace it with: "55 53 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01"
Save the file. (may want to do this with a different name)
Burn to cd and close the cd. (I used nero and renamed the file to the original firmware name before burning)
Insert the cd in the Liteon and follow onscreen instructions to upgrade the firmware as normal and you will have removed the macrovision check.

Since this fix changes the default region, correct this by following these steps:

Goto the Setup menu.
Highlight the exit icon.
Type 2960.
Select your region or region free to disable regions

NOTE: Keep the original firmware available since you may need it to recover in case you made a typo. The recorders are fairly forgiving. I made a type the first time and the machine crashed. I unplugged the power, restored power and it asked to insert cd. I inserted the original firmware and it recovered.

cfoc21 2005-01-24 11:14:18 UTC #7

OK, I got mine at Sears, but have had 2 units exchanged, trying to get to the bottom of "low Audio volume " problem, coming from Red and White component audio ports going to TX monitor input.

LiteOn Tech support is useless.

I have tried 2 other devices (VHS Tape Player , and Samsung DVD player). Both other devices have the Red and White component audio level just fine. I don't have to re-adjust the TV volume level.

patriot1 2005-02-10 13:12:03 UTC #8

Hi cfoc21,

Did you ever figure out &/or resolve the low audio issue? I am experiencing the same condition here with a Liteon 5005.

patriot1 2005-02-10 13:12:19 UTC #9

Hi cfoc21,

Did you ever figure out &/or resolve the low audio issue? I am experiencing the same condition here with a Liteon 5005.

Guitarman1 2005-02-11 10:23:30 UTC #10

For all of you trying to hack the 5007 firmware, go to my ILO Firmware Download Page. There is a link to a ILO/LiteOn Smart Firmware Hacking program. It will disable Macrovision, enable LP 3-hour mode in recorder that don't have it and set region to region free.

jagfan 2005-02-11 11:46:39 UTC #11

Guitarman1
I've already installed the latest firmware on my 5007. Is it ok to use your hacking program and reinstall?

Guitarman1 2005-02-14 15:44:24 UTC #12

Yes. When you go to re-install the firmware, make sure to go to the setup screen and select reset and also put the mode selector (tuner, AV1, AV2, s-video) at DVD. It should take the update fine.

igreeny 2005-02-15 02:27:46 UTC #13

Hi hardwarhank hey dont buy a Liteon LVW 5005 read the posts in LVW 5005 jitter jerky picture then you will know why i have 1 of these and getting the same probs whatever you do dont touch the LVW 5005 full of problems

Optimus-JD 2005-02-15 14:39:02 UTC #14

Heh, tried your program. It updated, then the time on the thing went all screwy and it wouldn't allow me to fix it. I just put the OG firmware back on.

buckeyeman96 2005-02-16 14:32:55 UTC #15

Guitarman,

I used Mr. Wizard's ILO hack program (ver 1.4b) with the latest firware available on the lite-on website (1039.ES1. After I rebooted, I noticed my "timer" LED stays on (Yes, the light is on, no pun intended). I do not have anything scheduled in the TV Guide. I can't make it go away. Any suggestions? Should I maybe use the 1.3 hack program and try again?

thanks,

buckeyeman96

Mississippi_Rick 2005-02-19 05:16:27 UTC #16

I bought a lvw-5007 last week when Sears had them on sale again for $150. So far, I'm very pleased, but I also have the same issue as Buckeyeman96...I used GuitarMan's slick firmware hack and my 5007 now has 3 hour recording capability, but my timer light is also on and I have nothing scheduled.

Guitarman! What's up with this? Thanks.

Guitarman1 2005-02-22 14:43:51 UTC #17

Since I do not have a 5007, I have no idea why the timer light would stay on. Try going into the setup screen and doing a system reset/restore. This will NOT erase the firmware upgrade but will reset the recorders functions. See if that works.

Mississippi_Rick 2005-02-22 16:18:50 UTC #18

Thanks for the tip, GuitarMan. Actually, this cleared up Sunday night when I did a hard boot/reboot (unplugged the unit) and then had to re-setup.

Pinball_Wizard 2005-02-23 04:34:37 UTC #19

Installed hacked firmware LNKA1039.ES1 on a LVW-5007 then reset unit. Verified presence of LP mode. Timer light functioning normally. Will test Macrovision recording capability and post results. Region Free setting also verified. Thanks Guitarman1 and all for their work on this great program! One thing I found that I'm working on verifying: when using TV Guide On Screen to schedule a recording (including a manual recording) the LP recording mode DOES NOT show up on the list of available recording modes. I'm verifying if the setting there overrides the settings in the setup menus. Anyone else seen this or know if you can us LP mode when scheduling a recording?

Pinball_Wizard 2005-02-23 05:59:26 UTC #20

Verified Macrovision copying works fine. However, the 3-hour recording mode is only available when using the rapid-recording mode (using the red Record button on the remote). If you use the TV Guide menus to select a particular show or schedule a manual recording ahead of time, the LP mode is not available in the list of recording modes. The setting chosen under Setup does not override this so even if you have LP selected, the record speed will be that selected in the TV Guide menu structure. Still nice to have the 3-hour speed but it would be much more useful if it was available under the TV Guide menus since it is there you schedule all events, even manual events. Any possibility there is a fix for this? Since the LVW-5007 seems to be the only Lite On standalone having the TV Guide On Screen feature this would not have been noticed until tested. Still...very sweet the Macrovision flag is canned! Thanks again GuitarMan!