Any one have a ilo DVD Recorder With 80 GB Hard Drive, DVDRH04, from Wal-Mart,is it a good recorder?

Dayturner, I was referring to R media. Actually, the one dvd brand that seems to almost never fail is ESA dvd+r 8x, marketed by Circuit City I believe. I might have to stick to that brand. I also grabbed my cordless drill and pulled the cover off of the ILO, took the cover off of the dvd drive, and cleaned the optical lens with cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol. We'll see if that helps. I've never taken it apart in the 3 years I've had it so maybe that was what it needed. What I wonder is whether the ILO is restricted to 8x speed and below? Is a 16x speed disc too much for it? I note that there is never any trouble playing pre-recorded discs, such as those Netflix sends me. I also note that pre-recorded discs seem to usually, if not always, be of a silver finish on the write-to side instead of the usual dark purplish-blue or goldish-blue on most dvd r blanks. Maybe I should look for brands that stay in the silver area?

***** UPDATE: Last night I tried burning a movie to several different brands of dvd media--Memorex 16x, Sony 8x, Verbatim 8x--and none of them would play in my ILO. I mentioned above that I had taken my recorder apart and manually cleaned the optical lens with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs. Well, surprise, all of those same burned dvd+r discs that I thought were wasted now work flawlessly. I just tried each of the discs that I had burned last night and they all started up and played perfectly. So, if your ILO doesn't want to play +r discs anymore, take it apart and clean it. Hell it even plays the Sony discs which it had NEVER played before even when it worked with the other brands! It appears that only running a disc cleaner through the drive (disc with small brushes on it) isn't enough, you actually have to break down and clean the lens with alcohol once every 2-3 years. Oh the pain.

 

I would like too know the color of your blank disk because all of mine are purple.

Really I have been buying blank DVD's foryears and they are all purple.

 

Mine are usually purple as well, but I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it since all pre-recorded discs seem to be of a silver finish and my ILO never has a problem playing them. But like I said above, after taking the recorder apart and cleaning the optical lens with alcohol I seem to have solved my problems. I was going to use a commercial glass cleaner but I notice that my car windshield hazes over in time after I treat it with a commercial glass cleaner and I didn't want that happening to the lens in the ILO and have to take it apart again.

P.S. Dayturner, I too have noticed a decline in dvd recorders with hard drives. What's up with that? Personally I would never contemplate purchasing one without a HD, yet I can find maybe one in Wal-Mart. Has ILO stopped supplying them to Wallyworld? As much as I complain about mine, and it gives me plenty of reason to, I would be lost without it. I'll never go back to VCRs.

 

There is one thing you shouldknow they discontinued this crappy dvd recorder the ilo.

 

Oh well.

 

anyone know of a source for free, good decrypters--besides DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink, I have those. Those two work pretty well, but I noticed that the new release "Inside Man" with Denzel Washington is protected by something immune to either of the aforementioned programs.

 

After looking around, it appears that Toshiba and Sony, at least, still make HD recorders with the Toshiba being the least expensive.
I have some memorex blank rws which are silver in color on the recording surface, as are my home depot house brand rws. Memorex rs and fugi rs seem to be pinkish while jvcs seem to be blue/purplish.
I saw an article which suggested there is a wide diversity of quality in blank dvd media. So far, I have had great luck buying whatever is on sale at home depot, compu usa, staples or office max.

Not only did Walmart discontinue the ILO, I think Lite-on, which made it has quit making HD recorders. Obviously, there is no American or Japanese technology for the Chinese to pirate on these things.


Nick, once you get the box open, how do you get at the laser light to do a manual cleaning of it?

 

"Nick, once you get the box open, how do you get at the laser light to do a manual cleaning of it?"

After you take off the recorder's cover you'll notice the drive has a black plastic cover on it being retained by four small brass screws. Also, the drive will have a few inch-wide strips of copper ribbons on it. Simply pull the copper ribbons off, they're not really attached to anything. Take a screwdriver or a cordless drill and back out the four small brass screws, lift the black plastic cover and pull back and it comes right off.

 

My ILO crapped out on me.. Anyone else have this problem. Stop by ILOSUCKS.COM to read my story.. or post your own...

 

Most of my problems, and there were many, happened at the beginning of my ownership of my little ILO. Now days it seems to work just fine. It'll be a sad day in my household when the ILO finally goes toes up.