Just downloaded the brand-new 1098 firmware from Lite-On's site for my 5005, and my DVD+RW problems are solved. There is also a new firmware update for the drive itself, so I'm not sure which of the two solved my problems.

It did not add a 3-hour mode, and I have no way of knowing for sure if the Macrovision is on or off. All I know is that my DVD+RW problems seemed to have been cured with this new firmware. Hopefully it doesn't break something else in the process...

Updated my LVW 5005 US with the official LNFA 1098 System FW and LNFA 1000.E30.0102 Drive FW. Still no 3 hours option. Dunno about MV ?
jfisher what kind of problems you had ? How did it cured them ?

Any DVD+RW I wrote to in the 5005 couldn't be read in any other player, or Windows even. Windows treated it like an empty disc, and DVD players would only show the menu.

Once I flashed it to 1098, my DVD+RW's now work as they should. Perhaps I uploaded a bad 1091 into it originally, I dunno. Anyway, all I know is that it works great now, so I'm won't monkey with it anymore for a while

I just downloaded the 1098 firmware and don't really know what to do from here. I tried to unzip it with a trial version of winzip and not having any luck. I'm not a cd freak, as implied by the title of this community. I'm one of those consumers who is dumb enough to think that all I had to do was buy the 5005 and it would work. Can anyone help with this?!?!?!

Thanks in advance!

Steve

I don't know why they bother ZIPing the files in the first place, they don't compress well at all so it doesn't save any space or d/l time.

I can e-mail you the files if you want when I get home today. I think you can send a personal message here, so if you want give me your e-mail privately and I'll send the firmware files to you ready to burn on a CD.

Zipping them is a good way to error check the files. If they just put up the file, you would have no way of knowing whether it is corrupted or not. With a Zip file you have an excellent way of ensuring that the file is good as long as it can be unzipped.

Change the way Winzip opens so that it opens in Classic mode. When you double click a zipped file a window should open showing you the file's contents. From there you should be able to simply grab the contents(there should only be one file) with your pointer and drag it onto the desktop. That's about the easiest way, IMHO.

Just purchased LiteOn 5005a:
Upgraded firmware LNHA1098.ES3 and Drive upgrade LNHA1000.E20. I had the 3 hr. record mode and region menu before and after upgrade. Just in case someone needs to know. Improvements made in disc compatibility in other players.
Workknot

Additional information: I was having MV problems before doing the upgrade on my Sept. of 04 manufacture date LiteOn LVW 5005a. Had some problems with home videos recorded on VHS and Camcorder. Did find when recording from Camcorder, using PAUSE and not STOP to cease recording, caused less problems with disc play in other DVD players. Would like to learn more about HEXIDECIMAL. I can figure out the first part. Am having touble finding values: 0x47, 0xEB, and 0xA7. Downloaded a free hex editor ( XVI 32 ) but cannot get past being able how to find these values?????
workknot

The 0x47, 0xEB, and 0xA7 are not values, rather they are LOCATIONS (written in hex) use XVI32 and scroll till you find each location and update the VALUE at the location according to the instructions.

There have been a number of postings of links to the hacked firmware on the LVW-5005, but since there are different versions and the links tends to go dead (yousendit says too much bandwidth) you are probably better off hacking your own.

If all you want to do is to enable playback of DVD+RW's on other players, there's another option - in place of updating.

As they came out of the Liteon LVW-5005, none of my DVD+RW's would play in stand alone players, including my Sony DVP-NS500V. They would give a "dirty disc" error! Then, I discovered this on another forum and found that it works for me.

With the LVW-5005, if you give the recording (Title 01) a "Name", it appears to work like "Finalizing" a DVD+R. Look at page 25 of the User's Manual for details on how to do a "Title Edit". It's a "no-brainer" once you've done it.

Once the DVD+RW has been given a title "Name", they play in my stand alones just like any other DVD movie.

To lfgrover:
Thanks for trying to help, but I am not yet able to get a grip on the Hex editing. I am using XVl 32 and yesterday was able to find the strings 55 53 00 00 ect. but today unfortunatly it escapes me. Guess my nickname POP'S has a very clear meaning. Today I was able to use my Scientific calculator to add 1, 4, or 5 to the 0x47, 0xEB and the 0xA7. Looks like more study is in order. I have great respect for all you knowledgable people here and am very thankfull for any help at all. Again, thanks to lfgrover for the help. Seems like scolling in the hex editor is looking at a huge amount of letters and numbers that as of yet have not much order to them.
Pop's

I'm in the same boat as Pop's. So far, Hex Editing is "Greek" to me. I've downloaded & fiddled with XVI32 as well, but I can't even find the locations mentioned above - much less change them.

I'm willing to study to learn more but where does one start? Is there a tutorial like "Hex editing for Dummies" some where? I need much more than "verbal shorthand" comments or "Software Help" files to master this subject.

Your comments & direction will be very much appreciated.

To patriot1 ;
Speaking of "Boats", I have a beautiful 30 foot Charter Fishing boat on Lake Superior. If someone really wants to take the time and patience to help us both out with the HEX madness, we can all get together and go fishing. Still can't figure out why yesterday I could find the strings with all the numbers as ( 55 53 00 00 00 ect.) and today I seem to be having one long brain fart. I did figure out how to use the scientific calculator to do the conversions ( if ) that is what they are called. I admire all the folk's here and on other sites that have the knowledge to achieve these goals.
I totally agree on the book " Hexidecimal and how to alter Firmware for Dummies". I may just do a google search, there could be such a thing. I did do some more transfer of VHS to DVD on my LiteOn 5005a and all went great today. I did just upgrade the firmware and the drive on 01/23/05 getting it directly from the LiteOn site. It seems to have imroved the machine. One of the tapes recorded today was home video from 1985, had many ugly spots on the tape, lots of stop and start recording areas. This seemed to make the LiteOn STOP before, keeping my fingers crossed. My machine has a manufacture date of Sept. 04, don't know if that is important to anyone. Also, all of the last 10 DVD's made from home movie VHS & Camcorder, I used the PAUSE button on the Liteon remote cease recording to the DVD. I then use the GUIDER menu to select FINALIZE, then Exit, Then Eject the DVD. Did not bother making title changes yet either. Thought I would eliminate as much room for error on my part as possible until the process has sunk in.
Regards: Pop's

Hey Workknot, Take a look at this. It's from the Liteon 5005 thread on this forum. At bottom of page 15.

"Supposedly this site lets you download s/w that convert original liteon f/w and does all the hacking for you!!!!!! Has anyone tried this?????

http://ilohacker.tripod.com/

Let me know if anyone has any success with the conversion s/w."

Also found some helpful tutorials at Google - "Hex+Editing+Tutorials"

Patriot1: Thanks for the information, we must be somewhat on the same wavelength. I just came from that site, downloaded the software and ran the original 1098 file with it. I got a message. (could not find macrovison string). Also did a google search today and lo and behold there is a Dummies book for Hex. There was a brief description on that page but it still looks like a chalenge for me anyway. I will take a look at your google find. The little program to download is like 182kb zipped and 313 when unzipped.
Good luck and thanks.
Pop's

Workknot: I'm in the same boat as you and Patriot1? I've tried to understand the Hex for over 2 weeks and feel reel dumb!! I've built many computers tweaked and overclocked them but can't crack hacking firmware with hex? I've got a friend who worked for IBM for 32 years and know hex upside down and backwards who quoted the #'s and letters to me off the top of his head but I still haven't figured if out yet?? I wish one of the hex wizards would use some screen shots from "XVI32" to step us thru it just one time and I think I could do it from then on maybe! I also tried the "Ilohacker" and got the same macrovision error, but I also noticed that it doesn't list the 1098 firmware in it's list of doable hacks.

had1: I know how you feel about the hex thing. It would be very accomodating if someone could take a few minutes to explain how to use XVI32. To bad it does not have a better HELP section itself. I plan to keep fiddling around with the XVI32 and may stumle on how to properly find what needs to be found to make the correct changes. Looks like lot's of folks here have the information to change but not clear on how it is done. I downloaded another hex editor a few days ago but forgot what it was called. It was more cumbersome than the one I now have. Overall, I am quite pleased with the performance of my LiteOn 5005a with the Sept. 04 manufacture date. There is some information on my posts previous that may help someone. Since doing the Firmware and Drive updates, my machine seems much better. Don't know if the MV has been relaxed or what?? I had several problems before upgrading. Made 34 DVD's in the last week and some of the first 10 would not play in other players. I went through 5 different brands, models before picking up a Sony DVP-NS575P for $80.00 and even it had a problem with some of the first DVD's I made. As stated, since the upgrades things seem very good. Still would like to learn more about the XVI32 hex edit software though. Take care & good luck.
Regards: Pop's

I can send you the 1098 file with MV and 3 hour hack. You are digging too deep into the hex business. Send me a msg if u want the file.

Hi Workknot,

I found a hex editor called "Hex Workshop" which, to me at least, seems more user friendly. I still don't have it mastered but I'm starting to get some results now.

The link here takes you to their "short course with screen shots" which I found very helpful.

http://www.bpsoft.com/reference/howto.html

Good Morning Patriot1;
Thanks much, I will take a look at that site. I found a site last night that went into detail on HEX, very informative but was getting rather heavy eyed and forgot to save the site. I actually started to understand some of the coversions. The site started from the very basic begining but got very detailed and complicated. Did learn a little. Did you read the reply from med1? Maybe take that advice, as I read in another reply, keep it simple. Looks like what a person needs to know, is which hex editor to use and find one that is user friendly. Make just a couple of the basic changes and be happy. I am just going to keep an eye on the posts and see what develops. Of course I am not giving up on figuring out the hex editor to make just a few changes if needed. My LiteOn 5005a seems to be doing what is needed for now, so I am a happy camper for the time being. The better half of the household thinks I have got DVD madness or a few other things I can't mention.
Many thanks to all.
Regards: Pop's

Although Med1's offer is kind & helpful, it doesn't address what I want to do. My objective is best summarized in this saying about hungry people. "Give a man a fish & he can have a meal! Teach a man to fish & he can feed himself for a lifetime"!

Additionally, I started this new thread to ask the experts for some simplified assistance with hex editing. It might help the cause if you can add some support in the form of additional posts for the request.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=124272

Have a good one & stay warm. With Lake Superior at your doorstep, it has to be cold there.

My personal credo is "Give a man a fish, and he'll keep coming back and pestering you for more".

MJW and Patriot1, I can send you the file if you send me your email, then you can look at my file and learn what was changed where, or if you feel more comfortable getting it from worknot, he also has a copy.

Think of it as learning to fish, then you can feed yourself and others in the village, in the future. (No offence intended)

Many thanks to med1,
This is what forums are all about, people helping one another through the rough spots. One never knows when they themselves may have to ask someone for help. I will gladly email the file if anyone wants, thanks to med1. Also got a line on another hex editor, Cygnue Hex Editor from softcircuits.com supposed to be more user friendly. I am going to give it a look tonight.
Regards to all: Pop's