If you want a value for money region free, this is the one!

I bought this mainly because the hack in the first review would enable the region free function on this player, I didn't want to pay too much for a ready made multi-region player because in my experience they often don't play all region 1 discs.
The hack worked like a charm as has already been said, and the delivery was fast despite using super saver.
The picture is great and the functions are easy to use, I am by no means an electronics wizz kid so needed something I could just plug in and turn on 'and away you go' sort of thing!
This player really did it for me, it is definatley value for money.

Better than other 'easy to use' machines.

Excellent delivery - before breakfast on day after order. Simple to set up, and easy to use basic functions. Clear instructions. Good quality picture (albeit on 26" LCD)

After 4 months

Still delighted with this.
Yes it's a shame it doesn't have two tuners, and USB would be better than SD (which I don't use), I can't get it to read MP3 from a DVD-RW, and I agree it would be nice to be able to record two things at once (I can't help pushing things). But considering how flexible it is, it is fairly easy to drive, the quality is good and excellent value. It's playing my CDs (including the MP3s), archiving my old VHS tapes to DVD (trimmed & tidied), and regularly used in 'chasing playback' mode to skip commercials and pause the TV.

You CAN'T transfer your purchased VHS collection to DVD with this

Good
* The Freeview digital tuner images are great (no analogue tuner at all - unlike the earlier EZ45 model I bought for my Mum).
* Electronic Program Guide (EPG) can be configured to remember programs for quick start-up (unlike my Humax).
* Video and DVD images are crisp.
* DVD records and plays every option imaginable (+R, -R, +RW, -RW, DL & RAM - RAM is most flexible).
* It's great for copying home video into DVD, either from VHS or direct from your camcorder via a DV socket.

Bad
* Most commercial video is Macrovision encoded and this device deliberately stops you copying them to DVD - even from an external source.
* Menu and Titling options on home burnt DVDs are not as flexible as I'd like.
* No SD Card input which the earlier EZ45 model had.
* Remote control crowded and hard to find all the options.

SONY RDR-VX450

I bought one at xmas, from another company, it spent pleanty of time
ruining tapes,the disc rec/player was ok,it was in for repair twice.
I finaly got my money back.

good, solid player

I'm very pleased with this player, instinctually easy to use, silent on standby (I used to have a noisy philips combi)and good quality playback.

This player gets one star for now !!

Usually not so bad at installing new hardware but this had me in tears. Of the 91 pages of the instruction manual not one page was useful in helping me to access and load the freeview channels!!! Trust me this looks like a really all-in-one buy (which is why i chose it) and yet it has thus far failed me on all 3 counts (DVD, VCR and freeview) My advice = steer clear!!

No Freeview problems with mine

Got the full range of freeview progams on offer - no problems with the setup - simple. Have now deleted the list down to a sensible choice.

Lite-On LVW 5045GDL+ I recommend this machine

I bought the Lite-On LVW 5045GDL+ at the beginning of this year and have had no problems using it. The recording is easy to use, whether it is to Hard drive or DVD. I have transferred some of my old VHSc home videos to the HDD, edited them and then copied them to DVD with no problems.

I must admit I have NOT performed a firmware upgrade proferring to follow the old saying of"if it ain't broke, then don't touch it".

With regards to"philjones15" review of connecting freeview - you should be able to see all your regular terrestrial channels 1-5 as follows BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, CH4 and CH5, if you normally receive CH5 through your tv.

Once you connect in your Freeview box you need to tune Freeview to another channel. For my convenience, I tuned my Freeview decoder into CH6.

Ensure you follow the manual to set your connections up as in Step 4"Connecting the Decoder". See the NOTE: that is included in Step 4 that says"During recording, if you have problems watching programmes imported via the decoder, you can press TV/MODE to switch to the"SCART Bypass" mode. However, you need to first activate the feature through Setup ->TV Tuner -> TV MODE. If you still have problems, see the next part of the NOTE that mentions the SCART cable not being able to detect all signals, and try/buy another Scart cable.

I hope this is what you meant by"it only sees one channel". The only other thing you might mean is that the Freeview box is just a single tuner, therefore only one programme can be recorded from it at a time while watching one of the terrestrial channels 1-5. There are other recorders out there now that have two Freeview tuners built in that will allow you to record one channel and watch another (ie: watch E4 while recording More 4) so if this is what you wanted - then, yes, you have bought the wrong box because the LVW 5045GDL+ only has a single tuner.

However, to conclude I thoroughly recommend the Lite-On LVW 5045GDL+. It does what I bought it for and I am happy with it. Good Luck !!

Videos don't play well

We bought the Philips DVP3100v DVD/VCR combi as it plays a large range of media types and has a 6 head VCR player with PAL I and PAL B/G which is suitable for UK and Australia. The DVD player does recognize my home movies in divX format (converted from wmv format - Windows Movie Maker files) and standard jpeg photos on CD-R discs - which is great. Unfortunately, we have not managed to make this machine multi-regional despite attempts at the more widely recommended hacks. However, the biggest problem has been the poor quality of VCR playback with some videos virtually unwatchable with flickering black screens enough to frustrate even our four year old. The manual tracking function doesn't help and now the Automatic Tracking doesn't seem to work (despite pressing"0" as the manual suggests). We have no problems with our 10 year old 2 head Panasonic VCR so it's not a problem with the tape. The menu system seems very primitive for the VCR so it would seem that they may have chosen to cut costs here and enhance the DVD player. The manual is very sparse and not well organized so that doesn't help with troubleshooting either. It is a shame as it's a nice looking machine and not too expensive but I wish now that we'd just bought separate DVD and VCR players or chosen another brand.

Lot of Effort on behalf of MKA.

The company did a first class job in getting to grips with the carriers that evevtually found and delivered a good piece of gear, superb for what I wanted the unit for. Now lots of time is needed in gradually turning my VHS recordings into DVD. There seems nothing that MKA will do to get a satisfied customer.

It gets the job done.

While difficult to set up on my ancient (as far as technology goes anyway) portable television, once set up it is a thing of beauty. It is simple to use and does exactly what it says on the box.

I purchased this to copy VHS tapes to DVD, and while there is some crackling in the sound and a black border on one side of the picture on some of the copies, the technology itself is swift, quiet and little quality is lost. And it's all done at the touch of a button! It is invaluable in further preserving those old family memories from a format with a short life expectancy to something more lasting.

I can't say I've tried the competition, but I would highly recommend this if it claims to do what you want it to do. It may be pricey, but it's a worthwhile investment.

A Good Buy!

Having read the review on this site, I was loathe to risk the purchase, but having long experience of Sony products I decided to risk it. I am so pleased that I did. I have not experienced any of the problems the earlier reviewer mentions. ALL my DVD's and video's play on the machine,"homegrown" or purchased - with excellent results. My only complaint? The Instruction book is rather complex, and pre-supposes a knowledge of the subject.