LiteOn (Ilo, Daytek, Gateway) DVD recorder hacks

[admin]

This post was originally a guide found on the main site, first started in May 2004. It was updated a number of times during the lifetime of the LiteOn (and LiteOn clones) series, from about 2003-2007.

Firmware Files

Posts further down this thread have firmware files attached.

Firmware Help

After the LiteOn-run forums went offline, users scattered to several places online. Each year, more of these sites disappear. All that's currently left is:

• http://www.ss3f.com/ilo - This is the site of GUITARMAN, another person that maintains LiteON/ILO information on hacks and other tips for the units.
• http://ilohacker.tripod.com - This is the homepage of MR WIZARD, apparently the last firmware hacker to the LiteOn/ILO community. He wrote a program that will hack LiteOn softwares.

If you have questions about firmware or the hacking procedures, GO TO ONE OF THOSE SITES TO ASK QUESTIONS. I am only hosting files that are confirmed to work, I am not a firmware hacker.

Want to Submit Some Firmware Files?

If you have a file that is not here, Contact Us. You won't be able to attach it to the forum, but we'll give you an e-mail address where you can send an attachment.

Thanks

Thanks to GGW2000, SEANH, OOSEL, UNLEASHEDPC, SMARTBLUE, CCHANG, TJDMOBILE, MRWIZARD, GUITARMAN, and many others I've probably forgotten to list, for their contributions to this information and to the hacking scene in general. Without users like this, the DVD recorder scene would have been far less interesting.

Non-Firmware Mods

This thread only covered firmware hacks. LiteOn hardware modifications are located at http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/show...order-403.html. Hardware mods were mostly for better cooling or for replacing the DVD burner.

[admin]

Why Hack the Machines?

• Macrovision hack. On LiteOn recorders, Macrovision is known to cause severe problems when recording video. Macrovision is an artificial video error injected into tape signals, a poor implementation of copy protection. In a perfect world, this would be fine, but since many normal video errors exist on our old home movie tapes, the over-sensitive LiteOn MV detection will think it sees MV on our homemade tapes, sometimes even perfect tv or DV signals, and prevent transferring the video. This is not good, so it must be removed.
• LP 3-hour. The units also have 3-hour mode built into the firmware, but for some asinine reason, only a handful of the models come with 3-hour enabled by default. Firmware hacks can enable it.
• Region hack. The units also suffer from the "region protection" that movie companies foist onto the world to try and retain a death grip on where there discs are sold. Firmware hacks can turn this stupid "feature" off. It can also be turned off by using secrets menus, found by pressing certain buttons on the remote. With no disc in the drive try (A) go into SETUP and move down to EXIT, press 2960 and then ENTER on the remote and then a secret REGION menu will appear, and select region 0, or (B) press RIGHT and then 8000 to change to region 0. Take note if you are NTSC or PAL, do not install the wrong one on your machine. Also remember that this is hacking, but the machines appear to be resistant to death from bad hacks. Nothing on this page is guaranteed to work, and could kill the machine. However, countless thousands of people have had excellent experiences and are enjoying their hacked units.

[admin]

How to Hack the Units...

The units are not difficult to hack at all. It will take a CD-RW or a couple of CD-R, a CD or DVD burner in your computer, burning software (preferably Nero or RecordNow), and a little bit of patience and courage.

• STEP 1: Download the official firmware upgrade. You can get them from the official LiteOn firmware upgrade site, and then we have a few as well, in the files section lower on this page. You can also download any number of pre-hacked firmwares found in the files archive further down this page. Download one of those and skip to STEP 3.
• STEP 2: Hack the firmware. Use the program designed by MrWizard. It can be downloaded from his site or from this site (mirrored v1.5b, see file list a few posts down). Be sure to visit his site first, to ensure you have the latest updates.
• STEP 3: Burn the firmware to CD-RW or CD-R. Some units work better with CD-RW, some work fine with CD-R. Try to use a CD-RW first, if possible. Open up the burning software and select the most basic burning option: ISO-9660 Mode 1 (no Joliet, no relaxed items), no multi-session, and burn the disc. If you are not sure what that just meant, please read the help files or the manual that came with your software. Or simply look around, it's fairly obvious to locate in the software.
• STEP 4: Install the firmware. As soon as you turn on the machine, insert the CD-RW or CD-R and follow the on-screen instructions. Please have patience, as sometimes units may hang for a while on 96% completion. Wait at least 10 minutes before giving up and starting over. You may have to unplug then re-plug the power cord (and then eject the CD ASAP!) for it to reboot.
• STEP 5: Verify the hacks. A region-free, MV-free machine will show a serial number of (010-xxxx) in the setup. The 3-hour LP mode will also be present in the recording speed options.

Hacking Notes

Some things to remember:

• HACK TROUBLE? Some machines must be updated first with the un-hacked version before it will accept the hacked version. Older firmware also had multiple files that had to be installed one at a time, such as .DS1, .D01 and .D11 files.
• DOWNGRADE? Be aware that many of the newer firmwares cannot be downgraded once you upgrade. For the 5001/5005 series recorders, 1163/2163/1063/2063 was the last firmware that could be downgraded. It has been suggested that changing the version number in the hex, as well as the firmware name, could allow a spoofed downgrade to happen (by fooling the machine into thinking it was an upgrade), though we are unaware of anybody having tried this successfully to date.
• CLONES? Clones like Daytek and Gateway tend to be on older versions of firmware, as compared to the LiteOn or ILO versions. Although it is suggested to download the official firmwares and use the MrWizard software to hack them, you can also use a LiteOn/ILO firmware and simply rename it to something Gateway or Daytek would recognize. For example, simply rename the LiteOn firmware "LNEA1163.D11" to a Gateway firmware name like "GWEA1139.D11".

[admin]

Firmware Files Archives

These files are older firmware files, mostly being provided for archive purposes. This is not a complete collection of any kind, just random files that have been collected in years past. New firmwares will be added here as they are submitted to us.

These machines had wacky anti-copy "protections" that would randomly engage on home-recorded VHS tapes, camera video tapes, or television broadcasts. It was overly sensitive, and turning it off was almost a requirement to make the machine workable.

An experimental 3-hour LP mode was also available, though in some machines (early 5001 units), it was known to cause jitter. That may be the reason for this setting being hidden on the SETUP menu.

LEGEND:
LP = 3-hour mode enabled
MV = VHS anti-copy disabled
CPRM Key = Broadcast anti-copy disabled

PAL HACKED files:

[admin]

NTSC HACKED files:

[admin]

PAL OFFICIAL files:

[admin]

NTSC OFFICIAL files:

[admin]

iLo Hack Software and Firmware Files:

[admin]

All available firmware files and tools have now been uploaded into the forum, in the above posts, as attachments:

LiteOn PAL HACKED files
LiteOn-5001-PAL-Hacked-1076-LNFBE076.zip (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5001-PAL-Hacked-2163-NoMV.zip (2.22MB)
LiteOn-5001-PAL-Hacked-2163-NoMV+LP.zip (2.22MB)
LiteOn-5001-PAL-R2UK-Hacked-LNEBE098.zip (1.82MB)
LiteOn-5005-PAL-Hacked-LNFB2063.zip (2.23MB)
LiteOn-5005-PAL-Hacked-LNFB2091.zip (1.82MB)

LiteOn NTSC HACKED files
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Hacked-1063.zip (2.23MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Hacked-1163-NoMV.zip (2.22MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Hacked-1163-NoMV+LP.zip (2.22MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Hacked-1176-NoMV+LP+NoCPRMKey.rar (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-TestingUnstable-LNEA1176-LP+NoCPRMKey.rar (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-TestingUnstable-LNEA1176-NoCPRMKey.rar (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5005-NTSC-R1-Hacked-LNEA1180.rar (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5005-NTSC-R1-Hacked-LNFA1091-NoMV+LP.zip (1.82MB)
LiteOn-5005-NTSC-R1-Hacked-LNHA1092.zip (1.82MB)

LiteOn PAL OFFICIAL files
LiteOn-5001-PAL-Official-LNEB2135.zip (2.39MB)
LiteOn-5001-PAL-R4Aus-Official-4163.zip (2.22MB)

LiteOn NTSC OFFICIAL files
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1129.zip (2.38MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1135.zip (2.39MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1141.zip (5.94MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1143.zip (2.12MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1163.zip (4.07MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1176.zip (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1176-DSU-UpdOnce.rar (1.87MB)
LiteOn-5001-NTSC-R1-Official-LNEA1180-DSU-0101-014x.zip (1.86MB)

iLo HACKED files and utilities
iLo-Hack-v15-Software.zip (0.18MB)
iLo-NTSC-Hacked-WMEA1095.zip (1.82MB)

[admin]

A few more recent firmwares to add, for the iLo and LiteOn units with hard drives. Use of these firmwares is discussed at Videohelp.com.

.

[dean]

Does anyone have the old Gateway dvd recorder hack for firmware 4001-1140-0086

[kkcheng]

Do you have hacked firmware for A500GX?

[MistyMo]

First of all I would like to thank you for this site!! It is by far one of the best sites that I have visited for infomation, and files, on hacking the LVW-5001!! I downloaded your files and followed your instruction and they worked as you said with one exception. The firmware number stayed stayed at 1163 after the hack. I had installed a cooling fan, a few months ago, in the top of the unit as I noticed that it was running a little too warm for me. Also, one little glitch, nuisance, that keeps poppig up is the "display status" of the LVW that keeps popping up. Sometimes right after you clear it and sometimes it will wait for a good length of time. Not a problem, just a nuisance. After I upgraded the unit to the 1163 firmware I then upgraded it with the hacked version and it has been working flawlessly ever since!! I have copied ~ 30 Disney protected VHS movies one right after another with no copy problems or heating probems. Thanks Again!!

A job well done!!

[admin]

dean, sorry, don't have one. Hopefully somebody will want to submit one someday. We'll archive it here.

kkcheng, what you see is what you get. Please note that sometimes firmwares for one machine work on others. You may need to dig around online, and see if another LiteOn firmware works on that A500GX. It just might!

MistyMo, thanks much for your input and success story. It's good to hear that these are not being archived in vain, that the overly touchy stock firmware can be replaced well, to allow you to archive your home movies and videos to DVD. After all, who still has VCRs in living rooms? Everybody wants their content on DVDs now. VHS tapes will be stuck back in the attic or a closet, am I right?

Thanks all of you. Good luck, enjoy the DVDs.

[lucyndavey]

hi all.ive got 2 liteon dvd recorders both with problems that im hoping someone can help me with :@) .the first been a liteon lvw 5001b that im trying to make macrovision free so i can copy my daughters disney films on to dvd and also a lvw 5006 which has picture jitter.ive been doing a bit of reading and it says a firmware update will cure it.can anyone point me in the right direction for the right firmware for each machine so they are both mv free? cheers all.

[admin]

We're mostly just archiving some firmware files that have become harder to find as time has gone by. All we know is already found in the forum, at the top of this page, all the posts you see here.

[Eugene Speed]

Hi, thanks for the firware files, very helpful. I was wondering if anyone knows how to disable the screensaver feature on the 5001? I use the TV tuner to view a cctv camera and have to keep hitting any key on the remote to get the picture back on screen. I've emailed LiteOn but had no reply as yet.

[Eugene Speed]

Having problems getting the player to recognise the disc with the firmware files on, maybe I'm just being stupid but how do I burn a suitable disc, any recommendations as to what software I could use? Tried Nero and it wont recognise the file extension D00, I'm stuck now on what to do?

[admin]

I don't know that the screensaver can be turned off. If it were possible, I would think the instructions would be in the product manual. I don't see anything in the book, or in the on-screen menus.

Re-read the instructions: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/show...76&postcount=3
The file has to be burned onto a data disc. In Nero, just make a data CD, and drop the firmware file(s) onto the disc file window.

The DVD burner on my LiteOn LVW-5001 has finally died, which is sad considering the fact that it hasn't even been used in the past year, and it was working fine last time. I'm hoping a clean will fix it.

[moosehead2000]

Hi there,

I have done a fair amount of research without any success. I have the LiteOn LVC-9006 and I need some advice on the macrovision situation.

Is there 'an adjustment' that I can use to assist me here? I have read Mr Wizard's info and all the info available on this site and others, but I just don't see a solution available. Is there one?

Thank you all in advance.

The Moose