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November 16, 2004

iLo PVR any good?

I am looking for opinions on a new PVR made by iLo.  It has an 80 gig hard drive and a dvd burner.  It's sold through WalMart and only costs $278.

From some of the forum threads I've read about this, it seems like there were early issues due to bad firmware, but they have all be resolved with the recent updates.  It also appears to be very easy to replace the hard drive.  Just swap it out, format from the menu and you are done.

I haven't seen it at my local WalMart yet and I was just looking for some more info.
-- Ted (ed. note: hopefully not an employee of iLo ;)

November 16, 2004 in DVR

Answers

"(ed. note: hopefully not an employee of iLo ;)"

Nope, I'm NOT an employee of iLo. I was just hoping to find out more info before ordering. Since my local Walmart didn’t have it and they didn’t know when they would, I finally decided to take a chance and order it from WalMart.com for $278.

From the videohelp.com boards, it appears to still have a few firmware issues to be worked out, but I’ve got 90 days to return it to Walmart, so I’ll give it a try. It's updatable via firmware downloads from their site. And according to iLo tech support, another update should be released in a few weeks.

Hopefully iLo will stand behind their product and not abandon it like RCA did with the DRS7005n.

Posted by: ted at Nov 19, 2004 3:58:18 PM

Well, their website sucks. Not a good first impression - but, hey, small companies. (My employer's website isn't great - but now that I'm the webmaster I'm working on that... So I can't throw many stones...)

Anyway, trying to glean info from their website it seems like the unit doesn't have any IR blaster functionality to be able to control a cable box. Which would be problematic for recording digital cable. Zooming in on the PDF of the back of the unit I see *no* connection for IR blasters or serial control cables. That right there is a big NO BUY for me. It is back to the VCR days of having to make sure the cable box is tuned to the right channel at the right time. No thanks.

At first I wasn't even sure it had component out, but there are component connections on the back.

Being the obsessive geek that I am, I downloaded their PDF manual. I guess they're based in China - Adobe needed to download the 'Chinese Traditional Fonts' upgrade. :-)

If you're just looking to record analog cable or antenna, I guess it is OK. But if you have satellite or digital cable, I'd pass.

Posted by: MegaZone at Nov 19, 2004 7:22:36 PM

very helpful info here. thanks.

Posted by: kingsolomon at Feb 3, 2005 11:33:30 AM

I am no electronics geek but purchased and Ilo DVR without the hard drive for $99.00, I was a little sceptical myself at the cost
but thought for a hundred bucks what the heck.Well I am very pleased with the service I am getting out of it at the time. It has five record peeds and even at the slowest record speed it seems to do fine for every day watching and is so much easier to use than a vcr.It scans forward rather slow unless you use the skip feature and then it is pretty fast,it pauses with still pictures that are extremely clear and has a commercial skip feature that actually seems to work...For the money I say OK and they are assembled in Mexico...

Posted by: Ernie Davis at Jul 12, 2005 1:20:44 PM

i just purchased a ilo - we can not get to work with dvd + rw , what is the problem ?

Posted by: GALE at Aug 15, 2005 5:20:00 PM

I purchased an Ilo DVDRHD04, the one with the hard drive and DVD burner. It barely worked when I first hooked it up but it had to be on to get any signal from my Directv box to the TV. It would record but not by the vcr plus scheduler because it apparently can't download any program guides through directv. I had hoped it would work if I went back to cable, but I have changed the way it hooked up and I can't get anything out of it now. I believe I got ripped off and would not advise anyone to even try these sorry devices. I am trying to run down their website to hopefully get some help. It seems less promising by the minute.

Posted by: Dwight at Aug 26, 2005 7:13:51 PM

hello,i just got a ilo 42' plasma tv and i would like the code's for tv so that i may program my remote control for the tv? can you please help me.jsr

Posted by: james regnier at Sep 11, 2005 6:20:39 PM

I recently obtained an ilo 42" plasma tv, and would like to obtain the manual that came with it. Can anyone help?

Posted by: Mickey at Sep 25, 2005 12:44:55 PM

I recently obtained an ilo 42" plasma tv, and would like to obtain the manual that came with it. Can anyone help?

hello,i just got a ilo 42' plasma tv and i would like the code's for tv so that i may program my remote control for the tv?

Posted by: Dennis at Oct 9, 2005 7:56:18 PM

Hi, i have an ILO plasma(ph2bskh) and have a bit of time trying to
get a 2nd remote to work---i think the tv is made by RCA for
Walmart.--i have tried a learning universal remote--with some
luck--vol.up,down---ch,up,down---but no power on-off????
i have a continuing quest!!!!!!!!What do you know?--Wayne

Posted by: wayne at Nov 6, 2005 11:15:25 AM

Hey I was thinking about buying the ilo 42". How do you like it? How long have you had it?

Thanks!
Sam

Posted by: Sam Young at Nov 16, 2005 5:22:49 PM

Keep your money in your wallet. I purchased the Ilo 42 inch plasma TV three days ago. Its going back tomorrow. Beautiful picture about 75 percent of the time, on lighter scenes etc. When it comes to dark level performance this thing sucks. No amount of playing around with the plentiful settings produced a good balance of good dark scenes vs lighter scenes. If you get the set brightness/contrast up enough to see the dark scenes, the next lighter scene will blind you!

Posted by: George at Nov 16, 2005 11:58:44 PM

About ilo:
High-quality ilo products are made exclusively for Wal-Mart by one of the world's leading producers of consumer electronics. Only premium-grade components are used in manufacturing ilo products.

Posted by: xgasman at Nov 22, 2005 12:51:49 PM

See for cable hookups and more info:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=188689

Posted by: xgasman at Nov 22, 2005 12:55:28 PM

I purchased a DVDRHD04 a couple of months ago. I am very pleased with the unit. I have dish network and have to hook up the unit with the av inputs on the back. I still have to set up the timer to record with it set to av1. The only problem I have is that I can not get codes to set up any universal remote. I have a learning remote that will do the job.

Posted by: pete at Nov 26, 2005 7:51:46 AM

Help-I bought the Ilo dvr without hardrive from Walmart.I'm having trouble trying to play back tv recordings-every other time I try I get a recover disc prompt with only option of yes-then it wipes out recording.I bought recommended brand of disc-why is this happening/ Thanks

Posted by: thefoz at Jan 10, 2006 5:46:52 PM

Has anyone worked out a solution to another remote for the ILO 42" Plasma TV.

Posted by: Alan at Feb 21, 2006 6:40:16 AM

I also bought the 99 dollar walmart special ilo recorder without the hard drive. The first one I bought burned like 5 dvds then it failed to finalize any discs at that point. I took the recorder back and swapped it for a second, to give it another try before swapping brands altogether. The second one must have an update on the firmware or something, because all the menus and options are completely a different format than the first recorder. The second one works great and has even better results on the output when using the progressive scan option for the video output. I've seen some of the other 150-200 dollar price range recorders, Samsung's Sams Club special for example, and the options and quality are not much better besides the difference in media, DVD-R. I use my recorder with Dish TV and have no problems, but you have to understand that to record in this format coaxial cable becomes a thing of the past. Use your red, white, and yellows and you should have no problem recording from dish or digital cable.

Posted by: big ken at Feb 23, 2006 9:48:58 PM

27" and 32" ilo lcd tv's. 27" is 2004 and 32" is 2005. what codes are uses to program a direct tv remote control??

Posted by: brian at Feb 26, 2006 12:33:44 PM

I have spent waaaay too much time searching for the codes to program my remote so that it will operate my ILO TV....jeesh, anyone else had any luck?

Posted by: mike at Mar 27, 2006 2:19:31 PM

First of all I'm so illiterate of technology so please bear with me. I'm on DirectTV but their CSR said they don't have a code for ilo and couldn't offer any help. All I want to do is record Food Network so I can watch the DVD on my laptop in my kitchen. Can anybody tell me how to connect all of this up? I have a Sharp tv with 1 input, currently connected to the satellite box. The tv also has a place for the RWY wires. I really appreciate the help!!

Posted by: sam at Mar 29, 2006 1:00:52 PM

I have spent way too much time searching for the codes to program my remote so that it will operate my ILO TV....jeesh, anyone else had any luck?

Posted by: Gari Krogseng at Mar 29, 2006 5:28:15 PM

I still need a code for my comcast remote - 2004 and 2005 don't work. I have the 27-inch LCD. Help!

Posted by: cookie at Mar 29, 2006 9:33:40 PM

I just bought an ilo 42" plasma second hand and I didn't get an owners manual. I also didn't get the V-chip code and I can't watch Adult Swim. Can anyone help? Is it possible to reset the V-chip back to default?

Thanks

Posted by: tapeworm at Apr 3, 2006 4:58:40 AM

Can anyone give me a contact number for a 42" ILO plasma tv from Walmart?

Posted by: Elaine at Apr 4, 2006 8:53:31 AM

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