1. Introduction - Specifications
LiteOn
SOHD-167T -
Page 1
The
SOHD-167T is the latest internal half-height DVD-ROM from LiteON. The drive
supports
16X DVD-ROM and 48X CD-ROM reading speeds, exactly the same as the previous
models, the XJ-HD163 and the XJ-HD165H. We will compare the three drives
in an attempt to find out if the newer model has any improvements over its
predecessors,
and in general see how it
performs under our usual suite of tests.
- Specifications
| LiteOn |
SOHD-167T |
| Interface |
ATAPI - E/IDE |
| Read Speed |
DVD-ROM: 16X
Max (21,350KB/sec)
CD-ROM: 48X
Max (7,200KB/sec) |
| Access Time |
DVD: 105ms ( typical )
CD: 95ms ( typical )
|
| Supported Disc Format |
Multi-Read
UDF, all DVD single/dual layer
( PTP, OTP ), DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW,
CD, CD-R, CD-RW
ISO-9660, all CD-ROM formats both 8cm & 12cm discs |
Buffer Size |
512KB |
Supported Disc Diameter |
8cm/12cm |
Mount Position |
Horizontal/Vertical |
| Dimensions (W x H x D) |
145.8 x 41.3 x 170.0mm |
| Weight |
0.8Kg |
The drive uses a
512KB buffer memory and below we can see the supported reading formats. Note
that reading DVD-RAM is not supported, but the drive can read DVD+R
DL.
DVDInfoPro gives us some additional details about the drive's
capabilities as well:
The drive's model name, SOHD-167T, is coded according to the SONY Alliance Models ODD Naming Rule:
- S: SONY
- O: Optical
- H: Half-Height Optical Loader
- D: DVD-ROM ODD Type
- 16: Main reading DVD speed
- 7:
- T: ???? Pickup Supplier
The drive also uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times, which however can easily be bypassed with various utilities.
Lastly, let's see what additional information KProbe software returns for LiteON based drives:
- The package
The
retail box includes the internal drive, one audio cable for the internal connection
to the sound card, mounting screws, quick installation guide and
one CD
with PowerDVD 5 Software, Manual and DOS driver.
On the front, there is the DVD-ROM
and the compact disc logos located on the tray. The phone jack, sound level
control and the activity led are located on the left side and below the disc
tray. On the right side there
is
the
eject
button.
On the rear panel you can see the analogue and digital outputs (SPDIF), the
IDE connector
and the power input.
The drive is a half-height internal device,
much shorter than the usual CD/DVD recorder, making mounting in small form-factor
PC cases an easy task.
Below you can see a picture of the drive with noticeably smaller dimensions
compared with the older 163 drive.
Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty.
For reference reasons, we post the following pictures. You can click on the mainboard
picture for a higher resolution image:
Inside the LiteOn SOHD -167T,
there is
the MT1358E from MediaTek Inc. The board as well
as the servo control
unit come from SONY.
- Installation
The drive was installed as secondary master and WindowsXP recognized
it as "LITE-ON DVD SOHD-167T".
The drive arrived with firmware v9S13. LiteON released a newer firmware,
v9S14 and by the time all tests were finished, v9S15 had been released.
It's not exactly known what the newer firmware fixed.
Codeguys offers
two un-official firmware releases at 9S14 and 9S15,
which allow reading of ±R/RW discs up to 16X and +R DL up to 10X!
- Testing software
In order to perform our tests we used:
- Nero CD-DVD Speed v3.00
- CDVD Benchmark v1.21
- ExactAudioCopy v0.9 beta5
- Nero Info Tool v2.21
- KProbe
v2.2.2
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 2
Transfer Rate Reading Tests
- CD Format
LiteOn has improved the seek times with pressed & CDR media
while maintaining good transfer rates with all media we used with
the latest SOHD-167T drive.
- DVD Format
No big differences from the previous drives, except the seek times are marginally
better.
The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive
starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of
each layer, progressing towards the outer range, for each layer.
The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way
as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here
is the reading strategy of the second layer of the disc. The beginning of the
second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts
reading from the outer tracks progressing towards the inner part of the disc.
The average reading speed is 6X.
With DVD+R/RW & DVD-R/RW media, the 167T behaved the same
as the other drives.
All LiteON drives can read CSS DVD-Video discs very fast. The best performance
came from the LiteOn 167T at 8715Kb/sec. Notice that with a patched firmware,
you can increase the ripping speed :-)
- DVD RAM
Amongst the three LiteON drives, only the LTD-165H can read DVD-RAM media
at the low speed of 2~3X CAV.
- Appendix
Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs:
3. CD Error Correction Tests
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 3
CD Error Correction Tests
In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when it comes to reading
scratched / defective discs. The test discs we use are the ABEX series
from ALMEDIO.
- ABEX TCD-721R
LiteOn SOHD167T |
Errors total |
Num: 16324527 |
|
Errors (Loudness) dB(A) |
Num: 120120 |
Avg: -45.0 dB(A) |
Max: -7.2 dB(A) |
|
Error Muting Samples |
Num: 34042 |
Avg: 1.5 Samples |
Max: 3401 Samples |
|
Skips Samples |
Num: 0 |
Avg: 0.0 Samples |
Max: 0 Samples |
|
Total Test Result |
73.6 points (out of 100.0 maximum) |
C2 Accuracy |
52.9 % (out
of 100.0% maximum) |
The 167T drive performed satisfactorily with the ABEX TCD-721R test disc.
The drive had a high Loudness Error level at -7.2 dB(A) and the total error
count
was
also
on the high side but there were no skipped samples. The total score of 73.6
points however is good. The only downside was the C2 accuracy score which reached
only 52.9%, a very poor performance there.
Below are the test results for the other two LiteON drives:
- ABEX TCD-726
LiteOn SOHD167T |
Errors total |
Num: 71 |
|
Errors (Loudness) dB(A) |
Num: 11 |
Avg: -77.0 dB(A) |
Max: -66.5 dB(A) |
|
Error Muting Samples |
Num: 0 |
Avg: 0.0 Samples |
Max: 0 Samples |
|
Skips Samples |
Num:0 |
Avg: 0.0 Samples |
Max: 0 Samples |
|
Total Test Result |
93.3 points (out of 100.0 maximum) |
C2 Accuracy |
100 % (out
of 100.0% maximum) |
With the ABEX TCD-726 test disc, the drive received 93.3 points for the total
test result score and 100 % for C2 accurancy. The LiteOn drive managed a high
error correction with the
ABEX
TCD-726
test media
which is
an easy
test disc for the majority of drives.
- CD-Check Audio Test Disc
The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction
/ Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination
with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce
it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively
difficult tests. These tracks are referred as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.
The
files are reproduced (played) through a software multimedia player (i.e.
Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone coming
out
from the speakers is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or
looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction
of the tested device.
|
Error Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
LiteOn SOHD167T |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
The drive passed all the Check Levels of the Check Disc test. The performance
was excellent offering good sound reproduction and error correction. The
fifth level includes an error size of 1.500mm.
Very few drives manage to play all tracks perfectly.
- Conclusion
LiteON SOHW-167T offers a good CD error correction. The drive will not perform
well with highly scratched media, such as the Abex TCD-721R since it logged
many errors and hence had a reduced C2% accuracy score...
4. DVD Error Correction Tests
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 4
DVD Error Correction
Tests
In the following tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of
the 167T drive with scratched / defective
DVD media.
For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test
media
come
from
ALMEDIO.
- Single Layer media
ABEX TDR-821
This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with a 4.7GB capacity, and its
surface has an artificial scratch of dimensions varying from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.
The following transfer rate picture comes from the CDVD Benchmark v1.21 transfer
rate test.
The LiteOn SOHW-167T read the disc at 16X CAV and the scratched area did
not affect the process. The disc was read accurately and no read errors
were
reported.
Below are the corresponding graphs for the LTD-163/165H:
ABEX TDR-825
This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of a 4.7GB capacity. The
data structure of the disc is exactly the same as that of the TDR-821, with
the difference that there are no scratches on it but defective areas of dimensions
ranging from 0.5 to 1.1 mm.
There are also fingerprints sized between 65 and
75 micrometers.
As before, the disc was read without any "read errors" and the
test was finished successfully.
There was a short duration reading speed drop just before the third step which
didn't affect the process however.
Below are the graphs for the LTD-163/165H:
- Dual Layer media
ABEX TDR-841
This is an 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches
of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, on both layers.
The drive read both layers without any major problems, as the above graph
shows.
Below are the same graphs for the LTD-163/165H:
ABEX TDR-845
The disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc of a capacity of 8.5GB.
The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes
defective areas and fingerprints.
The dimensions of the defects range
from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints are sized from 65 to 75 micro meters.
The
drive passed the fingerprint defects without any reading speed drop
and finished the test without problems.
Below are the graphs for the LTD-163/165H:
ABEX TDV-541
The
TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity of 8.5GB.The
disc is based upon the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection
and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The discs check the layer switch operation
from layer 0 to layer 1 and also include test pictures and test signals for
DVD sound files.
The current TDV-541 checks also the error correcting capabilities
of the drive and includes scratches from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.
The reading process started at 3.37X and reached 8.06X at the 4.0GB point,
where the drive changed layer and reduced its reading speed till the end. The
drive finished the
reading
process
normally, without errors or problems.
ABEX TDV-545
The
TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer
DVD-VIDEO disc with a capacity of 8.5GB.
The TDV-545 includes artificial black
dots on the data surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It has also 65 - 75 micrometer
fingerprints.
Black dots and fingerprints on the disc's surface did not create any reading
problems, and the drive finished the task successfully.
5. Protected Disc Tests
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 5
Protected Disc
Tests
- Reading Tests
To create the image of the various protected titles to the hard disk, we
used Alcohol 120% software and the appropriate settings, according to the protection
type of the inserted discs. Below you can see the duration of each process
as well as the transfer rate in each case.
Game Title |
Protection Scheme |
Duration |
Reading speed |
PSX "NBA Jam Extreme" |
Lybcrypt |
4:42 min |
320 sectors/sec |
Serious Sam The Second Encounter |
SafeDisc v.2.50.051 |
02:05 hours |
46 sectors/sec |
VRally II |
SecuROM v.2 |
4:47 min |
1197 sectors/sec |
The LiteOn 167T drive was in the main slower than the other two drives,
but with Safedisc v2 its speed was simply unacceptable.
6. DAE Tests
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 6
DAE Tests
- Pressed and CDR AudioCD
The LiteOn SOHW-167T supports up to 48X CAV DAE speed. When using a pressed
AudioCD and its CD-R copy, with EAC, we logged the following results:
The LiteOn 167T was faster overall with both formats. As EAC
reports,
the drive caches DAE, supports accurate stream and can report C2 error information.
- Advanced DAE Quality
The LiteOn SOHW-167T received a score of 100 in the Nero CD Speed
Advanced DAE test. CDSpeed showed that the average reading speed was 34,84X,
and
the drive supports reading of
SubChannel
data, Leadin data and CD
Text. Leadout isn't supported.
- Reading 90/ 99mins AudioCDs
7. Protected AudioCDs
LiteOn SOHD-167T - Page 7
Protected AudioCDs
For the test procedure we used three audio discs with different
audio copy protections. The ripping process performed for all protected Audio
discs was carried out with Exact Audio Copy v0.9beta5.
The tested protected Audio discs were:
- Sony's Key2Audio from "Celine Dion - New Day Has Come"
- Cactus Data Shield 200 from "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island"
The Cactus Data Shield 200, contains artificial errors that are not easy to
bypass with the reader, while the Key2Audio contains a second session,
causing problems for readers when they try to read the Table Of Contents (TOC).
The tested tasks are:
- Recognition of the inserted disc (Yes/No)
- Ripping all wavs (with EAC's Burst Mode) to the hard disk with copy&compare function.
- Listening to the produced wavs for any click/skips.
The LiteON SOHW-167T recognized up to the 13th Audio track of CDS200 disc,
and with the "Retrieve Native TOC" option removed, it recognized
the 13th Data track.
The test results are shown in the following table:
|
Key2Audio |
CDS200 |
LiteOn SOHD-167T |
CD is unreadable under
Windows OS |
CD works with Windows Media Player,
ripping process completed with EAC which reports timing problems.
Read&Test CRC comparison was unsuccessful for most of the tracks |
The LiteOn SOHW-167T will rip CDS200
protected audio discs at the maximum speed. The Key2Audio protected disc
wasn't recognized under Windows OS. However, the drive may not rip 100%
accurately
CD200 protected discs since EAC reported timing problems and at the same
time, the Read&Test
CRC check comparison was not the same for matching tracks.
8. 167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 1
LiteOn SOHD-167T -
Page 8
167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 1
To check exactly what the LiteOn SOHD-167T, 165H & 163 report and
differences the new chipset inside the new LiteOn drive produces compared
with the older
drives, we used various media, burned in other recorders. The three
media burnt, have
been
measured
with
the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X.
Since all LiteON drives report only PI/PIF errors, we will compare those
measurements for the various reading speeds:
Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested SOHD-167T
drive. Using other 167T drives can produce totally different results. Be aware!
#1st Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 8X Reading speed
All LiteON drives report increased error rates at the outer
surface of the disc. The LTD165H is the only drive that reaches the CATS
error rates.
#1st Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 6X Reading speed
At 6X speed, the 167T and 163 drives reported lower error rates,
while the 165H was exactly the same as at 8X.
#1st Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 4X Reading
speed
At 4X, again only the 165H drive reports PI errors similar to CATS, while
the 167T and 163 indicate much lower error rates, but they do show problems
on the outer area of the disc.
9. 167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 2
LiteOn SOHD-167T -
Page 9
167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 2
To check exactly what the LiteOn SOHD-167T, 165H & 163 report and differences
the new chipset inside the new LiteOn drive produces compared with the older
drives, we used various media, burned in other recorders. The three media
burnt, have been measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system
at 1X.
Since all LiteON drives report only PI/PIF errors, we will compare those
measurements for the various reading speeds:
Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested SOHD-167T
drive. Using other 167T drives can produce totally different results. Be aware!
#2nd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 8X Reading speed
With this disc, we see very strange performance from the
163/165H drives, while performance is good with the 167T.
#2nd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 6X Reading speed
#2nd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 4X Reading
speed
As the test results showed, the 167T was the only drive that
followed accurately the error level reported by CATS at almost all
reading speeds.
10. 167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 3
LiteOn SOHD-167T -
Page 10
167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 3
To check exactly what the LiteOn SOHD-167T, 165H & 163 report and differences
the new chipset inside the new LiteOn drive produces compared with the older
drives, we used various media, burned in other recorders. The three media
burnt, have been measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system
at 1X.
Since all LiteON drives report only PI/PIF errors, we will compare those
measurements for the various reading speeds:
Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested SOHD-167T
drive. Using other 167T drives can produce totally different results. Be aware!
#3rd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 8X Reading speed
The 8X reading speed showed that the 167T reports high error
levels, even when the disc has low PI errors. Both the 163 and 165H drives
had almost the same PI error trend line but with totally different values.
#3rd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 6X Reading speed
#3rd Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - 4X Reading speed
The 8X reading speed showed that the 167T reports high error
level even when the disc has low PI errors. Both the 163 and 165H had similar
PI error trend lines but with totally different values.
11. 167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 4
LiteOn SOHD-167T -
Page 11
167T&165H&163 vs. SA300 - Page 4
For checking exactly what the SOHD-167T reports, we used different media,
burned by other recorders. The three media have been measured using
the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X. Since all LiteON drives
report
only PI/PIF errors, we will compare those measurements at 8X reading speed
(max).
Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested SOHD-167T
drive. Using other 167T drives can produce totally different results. Be
aware!
#4th Test Disc - PISum8/PIF Comparison - MAX Reading speed
All LiteON drives reported high PI error rates, especially at the Layer change
point. Lower error rates were reported by the 163 and the highest
by the 165H.
12. Conclusion
LiteOn SOHD-167T -
Page 12
Conclusion
The LiteOn SOHD-167T DVD-ROM reader offers
16X DVD-ROM maximum read speed and 48X max. read speed for CD-ROMs. With
the CD reading tests, the drive showed good performance with good seek
times and very fast DVD video ripping
speed. It didn't have problems reading DVD-R/RW & DVD+R/RW
media and with an un-official firmware, can read up to 16X.
The CD error correction results were good, but with test discs having
large scratches, the drive did not produce good results exhibiting
high error rates.
In the DVD error correction tests, it managed to playback all of our test discs
without reporting
any read errors
or
problems.
The drive offers fast ripping times only with PSX, whereas with
the SecuROM and especially with SafeDisc v2, it reported slow ripping times.
According to the DAE tests, the drive returned good performance
only with the CDS200 protection scheme but with some timing
problems and unsuccessful read&test CRC comparisons
for most of the tracks. With the Key2Audio protection scheme, the CD
was unreadable under Windows XP OS. The drive managed to
play 90 & 99 minute AudioCDs. The LiteOn 167T is fast with the CDR
audio test disc, resulting in high quality performance for audio extraction.
The LiteOn SOHD-167T when compared with the AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS
system reports similar PI errors with some media and totally different
with other.
This is more or less the same behaviour as with the previous models, the LTD-163
and LTD-165H.
The LiteOn SOHD-167T costs about $30, which is an affordable
price
for almost any end user.
- The Good
- Low price
- Good CD Error correction
- Very good DVD error correction
- Very high CSS DVD-Video ripping speed
- High C2% accuracy, with light scratched discs
- Supports CDS200 protected Audio discs
- Big unofficial community support (KProbe, Speedhacks, RPC1 utilities)
- Can read DVD±R/RW SL media up to 16X with un-official firmware
- Frequent firmware updates from LiteON
- The Bad
- Not very good performance with highly scratched Audio CDs
- Slow rip with SafeDisc v2 & SecuROM protected game titles
- Doesn't support reading of DVD-RAM media
- Retail package didn't include internal IDE cable
- Doesn't support Key2Audio protected Audio discs
- Like to be fixed