1. Features, specifications
Today we will make some tests with Lite-On's latest BD-ROM drive, the iHOS104. The drive does not offer the writing capabilities found on more expensive units, but its relatively low cost could be attractive to users who need a BD drive in order to watch Blu-ray movies on their computers. The drive retails for about $70 in online stores.
Basic features inlcude 4x BD read speeds, reading of DVD's at 8x and CD's at 32x. Of course, the , the drive comes with CyberLink's PowerDVD software.
Features:
- SATA interface, 5 ¼" Half-Height internal BD ROM drive.
- Max. 4X BD-ROM/BD-RE SL and 4X BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE DL CAV reading
- Max. 8X DVD-ROM/+R/+RW/+RDL/-R/-RW/-RWDL CAV reading
- Max. 32X CD-ROM/R/RW CAV reading
- Fast access time and high data transfer rate, could be vertical mounted (optional)
- SMART-X function smartly adjusts CD-DA / VCD / DVD data extraction to a fastest allowable speed according to both data request rate from host and disk quality
- Supporting DOS 6.xx, Windows XP/ 2003/ Vista and Linux Operating System
- BD read compliant: BD data, BD video of 12 cm diameter
- CD read compliant: CD-DA,CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA , Photo-CD, Multi-session Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus, CD-R , and CD-RW discs of 8 or 12 cm diameter
- DVD read compliant: DVD single/dual layer (PTP, OTP), DVD-R(4.7G), DVD-R multi-borders DVD-R Double Layer, DVD+R, DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD+R Double Layer, DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs
- Flash ROM support on line programming capability
- Serial ATA Revision 2.6, ATA-8, MMC-6 and SFF-8090 V7 compliant
- MPC level 3, PC2001 System Design Guide, MultiRead/UDF compliant
- Support Ultra DMA mode 5
- AACS compliant (incl. Rom mark)
|
The retail package of the drive includes:
- iHOS104 BD-ROM drive
- CyberLink Software CD
- User's Manual
- Quick Installation Guide
- Silver Replacement Bezel
- SATA Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
The drive sports a glossy finish, and has the typical single operation LED below the tray, following the design of LiteOn' ODD drives. The retail version of the iHOS104 also comes with a silver replacement bezel:
The rear panel is straightforward and and has a power connector and the SATA interface:
Let's take a look at the drive's internal board. It is recommended not to open the case of your drive since that would void the warranty.
The main board is small as you can see in the picture below.You can click on each picture for a larger view:
The drive uses the Sunext SC6300B3 a single-chip all-format optical disc controller with integrated Serial ATA host interface. The SC6230 reads Blu-ray format, as well as all CD and DVD standards. Sunext Technology Company Limited is privately held and a supplier of semiconductor products for Optical Disc Drive (ODD) applications. The company is using ODD patents from Philips since a licensing agreement sugned between the companies in 2006.
The drive was connected to the PC via a typical SATA interface and was identified as "iHOS104".
2. CD reading
For our CD/DVD transfer rate tests we used the Nero Disc Speed utility and a set of data and audio CD-R/RW/ROM media. Here we test the maximum reading speed of the LiteOn drive (32x) for each type of disc. For comparison, we have included the corresponding reading results of two more BD-ROM drives, the LiteOn DH-4O1S and the Pioneer BDC-202.
-CD-ROM
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
24.85x |
24.66x |
25.46x |
| Random seek time |
122ms |
118ms |
143ms |
- US RW
The following CD Speed graph shows the reading performance with US-RW media.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
24.71x |
24.46x |
19.01x |
| Random access time |
120ms |
120ms |
157ms |
- AudioCD
In the CD Speed Advanced DAE quality test, the drive's average speed was 22.84x with a quality score of 100.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
22.87x |
22.94x |
23.63x |
| Quality score |
100 |
100 |
100 |
- CD DAE
Digital Audio Extraction or DAE is important when we try to read the files stored on an audio CD and store them in our hard disk drive. The procedure is not always that simple and the fidelity of the extracted data depend on the way each drive handles these data.
The majority of the software that support this procedure, commonly known as "ripping", will just read the audio files and store them on your hard disk. However, this approach is not recommended for all drives, since it may result to read or sync errors if your drive does not support report of C2 error pointer information and also what the author of the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) software describes as "accurate stream" and " non-caching."
According to EAC, the LiteON iHOS104 drive does supports "caching " and "Accurate stream" but it does not report "C2 error" pointer information.
Accurate stream and C2 error reporting is always welcome and contribute to reliable and fast audio extraction. Generally, if you select a drive for extraction better have a look that the drive does not cache audio data.
If you are sure about the physical condition of your audio CD and you need faster extractions, you may chose other utilities such as the CD DAE software. A typical ripping task finished at an average reading speed of 19.5X, using CD DAE:
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
19.5x |
23x |
23.1x |
- 90 mins Audio disc
90min Audio disc
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
read error |
11.42x |
read error |
| Random access time |
- |
138ms |
- |
- 99 mins Audio disc
99min Audio disc
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
seek error |
seek error |
seek error |
| Random access time |
- |
- |
- |
Summary
The reading process of almost all CD media was completed without read errors and at speeds that match the drive's specifications. An exception to this were the 90and 99min CD-Rs, which are generally hard to be read and most of the drives fail in these tests.
3. CD error correction
This series of tests checks the drive's ability to correct/conceal possible erroneous data after reading artificially scratched / defective audio discs.
Using a CD-R in best shape to do the DAE test is generally not a safe way to test the drive's error correction capabilities. If your drive would not read audio CDs error free from an error free disc, you would probably bring the drive back to the vendor. It is far more interesting to see how a drive is behaving under critical conditions (which will also tell something about the DAE quality on CDs that have manipulated C2 error information on purpose). For that a special test CD like the ABEX discs from ALMEDIO can be used, that can be used to do a comparison between different drives. The ABEX test disc is actually an AudioCD that has artificial scratches and other physical disc error patterns on its surface.
Using a special software, we compare two audio files using FFT analysis. The first audio file has been extracted by a normal audio disc without physical error patterns on it . The second one is the result of the extraction of the ABEX test discs which hold the same audio tracks, but it also has specific defects on its surface. The similarity factor of the the two tracks unveils the error correction capabilities of the drive.
The differences between the two compared tracks are translated to a signal (noise) illustrated in the following graphs. Each graph tells a lot about the abilities of the drive. The quality of the optical system (and/or of the error correction capabilities of the firmware) is shown in at which time index the error start. The error hiding qualities are shown when the wedge gets bigger. The X position of a grid line is always a start of a new minute position on the CD (in play time, up to 74 min). The Y axis shows the dB(A) value of the error in the extracted file. The 0 dB(A) baseline at the top is marked slightly different. So the graph shows a range of 6 dB(A) down to -120.0 dB(A). Each line represents 6 dB(A) of volume (6 dB(A) louder means that the sound is double as loud).
- ABEX TCD-721R
| Errors total |
Num : 898320 |
| Errors (Loudness) |
Num : 48277 |
Avg : -73.9 dB(A) |
Max : -35.9 dB(A) |
| Error Muting |
Num : 2872 |
Avg : 1.4 Samples |
Max : 598 Samples |
| Skips |
Num : 0 |
Avg :0.0 Samples |
Max 0 Samples |
| Total Test Result |
76.6 points (of 100.0 maximum )
|
It is obvious that the LiteOn iHOS104 drive is actually muting the faulty samples rather than correcting them. Although the average value for the errors is not high enough to produce possible audible distortions to sound that will reach your speakers, some wedges are high enough (MAx -35.9 dB(A)).
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Total score |
76.6 points |
47,5 points |
75.3 points |
- ABEX TCD-726R
| Errors total |
Num : 69290 |
| Errors (Loudness) |
Num : 370 |
Avg : -28.3.0 dB(A) |
Max : -16.3 dB(A) |
| Error Muting |
Num : 140 |
Avg : 1.0 Samples |
Max : 2 Samples |
| Skips |
Num :0 |
Avg :0,0 Samples |
Max 0 Samples
|
| Total Test Result |
85.8 points(of 100.0 maximum)
|
The drive reacted badly as soon as it reached the first defected sectors of the disc, giving a high wedge. Other than that, the total score is adequate for the specific disc.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Total score |
85.8 points |
47,5 points |
83.9 points |
- CD-Check Audio Test Disc
The CD-Check Test Disc is another 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 more difficult tests. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.
The tracks are reproduced through a software multimedia player (e.g. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the tested drive.
| Error Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| LiteOn iHOS104S |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
| LiteOn DH-4O1S |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
0/5 |
| Pioneer BDC-202 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
0/5 |
0/5 |
As it was expected, the error hiding mechanism of the LiteOn iHOS104 drive as well as the drive's tend to mute faulty samples resulted to a flawless reproduction of all the tracks of this test disc.
4. DVD reading
DVD-ROM SL media
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.05x |
9.10x |
9.42x |
| Random access time |
129ms |
110ms |
151ms |
The LiteOn iHOS104 drive supports 8x for reading, making it a little bit slower than its competitors as you can see in the above table.
PTP DVD-ROM
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 its outer range.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.14x |
6.15x |
6.27x |
| Random access time |
126ms |
124ms |
164ms |
OTP DVD-ROM
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 and progresses towards the inner part of the disc.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.10x |
6.14x |
6.26x |
| Random access time |
127ms |
124ms |
163ms |
DVD-R
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.06x |
8.94x |
9.34x |
| Random access time |
133ms |
118ms |
164ms |
DVD-RW
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.06x |
6.16x |
6.29x |
| Random access time |
137ms |
125ms |
174ms |
DVD+R
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.06x |
8.94x |
9.44x |
| Random access time |
130ms |
119ms |
169ms |
DVD+RW
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.08x |
6.19x |
6.30x |
| Random access time |
126ms |
125ms |
174ms |
DVD+R DL
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.14x |
6.10x |
6.30x |
| Random access time |
138ms |
129ms |
182ms |
DVD-R DL
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
6.14x |
6.18x |
6.30x |
| Random access time |
138ms |
130ms |
185ms |
DVD Ripping speed
Ripping of a single layer DVD movie:
| |
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average |
8.013 KB/s (5.8x) |
8.19 KB/s (5.9x) |
5.206 KB/s (3.75x) |
| Maximum |
11.214 KB/s (8.1x) |
11.36 KB/s (8.2X) |
7.244 KB/s (5.22x) |
Summary
LiteOn iHOS104 is not that fast as the other drives when reading DVD-ROM SL media. So if speed is what you are seeking of, you may add this to the list of negatives for the drive. However, we think that the drive generally performed pretty well while it was also fast in accessing the discs, compared to the Pioneer drive.
5. DVD error correction
In the following tests, we examine the DVD reading capabilities of the drive (error correction) with scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests, we used Nero CDSpeed. The reference test media comes 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 reading process was completed successfully and the defects on the disc's surface did not slow down reading.
ABEX TDR-825
This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of 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 instead, defective areas of dimensions ranging from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There are also fingerprints sized between 65 and 75 micrometers.
No reading problems here.
- 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.
Same as before, successful reading without any speed fluctuations or read errors.
ABEX TDR-845
The disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc with 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.
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 also has 65 - 75 micrometer fingerprints.
Flawless reading here.
Summary
Overall, the DVD error correction mechanism of the LiteOm drive is quite good.
6. Blu-ray disc reading - page 1
Let's now see how the drive performs with various Blu-ray discs. We remind you that the drive uses the 4x (CAV) speed for reading all the Blu-ray disc formats. For this test, we used many BD-R/RE discs burned at high speeds with the Pioneer BD-R 203 and the Sony BWU-S300 burners.
- BD-ROM SL (25GB, movie)
| Disc |
BD-ROM SL 25GB |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
A typical reading of a BD-ROM SL disc. The iHOS104 drive finished the task in an average speed of 3.01x, a little bit slower than the Pioneer BDC-202 drive, which supports a 5x reading speed with BD discs anyway .
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
3.01x |
3.14x |
3.84x |
| Random access time |
105ms |
102ms |
106ms |
- BD-ROM DL (50GB, movie)
| Disc |
BD-ROM DL 50GB |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
| Average Speed |
3.00x |
3.11x |
| Random seek time |
102ms |
99ms |
- Blu-ray Disc Movie
In order to perform our BD Movie Playback tests, we used the "Casino Royale" (BD DL ) movie.
The drive's minimum system requirements for BD playback are:
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or higher
- Memory: 512 MB RAM or higher
- OS: Windows 2000 SP4 / XP / Vista/Win7
However, the recommended specifications for BD Playback and Authoring are:
- CPU: Intel Pentium D 3.4 or higher
- Memory: 1GB RAM or higher
- OS: Windows XP SP2 / Vista
- GPU: nVidia GeForce 7600GT/ 7800GTX512/ 7900GXS/ 7900GX2/ 7900GTX/ 7950GT/ 7950GX2/ 8400GS/ 8500GT/ 8600GT/ 8600GTS/ 8800GTS/ 8800GTX and ATI X1600/ X1800/ X1900/ HD2400/ HD2600/ HD2900 series or above.
- HDCP capable graphics cards with 256 MB RAM, PCI Express x 16, 1920 x 1200 resolution, 32-bit color.
- HDCP capable monitor / TV for HD digital output.
Our testing system consisted of the following:
- Intel Core2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
- 2046MB RAM (Samsung DDR3)
- Windows XP Professional SP3
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS with 256 MB RAM
- a typical non-HDCP monitor, using a resolution of 1600x1200 at 85 Hz
- an LG L246WH-BN 24" Full-HD LCD monitor, HDCP ready 1920x1200@60Hz.
First, we connected our non-HDCP monitor with a typical analog (VGA) connector.
Then we connected the an LG L246WH-BN 24" Full-HD LCD monitor, which was HDCP ready and offers a maximum resolution of 1920x1200@60Hz.
The application we used to watch the movies was Cyberlink Power DVD v8.
Here are some photos of the monitor during playback:
In this frame PowerDVD shows us info about the movie and the video/audio bitrate for a specific scene. This varied from approximately 10Mbps to 45Mbps, depending on the complexity of each scene of the movie.
Playback was flawless with the CPU utilization to hardly reach the 25%, for the specific PC configuration. Forward/reverse operations were resumed without any problems throughout the complete movie.
- BD-R SL (25GB, data)
Here we test the reading capabilities of the LiteOn iHOS104 BD-ROM drive with various BD-R discs.
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Moser Baer India 25GB BD-R 6x - MBIR06 (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim 25GB BD-R 6x - VERBATIMe (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
The drive quit reading and gave a read error right after the 1Gb mark. The specific disc BD-R Sl disc was certified for 6x burning and was actually burned at 8x using the Pioneer BDR-203 drive.
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Panasonic 25GB BD-R 6x - MEI (RA1) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 25GB BD-R 4x - TDKBLDRBB (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim BD-R 25GB 4x - VERBATIMc (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 25GB BD-R 6x - TDKBLDRBD (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim 25GB BD-R LTH 2x - VERBATIMw (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
Some minor problems here with the reading of the Verbatim LTH BD-R disc. Although reading was resumed after each drop at the speed, these speed fluctuations could make your movie freeze during a possible playback of a video. In addition, they unveil possible problematic sections of the stored data that the drive cannot easily deal with them and could make the disc unreadable in the future.
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
3.04 |
3.10x |
3.91x |
| Random seek time |
120ms |
100ms |
90ms |
BD-R SL (7.5GB, data)
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim 7.5GB 8cm BD-R 2x - VERBATIMa (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
Summary
The drive easily read the majority of the BD-ROM and BD-R discs of this test. Some problems might be identified with the Verbatim LTH BD-R as well as the recently introduced TDK and Verbatim BD-R SL discs certified for 6x burning. Playback of a Blu-ray disc movie was great and the drive was responsive to any navigation and FF/RW test we did while playing the movie.
7. Blu-ray disc reading - page 2
- BD-R DL (50GB, data)
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Panasonic 50GB BD-R DL 6x - MEIRB1(001) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 50GB BD-R DL 6x - TDKBLDRFD (000) |
| Burning speed |
8x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim 50GB BD-R 2x - VERBATIMb (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 50GB BD-R DL 2x - TDKBLDRFA (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
3.04 |
3.16 |
2x |
| Random access time |
121msec |
101ms |
95ms |
- BD-RE SL (25GB, data)
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim BD-RE 25GB 2x - VERBATIM0 (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 25GB BD-RE 2x - TDKBLDWBA (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
|
LiteOn iHOS104 |
LiteOn DH-4O1S |
Pioneer BDC-202 |
| Average Speed |
3.04 |
3.18x |
3.88x |
| Random access time |
124ms |
103ms |
90ms |
- BD-RE SL (7.5GB, data)
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
Verbatim 7.5GB BD-RE 8cm 2x - VERBATIM0 (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
BD-RE DL (50GB, data)
| BD Burner |
Pioneer BD-R 203 Ver.1.10 |
| Disc |
TDK 50GB BD-RE 2x - TDKBLDWFa (000) |
| Burning speed |
2x |
| BD reader |
LiteOn iHOS104 ver.WL06 |
|
Summary
The LiteOn drive was accurate in this test and reading of the BD-R DL and BD-RW SL discs did not show any problems. The average access times for each disc was slightly higher than the rest of the drives. However, the drive did not manage to ready the TDK BD-RE DL disc.
8. Final thoughts
LiteOn's second generation BD-ROM drive is not as fast as we might desired with its 4x maximum supported speed but still, the drive will play back your movies and data BD discs.
First of all, the drive proved to be a good CD reader, performing all tasks with speeds according to specifications, and being able to complete them successfully. DAE tasks will be performed fast enough at approximately 20x, while the CD error correction is adequate, with the drive to sport impressive error hiding capabilities.
Next on, are DVD tests that we performed. Again the drive could be faster than the 8x max speed it offers but reading is reliable enough, even if your DVD discs are not in a perfect shape due to use.
The drive also deals with Blu-ray discs relatively well. Reading of BD-ROM SL and DL discs was smooth, as well as the reproduction of of a Blu-ray disc movie using CyberLink's PowerDVD software bundled with the package. The drive was responsive to any navigation and FF/RW test we did while playing the movie. On the other hand, we are a little bit concerned about the behavior of the drive when accessing specific BD-R and BD-RE discs. For example,we identified some small problems with the Verbatim LTH BD-R as well as the recently introduced TDK and Verbatim BD-R SL discs certified for 6x burning. The drive slowed down reading in some cases and gave a read error with the Verbatim BD-R SL disc for 6x. In addition, it could not finish reading of a TDK BD-RE DL disc. We cannot come up with safe results regarding the behavior of the drive with BD discs that have been burned at 8x or higher, since our tests were limited to no more than 20 such discs. However, it could be nice for Liteon to check these issues and possibly come up with a new firmware upgrade.
With all these in mind , the choice is yours as always. With the optical drive market to be stalled, it's nice to see LiteOn releasing new drives, especially when these retail online for about $70 - a reasonable price for a BD-ROM if you ask me. For those who want the ability to playback Blu-Ray content on their computers, media center PC's, and HTPC's but who don't necessarily want to buy a Blu-Ray writer or swallow the cost of a writer, a Blu-Ray reader could be an ideal choice.