LiteOn iHBS112 review

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For our CD/DVD and Blu-ray transfer rate tests we used the Nero Disc Speed utility and a set of data and audio CD-R/RW/ROM as well as BD-R and BD-RE media. Here we test the maximum reading speed of the LiteOn drive for each type of disc. For comparison, we have included the corresponding reading results of an 8x Blu-ray burner based on the Panasonic reference design, the Sony BWU-300S, as well as the Pioneer BDR-203 8x BD burner.

-CD-ROM

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	37.04x	36.36x	31.47x

The LiteOn drive was faster here since it reads CD-ROM/-R disc at 48x.

- US RW

The following CD Speed graph shows the reading performance with US-RW media.

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	30.62x	25.21x	18.87x

Again, the LiteOn iHBS112 was faster due to the 40x supported speed.

- AudioCD

In the CD Speed Advanced DAE quality test, the drive's average speed was just 12.67x with a quality score of 100.

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	12.67x	17.56x	22.24x

- 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 iHBS112 drive supports "caching ", "Accurate stream" and reports "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 34.6X, using CD DAE:

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	34.6x	8.9x	26.8x

- 90/99 mins Audio disc

90min Audio disc

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	error	35.93x	25.20x

The drive returned an error as it was trying to read the data stored at the outer part of the disc.

It also gave a read error in the seek time test with the 99min CD-R.

- DVD Format

Now let's take a look at how the drive performs with DVD media. This time, a set of SL and DL DVD media was used. The drive is capable of reading at 16X maximum speed for single layer DVD ROM and at 12X for dual layer DVD ROM media.

DVD-ROM SL media -

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	12.12x	12.26x	11.75x

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 iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.20x	9.20x	9.35x

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 iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.14x	9.20x	9.34x

DVD-R

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	12.01x	12.29x	11.95x

DVD-RW

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.14x	6.15x	9.36x

DVD+R

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	12.03x	12.31x	11.97x

DVD+RW

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.16x	6.16x	9.38x

DVD+R DL -

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.07x	6.17x	9.48x

DVD-R DL

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Average Speed	9.06x	6.17x	9.07x

DVD-RAM 12x

DVD Ripping speed -

Ripping of a single layer DVD movie:

	LiteOn iHBS112	Pioneer BDR-203BK	Sony BWU-300S
Average	12.145KB/s (8.8x)	11.798KB/s (8.5x)	6122KB/s (4.4x)
Maximum	16.748KB/s (12.1x)	17.220KB/s (12.4x)	8497KB/s (6.1x)

- Blu-ray format

Continuing, let's see how the drive reads the various Blu-ray recordable and ROM discs.

BD-ROM-SL

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Full access time	280ms	485ms	360ms
Average Speed	5.98x	6.97x	5.91x

BD-ROM-DL

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Full access time	420ms	531ms	425ms
Average Speed	6.10x	7.06x	5.99x

BD-R SL

	LiteOn iHBS112	Sony BWU-300S	Pioneer BDR-203
Full access time	274ms	482ms	358ms
Average Speed	6.04x	7.01	5.95x

BD-R SL LTH

The LiteOn drive is also capable of reading of BD-R Low-To-High (LTH) discs. However, as we will see later on, the drive cannot burn these discs, at least with the specific firmware revision installed.

Currently, the availability of such media is limited, with only Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden to offer them in Japan. Below you can see a reading test with a Verbatim SL BD-R LTH disc (VERBATIMw):