LiteOn SHW-16H5S

Review Pages

- CD Format

For our CD transfer speed tests, we used the Nero CD-Speed utility and a Pressed CD disc. Let's take a look at how the drive performed compared with the other two drives.

Since the LiteOn drives supports a higher CD reading speed in comparison to the other two drives, the above results were expected. The LiteOn drive not only confirmed its 48X supported speed, but also managed to reach a speed of 50X at the end of the test.

In the case of USRW media, the LiteOn drive seems to support 32X maximum reading speed. The BenQ drive, due to its 40X support, was the fastest.

- AudioCD

For this test we used a pressed AudioCD.

In the case of AudioCDs, the LiteOn drive supports 48X DAE speed and was the fastest among the drives. All drives reported a perfect score in the Advanced DAE Quality Test from Nero.

90min test disc

99min test disc

The LiteOn drive had problems reading both the 90 and 99min test discs. In the case of the 99min disc, it reported an error a minute before the end.

- DVD Format

Now let's have a look at how the drive performs with DVD media. This time, a set of DVD media was used, both SL and DL.

Same specifications for all drives and hence, the similar performance.

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting the reading process from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, progressing towards its outer range. Once again, the supported reading speeds were the same for all drives, so again we see similar performance.

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 main difference being the reading strategy of the second layer on 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 towards the inner part of the disc. Similar performance as with the PTP reading test.

Note that the speeds included in the following tables are the average reported and not the maximum. The supported reading speed for all DVD±R/RW media is 12X for the LiteOn drive, which is the fastest amongst the three drives except in case of the BenQ with DVD-RW media which supports 16X.