LiteOn SOSW-852SX Burner - Page 26

In concluding this review, there is quite deal to say, some good and some not so good, that was noted and taken into account during the course of this presentation of the LiteOn SOSW-852SX. Before beginning, we reiterate that in this review as a whole, we are more interested in quality rather speed since we are reffering to a drive that is meant for Laptop PC use.

During the CD/DVD reading tests, the LiteOn did rather well for a laptop drive, with good transfer rates and fast ripping. Error correction however, was a weak point for this drive with both CD and DVD media. With Audio Extraction and Video ripping, the LiteOn managed to provide nice, steady performance with no surprises in as far as speed or quality are concerned. As for the protected media disc tests, the LiteOn managed to overcome the usual array of protection schemes and as with almost all drives, managed to backup up to SafeDisk v2.8.

CD Burning was satisfactory. Jitter levels were relatively low. However, it is with DVD media that the burner had most problems. Burning speed was not satisfactory where despite the fact that the drive is specified as having 8X writing speed with DVD+R media, it burned all discs, even those rated as 8X, at 4X. This was further confirmed by the drives firmware media list, which supports up to 6X, but since there are not many 6X rated media for burning out there, if the potential buyer expects fast burning, he will propably be dissapointed. Finally, the drive supports up to 4X speed for DVD-R media and 2.4X burning DL media, with average writing quality.

According to the latest market prices, the drive costs around US$240 (VAT included).

- The Good

• Supports protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio)
• High DAE speed
• Good Video Ripping capabilities
• Region free utilities
• Supports booktype setting changes

- The Bad

• Cannot write +R 8X certified media at high speed
• Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.9x+ protected discs
• CD/DVD writing with specific media
• Bad error correction capabilities
• Doesn't support DVD overburning

- Like to be fixed

• DVD/CD writting quality with certain media.

Retail Package
Reading
Error Correction
Protected Discs
Writing
Features