LiteOn 8x DVD±R/ 4X ±RW SOHW-812S

INTRODUCTION

Isn’t it amazing to look where we are today with optical storage? It was not long ago when my Philips 2x CDRW drive was ‘hot,’ and the true proof of what a hardware geek I was. True, it took 30 minutes to burn a CD, and if you sneezed at the computer while it was burning, you got a coaster, but so what? I could burn baby burn! Today, I’m testing a DVD-burner from LiteOn that can burn 4.7 GB in about 10 minutes, do it in almost all of the available formats and won’t care if you do the flamenco on the keyboard while it is burning. Progress – amazing, isn't it?

FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS

The drive I am testing today is the LiteOn SOHW-812S, an 8x Dual-DVD burner. It is neither a Dual-Layer burner nor the fastest DVD±RW burner out there, but it is still both fast and even more important a pretty inexpensive burner.

Let’s take a look at the specifications:

Let’s look what Nero InfoTool says about the drive:

As you can see, the drive supports most stuff except a few exceptions. There’s no support for DVD-RAM, no support for DVD+R DL (Dual Layer) and no support for Mount Rainier. The last item is the biggest surprise for me since I thought all new drives these days would support it. If you have never heard about it, check this link out where it is explained: http://www.mt-rainier.org/. I was also surprised that regardless of which media I had in the drive, it always said that 8x was the fastest read speed.

Features:

• ATAPI / E-IDE Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD-ROM / CD-R / CD-RW / CD-ROM combination drive
• SMART-BURN avoiding Buffer Underrun Error, Automatically adjusting writing strategy & running OPC to provide the best burning quality
• SMART-X function adjusts CD-DA / VCD / DVD data extraction to a fastest allowable speed according to both data request rate from host and disk quality
• VAS® system reduce vibration and noise during recording and reading
• Support Fixed Packet, Variable Packet, TAO, SAO, DAO, Raw Mode Burning & Over-Burn
• DVD read compliant : DVD single / dual layer ( PTP / OTP ), DVD-R ( 3.9 GB / 4.7 GB ), DVD-R multi-borders, DVD+R, DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW
• CD read compliant : CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM / XA, Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus, CD-R, and CD-RW
• Support both 8 cm and 12 cm disc of CD and DVD family
• Conform to Orange Book : Part 2 CD-R Volume 1, Part 2 CD-R Volume 2 Multi Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 1 ( 1x, 2x, and 4x ), Part 3 CD-RW Volume 2 : High Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 3 : Ultra Speed

 Package content:

• In the retail-package you get:
• The drive
• One 8x DVD+R disc and one 4x DVD-R disc, both LiteOn branded.
• 4 mounting screws
• Sonic MyDVD
• Power DVD XP 4.0
• User guide as well as Quick installation guide.

I guess the only thing I am missing is a rewritable DVD.

 Installation

Installing the LiteOn drive was easy. It is actually a bit shorter than other drives I’ve had, something which should be very useful in SFF systems. The included quick guide is excellent and should make it easy for anyone to install the drive.

The LiteOn is a few centimeters shorter
than the old Sony DVD-RW drive