In House Review - Lite-On SOHW-1673SU EZ-DUB 16x DVD±RW

[Ian]

Today, CDRLabs takes an in depth look at Lite-On's first EZ-DUB enabled DVD writer, the SOHW-1673SU. Based on the SOHW-1673S, this external drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 4x DVD+R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, its EZ-DUB technology promises to make copying discs and backing up data a quick and easy process.

In this review we'll take a look at the features found on the SOHW-1673SU and see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does EZ-DUB work as advertised? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=277]
Lite-On SOHW-1673SU EZ-DUB 16x DVD±RW[/url]

If you have any comments or questions about this review, the SOHW-1673SU or Lite-On's EZ-DUB technology, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

[Ian]

And yes.. I'm well aware that the SHW-1635SU is available in Europe. Again.. we're a little behind in the US.

When I have some time, I'll show how to unlock a few features in the EZ-DUB software.

[dolphinius_rex]

And yes.. I'm well aware that the SHW-1635SU is available in Europe. Again.. we're a little behind in the US.

You mean North America right?

Yeah, Europe ALWAYS gets things first, right after Japan

[Ian]

Okay.. I should start out with a little background here. The SOHW-1673SU comes with version 3.4.4 of the EZ-DUB software. Looking in the help file, I noticed a few advanced features that were not in the software. In particular, DAO (Disc-At-Once) recording and a DVDShrink like feature that could make a DVD9 movie fit on a single layer DVD+R/-R disc. Here's what the options menu looks like by default:

[Ian]

I started poking around, looking where the options were stored. Looking in C:\Program Files\EZ-DUB\ I found a file called DSO.dat. Here are the contents:

Code: Select all

[SHRINK_OPTION]
DVDRAM=0
Tolerance=75
MinRatio=40
StopTime=0
KeepMenu=0
CvtMenu=0
UNoRatio=0
NOTAdjNoRatio=0
MainMovieOnly=0
[COMMON]
HelpCaption=
;
[CUSTOMIZE]
TOPMOST_ENABLE=0
TOPMOST=1
DAO_ENABLE=1
DAO=0
AUTO_ONTHEFLY=1
SupportShrink=1
EMPTYCACHE_WHENSTART=1
EXIT_AFTERBURN=1
HIDDEN_COPY=1

By setting DAO_ENABLE to 1, you will be be given the option to do DAO recording by default instead of multisession.

More interesting was SupportShrink. By setting it to 1, an item called "DUB DVD9" shows up on the menu. As you can see, you can choose to copy a dual layer movie to a DL disc or shrink it to fit on a single layer one.

[Ian]

A few things to note..

I have not gotten the shrink feature to work correctly. The images it has spit out are like 10MB too large. I'm guessing this is why it was disabled by default. I have not played around with all of the options in the SHRINK_OPTION section, but someone might be able to get it to work.

Also, I have a feeling Lite-On won't ever be supporting these features. They sent me version 3.5 of the EZ-DUB software and all mention of these features has been removed from the help files. Editing DSO.dat still enables them though.