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In House Review - Lite-On LH-20A1H 20x Super AllWrite DVD±RW

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:53 pm
by Ian
CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Lite-On's new 20x "Super AllWrite" drive, the Lite-On LH-20A1H. This highly anticipated drive features some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available. The LH-20A1H is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The drive also has many of the features we've come to expect from Lite-On, along with more advanced ones like SmartWrite. To top it all off, the LH-20A1H includes support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system.

In this review we'll take a look at the features found on the LH-20A1H and see how it compares to some of the DVD±RW drives from the competition. Are 20x DVD±R writing speeds enough to put the LH-20A1H on top? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=297]Image
Lite-On LH-20A1H 20x Super AllWrite DVD±RW/RAM[/url]

As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Lite-On LH-20A1H, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:56 pm
by Ian
I received a new firmware (LLT1) from Lite-On last night that supposedly fixes the LightScribe bug. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 9:10 am
by MediumRare
Thanks for the look at this drive, Ian. Please keep us posted on the Lightscribe bug.

There's one relict left from the previous review: The GSA-H22N handled scratched discs relatively well.

Look like this drive is an excellent reader. It declasses the other drives shown in audio extraction.

I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie...

Do you ever tire of this movie? :wink: You use it in every review...

The CD-Speed scans with the BenQ showed some peculiar results. There are systematic spikes in the PI and PIF counts in all the +R media shown. They don't show on the -R scans. Do these correlate with features in the writing curve, e.g. OPC dips?

Also noteworthy is that the jitter shown by the BenQ is ca. 2% lower for -R media than for +R. I've seen this with DVD-Scan results too, so this isn't a peculiarity of BenQ scans.

G

PostPosted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:38 am
by Ian
MediumRare wrote:The CD-Speed scans with the BenQ showed some peculiar results. There are systematic spikes in the PI and PIF counts in all the +R media shown. They don't show on the -R scans. Do these correlate with features in the writing curve, e.g. OPC dips?

Also noteworthy is that the jitter shown by the BenQ is ca. 2% lower for -R media than for +R. I've seen this with DVD-Scan results too, so this isn't a peculiarity of BenQ scans.


Transformers the movie rules! :wink: Seriously, the reason is use it is that its already in the drive for the transfer rate tests.

I've seen those spikes with some other Lite-On drives. It doesn't correlate with anything I can see in the writing curve, but if I had to guess, it is due in some way to OPC.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:40 am
by Wischmop
The drive seems to be good, but the complaints about some probs like very different writing quality and the horrible noises that some units make from the LH18-series says to me "Stay away from Liteon" :-?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:43 pm
by Ian
Ian wrote:I received a new firmware (LLT1) from Lite-On last night that supposedly fixes the LightScribe bug. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.


I finally had some time to give this firmware a try. It didn't fix the problem. #-o

PostPosted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:21 am
by Kawosa
I have 2 of the LH-20A1H drives and neither will burn a good dual layer video. I've removed one and put the old NEC back in to continue burning good videos. I won't even mention the known LScribe issue.

This drive is a POS! Buyer beware! :evil: