Lite-On iHES208 8x Blu-ray Combo Drive

Model: Lite-On iHES208 8x Blu-ray Combo Drive
Manufacturer: Lite-On IT
Provided By: Lite-On IT America

In 1995, Lite-On Technology gathered a group of scientists and engineers to help jumpstart their optical storage research and manufacturing business. Lite-On Technology quickly established themselves as Taiwan’s leading CD-ROM drive manufacturer and by 1999 the business had been spun off into a separate company, Lite-On IT. Since then, Lite-On IT has continued to grow. By working closely with companies like BenQ and Philips, they've expanded into the consumer and automotive electronics' markets, becoming the world's second largest ODD manufacturer.

With the format war coming to an end, Lite-On has set its sights on the emerging Blu-ray Disc market. This summer, the company introduced its first 8x Blu-ray combo drive, the iHES208. This Serial ATA equipped drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and can read Blu-ray Discs at speeds as high as 8x. Along with support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system, the iHES208 also features many of the technologies we've come to expect from Lite-On, including more advanced ones like SmartWrite and OverSpeed.

This is just a sample of what Lite-On's new 8x BD combo drive has to offer. Over the next few pages we'll take a look at the iHES208's features and then see how it compares to some of the the Blu-ray drives from LG and Sony. Does the iHES208 have what it takes? More importantly, is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading to find out.

What's in the box?:

• Lite-On iHES208 8x Blu-ray Combo Drive
• CyberLink Software CD
• User's Manual
• Quick Installation Guide
• Front Panel Replacement Guide
• Silver Replacement Bezel
• SATA Cable
• Mounting Screws
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Lite-On sent us for this review was manufactured in February of 2009 and had firmware 8L05. For this review I used firmware versions 8L05 and 8L08.

From the front, the iHES208 looks very similar to Lite-On's previous DVD writers. It not only shares the same basic bezel design, but has many of the same logos. Along the front of the tray you can see a few showing support for the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications, as well as HP's LightScribe technology.

Below the tray you can see the iHES208's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green whenever the drive is reading or writing.

If black isn't your color, you're in luck. The retail version of the iHES208 also comes with a silver replacement bezel.

The rear of the AD-7240S is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.

Technical Specs:

The specs below have been taken from Lite-On's website and the documentation that came along with the drive.

LightScribe:

The iHES208 is one of the first Blu-ray drives from Lite-On to feature LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe lets you burn durable, silk screen quality labels directly onto your CD's and DVD's using the same drive that burned the data. According to HP, it's as simple as burning the data, flipping the disc, and then burning the label.

Of course you can't do this with just any drive, media or software. While LightScribe capable drives use the same laser when burning both the data and label, they have to be able to accurately control the laser's focus and position as well as the spindle speed. They also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin dye coating on the label side that absorbs laser light. This triggers a chemical reaction that produces a color change, allowing the user to print text, artwork or graphics.

Even if you have a LightScribe capable drive and media, you will need software that supports it. Most major software companies have pledged support for the technology. However, at the time of this review, the list of compatible software is still relatively short. For the iHES208, Lite-On turned to CyberLink. Using the bundled LabelPrint software you can create and burn LightScribe disc labels.

Once you've created your LightScribe label, you're ready to print it. Before you can do this though, you will need to choose the contrast. Keep in mind this option not only changes the level of detail, it also affects the amount of time it takes to print the label. The higher the quality, the longer the process will take. 

How long does it take to print a label? For testing purposes, we printed a disc using Memorex's LightScribe v1.2 color CD-R media, and the quality was set to "best". The results are shown below.

Memorex CD-R v1.2 - 28 minutes

The iHES208 features what Lite-On calls SmartWrite technology. Previously known as HyperTuning, SmartWrite automatically creates writing strategies for unknown, or unsupported, DVD±R and DVD±R DL media. Simply enable SmartWrite, insert your disc and burn. The new writing strategy is then created on-the-fly.

SmartWrite also works with supported media. When enabled, the drive will ignore the writing strategy stored in the firmware and instead create a new one. This is very useful if you are trying to record a disc that uses another company's MID code (I.E. fake TYG02 code discs).

OverSpeed:

The iHES208 supports Lite-On's OverSpeed function. When enabled, the drive will try to write to DVD±R and DVD±R DL media at a speed higher than what it would normally be supported. To do this, OverSpeed relies heavily on SmartWrite. When a disc is written at a higher than normal speed, SmartWrite will automatically create a new writing strategy for it.

Oddly enough, the OverSpeed function on the iHES208 also lets you write to DVD±R media at a speed lower than what is normally supported. Looking at the screenshots above, you can see that the drive is able to write at 4x when OverSpeed is enabled.

Write Quality Testing:

The iHES208 is one of the few drives capable of performing write quality testing with Blu-ray Disc media. When combined with software like CD Speed or Erik Deppe's new Opti Drive Control, the drive is able to report the Long Distance Code (LDC) and Burst Indicator Subcode (BIS).

While it's still too early to know what "good" results should look like, c't magazine has stated that the average LDC should stay below 13 and the maximum BIS should not exceed 8. In my own testing, I've found that the LDC reported by CD Speed and Opti Drive Control is considerably higher than 13.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Lite-On's new BD combo drive is identified as an "ATAPI iHES208 2."

Nero also shows that the iHES208 has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is backed up by Seamless Link buffer underrun protection as well. According to Nero, the iHES208 can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media. 

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the iHES208 is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the iHES208's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the iHES208 is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware.  The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. While there isn't an RPC-1 firmware available for the drive, there is a utility available that can make the drive region free.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the iHES208's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities.  By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while Lite-On's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The iHES208 also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Using Nero, CD Speed or Lite-On's BookType Utility, you can set the book type for DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media. By doing so, your recorded discs will identify themselves as "DVD-ROM." This feature comes in handy if you have an older DVD player that has problems playing recordable media.

I should point out that the iHES208 can also set the book type of DVD+RW media after the data has been burned to disc. This "Write Now" feature is available in both KProbe and Lite-On's BookType Utility.

For the iHES208's software bundle, Lite-On has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains the CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Suite which includes PowerProducer, PowerDirector, Power2Go, PowerBackup, LabelPrint, InstantBurn and PowerDVD.

CyberLink PowerProducer 5 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

CyberLink PowerDirector 6.5 - The iHES208 also comes with the CyberLink's video editing software, PowerDirector. To create your own custom movies, simply drag and drop video footage onto the editing timeline and then add scene transitions, background music, or title effects.

You can also use PowerDirector's "Magic" editing tools to clean up video clips and images, condense long video segments and apply pre-designed style templates. When you're done editing your video, you have the option to save it to your hard drive, create a streaming file, write it back to DV or HDV tape, make a disc or upload it to YouTube.

CyberLink Power2Go 6 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the iHES208. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt the names of files on your discs.

CyberLink PowerBackup 2 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to backup your data, PowerBackup is the answer. Depending on your needs, PowerBackup can do full, differential, and incremental backups as well as fast stream-to-disc archiving.

Backup jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. PowerBackup also offers more advanced features like file filtering, compression and password protection.

CyberLink LabelPrint 2 - The iHES208 also comes with CyberLink's disc labeling software. With LabelPrint, you can design and print labels, covers and inlays in four easy steps. Just select your template type, disc information, text layout, background image and print destination. LabelPrint also supports LightScribe technology, allowing you to burn images and text onto the top of your discs.

CyberLink InstantBurn 5 - InstantBurn is CyberLink's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Nero's InCD, it allows you to use your CD, DVD or BD writer as if it was another hard drive or a huge floppy disk. Once formatted, you can cut, copy, and paste or rename files and folders on a CD-RW, DVD±RW or BD-RE disc.

CyberLink PowerDVD 7.3 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. Along with support for DVD's, it can be used to play back Blu-ray Discs and other high-def formats including H.264, HD MPEG-2, and WMV-HD. With its support for BD-Live, PowerDVD also gives you the ability to access additional content via the Internet.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the iHES208 only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra.

While affordably priced, Lite-On's new BD combo drive delivers a good number of features. The iHES208 not only supports all major CD, DVD and BD formats, it offers some pretty impressive specs. The drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, it can read Blu-ray Discs at speeds as high as 8x. Along with support for LightScribe, iHES208 also includes many of the features we've come to expect from Lite-On as well as more advanced ones like SmartWrite and OverSpeed. With all this, it's easy to see why the Lite-On iHES208 gets the full 10 points for its features.

Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install Lite-On's BD combo drive in our test computer. After making sure that the iHES208 was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the iHES208 comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To start the setup process, simply click on the "Install CyberLink Blu-ray Suite" button. After selecting your preferred language and entering your customer information, you'll be presented with a list of components to choose from.

From here you can choose to install the InstantBurn, LabelPrint, Power2Go, PowerBackup, PowerDirector, PowerDVD or PowerProducer . To complete the installation, select the components you want and click next a few more times. Once the files are copied over, you can start burning your own discs.

The Documentation:

Most of the iHES208's documentation is located in the "User's Manual." Similar to the ones included with Lite-On's other drives, this manual covers a number of topics. It starts out by getting the user familiarized with their new BD combo drive. The first section goes over the iHES208's supported formats, recording modes and system requirements. The manual also spends a few pages going over the locations and the functions of the buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the drive.

From here, the manual goes right into the physical installation of the iHES208. With no jumpers to configure, this section is relatively brief. Nevertheless, it covers all of the basics including how to install it into an empty drive bay and hook up the cables. The manual continues on by going over the basic operation of the iHES208. Along with information on how to use and maintain the drive, it includes instructions to create and burn your own LightScribe labeled discs. Last but not least, there is a short troubleshooting section containing a list of common problems as well as their solutions.

Lite-On's new BD combo drive also comes with a "Quick Installation Guide." While this small, fold out guide contains a set of instructions that take the user step by step through the installation process, it does not include any pictures or diagrams. With this in mind, you're probably going to be better off with the instructions in the manual than the ones in this guide. 

Like the other Lite-On drives we've reviewed, the iHES208 was very easy to install. Even though Blu-ray is a relatively new technology, there were no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working correctly. If you do run into trouble, the documentation Lite-On has provided is more than sufficient. However, I still would have liked to have seen a little more drive specific information. With this in mind, I give the installation an 8 out of a possible 10.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc Combo drives, the performance tests are normally broken down into five sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write and BD read. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

Lite-On's new BD combo drive performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer rate tests, the iHES208 started reading at 17.9x (2680 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of about 42.6x (6390 / 150) on the outside. As you can see, this resulted in a very good overall CD Winbench score.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.68x 20.74x 47.20x	36.43x 21.08x 48.18x	35.19x 20.35x 46.52x	30.94x 17.80x 40.63x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	125ms 140ms 227ms	127ms 146ms 214ms	145ms 152ms 280ms	114ms 129ms 186ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 2% 5%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 5% 2%	1% 1% 8% 9%

The iHES208 didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, Lite-On's new BD combo drive came up a little short of this number in our tests. On a more positive note, the iHES208's seek times were fairly good. 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.46x 20.87x 48.34x	36.95x 21.17x 48.93x	35.96x 20.51x 47.65x	31.08x 17.77x 40.83x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	129ms 145ms 212ms	122ms 145ms 225ms	161ms 169ms 304ms	123ms 156ms 229ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 4% 6%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 6% 2%	1% 1% 8% 10%

The iHES208 was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x in our tests.

While Lite-On's new BD combo drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media, it slowed down considerably when reading it back. As you can see, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of only 34.98x.

 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests. 

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	30.10x 17.46x 39.79x	30.00x 17.48x 39.69x	24.85x 14.37x 32.82x	30.56x 17.74x 40.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	138ms 162ms 250ms	119ms 142ms 215ms	153ms 163ms 303ms	120ms 135ms 203ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 2% 2%	1% 1% 8% 10%

While the iHES208 is rated at 48x when reading pressed and CD-R media, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the Lite-On iHES208 supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.     

 

CD Speed	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.03x 21.71x 47.61x 10 Yes	30.25x 17.91x 39.96x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.96x 24.65x 10 Yes	30.72x 18.00x 40.30x 10 Yes

The iHES208 did very well in our DAE tests. With a maximum speed of 47.61x, it had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

 

CD Speed	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	35.70x 21.49x 47.07x 10 Yes	29.90x 17.99x 39.43x 10 Yes	18.42x 10.88x 24.37x 10 Yes	30.44x 17.99x 39.86x 10 Yes

The iHES208 was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. While the drive still performed relatively well, it reached a maximum DAE speed of only 47.07x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Lite-On's new BD combo drive completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 33.93x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the iHES208 was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and Drag-to-Disc 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. 

The iHES208 has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Taiyo Yuden's 52x media, the drive started writing at about 21.80x and accelerated, reaching a maximum speed of 48.19x at the end of the session. This gave Lite-On's new drive an average writing speed of about 36.99x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.

Lite-On's new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, the iHES208 was able to write an entire 701MB CD in 2:44.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x. 

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Taiyo Yuden 52x

Verbatim 52x

The iHES208's writing quality was not as good as I would have liked. While the results were excellent with the Verbatim discs, the number of C1 errors was fairly high on the CD-R media from Memorex and Taiyo Yuden. On top of that, KProbe showed a small number of C2 errors on the Memorex discs.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using Drag-to-Disc from Roxio. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the iHES208 uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 19 minute mark. The iHES208 writes at this speed until about the 41 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

Lite-On's new BD combo drive didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the iHES208 took 2:41 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:44 to do the same with Drag-to-Disc.

The iHES208 also erases at 32x. At this speed, it took the drive 17 seconds to do a quick erase and 3:35 to fully erase the disc.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.12x 6.74x 16.20x	12.34x 6.84x 16.51x	12.27x 6.80x 16.40x	12.28x 6.80x 16.42x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	112ms 127ms 203ms	111ms 115ms 191ms	153ms 158ms 291ms	121ms 141ms 213ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 9% 14% 27%	4% 8% 15% 27%	4% 6% 9% 18%	4% 8% 14% 23%

The iHES208 was fairly quick when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.74x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.20x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 16x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R
 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.06x 6.73x 16.11x	12.36x 6.88x 16.52x	12.28x 6.80x 16.42x	9.23x 5.12x 12.33x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	118ms 140ms 212ms	116ms 125ms 191ms	166ms 170ms 317ms	102ms 125ms 183ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 9% 15% 28%	4% 8% 15% 28%	4% 6% 10% 18%	3% 6% 12% 22%

Verbatim DVD-RW
 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.17x 5.09x 12.27x	7.72x 4.28x 10.32x	6.15x 3.41x 8.23x	7.69x 4.23x 10.29x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	122ms 162ms 247ms	106ms 124ms 199ms	156ms 228ms 352ms	110ms 136ms 206ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	9% 12% 30% 42%	4% 8% 15% 28%	4% 6% 10% 18%	4% 7% 13% 24%

The iHES208 performed very well when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x and DVD-RW media at a respectable 12x

Lite-On's new drive had no problems reading Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The iHES208 started reading at 3.44x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.22x.

Maxell 12x DVD-RAM
 

	Lite-On BH08LS20	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	10.46x 6.01x 12.57x	4.65x 3.01x 5.02x	4.99x 4.96x 5.00x	4.62x 3.00x 5.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	127ms 142ms 216ms	185ms 201ms 276ms	327ms 472ms 1135ms	139ms 156ms 206ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 11% 15% 27%	21% 34% 53% n/a	18% 14% 74% n/a	17% 27% 42% n/a

The iHES208 has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 6.01x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 3GB mark. 

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R
 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.06x 6.72x 16.12x	12.37x 6.87x 16.53x	12.29x 6.78x 16.43x	9.22x 5.10x 12.33x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	119ms 122ms 223ms	120ms 127ms 198ms	165ms 171ms 303ms	100ms 130ms 196ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 9% 15% 28%	4% 8% 15% 28%	4% 6% 10% 18%	3% 7% 15% 24%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.19x 5.12x 12.27x	7.73x 4.30x 10.33x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	7.69x 4.24x 10.29x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	116ms 158ms 226ms	108ms 122ms 190ms	156ms 169ms 330ms	110ms 129ms 191ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 9% 15% 27%	4% 7% 15% 28%	4% 6% 10% 18%	4% 7% 12% 23%

The iHES208's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW. The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 12x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL
 

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for Lite-On's BD combo drive either. The iHES208 started reading at 3.44x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.22x.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	11.99x 6.67x 16.04x	3.66x 2.03x 4.89x	4.55x 2.52x 6.09x	6.06x 3.36x 8.10x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	112ms 129ms 208ms	134ms 167ms 228ms	149ms 163ms 311ms	191ms 231ms 333ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 9% 14% 26%	4% 7% 13% 31%	4% 6% 10% n/a	4% 6% 18% 24%

The iHES208 didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.67x and reached a maximum read speed of 16.02x. Lite-On's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 12x.

To see how well Lite-On's new drive worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The iHES208 had no problems playing back either movie and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and Drag-to-Disc 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Lite-On's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the iHES208 uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Lite-On's new drive starts writing at about 6.7x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The iHES208 also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases, the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

Lite-On's new BD combo drive performed fairly well in our DVD writing tests. While its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage when writing to DVD-RW discs, the iHES208 turned in some respectable times with DVD±R and DVD+RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the iHES208, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below. For these tests, SmartWrite and OverSpeed were left disabled.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates. For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter. 

The BH08LS20's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were fairly good for the most part.

To test the iHES208's packet writing performance I used Drag-to-Disc 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The iHES208 performed fairly well in our packet writing tests. While not the fastest drive here, it turned in some respectable times when reading and writing to DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. Most impressive though, was the iHES208's performance with DVD-RAM media. Due to its 12x writing speed, it was nearly twice as fast as the drives from the competition.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the iHES208, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, Memorex and Moser Baer. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The iHES208 performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. While not as fast as the Sony BWU-300S, the drive took 16:51 to write 8001MB of data to DVD+R DL media and 17:32 to do the same with DVD-R DL discs. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The iHES2008's writing quality wasn't as good as I would have liked with DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. While some of the results were fairly good with KProbe,  the error rates were much higher when tested with CD Speed. Surprisingly enough, this had little effect on readability.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the iHES208's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.05x 3.38x 8.08x	3.62x 2.02x 4.83x	6.99x 4.14x 7.99x	3.61x 2.01x 4.82x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	71ms 188ms 253ms	93ms 4ms 3ms	91ms 171ms 479ms	117ms 175ms 223ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 0% 1% 3%	0% 0% 1% 2%	0% 0% 1% 2%	0% 1% 1% 2%

The iHES208 performed very well when reading single layer BD-ROM discs. In our tests, it started reading at 3.38x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.08x. Unfortunately, the drive wasn't nearly as fast when reading dual layer BD-ROM's. Looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the iHES208 reached a maximum transfer speed of only 4x.

Lite-On's BD combo drive had no problems playing back The Fifth Element and The Simpsons Movie using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using single layer BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and Panasonic and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

Memorex BD-R
 

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.59x 2.62x 6.10x	6.09x 3.47x 8.08x	7.02x 4.25x 7.98x	4.55x 2.58x 6.04x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	91ms 195ms 291ms	104ms 4ms 3ms	95ms 165ms 464ms	121ms 167ms 217ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 3%	0% 0% 1% 2%	0% 1% 1% 2%	0% 0% 2% 2%

Memorex BD-RE

	Lite-On iHES208	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.59x 2.62x 6.10x	3.64x 2.07x 4.84x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x	2.30x 2.29x 2.30x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	88ms 184ms 273ms	116ms 4ms 3ms	101ms 219ms 391ms	150ms 263ms 766ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 3%	0% 0% 1% 2%	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 2% 2%

Panasonic BD-R DL

Lite-On's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In our tests, the iHES208 was able to read both BD-R and BD-RE media at 6x and BD-R DL discs at 4x.

Performance Revisited:

While Lite-On's new BD combo drive had a few rough spots, it performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The iHES208 had no problems playing back Blu-ray movies and reached some impressive speeds when reading single layer BD-ROM's and BD-R/RE media. The drive also did reasonably well in our CD and DVD read tests. Along with some fairly good seek times, it read CD's at speeds as high at 48x and single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x. When it came to writing CD's and DVD's, the iHES208 held its own throughout most of our tests. However, there were writing quality issues with some CD-R and DVD±R DL media. With all things considered, the Lite-On iHES208 gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

The iHES208 is a good example of what we've come to expect from Lite-On. While affordably priced, it offers a long list of features as well as some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available on a BD combo drive. As impressive as all this is, it's hard to ignore the fact that the iHES208 still has a few rough spots that need to be worked out.

Using the bundled software, the iHES208 played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand, including those protected by BD+ and with BD-Live enabled features. The drive also performed fairly well in our transfer rate tests, reading single layer BD-ROM's at 8x and BD-R and BD-R DL media at 6x. My only real disappointment came when reading dual layer BD-ROM's, as the iHES208's read speed was limited to only 4x.

With a maximum DVD±R writing speed of 16x, the iHES208 is no match for the current crop of DVD writers. Nevertheless, it was faster than most of the Blu-ray drives I've tested, taking less than 6 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The drive also had no problems holding its own when writing to other types of media. However, the writing quality could have been better with some DVD±R DL discs. Nevertheless, the iHES208 was fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at 16x and other recordable media at 12x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the iHES208 either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 39x. On top of that, it was able to rip audio CD's at an impressive 47x. Unfortunately, when it came to writing CD's, the iHES208's performance was hit and miss. While the drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R discs, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. The iHES208's writing quality also could have been better as there were a few cases where the error rates were fairly high.

When it comes to features, the iHES208 definitely delivers. Along with old favorites like SMART-BURN and SMART-X, it supports a number of Lite-On's more advanced technologies including SmartWrite and OverSpeed. The drive also has a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media. Last but not least, the iHES208 features HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system. An alternative to markers and stick-on labels, LightScribe lets you burn graphics and text onto the tops of specially coated discs.

In the end, it usually comes down to price. For what it offers, Lite-On's BD combo drive is surprisingly affordable. The retail version of the iHES208 can be purchased for less than $115 through the vendors listed on Pricegrabber.

Highs:

• Reads single layer BD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads BD-R and BD-RE media at 6x
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds
• Good DVD±R writing quality
• Low seek times
• Supports SMART-BURN, SMART-X, SmartWrite and OverSpeed technologies
• Includes software from CyberLink
• Supports 99 minute CD-R media
• Serial ATA interface
• Supports LightScribe technology
• Includes both black and silver bezels
• Can do write quality testing with BD media
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• Reads dual layer BD-ROM's and BD-R DL media at only 4x
• Questionable writing quality with some CD-R and DVD±R DL media
• Slower than other drives when writing to CD-RW and DVD-RW media
• Only a 2MB buffer