Lite-On LH-20A1H 20x "Super AllWrite" DVD±RW/RAM

Model: Lite-On LH-20A1H 20x "Super AllWrite" DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: Lite-On IT
Provided By: Lite-On IT USA

In 1995, Lite-On Technology gathered together a group of scientists and engineers from ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) to help jumpstart their optical storage research and manufacturing business. Lite-On quickly established themselves as Taiwan’s biggest CD-ROM drive manufacturer and by 1999 the business had spun off into a separate company, Lite-On IT. Since then, Lite-On IT has continued to grow. They've expanded into the consumer and automotive electronics markets and, by acquiring BenQ's optical drive business, they have become the world's second largest ODD manufacturer.

While next generation technologies like Blu-ray and HD DVD are slowly gaining ground, the DVD has a lot of life left in it. Companies like Lite-On continue to push the limits of the format, introducing drives with new features and faster DVD writing speeds. This winter, Lite-On introduced the world's first 20x DVD writers, the LH-20A1P and LH-20A1H. These two drives are capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. They also feature many of the technologies we've come to expect from Lite-On, along with more advanced ones like SmartWrite. The LH-20A1H ups the ante even further with support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system.

We've had the LH-20A1H in the 'Labs for a few weeks now and have had the time to put it through its paces. To give you an idea of what to expect from Lite-On's new DVD writer, we'll take a look at its features and then see how it compares to some of the 18x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the LH-20A1H have what it takes? Is it the fastest DVD writer around? We'll answer these questions and more as we take a look at the Lite-On LH-20A1H.

What's in the box?:

• Lite-On LH-20A1H 20x "Super AllWrite" DVD±RW/RAM Drive
• Nero Software CD
• User's Manual
• Quick Installation Guide
• Front Panel Replacement Guide
• Beige Replacement Bezel
• Mounting Screws
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Lite-On sent us for this review was manufactured in November of 2006 and had firmware LL05.For this review we used firmware versions LL05 and LL06.

The look of Lite-On's drives really hasn't changed much over the last few years. While they've gotten new features and faster speeds, the basic design has remained the same. The LH-20A1H is no exception. From the front, it's almost identical to Lite-On's previous DVD writers, sharing not only the bezel design, but 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 LH-20A1H'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 LH-20A1H also comes with a beige replacement bezel.

The rear of the LH-20A1H is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.

Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.

Technical Specs:

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

LightScribe:

Note: We took a much closer look at LightScribe technology in our review of the BenQ DW1625. In this review we'll just go over some of the basics and see how the LH-20A1H performs with the bundled software.

The LH-20A1H is one of the latest 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 LH-20A1H, Lite-On turned to Nero. Using the bundled software you can both 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 created a few discs using Verbatim's LightScribe v1.2 DVD+R and color CD-R media. In both cases, the quality has been set to "best". The results are shown below.

Verbatim CD-R v1.2 - 21 minutes		Verbatim DVD+R v1.2 - 19 minutes

While the LH-20A1H had no problems printing labels, its LightScribe implementation does have one annoying issue. If you print a label and then try to burn a DVD, the drive's writing speed is limited to only 6x. The only way to get the LH-20A1H to write at its maximum speed is to reboot the computer. Lite-On is aware of the problem and is currently working on a fix.

The LH-20A1H 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 LH-20A1H also supports Lite-On's OverSpeed function. When enabled, the drive will try to write to your DVD±R media at a speed higher than what 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.

I should point out that OverSpeed does have some limitations. To prevent people from writing to all DVD±R media at 20x, the writing speed can only be bumped up one level. For example, if your disc was normally supported at only 8x, the LH-20A1H would now give you the option to write to it at 12x.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Lite-On's new DVD writer is identified as a "LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1H."

Nero also shows that the LH-20A1H has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is backed up by Super-Link buffer underrun protection as well. According to Nero, the LH-20A1H 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 LH-20A1H 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 LH-20A1H's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the LH-20A1H 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 LH-20A1H'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 LH-20A1H also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Using CD Speed, you can set the book type forDVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media. Take note that the settings are all linked together so when you set the book type for one media type, it is applied to all.

Lite-On has once again turned to Nero for their software bundle. The CD that comes with the LH-20A1H contains the PhotoShow Express and the Nero 7 Essentials suite which includes Nero Express, Nero Vision, Nero Recode, Nero ShowTime and InCD.

Nero Express 7 - With Nero Express, Nero has taken the features and performance people have come to expect from Nero Burning Rom and combined them with a user friendly interface. Redesigned to maximize ease-of-use, Nero Express gives users the ability to quickly and easily burn audio, data and video to CD or DVD.

The version of Nero Express that Lite-On included with their new DVD±RW drive is 7.2.3.3. You can download the latest version of the software from Nero's website.

Nero Vision 4 - Nero Vision 4 is the latest version of Nero's video authoring application. Thanks to a user friendly interface, Nero Vision makes it easy for users to capture, edit and then burn their favorite videos to VCD, SVCD or DVD or export it to Nero Digital format.

Nero Vision also lets users add things like transitions, custom backgrounds, animated menus and text effects. You can even use it to turn your photos into custom slide shows.

Nero Recode 2 - This program from Nero can copy unprotected DVD videos onto recordable DVD media. If the source disc is larger than 4.7GB, Nero Recode 2 has the ability to remove unwanted material and compress the contents so that it will fit onto a single blank DVD disc.

Nero Recode 2 will also let you convert your DVD movies to Nero Digital. Using Nero's own MPEG-4 audio and video encoder, an entire DVD movie can be compressed so that it will fit onto a CD. Better yet, Nero Recode 2 does this little loss of quality.

Nero ShowTime 2 - Nero ShowTime is Nero's software DVD player. Along with support for DVD's, ShowTime can be used to play back VCD's, SVCD's and miniDVD's as well as any MPEG, AVI or Nero Digital files you might have on your hard drive.

InCD 5 - InCD is Nero's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Sonic's DLA, it allows a person to use their CD-RW or DVD±RW drive as a big floppy disk. The person can then drag and drop files onto a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc. Many people consider InCD to be one of the best packet writing tools because of its simplicity and performance.

PhotoShow Express - Lite-On's new drive also comes with Nero's all in one photo suite, PhotoShow Express. This software can do a number of things including edit and touch up your photos, as well as organize them into various albums. PhotoShow can even be used to create musical slideshows. These slideshows can then be burned to disc or published to the web.

With the LH-20A1H, Lite-On has delivered yet another feature packed DVD writer. Their new "Super AllWrite" drive not only supports all major DVD formats, it sports some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available. The LH-20A1H is capable of 20x 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. Along with support for LightScribe, the drive 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 LH-20A1H gets the full 10 points for its features.

Installing Lite-On's new DVD writer in our test computer took only a couple of minutes. I took the LH-20A1H out of the box, left the jumper set to master and installed it on the secondary IDE chain by connecting the IDE cable and power connector. When I turned on the computer the BIOS detected it as a drive supporting UDMA 66. After making sure that the DMA was enabled in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the LH-20A1H comes with a CD full of software from Nero. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To install the writing software, you will want to choose the "Install Nero Essentials" option. After that, you will be taken to the Nero installation menu.

By default the setup program will install the entire Nero 7 Essentials suite onto your computer. If you don't want to install everything, select the custom installation. From here you can choose the components you want. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to start burning your own discs.

The Documentation:

Most of the LH-20A1H'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 DVD writer. The first section goes over the drive'ssupported 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 jumps right into the physical installation of the LH-20A1H. This section covers everything from setting the jumpers to hooking up the cables and mounting the drive in your computer. While the instructions are a bit brief, the diagrams Lite-On has provided are pretty good. If you're not sure about how to configure your computer, the manual also has a few examples along with the corresponding jumper settings.

The rest of the manual covers a number of topics including how to use and maintain the LH-20A1H. Lite-On has also provided a fair amount of information on the drive's LightScribe technology, including instructions on how to create and burn your own labels. 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 DVD writer also comes with a "Quick Start Guide." This fold out guide takes the user step by step through the installation process. While a little short on words, there are plenty of diagrams showing what to do. For most people, the "Quick Start Guide" will be all they'll need to get the LH-20A1H up and running.

Like Lite-On's previous DVD writers, the LH-20A1H was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you do run into trouble, the documentation Lite-On has provided is more than sufficient. However, I 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 DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. 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 v4.70 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 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 Sonic's DLA 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 v4.70 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 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

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 DVD writer performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. While the LH-20A1H's overall score wasn't as high as the Plextor's, it had a low access time and some fairly good transfer rates. It started reading at about 20.1x (3020 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of 43.1x (6470 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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 LH-20A1H	LG GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.09x 21.07x 47.72x	35.78x 20.57x 47.32x	36.54x 20.89x 48.30x	36.76x 21.27x 48.63x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	96ms 111ms 167ms	107ms 110ms 178ms	105ms 114ms 178ms	96ms 113ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 3% 6% 9%	1% 1% 3% 7%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 4%

When reading pressed CD's, the LH-20A1H is rated at 48x. Unfortunately, like the GSA-H22N, it came up short of this mark. In our tests, the drive started reading at a respectable 21.07x but reached a maximum transfer speed of only 47.72x. On the other hand, the LH-20A1H's seek times were very good.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

The LH-20A1H 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. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were again quite good.

Lite-On's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The LH-20A1H read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.69x.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

When reading CD-RW media, the LH-20A1H's transfer speeds are limited to only 32x. While Lite-On's new writer had no problems reaching this speed in our tests, it was the slowest out of the four drives here.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - 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 LH-20A1H supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.

CD Speed	Lite-On LH-20A1H	LG GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.45x 21.62x 48.15x 10 Yes	31.61x 18.25x 41.75x 10 Yes	31.09x 17.78x 41.08x 10 Yes	31.35x 17.97x 41.48x 10 Yes

The LH-20A1H did very well in our DAE tests. With a maximum speed of 48.15, the drive had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

While the LH-20A1H started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

The LH-20A1H was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. While the drive still performed well, it wasn't able to reach 48x this time around. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Lite-On's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.34x. 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 LH-20A1H was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and even the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

To see how well Lite-On's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The LH-20A1H handled scratched discs relatively well. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 52.3% of the CD to be "damaged". More importantly, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The LH-20A1H gave some mixed results in this test. While it had the lowest number of errors, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 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. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

 

The LH-20A1H has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.74x and reached a maximum speed of 48.96x at the end of the session. This gave Lite-On's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 37.09x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

Lite-On's new drive did fairly well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, the LH-20A1H was able to write an entire 701MB CD in 2:46.

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.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The LH-20A1H's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.

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 DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the LH-20A1H 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 13 minute mark.The LH-20A1H writes at this speed until about the 54 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 DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the LH-20A1H took 2:35 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:37 to do the same with DLA.

The LH-20A1H also erases at 32x. While it didn't have the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here, it was able to do a full erase in a respectable 3:38.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

The LH-20A1H performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.75x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.25x.Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

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 disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x 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 DL

The LH-20A1H had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 12x.

Maxell 12x DVD-RAM

Lite-On's new drive 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 5.82x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.8GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - 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 disc 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.

The LH-20A1H's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.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 the LH-20A1H either. With a maximum transfer speed of 12.27x, it had no problems taking the top spot in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

The LH-20A1H didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.69x and reached a maximum read speed of 16.09x. 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 the LH-20A1H worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Lite-On's new drive I used Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R, Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Verbatim 6x 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 20x, the LH-20A1H uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Lite-On's new drive starts writing at about 8.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

I should also point out that the LH-20A1H is quite loud when writing at 20x. This shouldn't be too surprising though, considering the drive spins at more than 11,000 RPM. Even with Lite-On's Auto-Balancing System (ABS), there was a fair amount of vibration and spindle noise.

The LH-20A1H 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.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media, the LH-20A1H is fast. In fact, it turned in some of the fastest times we've seen, beating even the drive from LG. Unfortunately, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as the PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the LH-20A1H, 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 SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) 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 (firmware BSLB). 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 LH-20A1H'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, with the only exception being Memorex's 16x DVD+R media. When scanned with the BenQ DW1640, there were a few areas where the PI and jitter rates were higher than we'd like to see.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. The PI/PIF rates were fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with RiDATA's 16x DVD-R media. When scanned with KProbe and CD Speed, the PI rate was a bit high.

To test the LH-20A1H's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The LH-20A1H turned in some impressive times when reading and writing to DVD-RAM media. Unfortunately, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast asthe PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the LH-20A1H, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

As usual, finding DVD+R DL media that would work at 8x was not an easy task. The only media we found that would work at this speed were Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL discs. The LH-20A1H gave us the option to write to RiDATA's 8x DVD+R DL media at this speed but the burn process failed at anything higher than 4x. With the 2.4x rated media from Memorex and Verbatim, the maximum writing speed was set to 4x.

While no match for the drive from Plextor, the LH-20A1H took a respectable 17:46 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was fairly good with the DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Memorex's 2.4x DVD+R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were very high at the layer change which caused some readability problems.

The LH-20A1H also features 8x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA was used.

The LH-20A1H performed pretty well when writing to DVD-R DL media. Thanks to its 8x writing speed, the drive only took 18:28 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

While the writing quality was fairly good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media, their new 8x rated discs yielded some mixed results. The error rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with KProbe. However, when scanned by the DW1640, the PI rates were a bit higher than we'd like to see. The worst results were with RiDATA's 4x DVD-R DL media. Looking at the CD Speed screenshot, you can see that the PI/PIF rates were very high on the second layer of the disc. Surprisingly, this didn't have any effect on readability.

Performance Revisited:

While Lite-On's new "Super AllWrite" drive had a few rough spots, it performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The LH-20A1H turned in some very impressive times when writing to DVD±R and DVD-RAM media, but wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW discs. Writing quality was also an issue as the PI/PIF rates were a bit high with some DVD±R DL media. Nevertheless, the LH-20A1H was fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer DVD's at 16x and both DVD±R and DVD±RW media at a respectable 12x.

The LH-20A1H also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some very good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, Lite-On's new drive gave us some mixed results. While the LH-20A1H turned in some very impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the Lite-On LH-20A1H gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Like many, I never expected DVD±R writing speeds to reach 18x, let alone 20x. Nevertheless, Lite-On has pulled off this impressive feat with the LH-20A1H. Aimed squarely at enthusiasts, the drive offers features like SmartWrite, LightScribe and some of the fastest DVD writing speeds available. However, even with all this, it's hard to ignore the fact that there are still a few rough spots that need to be worked out.

When writing to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x, the LH-20A1H's performance can be summed up in one word: fast. At this speed, it took the drive a little more than five minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. While this was enough to put the LH-20A1H on top, the performance difference is quite small, especially when compared to some of the faster 18x DVD writers, like the LG GSA-H22N. The LH-20A1H also turned in some very good times with DVD-RAM and DVD±R DL media. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW discs.

When it came to media compatibility, the LH-20A1H gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote toall of our test media at its rated speeds or better, only three types were supported at 20x. On the other hand, the LH-20A1H's writing quality was fairly good, at least with most single layer DVD±R discs. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for DVD±R DL media as there were a few cases where the results were not as good as we would have liked. Hopefully, Lite-On can address this in a future firmware update.

Lite-On's new drive did very well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some very good seek times. The LH-20A1H also reached some pretty impressive transfer speeds with other types of DVD media. In our tests, it read DVD±R discs at 16x and DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at an impressive 12x.

The LH-20A1H was also fairly quick when reading CD's. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 33x. On top of that, it was able to rip audio CD's at an impressive 48x. The LH-20A1H also performed pretty well when writing to CD-R media. The drive not only turned in some impressive times, its writing quality was quite good. Unfortunately, the LH-20A1H's Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests.

Like Lite-On's previous DVD writers, the LH-20A1H isn't short on features. Along with old favorites like SMART-BURN and SMART-X, it supports two of Lite-On's more advanced technologies, 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 LH-20A1H 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 new drive is surprisingly affordable. Current prices vary depending on the seller, but the retail version of the LH-20A1H can be picked up for less than $50 on Pricegrabber.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
• 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 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Excellent DAE speeds
• Low seek times
• Supports SMART-BURN, SMART-X, ABS, SmartWrite and OverSpeed technologies
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
• Includes software from Nero
• Supports 99 minute CD-R media
• Includes both black and beige bezels
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• High media requirements when writing at 20x
• LightScribe bug limits DVD writing speed to 6x
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Slower than other drives when writing to DVD±RW and CD-RW media
• Reads CD-RW media at only 32x
• Has a 2048KB buffer