SOHW-1633S Specifications

⢠16x 4x / 8x 4x /16x /2.4x + 48x 24x 48x Half-Height DVD-Dual

⢠ATAPI/ E-IDE Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R9/ DVD-ROM / CD-R/ CD-RW / CD-ROM combination drive

⢠Support Double Layer DVD+R9 Recording Function

⢠SMART-BURN(*1) avoiding Buffer Under Run error, Automatically adjusting writing strategy &
running OPC to provide the best burning quality

⢠SMART-X(*2) 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(*3) system reduce vibration and noise during recording and reading

⢠Support Fixed Packet, Variable Packet, TAO, SAO, DAO, Raw Mode Burning & Over-Burn

⢠Support both 8cm and 12cm disc of CD and DVD family

DVD read compliant:

DVD single/ dual layer (PTP/ OTP), DVD-R(3.9GB/ 4.7GB), 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

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 Volume2: High Speed, Part 3 CD-RW Volume 3: Ultra Speed

Supported transfer mode:

PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2 and Ultra DMA mode 2

DVD Family :

Write
DVD+R 16x ( 21600 KB/sec ) maximum by CAV
DVD-R 8x ( 10800 KB/sec ) maximum by Z-CLV
DVD+R9 2.4x (3240 KB/sec ) by CLV

ReWrite
DVD+RW 4x ( 5400 KB/sec ) by CLV
DVD-RW 4x ( 5400 KB/sec ) by CLV
Read 16x ( 21600 KB/sec ) maximum by CAV

DVD Access time :

160 ms

CD Family :

Write
CD-R 48x ( 7200 KB/sec ) maximum by CAV
ReWrite
CD-RW 24x ( 3600 KB/sec ) maximum by Z-CLV in UltraSpeed disc
Read 48x ( 7200 KB/sec ) maximum by CAV

CD Access time :

160 ms

Buffer Size :

2 MB

PC Required :

Pentium III 450 MHz or faster CPU and 128 MB or higher RAM are required
650 MB HDD available capacity; and 5 GB free space for creating a DVD image file

Compatibility :

Windows 98 / NT 4.0 / ME / 2000 / XP

MTBF ( Life ) :

70,000 Hours

S/N Ration :

> 75 dB

Environment :

Operating 5C to 45C; Relative Humidity : 15% to 80%
Non-Operating -40C to 60C; Relative Humidity : 15% to 95%

Dimension :

145.0 ( W ) x 41.3 ( H ) x 170.0 ( D ) mm

Weight :

< 0.9 Kg

Voltage Requirements :

+5V +/-5% and less than 100 mVp-p ripple voltage
+12V +/-5% and less than 200 mVp-p ripple voltage
[/quote]
Not all forms of media are supported by this drive, and especially at the higher write speeds. As a result, LiteON has compiled this list of recommended media:

DVD+R 16X: CMC, MCC, Sony
DVD+R9: MCC, Ritek, Ricoh
DVD-R 8X: CMC, GSC, Maxell, MCC, Prodisc, Ritek, Sony, TY
DVD+RW 4X: CMC, Daxon, Infodisc, MCC, Philips, Prodisc, Ricoh, Ritek, Sony
DVD-RW 4X: CMC, JVC, MCC, Princo, Prodisc, Ritek, TDK

CD-R 48X: CMC, Gigastorage, LeadData, Ritek, SAST, TY
Low Speed CD-RW: CMC, Daxon, Gigastorage, Infodisc, LeadData, MCC, Princo, Prodisc, Ricoh, Ritek
High Speed CD-RW: CMC, Daxon, Fornet, Gigastorage, Infodisc, LeadData, MCC, NANYA, Princo, Prodisc, Ricoh, Ritek
Ultra Speed CD-RW: CMC, Daxon, Infodisc, Mitsubishi, Prodisc, Ritek
[/quote]

Minimum System Requirements:

Pentium III 450 MHz, Pentium III 800 MHz Recommended
Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Minimum 256MB Recommended
Hard Drive Free Space: 650MB for CD images and 5GB for DVD images
Interface: Vacant IDE Interface

Supplied Software

The SOHW-1633S drive bundles an impressive assortment of DVD authoring software and recording applets for creation of data, music, and video discs. This includes Aheadâs Nero Express 6, Nero Vision Express, and PowerDVD from Cyberlink. For sheer simplicity and power, these applications are ideally suited to meet a wide range of consumer requirements for the creation and playback of DVDs, VCDs, and SVCDs.[/quote]
If you'd like to learn more about Ahead, click here.
If you'd like to learn more about Cyberlink's PowereDVD, click here.

Page 4 : Features

The LiteON SOHW-1633S shares the same features as the LiteON SOHW-1213S, so most of this information has been taken from our previous look and posted here for your convenience.

Here are the major features that this LiteON drive supports:

⢠SMART-BURN® avoiding Buffer Under Run error, Automatically adjusting writing strategy & running OPC to provide the best burning quality(*1)
⢠SMART-X® Smart Monitoring & Adjusting Read-speed Technology for eXtraction(*2)
⢠VAS® to reduce vibration & noise during recording & reading(*3)
* 1 SMART-BURN® : Smart Monitoring & Adapting Recording Technology for BURNing.
* 2 SMART-X® : Smart Monitoring & Adjusting Read-speed Technology for eXtraction.
* 3 VAS® : Vibration Absorber System

Points 1, 2 and 3 are somewhat unique to LiteON. Each company likes to implement and phrase similar technologies in different ways.

SMART-BURN

SMART-BURN is the abbreviation of ‘ Smart Monitoring & Adapting Recording Technology for BURNing ‘, innovated CD-RW technology by LITE-ON IT, will be introduced to other products in the future.

Users always want to successfully burn a disc at higher speeds in the CD-RW drive. You may know, there are so many brands of CD-R / CD-RW media in the market with irregular quality & still being cost down in the price war.

If your CD-R / CD-RW media quality is really poor or working environment is too hot to induce the Laser Power over margin, the CD-RW drive detected, the burning speed will be forced to decrease to get more reliable Laser working power to secure the life of CD-RW drive & burning quality. Strategy parameters plus the outstanding running Optimum Power Calibration ( OPC ) function to provide you the best burning quality.

The buffer under run error is also no longer happening to your drive anymore, SMART-BURN also can allow drive to be suspended during writing, than continue to burn from last point when enough data get in the buffer.

SMART-BURN features :
1. Buffer Under Run Error Free
2. Running Optimum Power Calibration
3. Automatic Writing Strategy & Burning Parameters
4. Automatically decrease burning speed when Laser power over margin due to poor media quality or high temperature [/quote]

SMART-X

SMART-X is the abbreviation of Smart Monitoring & Adjusting Read-speed Technology for eXtraction, which is LITE-ON innovated technology after being verified & improved for a long period before get into mass production.

People ask ‘ Whatâs the DAE speed? ‘ , ‘ Whatâs VCD play speed of the drive? ‘â¦etc. People want to know this to choose party drive. As you know, removable optical media is so open & unable to control the media quality. Drives need to burn a disc with higher speed & quality as possible. So the drive need to be very smart!

Itâs more difficult for a drive to rip the Audio & VCD disc than a data disc due to there are only 2 levels error correction for Audio & VCD disc but data discs got 3. For limited un-recoverable error, data can be fixed by estimation & calculation due to itâs only for music & movie application. These tolerance ripped data are acceptable & can not be detected by human eyes & ears during playback because there is no pop-noise, interrupt or mosaic on the screen. Of course zero error is preferable for zero tolerance.

SMART-X technology is the drive will rip the music / VCD data as fast as possible with less error, even on a poor quality media ( like dirty, scratched ) , the drive will estimate if the ripped data will result audio noise, interrupt or mosaic on screen, the rip speed can be reduced to get more correctable data. SMART-X provide you as fast rip speed as possible, on the other, if you just want to listen music or watch movie directly, itâs not necessary for the drive to keep high speed to read data. It will work under lower speed automatically to get better playability & lower acoustic, so smart ![/quote]

VAS

The vibration absorber is designed to the resonance frequency of the drive rotating speed, the most of the traverse vibration will be inducted into the absorber to get the minimum vibration on Traverse & cover.
Name: Isolated Absorber System
Slogan: VAS
Similar design: Pioneer
Advantage: Small vibration on Traverse / Pickup & Cover
Disadvantage: Space limitation, hard to design the isolated absorber

The following image shows the physical components required for this feature:

[/quote]

ABS – Auto Balancer Spindle

Steel balls as balancer within spindle motor will be settled into right positions during spin up period ( thatâs the reason why a little noise during drive spin up to read a disc ) to compensate imbalance of the disc when rotating at very high speed.
The ABS mechanism can fit from CD-ROM 32x design up to 56x or higher speed that the spindle motor can even works over 10000 rpm with very small vibration generated.[/quote]

BookType

A feature I haven't seen on any other drive is the LiteON BookType BitSetting. This little feature is great if you own old DVD Players that may not support DVD+R or DVD+RW. By using the BookType software utility, you can change the BookType to DVD-ROM in hopes it is supported by your player. You can also change the BookType to DVD+RW. There are various other features incorporated with this piece of software, and if you have further interest click here to view the entire PDF and information therein.

Page 5 : Installation

The
LiteON SOHW-1633S
was very easy to install. I removed my Nu Tech burner and replaced it with this one with it set to master. Once I shut the case and booted up Windows XP detected the drive automatically and installed it – no need for rebooting. The next thing I did was installed Nero. Below are some pictures of the setup used for all testing:

Sits nicely in there without protruding from the drive cage.[/quote]

I obviously didn't pick the bevel color :P[/quote]
The exact specs of this machine are the following:

Pentium 4 2.4C @ 3.2 GHz Processor
Abit IC7-G i875P Motherboard
Swiftech H20-120 Watercooling
2*512 MB PDP Systems PC3200LLK DDR Memory
Maxtor 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
ATi Radeon 9700 Pro Video Card
Coolmax CX-400B 400 W Power Supply
Windows XP Pro SP2 + Latest Drivers, Updates

DVD Burner:
LiteON SOHW-1633S
[/quote]

Page 6 : DVD Benchmarks

For this review I began tests with the extra, harder to find media that LiteON provided. I also did some purchasing of extra media such as 24x speed Memorex CD-RWs, 4x speed Sony DVD+RWs, and 48x speed Ritek CD-Rs. All tested media were 'recommended' by LiteON except the 24x CD-RWs. Unfortunatly, a lot of the recommened media are not found easily at brick and mortor stores.

Single Layer DVD+R

Writing

A smooth increase in speed throughout the burn, the SOHW-1633S averages a 12x write and peaks at 16x. Total time for writing took 5 minutes 50 seconds. Almost 2 minutes quicker than the SOHW-1213S.[/quote]

Transfer Rate, Seek Time, CPU Usage, Burst Speed

Just as shown in the Nero Information Tool, these early 16x test disks are only being read at a peak speed of 8x. This should improve however once this media becomes mainstream. What's unusual is the high CPU utilization percentage reported for the 8x read – this could possibly be attributed to the nature of this early media.[/quote]

Error PI/POF

For our reviews of burners we prefer to use KProbe for error checking. The version used in this review is v2.4.2. More information on KProbe can be found here.

The errors PI errors toward the end of the read are a bit high, but are acceptable.[/quote]

Dual Layer DVD+R

Writing

The write went along at a constant 2.4x as rated, but this takes an agonizingly long 43 minutes 45 seconds.[/quote]

Transfer Rate, Seek Time, CPU Usage, Burst Speed

Transfer averaged 4x and peaked at almost 6x. Nothing drastic to report on in this mode.[/quote]

Error PI/POF

A very good burn.[/quote]

Page 7 : CD Benchmarks

Writing

An average burn speed of 32x gets this write done in 3 minutes with a peak write speed of 43x – not quite the claimed 48x write, but fine none the less.[/quote]

Transfer Rate, Seek Time, CPU Usage, Burst Speed

The transfer went along at 37x and topping out at just shy of 50x. Nice low CPU utilizations.[/quote]

Error PI/POF

Almost no errors to speak of.[/quote]

Page 8 : ReWritable Benchmarks

DVD+RW

Writing

Everything is as expected. Write time: 14 minutes 1 second.[/quote]

Transfer Rate, Seek Time, CPU Usage, Burst Speed

Lower CPU utilization and higher burst rate compared to the SOHW-1213S.[/quote]

Error PI/POF

A good burn.[/quote]

Erasing

14 minutes to do a full erase; same as the SOHW-1213S.[/quote]

CD-RW

Writing

Starting out at 16x the drive shortly jumps to 24x and stays there to obtain a write time of 4 minutes 10 seconds.[/quote]

Transfer Rate, Seek Time, CPU Usage, Burst Speed

Nothing unusual and about the same performance as the SOH-1213S.[/quote]

Error PI/POF

Nearly flawless.[/quote]

Erasing

4 minutes to do a full erase, and again same as the SOHW-1213S.[/quote]

Page 9 : Conclusion

With this latest burner from LiteON it is definately nice to see the addition of Dual Layer support. It would have been nice to have had 4x Dual Layer support, but you can't always have it all. The overall speed improvements made to the drive are welcome and managed to shave nearly two minutes off of a +R burn as well as producing a perfectly acceptable burn.

The bad part about DVD burners right now is media availability. 8x media is just now becoming the mainstream and could possibly start showing up in stores like Best Buy, compUSA, etc. if they havn't already. The good thing is that as each day goes by the drives and the media are going down in cost – rapidly. There's almost little reason to not have a DVD burner even if all you want to do is the occasional backup.

The
LiteON SOHW-1633S
earns my recommendation to anyone who needs a quality, well performing, and reliable burner that isn't going to cost much to obtain. This drives ease of install and use, thanks to the included software, should make DVD burning easy for even novice users.

Advantages

Affordable
Dual Layer support
Fast DVD+R burning
Good software bundle

Disadvantages

No Mount Rainer Support
Unable to burn at 48x CD-Write
Fast media hard to come by
Dual Layer media not cheap

I would like to take the time to thank LiteON for providing us with these drives for evaluation.

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