Owners Sony215 Oc Liteon 52x -impression?

[Gary Kokkin]

Does this Sony work same as original Liteon ?
Does it burn <40x in P-Cav mode ?
Any other (maybe) problem ?
How is total burn quality ? -Better than older Sony drives 195 ,210 models in over 40x speed ? (if you Know...)

[dhc014]

When you convert it to a Lite-ON LTR-52246S, it becomes one and has all of the same features.

[coolestnitish]

When you convert it to a Lite-ON LTR-52246S, it becomes one and has all of the same features.

I was wondering when you convert it, does it actually improve the burn quality which is one of the plus points of this drive? And when Ian says in the CenDyne review that it has better burns, does he mean that it gives better quality at 52x compared to what someone would expect or is it giving overall better burns ex: burning at 40x and having better results with the 52x drive compared to the 48x drive?
I have owned 2 LG drives before, and want to try out a LiteOn . I plan to buy one within 2 weeks, and here I have found the LiteOn 48x24x48 Retail for $87 and the 52x24x52 for $118 . That's a $31 + 15% tax difference for only a couple of seconds faster Write speed. More than the speed difference I am concerned about the burn quality. Do these drives use the same MediaTek chip?

[dhc014]

Yes they do, buy the 48x24x48 Lite-ON and flash it to the 52x24x52 if you want to. I have my Memorex 48MAXX flashed to a Sony CRX210E1 for testing purposes right now... I don't know about how the different firmware effects burn quality, but writing at a higher speed in general results in less quality burns than writing at a lower speed would. I really don't concern myself with quality. As long as it works, I'm happy.

$87 is too expensive. I overpaid for mine and mine was $79.99

[coolestnitish]

I think I will buy the 48x24x48 and flash it to the 52x. If we look at the model numbers of both the drives - LTR - 48246S and LTR - 52246S. The 6S at the back of the number looks like represents a MediaTek 6 Chip. So, they are probably using the same chip, then overclocking should make the 48 -> 52 with no extra strain on the drive. What about the RPMs? Do they change with the firmware flashing too?
As per the price, you bought the drive for $79.99 Canadian or American? Because I am getting the 48x24x48 for $87.

[cfitz]

I think I will buy the 48x24x48 and flash it to the 52x. If we look at the model numbers of both the drives - LTR - 48246S and LTR - 52246S. The 6S at the back of the number looks like represents a MediaTek 6 Chip. So, they are probably using the same chip, then overclocking should make the 48 -> 52 with no extra strain on the drive.

Maybe you missed it, but dhc014 already told you that they use the same chipset. You can trust dhc014 when it comes to firmware - he knows what he is talking about and is arguably the resident firmware expert here. By the way, I seem to recall reading that the 6 at the end of the LiteOn model number does not indicate a MediaTek 6 chipset, but rather the 6'th generation of LiteOn drives. So your reasoning was wrong but your conclusion happened to be right.

What about the RPMs? Do they change with the firmware flashing too?

Yes. As dhc014 said, "when you convert it to a Lite-ON LTR-52246S, it becomes one and has all of the same features." Once it is flashed, it is a LTR-52246S with the exception of the label on the outside. So anything that applies to the LTR-52246S applies to the flashed drive.

cfitz

[dhc014]

Well, you can take it either way; there have been 5 generations of drives by Lite-ON mostly because there have been 5 different mtk chipsets used so far; 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. It is generally accepted that you can flash any firmware among drives that are based on the same chipset. there was no 4 series for some reason. And I bought mine for $79 US.

[coolestnitish]

Thanks a lot for the info dhc014 and cfitz. I don't doubt either one of your's judgment and responses. So it is using the same chipset, and will have the same features if I flash it. That's all I wanted to know, thanks a lot again for the responses. I will buy my first ever LiteOn pretty soon.