In House Review - Lite-On iHES208 8x Blu-ray Combo Drive

[Ian]

CDRLabs finishes up the week with a review of Lite-On's new 8x Blu-ray combo drive, the iHES208. This highly anticipated 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.


Lite-On iHES208 8x Blu-ray Combo Drive

[bobmitchell]

Ian

I have trusted your opinions for a very long time. When it comes to this drive...you are pretty much on target...but I have to say that Lite-Ons are also knows for their scanning ability. I have a Pioneer BDR-205 and burn BD-R with it. No matter what I use from Sony, Verbatim or Ritek...this drive gives 0 scores to everything burned. Now I can scandisk til the cows come home and show perfectly burned discs as far as disc surface...but I also did some other testing.

I have a Samsung SH-S223Q, which can scan. I have a Samsung TS-L632D, which can scan and a Benq DW1640, who's reputation speaks for itself. I burn a DVD with my Pioneeer, using Nero DiscSpeed 5 (latest version that comes with 9.2.46.0). Scan with the Sammy 223Q and get a 95. Scan with the L632D and get a 95. Scan with the Benq and get a 97. Scan with the iHES208 and get a 50. OK...so I write it off to an old firmware (drive shipped with 05. Updated to 8L0C and scanned again...0. OK...so now I'm curious. Burn a DVD+R with the Lite-On. Scan with the Sammy 223Q, get a 93. Scan with the L632D and get a 90. Scan with the Benq and get a 93. Scan with the Lite-On and get a 0. Wonderful drive! So now I have a drive that HATES Verbatim (the brand I use most). So I burn a Sony DVD-R 16X. Scan with Sammy 223Q get a 90. Scan with 632D and get a 93, Scan with the Benq and get an 85. Scan with the Lite-On and get a 98. OK...now this is wierd! Hates Verbatim (good brand)...and Likes Sony??? (I have had coasters with these Sony's...bought in bulk from Costco and couldn't give them away...my friends hate them because of the coasters).

long story short...the drive has lousy scanning ability. The drive in ripping BD-ROM DL is snail slow. I wanted to backup Star Trek (latest one), so my son wouldn't butcher the original. Took 1 hour and 40 minutes to rip (granted with compression where fit 30 GB on a BR25, but still. I took the drive back and actually wrote it off as one of the worst drives I have enountered in numerous years. I want a BD-Rom Reader / DVD and CD burner combo...and am awaiting the new 10X from LG (they make decent quality drives...not so sure that quality scanning is a big issue after all this...not even sure that Nero Discspeed is up to the task, correctly, yet! I must share that this drive is a MUST NOT for anyone thinking speed or even getting quality burns out of good media like Verbatim (sorry but they are almost as good as Taiyo Yuden).

By the way...I hope you don't think I am being critical of your review. You were gracious when you gave a 7 for performance...at this point...a 5 is a stretch!

Thanks

[Ian]

Yeah, the scanning acurracy isn't that great. I'm not a big fan of using Lite-On drives for this in the first place, but their BD drives are way off the mark at times. It reminds me a lot of when people were using Lite-On's DVD combo drives to do write quality testing. They just weren't good for that sort of thing.

I totally forgot that the iHES208 reads dual layer BD-ROM's at only 4x. Lite-On advertises it as being able to read BD-ROM's at 8x, but most discs are dual layer these days. I'm not sure if the LG is going to be better in this regard. LG usually limits the reading of AACS protected discs to 4.8x. With LG's 8x drives, you could get around this though by patching the firmware with MCSE.

[bobmitchell]

My Pioneer will read the discs at 8X, but I am weary of having one drive do the reading and writing. Thought I would conserve the drive for just burning and use another for just ripping, etc. I use DVDFab to back up my BR and DVD's. I have a teenage son, who can be very brutal on the discs. His own discs are quite a mess...and I want to conserve mine...so I back up and keep the originals on one place and discs for him to view in another...

Anyways...do you think that ripping will do any undue harm to the Pioneer?

Bob