If you're looking for an easy and affordable way to play Blu-ray movies on your computer, you really can't go wrong with the Lite-On iHOS104. Using the bundled software, this read-only drive played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand, including those protected by BD+ and with BD-Live enabled features. The iHOS104 also did fairly well in our transfer rate tests, reading BD-ROM's as well as BD-R and BD-RE media at 4x.
While not as fast as the DH-4O1S, Lite-On's new drive was relatively quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, the iHOS104 was able to read DVD-ROM's and recordable DVD media at 8x and had some very good seek times. Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the drive either. However, with a maximum read speed of only 32x, the iHOS104 definitely won't win any speed contests.
In the end, it usually comes down to price. The iHOS104 is currently the most affordable Blu-ray drive on the market. Prices vary depending on the seller, but the retail version of the iHOS104 can be picked up for less than $70 on Pricegrabber.
| Lite-On iHOS104 4x BD-ROM |
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| Features: Installation: Performance: |
8 9 8 |
| Overall: | 8 |
Highs:
- Reads BD-ROM's and BD-R/RE media at 4x
- Reads DVD-ROM's at 8x
- Reads DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
- Low seek times
- Serial ATA interface
- Includes CyberLink PowerDVD with TrueTheater HD technology
- Includes extra bezel
- Nice looking design
- Affordably priced
Lows:
- Reads CD's at only 32x
- Only a 2MB buffer
- Does not support DVD-RAM
