What's in the box?:
- Lite-On iHOS104 BD-ROM Drive
- CyberLink Software CD
- User's Manual
- Quick Installation Guide
- Silver Replacement Bezel
- SATA Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive Lite-On sent us for this review was manufactured in June of 2009 and had firmware version WL06. As I was finishing up this review, Lite-On released a new firmware, version WL0B.
From the front, the iHOS104 looks nothing like Lite-On's previous BD-ROM drive, the DH-4O1S. While sporting a glossy finish, it shares the same basic bezel design as Lite-On's DVD writers and BD combo drives. The iHOS104 also has its share of logos. Along with the large "Blu-ray Disc" logo, you can see a few showing support for the Compact Disc and DVD-ROM formats.
Below the tray you can see the iHOS104's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green whenever the drive is loading or reading a disc.
The retail version of the iHOS104 also comes with a silver replacement bezel. Oddly enough, it does not have a glossy finish like the black one.
The rear of the iHOS104 is pretty straightforward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.
Technical Specs:
The specs above have been taken from Lite-On's website and the documentation that came along with the drive.
| Lite-On iHOS104 4x BD-ROM | |
| BD Read Speeds | 4x Max (BD-ROM) 4x Max (BD-R) 4x Max (BD-R DL) 4x Max (BD-RE) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 8x Max (DVD-ROM) 8x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 8x Max (DVD±R DL) 8x Max (DVD-Video) |
| CD Read Speeds | 32x Max |
| DAE Speeds | 32x Max |
| Buffer Size | 2 MB |
| Access Times |
250 ms (BD) 160 ms (DVD) 150 ms (CD) |
| BD Formats | BD-ROM BD-R/RE BD-R/RE DL |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-Video DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM/XA Photo CD Video CD Multi-Session CD-I FMV CD-Extra CD-Plus CD-R CD-RW |
More Features:
Nero InfoTool can be used to query the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. According to InfoTool, the iHOS104 has a maximum CD read speed of 32x and an 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the iHOS104 is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's 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, the number of factory and user changes can be reset using LtnFlash.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the iHOS104's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of its capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that Lite-On's new drive can read most DVD and BD formats.
