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Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at Lite-On's new "Super AllWrite" drive, the SHM-165H6S. Sporting some pretty impressive specs, the SHM-165H6S is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The drive also has many of the features we've come to expect from Lite-On, along with new ones like HyperTuning and OverSpeed. To top it all off, the SHM-165H6S includes support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the SHM-165H6S and see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the SHM-165H6S have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.


Lite-On SHM-165H6S Super AllWrite 16x DVD±RW
As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Lite-On SHM-165H6S, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below. 0 Comments

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CD Freaks has put together a review of Pioneer's new 16x DVD±RW, the DVR-111. Here's what they had to say about it:
The Pioneer DVR-111 can produce excellent quality burns on DVD±R media. Every one of our tested media had a perfect read-back curve and our KProbe scans demonstrated how well the media had been written.

The Pioneer DVR-111 was also able to burn CD-R media with very good quality, again our KProbe scans showing us how well the media had been written.
It sounds like the DVR-111 is a definite improvement over Pioneer's previous drive, the DVR-110D. If you'd like to read more, the entire review can be found here. 0 Comments

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If you thought the current Digital Millennium Copyright Act was bad, think again. A new bill being proposed would expand the DMCA's restrictions and give the feds more wiretapping and enforcement powers.
The draft legislation, created by the Bush administration and backed by Rep. Lamar Smith, already enjoys the support of large copyright holders such as the Recording Industry Association of America. Smith is the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees intellectual-property law.

Smith's press secretary, Terry Shawn, said Friday that the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006 is expected to "be introduced in the near future."

"The bill as a whole does a lot of good things," said Keith Kupferschmid, vice president for intellectual property and enforcement at the Software and Information Industry Association in Washington, D.C. "It gives the (Justice Department) the ability to do things to combat IP crime that they now can't presently do."
It's easy to see where all the RIAA's and MPAA's money is going. It isn't cheap to buy off a congressman like Lamar, let alone an entire administration. Anyway, if you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. 0 Comments

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BCCHardware has put together a review of Plextor's new 18x DVD±RW, the PX-760A. Here's what they had to say about the world's first 18x DVD writer:
Plextor is a leader when it comes to optical drives. They haven't always been the first to adopt new technology or produced the fastest drives, but they are committed to quality. The PX-760A is an attempt in the right direction, but I believe it falls a little short as they reached too far. 18x writing offers very little performance advantage over a good clean 16x write, and the potential for errors is greater as the spindle speed must increase. That being said, the drive burns very quickly with a very low error count at 18x when using Verbatim 16x DVD+R media. However on other media, the drive produces more PI errors that I'd like to see - even at slower speeds.
If you'd like to read more, the entire review can be found here. 0 Comments

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The Hardware Zone has taken a look at Lite-On's new LightScribe capable "Super AllWrite" drive, the SHM-165H6S. Here's a sample of what they had to say about it:
It performs up to the mark for most burns, though at mediocre speeds that barely raised our heartbeats. The burn quality was for the most part, pretty decent and that could be one of its strengths. While BenQ drives have been noted for their ability to 'over-speed', that is an unofficial 'feature' missing from the LITE-ON drive, which needs to be manually enabled via their bundled utility. Its main advantage probably lies in its 'jack of all trades' card of supporting all the media formats and to top it off, it has LightScribe technology. Crucially, all these features do not make it unique but just another player in a crowded market with more add-ons to offer.
We too have a review of the SHM-165H6S in the works. In the mean time, head on over to Hardware Zone and check out their review. 0 Comments

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Sony Japan unveiled its new mid-year PC line-up yesterday. While their Blu-ray Disc-based machines were absent from the list, the company revealed a few details about them.
The Vaio RC300-series machines will include reader/writer Blu-ray Disc drives that support single-layer 25GB discs or double-layer 50GB discs, according to information posted on the U.S. version of its Sony Style Internet shop.

They'll be high performance computers based around an Intel Pentium D dual-core processor and include RAID 0 Serial ATA hard-disk drives, DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) memory and PCI Express x16 graphics. The computers will be based on Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and include Sony's Giga Pocket TV recording software, according to the site.
No word on price or availability yet. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. 0 Comments

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The MPAA has claimed another "victory" in the fight against piracy. Thanks to [H]ard|OCP, we've learned that the courts recently ordered Sunplus to comply to the security features of the CSS license.
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) today announced that its member companies have successfully resolved yet another breach of contract lawsuit involving non-compliant DVD chips that enable piracy. This is the sixth such lawsuit that has concluded with a court-ordered injunction mandating a DVD chip manufacturer to adhere to the content security features of the CSS license. With the new injunction against Sunplus Technology Co., Inc., the world's second largest DVD chip manufacturer, all of the major DVD chip manufacturers are now bound by court order to honor the CSS license. The studios now plan to focus greater attention on other products, such as DVD players, that may also violate the license and expose copyrighted material to piracy. Investigations have been underway for months, and the studios are considering appropriate enforcement action.
With HD DVD and Blu-ray on the way, the movie industry is making it clear that they do not want companies producing products that can bypass the protection schemes they've put in place. If you'd like to read more, the MPAA's entire press release can be found here. 0 Comments

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We've learned that Samsung has a new Super-WriteMaster drive on the way. Along with 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds, the SH-S182D can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 18x. At this speed, the drive is expected to take only 4 minutes and 48 seconds to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD±R disc.


Writing Speeds:

DVD+R: 18x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-RW: 6x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD-RAM: 12x
CD-R: 48x
CD-RW: 32x

 Read Speeds:

DVD-ROM: 16x
DVD±R: 12x
DVD±RW: 8x
DVD±R DL: 8x
DVD-RAM: 12x
CD-ROM: 48x
CD-R/RW: 40x

We have not heard if or when the SH-S182D will be available in the US. As we learn more, we'll let you know. In the mean time, feel free to leave your comments in our forum. 0 Comments

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Toshiba Japan has announced the launch of their new HD DVD equipped notebook PC, the Qosmio G30/697HS. Designed for multimedia use, the Qosmio G30/697HS ships with a 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 17-inch widescreen LCD and HD DVD-ROM drive.

Toshiba Corporation today continued its roll out of next generation HD DVD products with the announcement of the launch of the world's first notebook PC with an HD DVD-ROM drive. "Qosmio G30/697HS" will be available in the Japanese market in mid May, as the latest product in Qosmio line-up of AV notebook PC series. Along with playback of HD DVD content, the new Qosmio can read and write to current DVD and CD discs, including DVD+/-R DL (dual-layer) and DVD-RAM.*2

The groundbreaking Qosmio series has consistently redefined the capabilities and performance of AV notebook computers. "Qosmio G30/697HS" continues this tradition by being first in the world to integrate an HD DVD-ROM drive. The slim-type 12.7mm-thick drive achieves this thin form factor with an optical system requiring only a single objective lens to read HD DVD discs and to read and write to DVDs and CDs. The PC's combination of a high-performance dual-core CPU, the "Intel CoreTM Duo Processor T2500 (operating frequency 2.00GHz)," and high-performance graphics accelerator, the "NVIDIA GeForceTM Go 7600," with advanced PC software technology delivers stunning image quality in playback of HD DVD content.
No word on price yet. However, Toshiba expects to ship the Qosmio G30/697HS by the middle of May. More information can be found here. 0 Comments

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The results are in and our readers have chosen the BenQ DW1650/1655 as the top DVD writer for the month of March. Here are the top five drives:
  1. BenQ DW1650/1655
  2. LG GSA-4167B
  3. Plextor PX-716A
  4. BenQ DW1640
  5. NEC ND-3550A/3551A
Your favorite drive didn't make it onto the list? Then go and vote for April's top DVD writer. 0 Comments
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