What's in the box?:
- Lite-On DH-4O1S BD-ROM Drive
- CyberLink Software CD
- 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 December of 2007 and had firmware version CP54. This is the newest firmware currently available for the DH-4O1S.
The DH-4O1S is a radical departure from Lite-On's previous drives. It sports a more contemporary look, thanks in part to its unique bezel design and chrome eject button. The DH-4O1S also has its share of logos. Along with the large "Lite-On" and "Blu-ray Disc" logos, you can see a few showing support for the Compact Disc and DVD-ROM formats.
While it's hard to see on the black bezel, there is a single LED below the DH-4O1S's tray. Off by default, this LED lights up green when a disc is loaded and ready. It will also blink when the drive is loading or reading a disc.
If black isn't your color, you're in luck. The retail version of the DH-4O1S also comes with a silver replacement bezel.
The rear of the DH-4O1S 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 DH-4O1S 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 | 12x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 8x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 12x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 8x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-Video) |
| CD Read Speeds | 32x Max |
| DAE Speeds | 32x Max |
| Buffer Size | 8 MB |
| Access Times |
350 ms (BD) 160 ms (DVD) 150 ms (CD) |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM/XA Photo CD Video CD Karaoke-CD Multi-Session CD-I FMV CD-Extra CD-Plus CD-R CD-RW |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-Video DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL |
| BD Formats | BD-ROM BD-R/RE BD-R/RE DL |
More Features:
Nero InfoTool can be used to query the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. According to InfoTool, the DH-4O1S has a maximum CD read speed of 32x and an 8MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the DH-4O1S 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 LtnRPC .
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the DH-4O1S'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.
Write Quality Testing:
The DH-4O1S is one of the first drives capable of performing write quality testing with Blu-ray Disc media. When combined with CD Speed, the drive is able to report the Long Distance Code (LDC) and Burst Indicator Subcode (BIS). While it's still too early to know what "good" results should look like, c't magazine has stated that the average LDC should stay below 13 and the maximum BIS should not exceed 8. In my own testing, I've found that the LDC reported by CD Speed is considerably higher than 13.
I should also point out that the latest version of CD Speed still has some nagging issues when performing write quality tests on the DH-4O1S. In particular, the software would hang at the 99% mark when testing Blu-ray Discs.
Software:
The DH-4O1S comes with a CD containing CyberLink PowerDVD BD 7.3. Along with Blu-ray Discs, it can be used to play back CD's and DVD's as well as other multimedia formats including DivX.
Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the DH-4O1S only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD.
When it comes to features, the Lite-On DH-4O1S has all of its bases covered. This Serial ATA equipped drive is capable of reading both single and dual layer Blu-ray Disc media at 4x and is backwards compatible with most CD and DVD formats. The DH-4O1S also sports an 8MB buffer and comes with an extra bezel as well as CyberLink's popular PowerDVD software. With all this, it's easy to see why the Lite-On DH-4O1S gets a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.
