Lite-On iHOS104 4x BD-ROM

Model: Lite-On iHOS104 4x BD-ROM
Manufacturer: Lite-On IT
Provided By: Lite-On IT America

Lite-On IT got its start in 1995 when its parent company, Lite-On Technology, gathered a group of scientists and engineers to start an optical storage research and manufacturing business. Lite-On Technology quickly established itself as Taiwan’s largest CD-ROM drive manufacturer and by 1999 the business had spun off into a separate company, Lite-On IT. Since then, Lite-On IT has continued to grow. By working closely with companies like BenQ and Philips, they've expanded into the consumer and automotive electronics markets, becoming the world's second largest ODD manufacturer.

Like most drive manufacturers, Lite-On has begun to focus on the growing Blu-ray Disc market. This spring, the company introduced its second-generation BD-ROM drive, the iHOS104. While lacking the writing capabilities found on more expensive units, this low cost, read-only drive gives consumers the ability to watch Blu-ray movies on their computers. Along with 4x BD read speeds, the iHOS104 is capable of reading DVD's at 8x and CD's at 32x. To top it all off, the drive comes with CyberLink's popular PowerDVD software. Using TrueTheater HD technology, PowerDVD can play back both Blu-ray Discs and standard DVD's in high-def.

We've had Lite-On's new BD-ROM in the 'Labs for a few weeks now and have had the time to put it through its paces. To give you an idea of what to expect from the iHOS104, we'll take a look at its features and then put it through its paces to see how it performs. Does the iHOS104 have what it takes? More importantly, is it the best bang for your buck? Keep reading to find out.

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.

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.

The iHOS104 comes with a CD containing CyberLink PowerDVD BD 8.0. Along with support for DVD's, it can be used to play back Blu-ray Discs and other high-def formats including H.264, HD MPEG-2, and WMV-HD. PowerDVD also gives you the ability to access BD-Live content via the Internet and upscale standard definition DVD content to 1080p using CyberLink's TrueTheater HD technology.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the iHOS104 only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take full advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD.

While affordably priced, the Lite-On iHOS104 delivers a good number of features. 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 iHOS104 also 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 iHOS104 gets a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.

Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive in our test computer. After making sure that the iHOS104 was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the iHOS104 comes with a CD containing CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 BD. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To start the setup process, simply select "Install PowerDVD 8.0 BD" from the menu. From there, it's as easy as choosing the location where you want to install the program and then waiting for the files to be copied over. Keep your serial number handy as you will need to activate PowerDVD the first time it is run.

The Documentation:

Most of the iHOS104's documentation is located in the "User's Manual." Similar to the ones included with Lite-On's other drives, this manual covers a number of topics. It starts out by getting the user familiarized with their new BD-ROM drive. The first section goes over the iHOS104's supported formats and system requirements. The manual also spends a few pages going over the locations and the functions of the buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the drive.

From here, the manual goes right into the physical installation of the iHOS104. With no jumpers to configure, this section is relatively brief. Nevertheless, it covers all of the basics including how to install it into an empty drive bay and hook up the cables. The manual finishes up with a few short sections on how to use and maintain the iHOS104 and troubleshoot any problems that might come up.

Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive also comes with a "Quick Installation Guide." While this small, fold out guide contains a set of instructions that take the user step by step through the installation process, it does not include any pictures or diagrams. With this in mind, you're probably going to be better off with the instructions in the manual than the ones in this guide. 

Like Lite-On's previous Blu-ray drives, the iHOS104 was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working correctly. Nevertheless, if you do run into trouble, the documentation Lite-On has provided is more than sufficient. With this in mind, the iHOS104 scores a 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For BD-ROM drives, the performance tests are normally broken down into three sections: CD read, DVD read and BD read. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 and CD Speed are used to test transfer speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed is used to test transfer speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed is used to test transfer speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. While the iHOS104's overall score wasn't as high as the other drives, its transfer rates were fairly good. It started reading at about 10.8x (1620 / 150) and quickly accelerated, reaching a maximum speed of 28.8x (4320 / 150).

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	24.11x 14.85x 31.88x	24.10x 14.02x 31.88x	24.11x 14.05x 31.89x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	119ms 130ms 179ms	120ms 143ms 230ms	122ms 151ms 248ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 3%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The iHOS104 didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 32x, Lite-On's new drive came up a little short of this number in our tests. On a more positive note, the iHOS104's seek times were pretty good. 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	24.64x 14.03x 32.66x	24.63x 14.17x 32.64x	24.64x 14.20x 32.66x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	119ms 133ms 181ms	121ms 150ms 244ms	122ms 150ms 254ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 3%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Like the other drives, the iHOS104 was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 32.66x.

While Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media, it slowed down considerably when reading it back. As you can see, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of only 11x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests. 

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	24.20x 14.19x 31.97x	24.19x 14.14x 31.95x	24.20x 14.14x 31.96x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	120ms 130ms 179ms	122ms 152ms 243ms	120ms 149ms 230ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 3%	0% 1% 3% 5%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The iHOS104 is also rated at 32x when reading CD-RW media. While it came close, it wasn't able to reach this number in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while the Lite-On iHOS104 supports accurate stream, it does not cache audio data nor does it have the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD.

 

CD Speed	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	24.33x 13.96x 32.15x 10 Yes	24.35x 15.55x 32.15x 10 Yes	24.36x 15.92x 32.17x 10 Yes

The iHOS104 did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast Lite-On's previous BD-ROM drives, it had no problems ripping pressed audio CD's at 32x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media used in the data CD tests.

 

CD Speed	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	24.10x 13.93x 31.79x 10 Yes	24.13x 15.61x 31.79x 10 Yes	24.13x 16.04x 31.81x 10 Yes

Lite-On's BD-ROM drive was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. While the drive came very close, it wasn't able to reach 32x this time around. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

The iHOS104 completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 22.93x. While the drive went through all of the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the iHOS104 was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.05x 3.36x 8.09x	9.18x 5.09x 12.27x	9.19x 5.10x 12.28x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	138ms 153ms 215ms	113ms 135ms 222ms	112ms 128ms 205ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 8% 15% 33%	6% 12% 22% 52%	3% 7% 12% 23%

The big difference between the iHOS104 and Lite-On's previous BD-ROM drives is that it reads DVD's at only 8x. In our tests, it started reading at 3.36x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.09x. 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 16x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R
 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.06x 3.37x 8.09x	9.02x 5.00x 12.05x	9.03x 5.02x 12.08x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	131ms 141ms 205ms	118ms 135ms 215ms	118ms 151ms 207ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 14% 31%	6% 13% 23% 44%	3% 8% 13% 23%

Verbatim DVD-RW
 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.07x 3.37x 8.12x	6.22x 3.45x 8.32x	6.23x 3.46x 8.33x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	125ms 144ms 205ms	128ms 173ms 249ms	127ms 174ms 343ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 8% 14% 30%	6% 13% 23% 42%	4% 8% 13% 23%

The iHOS104 had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In all three cases, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 16x DVD+R and 4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R
 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.06x 3.36x 8.10x	9.02x 5.01x 12.06x	9.03x 5.02x 12.07x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	130ms 140ms 206ms	119ms 138ms 218ms	118ms 132ms 205ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 14% 30%	6% 13% 22% 42%	3% 8% 13% 23%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.08x 3.38x 8.12x	6.22x 3.45x 8.32x	6.22x 3.44x 8.32x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	126ms 140ms 212ms	125ms 164ms 243ms	126ms 167ms 235ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	5% 8% 15% 30%	6% 13% 22% 42%	3% 7% 12% 23%

Verbatim DVD+R DL
 

The iHOS104's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. Once again, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	5.99x 3.32x 8.00x	9.09x 5.04x 12.15x	9.09x 5.05x 12.16x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	134ms 140ms 211ms	112ms 128ms 209ms	111ms 128ms 212ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	5% 8% 14% 72%	6% 12% 22% 42%	3% 7% 13% 22%

The iHOS104 didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 3.32x and reached a maximum read speed of 8.00x. Lite-On's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 8x.

To see how well Lite-On's new drive worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The iHOS104 had no problems playing back either movie and was fairly quiet.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the DX-4O1S's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.03x 1.69x 4.04x	3.18x 1.77x 4.24x	3.18x 1.77x 4.24x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	104ms 159ms 213ms	102ms 153ms 240ms	102ms 158ms 236ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 0% 1% 3%	0% 1% 3% 5%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The iHOS104 performed relatively well when reading BD-ROM discs. While not nearly as fast Lite-On's previous drives, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 4.04x.

Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive had no problems playing back The Fifth Element and The Simpsons Movie using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like SlySoft's AnyDVD HD.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and Sony and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

Memorex BD-R
 

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.04x 1.73x 4.04x	3.19x 1.82x 4.24x	3.19x 1.82x 4.24x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	125ms 181ms 265ms	101ms 169ms 270ms	100ms 164ms 270ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 1% 3%

Memorex BD-RE

	Lite-On iHOS104	Lite-On DX-4O1S	Lite-On DH-4O1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.04x 1.73x 4.04x	3.19x 1.82x 4.24x	3.19x 1.82x 4.24x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	126ms 178ms 279ms	100ms 164ms 276ms	104ms 170ms 268ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Sony BD-R DL

Lite-On's new BD-ROM drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In all three cases, the iHOS104 reached a maximum transfer speed of 4x.

Performance Revisited:

Like Lite-On's previous BD-ROM drives, the iHOS104 performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The drive had no problems playing back Blu-ray movies and read both single and dual layer BD media at 4x. It also had some fairly good seek times and was able to read DVD's at 8x and both data and audio CD's at speeds as high as 32x. With all things considered, the Lite-On iHOS104 gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

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.

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