Lite-On SHM-165H6S Super AllWrite 16x DVD±RW/RAM

What's in the box?:

• Lite-On SHM-165H6S "Super AllWrite" DVD±RW/RAM Drive
• Nero Software CD
• CyberLink PowerDVD Software CD
• User's Manual
• Quick Installation Guide
• Front Panel Replacement Guide
• Beige Replacement Bezel
• LightScribe CD-R Disc
• Audio Cable
• Mounting Screws
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Lite-On sent us for this review was manufactured in December of 2005 and had firmware HS06.For this review the drive's firmware has been updated to version HS0D.

Aside from the large LightScribe logo, there really isn't much of a difference between the SHM-165H6S and Lite-On's other "Super AllWrite" drive, the SHM-165P6S. The two drives not only share the same bezel design, but many of the same logos. Along the front of the tray you can see a few showing support for the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications, as well as Ultra Speed CD-RW media.

If black isn't your color, you're in luck. Lite-On also includes a beige replacement bezel with the SHM-165H6S.

Like Lite-On's other DVD writers, the SHM-165H6S also has a single LED. It lights up green when the drive is both reading and writing.

The rear of the SHM-165H6S is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.

Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.

Technical Specs:

The specs below have been taken from Lite-On's website and the box the drive came in.

LightScribe:

Note: We took a much closer look at LightScribe technology in our review of the BenQ DW1625. In this review we'll just go over some of the basics and see how the SHM-165H6S performs with the bundled software.

The SHM-165H6S is the latest drive from Lite-On to feature LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe lets you burn durable, silk screen quality labels directly onto your CD's and DVD's using the same drive that burned the data. According to HP, it's as simple as burning the data, flipping the disc, and then burning the label.

Of course you can't do this with just any drive, media or software. While LightScribe capable drives use the same laser when burning both the data and label, they have to be able to accurately control the laser's focus and position as well as the spindle speed. They also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin dye coating on the label side that absorbs laser light. This triggers a chemical reaction that produces a color change, allowing the user to print text, artwork or graphics.

Even if you have a LightScribe capable drive and media, you will need software that supports it. Most major software companies have pledged support for the technology. However, at the time of this review, the list of compatible software is still relatively short. For the SHM-165H6S, Lite-On turned to Nero. Using the bundled software you can both create and burn LightScribe disc labels.

Once you've created your LightScribe label, you're ready to print it. Before you can do this though, you will need to choose the contrast. Keep in mind this option not only changes the level of detail, it also affects the amount of time it takes to print the label. The higher the quality, the longer the process will take.

How long does it take to print a label? For testing purposes, we created a few discs using Verbatim's LightScribe (v1.0 and v1.2) CD-R and DVD+R media. In all cases, the quality has been set to "best". The results are shown below.

Verbatim CD-R - 20 minutes		Verbatim CD-R v1.2 - 16 minutes

Verbatim DVD+R - 29 minutes		Verbatim DVD+R v1.2 - 21 minutes

As you can see, the LightScribe v1.2 media offers a considerable performance advantage. These discs utilize a new coating that allows for faster printing speeds. In some cases, it can cut as much as 30% off of the total printing time.

If you want to use LightScribe v1.2 media with your SHM-165H6S, simply update your computer's LightScribe host software. This update can be downloaded from Nero or the LightScribe website.

HyperTuning:

The SHM-165H6S is one of the first drives to feature Lite-On's new HyperTuning technology. Similar to BenQ's SolidBurn technology, HyperTuning automatically creates writing strategies for unknown, or unsupported, DVD±R and DVD±R DL media. Simply enable HyperTuning, insert your disc and burn. The new writing strategy is then created on-the-fly.

HyperTuning also works with supported media. When enabled, the drive will ignore the writing strategy stored in the firmware and instead create a new one. This is very useful if you are trying to record a disc that uses another company's MID code (I.E. fake TYG02 code discs).

According to Lite-On, drives that support HyperTuning can store in memory up to five writing strategies. With each new burn, these writing strategies are further optimized until the maximum possible writing speed is achieved. Unfortunately, there currently is no way to view, deactivate or delete these writing strategies.

The big question here is whether or not HyperTuning works. To find out, we'll take a closer look at this technology in the performance section of this review.

OverSpeed:

The SHM-165H6S also supports Lite-On's new OverSpeed function. When enabled, the drive will try to write to your DVD±R and DVD±R DL media at a speed higher than it would normally be supported at. To do this, OverSpeed relies heavily on HyperTuning. When a disc is written at a higher than normal speed, HyperTuning will automatically create a new writing strategy for it.

I should point out that OverSpeed does have some limitations. To prevent people from writing to all DVD±R media at 16x, the writing speed can only be bumped up one level. For example, if your disc was normally supported at only 8x, the SHM-165H6S would now give you the option to write to it at 12x. Oddly enough, this does not apply to DVD±R DL media as we were able to write to all of our test media at 8x when OverSpeed was enabled.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Lite-On's new DVD writer is identified as a "LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165H6S."

Nero also shows that the SHM-165H6S has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. In this case, it is Lite-On's SMART-BURN technology. According to Nero, Lite-On's new DVD writer can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.

Nero also gives you the ability to turn off the drive's SMART-BURN technology. While disabling this feature will allow the SHM-165H6S to write to CD-R media at whatever speed you want, it also disables the media condition checks and write monitoring that the drive does.This can cause your data to become corrupt.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the SHM-165H6S is a "two sheep" burner. This means that Lite-On's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the SHM-165H6S's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the SHM-165H6S 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, there is a utility available that can make the drive region free.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the SHM-165H6S's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while Lite-On's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The SHM-165H6S also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Using Lite-On's BookType Utility, you can set the book type forDVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media. By doing so, your recorded discs will identify themselves as "DVD-ROM." This feature comes in handy if you have an older DVD player that has problems playing recordable media.

I should point out that the SHM-165H6S can also set the book type of DVD+RW media after the data has been burned to disc. This "Write Now" feature is available in both KProbe and Lite-On's BookType Utility.