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

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 DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. 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 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.50 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.50 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

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 "Super AllWrite" drive did pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer rate tests, the SHM-165H6S started reading at 19.9x (2990 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of about 43.8x (6578 / 150) on the outside. While this helped give the drive an impressive overall score, its access time wasn't as low as the other drives.

CD Speed v4.50 - 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 SHM-165H6S	Plextor PX-750A	NEC ND-4550A	LG GSA-4167B
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.68x 21.95x 48.50x	29.40x 16.96x 38.86x	35.60x 20.54x 47.09x	35.63x 20.45x 47.28x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	103ms 116ms 168ms	135ms 143ms 250ms	137ms 145ms 219ms	114ms 126ms 183ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	2% 4% 7% 12%	0% 1% 2% 4%	17% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 3% 36%

Lite-On's new writer performed very well when reading pressed CD's. The SHM-165H6S flew through CD Speed's transfer rate tests, reaching a maximum read speed of 48.50x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that its seek times were also quite good.

CD Speed v4.50 - 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.

Like the other drives, the SHM-165H6S 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 more than 49x.

Lite-On's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The SHM-165H6S read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 53.47x! This is pretty good for a drive rated at only 48x.

CD Speed v4.50 - 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.

When reading CD-RW media, the SHM-165H6S's transfer speeds are limited to only 32x. While Lite-On's new writer had no problems reaching this speed in our tests, it was still the slowest out of the four drives here.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.50 - 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 the Lite-On SHM-165H6S supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.

CD Speed	Lite-On SHM-165H6S	Plextor PX-750A	NEC ND-4550A	LG GSA-4167B
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	37.03x 21.26x 48.93x 10 Yes	29.19x 16.95x 38.73x 10 Yes	30.94x 17.99x 40.12x 10 Yes	30.81x 17.50x 40.79x 10 Yes

Like Lite-On's previous DVD writers, the SHM-165H6S did very well in our DAE tests. With a maximum speed of 48.93, the drive had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

Lite-On's new DVD writer was a little slower when extracting our test disc track by track with CD DAE. The drive started out at an impressive 22.3x but came up a little short of 48x in the end.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.50 - 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 I used in the CD Speed tests.

The SHM-165H6S was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. Nevertheless, it had no problems reaching amaximum DAE speed of 48x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Lite-On's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.95x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the SHM-165H6S was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and even the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

To see how well Lite-On's new drive can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The SHM-165H6S did surprisingly well here. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 53% of the CD to be "damaged". On top of that, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The SHM-165H6S gave some mixed results in this test. While it had the lowest number of errors, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably.