Lite-On SOHW-1673SU EZ-DUB 16x DVD±RW

Model: Lite-On SOHW-1673SU "EZ-DUB" 16x DVD±RW
Manufacturer: Lite-On IT
Provided By: Lite-On IT USA

It's hard to talk about optical storage without someone bringing up the name Lite-On. While a relative newcomer compared to companies like Plextor, this Taiwanese company has quickly established themselves as one of the world's top manufacturers of optical storage products. Much of this success is due to their ability to bring new and innovative technologies to market at very competitive prices.Needless to say, this has made Lite-On's drives an instant hit in both the OEM and retail markets.

This fall, Lite-On unveiled their new EZ-DUB technology. Developed with the everyday consumer in mind, EZ-DUB makes copying discs and backing up data as easy as pressing a button and following a few simple steps. The first drive to support this new technology is the SOHW-1673SU. Based on the SOHW-1673S, this external drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 4x DVD+R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The SOHW-1673SU also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 24x rewriting speeds and support for technologies like SMART-BURN and SMART-X.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what Lite-On's new DVD writer has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect from the SOHW-1673SU, we'll take a look at some of its features and then see how it stacks up against some of the DVD±RW drives from the competition. Can the SOHW-1673SU deliver the performance and features that we've come to expect from Lite-On? Does EZ-DUB work as advertised? Keep reading as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• Lite-On SOHW-1673SU "EZ-DUB" 16x DVD±RW Drive
• EZ-DUB User's Manual
• Quick User's Guide
• Nero Software CD
• CyberLink PowerDVD Software CD
• EZ-DUB Software CD
• USB 2.0 Cable
• AC Power Adapter
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Lite-On sent us for this review was manufactured in August of 2005 and had firmware JS0C.For this review we used firmware version JS0D.

By looking at the front of the SOHW-1673SU you can see that it is based on Lite-On's internal 16x DVD±RW, the SOHW-1673S. 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 advertising support for DVD+ReWritable, DVD+R DL, DVD-R/RW and Ultra Speed CD-RW media.

Below the tray you can see the SOHW-1673SU's single LED. It lights up green when both reading and writing. To the left of the LED is the head phone jack and volume control. On the other side you can see the eject button. Right underneath the tray is the emergency eject hole

Measuring 172mm x 66mm x 243mm and weighing in at 1.3 Kgs, the SOHW-1673SU is not the most compact or lightweight external drive we've tested. Nevertheless, its external enclosure is fairly well constructed and should fit comfortably on most desks.

On the top of the SOHW-1673SU you can see a large "EZ-DUB" logo and a pair of buttons. The "DUB" and "FILE" buttons are used to control the drive's EZ-DUB technology. On the bottom, you can see that the SOHW-1673SU has four small rubber feet to keep it from sliding around when placed on a flat surface.

On the rear of the SOHW-1673SU, you can see its USB 2.0 interface and power connector. Unfortunately, there is no power switch so you will need to unplug the drive if you want to turn it off.

Technical Specs:

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

EZ-DUB:

The SOHW-1673SU is the first drive to feature Lite-On's new EZ-DUB technology. Using the included EZ-DUB software and the buttons located on top of the drive, users can quickly and easily duplicate a disc or backup their data. According to Lite-On, it's as easy as 1-2-3.

To initiate the backup process, press the "FILE" button on top of the SOHW-1673SU. The EZ-DUB icon pictured below will then pop up on your desktop. Simply drag and drop the files you want to backup onto the icon. This icon will automatically determine the type of media required (CD, DVD or DVD DL), depending on the amount of data.

When you're done adding files, insert a blank disc into the drive and press the "FILE" button once again. The EZ-DUB software will then check the disc type and source files and then start writing the data at the media's maximum speed. When it's done, the disc automatically ejects. If you'd like to make another copy, just pop in another blank disc. Otherwise EZ-DUB's cache will be cleared.

Copying, or "dubbing", a disc is an even simpler process. To start, put the source disc in the drive and press the "DUB" button. The EZ-DUB software will then read the disc and copy an image of it to your hard drive. When it's done, insert a blank disc in the drive. The software will then burn the image to disc.

While EZ-DUB can copy both CD's and DVD's, it does have some limitations. In particular, those hoping to backup their DVD collection will be disappointed to know that the software does not work with copyright protected materials.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Lite-On's new external DVD writer is identified as a "LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1673S."

Nero also shows that the SOHW-1673SU 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 SOHW-1673SU 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.

Like most of the Lite-On drives we've looked at, the SOHW-1673SU can do EFM encoding correctly. Using CloneCD version 4.2.0.2 with AWS disabled, Iwas able to reproduce older SafeDisc 2 protected titles like Max Payne along with some of the newer ones protected by SafeDisc 2.51 like Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.

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 SOHW-1673SU's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer. Take note that while the drive can read DVD-R DL media, it cannot write to it.

InfoTool also shows that the SOHW-1673S 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 SOHW-1673SU'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 both read and write DVD+R DL media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The SOHW-1673SU 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 SOHW-1673SU 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.

The SOHW-1673SU's software bundle is very similar to what Lite-On has included with their previous DVD writers. The two CD's that come with the drive contain a number of applications from Nero including Nero Express, NeroVision Express 2, Nero Media Player, InCD 4 and BackItUp as well as PowerDVD 5 from CyberLink.

Nero Express 6 - With Nero Express, Nero has taken the features and performance people have come to expect from Nero Burning Rom and combined them with a user friendly interface. While the interface has been simplified, Nero Express still supports more advanced features like VCD and DVD creation, CD/DVD duplication, overburning, CD-Text and realtime audio filters

The version of Nero Express that Lite-On included with their new DVD±RW drive is 6.6.0.13 You can download the latest version of the software from Ahead's website.

NeroVision Express 3 - NeroVision Express 3 is Nero's video authoring application. Using a user friendly interface very similar to that of Nero Express, NeroVision Express makes it easy for users to capture, edit and then burn their favorite videos to VCD, SVCD or DVD or export it to Nero Digital format.

NeroVision Express also lets users add things like transitions, custom backgrounds, animated menus and text effects. You can even use it to turn your photos into custom slide shows.

Nero BackItUp - If you're looking for a way to quickly and easily backup your data, Nero BackItUp is the answer. This new program from Nero lets you backup your data to CD/DVD, hard disc, image recorderor another computer on your LAN.

Nero Media Player - Nero Media Player features on-the-fly encoding of audio CD's to MP3, HE-AAC, TwinVQ, WMA, and WAV format.The MP3 encoder uses the latest audio codec technology from Fraunhofer.While most of the plugins are unrestricted, the MP3 encoder included with this version of the program is limited to only 30 audio tracks.If you need to encode more you will probably want to upgrade to Nero's NeroMIX.

InCD 4 - InCD is Ahead's packet writing software. Like Roxio's DirectCD, it allows a person to use their CD-RW drive as a big floppy disk. The person can then drag and drop files onto a CD-RW disk. Many people consider InCD to be one of the best packet writing tools because of its simplicity and performance.

CyberLink PowerDVD 5 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. PowerDVD offers a complete set of navigation commands, including advanced features like multi-angle viewing, dual subtitle display, digital zoom and parental controls.This new version also adds features like DivX playback, audio time stretch and support for CyberLink's new Eagle Vision technology.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the SOHW-1633S only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of DVD's encoded with DTS or use Dolby Pro Logic II, you'll need to buy an upgrade first.

With the SOHW-1673SU, Lite-On has delivered yet another feature packed DVD writer. The drive supports most CD and DVD formats and has specs like 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 4x DVD+R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The SOHW-1673SU also includes many of the features we've come to expect from Lite-On like SMART-Burn and SMART-X as well as new ones like EZ-DUB. Last but not least, Lite-On tops all of this off with an impressive software bundle from Nero and CyberLink. With all this, it's easy to see why the SOHW-1673SU gets a solid 9 out of 10 for its features.

Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, Lite-On's new DVD writer was very easy to install. From start to finish, the installation took only a few minutes. All you need to do is connect the power cable, plug the USB cable into the drive and the computer, and then power the drive on. If the computer is already turned on, plug and play will try to install drivers for the drive automatically. These drivers are already built into Windows ME, 2000 and XP. However, those still using Windows 98 SE will need to pop in the Nero CD and tell the OS where the drivers are located. Once you have the drivers installed on your computer you should not have to install them again. The computer will find them automatically whenever you connect the drive.

Software Installation:

Lite-On's new DVD writer comes with three CD's full of software. The first of these contains a number of different applications from Nero If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

This menu is pretty straight forward. To install the writing software, you will want to choose the "Install Nero OEM Suite" option. After that, you will be taken to the Ahead Software installation menu.

By now most of you should be pretty familiar with this menu. From here you are presented with options to install Nero Express,NeroVision Express, Nero Media Player, InCD 4, or the EasyWrite Reader. You can install each component individually, or everything but InCD in one shot. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to start burning your own discs.

The second software CD contains a copy of PowerDVD 5 from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled, the installation menu will come up when you insert the CD. To start the setup process, simply select "Install PowerDVD 5.0" from the menu. From there, it's as easy as entering the serial number, choosing the location where you want to install the program and then waiting for the files to be copied over.

The third and final disc contains Lite-On's EZ-DUB software. As with Nero and PowerDVD, the installation process is fairly straightforward. All you need to do is choose what language you want and select the destination folder. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to back up your data and copy existing discs.

Documentation:

Most of the SOHW-1673SU'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 going over some of the SOHW-1673S's supported formats, recording modes, 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. The diagrams Lite-On has provided are clearly labeled and easy to understand.

From here, the manual jumps into the physical installation of the drive. These instructions are pretty brief since there really isn't much to plugging in a few cables and turning a computer on. Even then, Lite-On has provided a nice diagram showing how the drive should be hooked up. Last but not least, the manual finishes up with a few short sections on how to operate the SOHW-1673SU and troubleshoot any problems that might arise.

Lite-On's new DVD writer also comes with a "Quick Start Guide." This fold out guide takes the user step by step through the installation process. While a little short on words, there are plenty of diagrams showing what to do. For most people, the "Quick Start Guide" will be all they'll need to get the SOHW-1673S up and running.

In the end, installing the SOHW-1673SU was very easy. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you do run into trouble, the documentation Lite-On has provided is more than sufficient. However, I would have liked to have seen a little more drive specific information. Even then, the installation gets a 9 out of a possible 10.

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 v4.10 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 v4.10 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 DVD writer gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. While the SOHW-1673SU had some pretty decent transfer rates, its overall score and access time were not as good as some of the other DVD writers we've looked at.

CD Speed v4.10 - 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 SOHW-1673SU	Sony DRU-810A	NEC ND-3540A	Plextor PX-716A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.40x 21.51x 48.15x	36.39x 20.64x 48.13x	35.60x 20.56x 47.07x	35.46x 20.50x 46.90x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	127ms 141ms 211ms	106ms 123ms 176ms	125ms 137ms 213ms	102ms 120ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	2% 3% 6% 12%	1% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Lite-On's new DVD writer had some very good transfer speeds when reading pressed CD's. The SOHW-1673SU flew past the drives from the competition, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48.15x. Unfortunately, it also had the highest seek times out of the four drives here.

CD Speed v4.10 - 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 SOHW-1673SU 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. Unfortunately, its seek times were again a little high.

The SOHW-1673SU had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The drive read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48.38x.

CD Speed v4.10 - 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.

While the SOHW-1673SU can read pressed and CD-R media at 48x, its CD-RW read speeds are rated at only 32x. As you can see, it came up a little short of this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.10 - 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 SOHW-1673SU supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.

CD Speed	Lite-On SOHW-1673SU	Sony DRU-810A	NEC ND-3540A	Plextor PX-716A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.75x 21.77x 48.57x 10 Yes	36.76x 20.90x 48.59x 10 Yes	30.92x 17.99x 40.11x 10 Yes	31.45x 18.20x 41.55x 10 Yes

The SOHW-1673SU did very well in our DAE tests. While it wasn't able to top the drive from Sony, it gave it a run for its money thanks to a maximum DAE speed of 48.57x.

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 22.1x but came up a little short of 48x in the end.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.10 - 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 SOHW-1673SU 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 external writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.80x. The drive did not create any errors, but for whatever reason, it was not able to pass all of the on-the-fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the SOHW-1673SU 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 drivecan 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 SOHW-1673SU did fairly well here. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 59.8% 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 SOHW-1673SU 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.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 and DLA 4.95:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

 

Like the other drives, the SOHW-1673SU has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.70x and reached a maximum speed of 48.90x at the end of the session. This gave Lite-On's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 37.02x.

To test the SOHW-1673SU's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fujimedia rated at 48x. The results are below.

Lite-On's new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. With an average writing time of 2:34, the SOHW-1673SU was about 4 seconds faster than the Plextor PX-716A and a good 17 seconds faster than the drive from NEC.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The SOHW-1673SU's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the SOHW-1673SU uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 24x. The drive starts rewriting at about 16x and then jumps to its maximum speed at the 13 minute mark.

Lite-On's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due in part to its Z-CLV writing method, the SOHW-1673SU took 2:39 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:40 to do the same with DLA.

The SOHW-1673SU also erases at 24x. While it didn't have the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here, it was able to do a full erase in 4:02.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

The SOHW-1673SU performed pretty well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.66x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.24x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive also had some good seek times.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - 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 disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Lite-On's new drive wasn't nearly as fast when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In both cases, the SOHW-1673SU reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.1x.

Verbatim DVD-R DL

While not officially supported, the SOHW-1673SU had no problems reading Verbatim's new dual layer DVD-R media. In our tests, the drive started reading at 2.39x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 5.72x.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - 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 disc using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Lite-On's external writer was a little faster when reading DVD+R and DVD+RW media. This time around, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.3x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

While the SOHW-1673SU had no problems reading Verbatim's DVD+R DL media, it was not as fast as some of the other drives we've looked at. In our tests, it started reading at 2.39x and reached a maximum transfer speed of only 5.73x.

Nero CD Speed v4.10 - 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.

When reading single layer DVD videos, the SOHW-1673SU reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.08x. While not as fast as the drive from Plextor, this is still quite good. 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 8.24x.

To see how well the SOHW-1673SU worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 andDLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of Lite-On's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the SOHW-1673SU uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Lite-On's new drive starts writing at about 6.6x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed as it reaches the end of the disc.

The SOHW-1673SU also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

The SOHW-1673SU performed pretty well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing DVD-R and DVD+RW discs, it turned in some very good times with DVD+R and DVD-RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the SOHW-1673SU, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S (firmware JS07) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The SOHW-1673SU's writing quality was less than impressive. In most cases, the PI/PIF rates were much higher than we'd like to see, especially when scanned with the BenQ DW1640. This, and the high jitter rates, caused a number of readability problems.

The SOHW-1673SU's writing quality wasn't much better with DVD-R discs. The media from Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim yielded some fairly good results. However, when tested with the BenQ DW1640, the PI/PIF rates were considerably higher on the other discs.

To test the SOHW-1673SU's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

The SOHW-1673SU performed fairly well in our packet writing tests. It turned in some good writing times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media, but was not as fast as some of the other drives when reading back our test data.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the SOHW-1673SU, I used Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL and Memorex 2.4x DVD+R DL media. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

While rated at 2.4x, the SOHW-1673SU was able to write to both the Verbatim and Memorex media at 4x. This was a little surprising considering most drives write to Memorex's Ritek manufactured media at only 2.4x.

While no match for the other drives, the SOHW-167SU performed as expected, taking a little more than 26 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The SOHW-1673SU's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's .DVD+R DL media. While the CD Speed scans showed a sizeable PI spike at the layer change, the error rates were otherwise very low. The results with Memorex's Ritek manufactured media were also better than I expected. The PI/PIF rates were higher than what we saw with the Verbatim media. However, they remained within acceptable limits for the most part.

Performance Revisited:

Like its internal counterpart, the SOHW-1673SU's performance was pretty mixed. The drive held its own relatively well when writing to DVD±R and DVD±RW media. However, there were a number of cases where the writing quality could have been better. When it came to reading DVD's, the SOHW-1673SUwas able to read single layer data DVD's at 16x and most recordable media at 8x, but slowed to 5.7x when reading DVD±R DL discs.

The SOHW-1673SU also did pretty well in our CD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive had no problems reading pressed and CD-R media at 48x. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for the SOHW-1673SU either. The drive turned in some very impressive times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the SOHW-1673SU gets a 6 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

While the SOHW-1673SU isn't the fastest or most feature packed drive to come through the 'Labs, it's definitely one of the easiest to use. Thanks to Lite-On's new EZ-DUB technology, users can duplicate a disc or backup their data by pressing a button and following a few simple steps.

Like most of the DVD writers we've looked at lately, the SOHW-1673SU can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x. At this speed it took the drive a little more than 6 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD.Lite-On's new DVD writer also performed pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some impressive times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. Writing to DVD+R DL media wasn't a problem for the SOHW-1673SU either. While not as fast as some of the other drives we've looked at, it took less than 27 minutes to burn an entire 8.5GB DVD.

When it came to media compatibility and writing quality, the SOHW-1673SU gave us some mixed results. The drive wrote to most of our test media at its rated speeds, but like Lite-On's previous 16x DVD writers, it was not able to write to any 8x DVD±R discs at 16x. More concerning was the SOHW-1673SU's writing quality. While the results were acceptable at slower speeds, the PI/PIF rates increased considerably when writing at 16x. Hopefully, Lite-On can fix this in a future firmware update.

The SOHW-1673SU performed pretty well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some relatively good seek times. Lite-On's new DVD writer had no problems reading recordable media either. In our tests, it was able to read DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW media at a respectable 8x but slowed to only 5.7x when reading DVD+R DL discs.

Reading and writing CD's wasn't a problem for the SOHW-1673SU either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at 48x and CD-RW discs at 31x. It also did very well in our DAE tests, reaching speeds as high as 48x. As a writer, the SOHW-1673SU performed as expected. The drive turned in some impressive times thanks to its 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds and its writing quality was quite good.

The SOHW-1673SU also has its share of features. Along with a 2MB buffer, it has many of the features we've come to expect from Lite-On, including their SMART-BURN, SMART-X and Vibration Absorber System (or VAS) technologies. The drive also has a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media. Most notable, though, is the SOHW-1673SU's EZ-DUB technology. While the software might be a little too simplistic for some power users, it made copying discs and backing up files a quick and easy process.

I should point out that while the SOHW-1673SU has just started to ship here in the US, Lite-On has already unveiled a newer version of the EZ-DUB, the SHW-1635SU. Along with support for the DVD-R DL format, the SHW-1635SU brings 8x DVD+R DL writing speeds to the table. For those that don't need these features, the SOHW-1673SU can be found for about $100-$120 on Pricegrabber.

Highs:

• Supports Lite-On's EZ-DUB technology
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW mediaat 8x
• Good transfer speeds with pressed and CD-R media
• Features 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds
• Excellent DAE speeds
• Features Lite-On's SMART-BURN, SMART-X and VAS technologies
• Supports 99 minute media
• Good CD writing quality
• Includes software from Nero and CyberLink
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
• Easy to install thanks to USB 2.0 interface

Lows:

• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R media
• Cannot write to 8x DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD+R DL media at only 5.7x
• Reads CD-RW media at only 32x
• Has a 2048KB buffer
• Does not support DVD-R DL