Lite-On SOHW-1673SU EZ-DUB 16x DVD±RW

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.