Holiday Shopping Roundup: Eight Dual Format Recordable DVD Drives
by Kristopher Kubicki on December 11, 2003 10:54 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
LiteOn LDW-411S
LiteOn might not make the highest quality of components, but it would not be fair if we didn't say that they kept everyone else's prices honest. The drive came with an average software package, including PowerDVD and Sonic MyDVD The LDW-411S is slightly interesting because it is one of the few DVDRW drives that comes in a shorter format. Edit: We overlooked that the drive also comes packaged with Sonic RecordNow and DLA.| LiteOn LDW-411S DVD-/+R Drive | |
| Interface | IDE |
| CD Write Speed | 40X. 32X, 24X (PCAV) 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speed | 24X (PCAV) 16X, 10X, 4X (CLV) |
| CD Read Speed | 40X Max (CAV) |
| DVD-R Write Speed | 4X, 2X, 1X (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Rewrite Speed | 2X, 1X (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speed | 4X, 2.4X (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Rewrite Speed | 4X, 2.4X (CLV) |
| DVD Read Speed | 12X Max (CAV) |
| Supported Modes | DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96 TAO SAO / SAO 16 & 96 Packet Write Multi-Session |
| Supported Formats | DVD+R (incremental) DVD+RW (random) DVD-R (DAO, incremental, multi-border) DVD-RW (restricted overwrite) CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-ROM XA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, Mount Rainer |
| Access Time | CD: 140ms DVD: 160ms |
| Buffer | 2MB |
Surprisingly, the specifications of the drive are quite good. Access time and read speeds are all fairly average, but this burner will ultimately win our price award as it costs less than $100. Of course, the real question is whether or not LiteOn can bring quality with this incredibly affordable price tag. Technical support is also going to be a big factor for this drive.
There are quite a few sources claiming that you can flash the firmware on a LDW-401S into an LDW-411S. If you have an LDW-401S, your drive is probably quite capable of upgrading into the same drive that we used in this review.
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rms - Saturday, December 13, 2003 - link
Why was there no identification/information on the physical drive used in these products? I'm disappointed.rms
artifex - Saturday, December 13, 2003 - link
Have you noticed that if you rip the ISO with DVDD, you need to burn it with that? I had trouble reading a DVD that I burned using Nero, but when I went back to DVDD for the burn it worked fine.KristopherKubicki - Saturday, December 13, 2003 - link
I use K3B and DVDTools for linux as well. Nero is good, depends on what you end up doing with it though. For ISOs and GIs, DVD Decryptor and Alcohol 120% are my particular choice of poisons.Cheers,
Kristopher
sprockkets - Saturday, December 13, 2003 - link
Haha, for some stupid reason that Sonic Software that came with my Lite On DVD+RW only drive said a new disc was already full or something stupid. Used nero from my other drive and works fine. Nero rocks, of course, under linux with SuSE and K3B and DVDtools it works fine too. Burns for me took around 13.5 min.KristopherKubicki - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Belzer, I emailed Nic about it. I was in fact using 2.24Kristopher
artifex - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Hmmm turns out my drive is identical to the BTC 1004IM. What can I say? I don't see any drives using that base in the comparison either, though I hardly feel prejudiced against, like the Lite-On people :)Anyway, looks like it does what I need it to, even has Mount Rainier support (My RW5125A didn't according to DVDinfoPro), for 1/2 the Plextor or Sony, so I should live with it for a while, right? I mean... I'm used to burning DVDs at 2.4x anyway, and now I can use the - formats (yuck, if I have to).
Belzer - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Kristopher: I think the MCC 003 should be identified as 8x in the latest (2.24) version of DVDInfoPro too.artifex - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Jeez, over $10? They must have a built-in Hollywood tax planned.I decided I couldn't wait. Fry's had a weird "Emprex" +- brand on sale for $90 before tax here in Dallas. I figure for under $100, I'll not worry about burning it up before Blu-ray... or whatever competes against it.
I'll let you know how it works... so far I see the websites on the box don't have any info on the drive :( It does seem to have a reasonably complete set of software, though. If nothing else, I can use it a little while and exchange it.
KristopherKubicki - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Belzer: Youre probably right. In DVD Info Pro, I got this (14)http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/storage/roundu...
Looks like the discs are just ahead of their time ;)
Kristopher
Belzer - Friday, December 12, 2003 - link
Thanks for the update, Kristopher! Sorry if I sounded rude in my last post.About the Verbatim media:
MCC 001 = 2.4x, MCC 002 = 4x, MCC 003 = 8x
Check Philips' list with approved media:
http://www.licensing.philips.com/services/db/midco...
or check this thread:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13821
or check Plextor's list of compatible media:
http://www.plextor.com/english/support/media_708Co...
or check for yourself with DVDIdentifier:
http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/
Verbatim probably hadn't the new 8x box art available yet so my guess is that they put the sample discs they sended to you in an old case.