Positive:

• Excellent/very good CD-R/RW writing quality and compatibility.
• Excellent/good DVD±R/RW writing quality.
• Excellent DVD+R DL writing quality.
• Excellent reading performance on most media types.
• Can burn DVD±R media faster than its rated speed.
• Reads pressed DVD Video SL/DL at 16x/12x
• Supports BitSetting (BookType DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/RW/DL.
• Supports Disc Quality Scanning with KProbe and CD-Speed.
• Excellent community support here on CD Freaks.
• Good software bundle
• Extra black and silver bezels supplied as standard with the retail package.

Negative:

• DVD-R DL writing quality needs improving.
• DVD-RAM writing quality needs improving.
• Long lead-in times hamper writing performance.
• Single coloured read/write LED

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points:

The Lite-On LH-20A1S was able to burn all our tested CD-R/RW media with excellent/very good quality and media compatibility was also excellent.

DVD±R/RW writing quality was also of a very high standard and on most media very good indeed.

The Lite-On LH-20A1S was also able to burn DVD±R media at faster than its rated speed, and overall burning performance with DVD±R media was very good indeed. Recording some of the fastest write times we have seen.

The Lite-On LH-20A1S is also a very good drive if you wish to use the drive for Disc Quality Scanning. Lite-On drives enjoy very good support here on CD Freaks forums.

The software bundle is also of a high standard and should provide all the essential tools for burning CD and DVD media.

The retail package also comes equipped with extra silver and black bezels

The main negative points:

There are not many negative things to say about the Lite-On LH-20A1S. DVD-R DL burning quality needs improving, as does DVD-RAM writing quality.

The long lead-in times when burning DVD±R holds back writing performance, had the lead-in not taken so long, the drive would have been able to burn at 20x in under 5 minutes.

We would also like to see different coloured LED’s being used for read/write.

To sum up, this is what we would say:

“The Lite-On LH-20A1S has a great feature set and burns most media with very good quality”.

You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread.

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