Lite-On SHW-1635S review

DVD+R Double Layer writing speed and compatibility:

The Lite-On SHW-1635S supports 8x DVD+R DL writing, let us see how good it really is.

Testing procedure: We used Nero CD-DVD Speed to create a test disc, this way we could also see the writing strategy the drive uses.

Lite-On SHW-1635S doesn’t support any current double layer media at 8x and we were thus not able to test the writing speed and quality at 8x. You could read the preview for a result when using a hacked firmware to write Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL at 8x. Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL is officially supported at 4x and written using CLV technology, this gives a writing time of about 27 minutes for a full disc. We would like to see this media supported at 8x like most other drives capable of 8x DVD+R DL do.

The result is very good, but that was expected, as the writing speed is only 4x. We would like to see 8x writing speed with this media.

A surprisingly good result with this rather problematic media. Looks like the Lite-On is really fully calibrated for this media.

Another variable media type and the error level on the second layer is higher than we would like to see.

A very good result, also consider that the disc wrote at 4x. The sample disc we used was heavily scratched too as the media got heavily damaged during shipping, since the result is still acceptably good we choose to include the result anyway ‘“ the reading issues around the layer change is likely to be caused by the scratches as they are clearly visible on the outer edge of the disc.

Here are some comparison results against other drives:

*Default book type of the drive is DVD+R DL, the book type must be manually changed to DVD-ROM using for example Lite-On’s own booktype setting tool. This is a negative point in our opinion as many users/buyers will not know what booktype and bitsetting is. Setting the booktype to DVD-ROM is essential for the disc to play on many standalone players.

Summary: Lite-On SHW-1635S gives very good writing quality with most DVD+R DL media types. But we would like to see MKM001 DVD+R DL media supported at 8x as well as automatic DVD-ROM bitsetting as a default setting.

DVD-R Dual Layer writing speed and compatibility:

The Lite-On SHW-1635S supports 4x DVD-R dual layer writing speed; let us take a look at writing speed and writing quality.

Testing procedure: We used Nero CD-DVD Speed to create a test disc, this way we could also see the writing strategy the drive uses.

Lite-On SHW-1635S uses CLV to write the DVD-R DL disc at 4x. This gives a total recording time of 27 minutes and 34 seconds ‘“ as expected with 4x writing speed. We would still like to see 6x writing speed like Pioneer and NEC offers.

Very good, although not the best we have seen with this media.

Summary: Verbatim DVD-R DL works well with this drive, but we would like to see 6x/8x DVD-R DL speed like NEC/Pioneer offers with their latest drives.

Before we complete this review, let us run the drive through some advanced tests at next page…