The specifications of the Lite-On iHAS324 state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data writing tests, we simply burned a full disc using CD-Speed (create data disc) function and burned the discs at the maximum speed allowed.

Write quality:

We will test CD-R discs from many different CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the “create data CD” function in Nero CD-Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used Nero CD-Speed’s Disc Quality Scan and combined this with a Transfer Rate Test to test if the resulting disc was readable. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. We used a Lite-On SOHR-5238S drive with firmware 4S09 and scanned the discs at 48X speed.

There is more than one way to handle C1 and C2 error detection/correction, but a simple and common way is to detect and correct up to two errors per frame in each stage and detect three or more errors:

• E11: 1 error detected and corrected by C1 layer
• E21: 2 errors detected and corrected by C1 layer
• E31: 3 or more errors detected but not corrected by C1 layer

The sum of these (per second) is called the Block Error Rate: BLER=E11+E21+E31

• E32: 3 or more errors detected but not corrected by C2 layer

Any E31 is un-correctable by the C1 layer and will result in the bytes in that frame being redistributed into multiple frames which are passed to the C2 layer.

Any E32 is un-correctable by the C2 layer and will result in interpolation being used for Audio CDs or will result in third layer error correction being used for Data CDs.

Different drives have different ways of reporting these errors in a Disc Quality scan. Lite-On CD-RW drives will report C1 and C2 errors this way:

• C1=BLER=E11+E21+E31
• C2=E32

Here is an easier way to look at Disc Quality Scanning:

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive’s error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive’s error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

In short, our analysis will be based on this guideline to determine the quality of the burned disc:

CD-R/RW quality scans guideline

Below are the obtained results:

Brand:	Unbranded Printable. Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Country Of Origin	Japan
Code:	97m24s01f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.72 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	2m:43s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.44
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

An excellent result to start our CD-R tests.

Brand:	Infiniti Printable – Thanks to Medea International (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	SKC
Code:	97m26s26f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.09 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	2m:42s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.41
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

The result is excellent.

Brand:	Maxell – Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	RiTec (made in Taiwan)
Code:	97m15s17f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	2m:44s
C1 Average/Sec:	2.75
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The result is very good.

Brand:	Verbatim Super AZ0+Crystal DL – Thanks to Verbatim UK for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	97m34s23f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 3: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	2m:44s
C1 Average/Sec:	6.07
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

The result is ok, although C1 errors are high at the end of the disc.

Brand:	HP – Thanks to Medea International (UK) for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics
Country Of Origin	Taiwan
Code:	97m26s66f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.71 (703 MB)
Certified Speed:	52x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	4m:06s
C1 Average/Sec:	2.33
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The result is although there is a clump of C1 errors near the start of the disc, and a single C2 error near the end. Also note the writing speed was reduced during the writing process of the disc. We tried several times, and the result was always the same.

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Brand:	Verbatim Ultra speed 32x – Thanks to Verbatim UK for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Country Of Origin	Taiwan
Code:	97m34s25f
Disc Type:	Ultra Speed CD-RW 32x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	32x
Write Speed:	32x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	3m:52s
C1 Average/Sec:	2.86
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

The result is very good.

Summary:

CD-R writing quality is generally good to excellent however, there was at least one result from the HP media that needs to be improved upon. CD-RW writing quality on our tested media was very good. Writing performance is excellent, this really is a very fast drive when writing CD-R media

Now let’s head on to the next page where we will test DVD recordable performance….

• Reading performance
• DVD+R/RW Writing performance