Article index
Author
Conclusion
Positive:
- Generally good/excellent DVD±R/RW writing quality and performance.
- Very good DVD±R DL writing quality
- Generally good CD-R/RW writing quality.
- Can burn selected DVD±R media faster than its rated speed.
- Excellent CD and DVD reading performance and reliability.
- Reads pressed DVD Video SL/DL and recordable media at 16x/12x.
- Supports BitSetting (BookType DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/RW/DL.
- Supports Disc Quality Scanning.
- Supports SmartErase.
- Excellent third party support here on CD Freaks.
- Very quiet at 24x writing speed.
- Can read and write mini DVD media.
Negative:
· DVD±R writing quality on a few media could be improved.
· Questionable writing quality on selected CD-R media.
Conclusion:
Let us summarise the most important positive and negative points below:
The main positive points:
The Lite-On iHAS324 is a fast drive as far as writing CD-R and DVD±R media is concerned, recording some of the fastest times on CD-R and DVD±R discs burned in our reviews.
The Lite-On iHAS324 wrote our tested DVD±R media with generally excellent quality
The Lite-On iHAS324 is a feature rich drive, with SmartErase adding to the drive’s appeal.
Reading performance and reliability was excellent. The iHAS324 would make an excellent CD-Audio and DVD-Video ripper.
Lite-On Disc Quality Scanning has become legendary here on CD Freaks and the iHAS324 will not disappoint in this department.
Our retail drive was also supplied with Nero Essentials 8, and should be very capable of meeting most people’s media burning requirements.
The main negative points:
Not many negative points to the Lite-On iHAS324 at all. There were some questionable results concerning writing quality, with selected CD-R/DVD R media. We hope this can rectified with a firmware update.
24x burning speed seemed more like a gimmick than a genuinely useful feature, and the iHAS324 could only burn one DVD+R media at this speed and one DVD-R media at this speed.
To sum up, this is what we would say:
“Good feature set and not too many negative points, the Lite-On iHAS324 is generally an excellent drive”
Because of the good feature set and generally good writing quality across the main media groups, we decided to award the Lite-On iHAS324 our CD Freaks “Safe Buy” award.
You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread.
Thanks to:
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SVP Communication – The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review. |
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Medea International – United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review. |
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Verbatim – United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review. |
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Daxon Technology Inc – Taiwan for providing the BenQ media used in this article. |
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Pleomax for providing the media used in this review. |
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Ricoh Europe – For providing the media used in this review. |
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For providing the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world. |
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Fengtao software – For providing a full DVD Fab license. |
18 Comments on Lite-On iHAS324 review
Saw two things:
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The Lite-On iHAS324 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at 10X. This gives an average speed of 6.23x and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 55 seconds. The Lite-On iHAS324 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at 10X. This gives an average speed of 6.36x and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 48 seconds. |
| Now let’s head to the special features page where we will check out LightScribe and SmartErase… |
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Summary: The Optiarc AD-7240S burns DVD+R media with generally good to very good quality and even at 24x burning speed the results were surprisingly good, however only one media type is certified for burning at 24x speed on the AD-7240S. On our tested DVD+RW media, writing quality was good too but there is still some room for improvement on the 6x writing strategies. |
Regarding the 24x writing speed.
I didn't author the Optiarc review, if i had, i would have called the 24x writing speed a gimmick on that drive as well (subjective opinion). as i did with the iHAS422 review with its 22x writing speed.
I'll also continue to call this feature a gimmick on any further reviews, where a drive burns a single media +R or -R at the highest speed, to simply add a 24x sticker on the box.
I see your Optiarc AD-7200A review didn't mention it and it only burns 1 DVD+R and 1 available DVD-R at 20x.
My comment about 24X burning on Taiyo Yuden 16X +R and -R was that in this case the "gimmick" is actually a pretty good one. It's fun to burn a disc in less than 4:00 minutes; for this "cdFreak" anyway.
In any case I like my new burner and I enjoyed your review, Dee. Thanks again for your efforts. If you have the time could you please send me a few more photos? If your avatar is any indication you're my kind of girl.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/17787-d...a-gimmick.html
@Steven2874.
It's only an avatar.
I have dark hair, not red, and i'm rather flat chested.
I'm glad you took my comments in the spirit intended- with tongue firmly in cheek
I too have dark hair and am flat-chested so we have a lot in common. Well, my hair used to be dark...
But sofar no dice.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f20/cdfreak...ml#post2414025
PS. Firefox's spellchecker thought I was trying to type "Smartypants" LOL!
@eyeman
I think both drives are about equal for quality when writing CD-R/RW. They are both able to burn good quality media with excellent writing quality.
The poorer quality media that both drives had some problems with, could probably be fixed with a firmware update. or better still, stick to good quality media.
So, even though most people are interested in how fast a drive can burn, it is important to look at the other end of the spectrum, especially with RW discs that can be used for years.
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