X-bit labs

LiteOn SOHW-1213S Dual DVD±RW Recorder Review (page 10)

Category: Storage

by Vasily Melnik

[ 10/08/2004 | 12:04 PM ]

Now, let’s deal with rewritable media.

  

DVD+RW written at 2.4x speed

The result is excellent for this type of media. The PI/PO error levels are comparable to write-once media, and that’s a real achievement. There’s just a minor increase of PI/PO errors at the end of the disc. But this never affects the reading of the written disc – there are no speed slumps or beats.

  

DVD+RW written at 4x speed

The disc burn graph speaks for itself. The level of PI errors is rather high at 4x, higher than the acceptable 280 at the first half of the disc. In fact, this result can be called normal for rewritable media, but still the quality is bad, if we compared it to the quality of the 2.4x disc and the results of the Plextor PX-712A. The PO errors are few, giving no cause to complain. The disc is read without problems.

  

DVD-RW written at 2x speed

The quality of the disc written at the lowest speed is excellent and better than with the DVD+RW written at 2.4x. The PI/PO error levels are low, only slightly increasing at the end of the disc. The burn process and the reading of the disc provoke no problems.

  

DVD-RW written at 4x speed

Like with the DVD+RW disc, the transition to 4x speed negatively affected the quality of the written medium. In fact, there few PO errors, while the PI error level comes close to 280 but never goes over the acceptable limit. But still, the burn quality is worse here, although this doesn’t affect the read process – the written disc was read without any problems.

Summarizing the rewritable media quality section, I should note that the Lite-On SOHW-1213S does burning excellently at the minimal speed. But this quality degenerates significantly as you switch to 4x. It is acceptable, though, and the discs are read without problems, but there’s still a rather high level of PI errors.