Test machine

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK P5K (Intel P35 chipset)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• RAM: 4 GB OCZ Platinum dual channel kit DDR2 800
• GFX: BFG nVidia 8800GTS (640 Megabytes GDDR3 HDCP compliant)
• Sound: Onboard Realtek ALC882 HD audio controller
• Hard disk: 2X 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (SATA 2)
• Case: ThermalTake Armor (silver)
• PSU: Enermax Liberty 620W
• Display: Samsung Syncmaster CX226BW 22” widescreen (HDCP compliant)
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit)

System setup:

The Lite-On LH-20A1L was connected to a SATA channel on the motherboards ICH9 SATA controller. As we can see from the above screenshot, Nero InfoTool reports the Lite-On LH-20A1L as a UDMA5 device.

And another screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Lite-On LH-20A1L supports DVD-RAM read/write and LightScribe direct to disc labelling. The drive came shipped with firmware version BL05.

Installed software:

• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• KProbe
• SureThing Labeller

Our review PC has Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit installed.

Features and techniques

Software Bundle:

Now let’s take a look at the supplied software bundle. Please note, we may not use any of this software in this review.

The supplied software CD-ROM

Nero 7 Essentials offers, the following applications.

• Nero 7 Express Essentials
• Nero Showtime 3 Essentials
• Nero Vision 4 Essentials
• Nero Recode 2 Essentials
• Nero InCD 5 Essentials
• Drivers and drive manuals

The software bundle is very good, up to date and should provide a good starting point for any new user as well as the more advanced user.

Disc Quality Scanning:

The Lite-On LH-20A1L can be used along with KProbe or Nero CD-Speed for “Disc Quality Scanning”.

Disc Quality Scan at 4x scanning speed using CD-Speed.

Disc Quality Scan at 4x scanning speed using KProbe.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L could be considered a useful drive for Disc Quality Scanning. The results seem fairly consistent with those of other Lite-On drives scanning at 4x

BookType (Bitsetting):

The Lite-On LH-20A1L supports full bit-setting and supports Bit-Setting on DVD+R/RW/+R DL media types.

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R DL with BookType DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing technique

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Lite-On LH-20A1L:

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 37.31x and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 36 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Lite-On LH-20A1L was the fastest drive when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the LITE-ON LH-20A1L, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 24.99x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 43 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Lite-On LH-20A1L was one of the slowest drives when writing CD-RW media.

20x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 20x.

DVD+R

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.68x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 2 seconds.

DVD-R

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.70x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 4 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the Lite-On LH-20A1L was one of the fastest drives when writing DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.23x and a total writing time of 8 minutes and 3 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Lite-On LH-20A1L was about average at writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 5.75x and a total writing time of 11 minutes and 05 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Lite-On LH-20A1L was the slowest drive when writing DVD-RW media.

8x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.78x and a total writing time of 17 minutes and 56 seconds.

8x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.79x and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 42 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Lite-On LH-20A1L was about average when writing double layer media.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Lite-On LH-20A1L, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12x.

The Lite-On LH-20A1L uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 9.99x and a total writing time of 6 minutes and 27 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Lite-On LH-20A1L was the slowest drive when writing DVD-RAM media.

Summary:

There is no doubt that the Lite-On LH-20A1L has excellent writing performance. CD-R writing speed was the fastest we have seen and DVD R writing performance was also very good.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance….

Introduction

Reading performance