detail information

Reading performance:

For these tests we will use Nero CD-DVD Speed to read various types of CD and DVD media. As already mentioned in the introduction, this drive supports:

• DVD-ROM : 16x
• CD-ROM : 48x 

Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing Nero Ultra Edition OEM install CD that is close to 77 minutes long. Below you will see the produced result:

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S reached 47.95x on this pressed CD. Let's compare the result in the table below:

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S performance was above average when reading a pressed CD-ROM.

CD-Recordable Discs:

For this test we made a copy of the original Nero Ultra Edition OEM install CD. The disc we used was a RiDATA 48X certified CD-R disc manufactured by RiTEK. 

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S out-performed the comparative drives on the CD-R read test.

* Some drives including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually moving the pickup.

CD-Rewritable discs:

Again, we made a copy of the original Nero Ultra Edition OEM install CD. The disc we used was a Maxell 4x-12x certified CD-RW disc manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation. 

As we can see, the Lite-On SHM-165H6S is locked at around 32x when reading a CD-RW. Now let's compare it to some other drives below.

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S performance can be considered average when reading a CD-RW disc.

* Some drives including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually moving the pickup.

Audio - Digital Audio Extraction:

We used Nero CD-DVD Speed to measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is a bit smaller than the disc used for the other tests, to be more precise, it is 74 minutes long (74:00:00).

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S is capable of exceeding 48x when reading CD-DA. Let's compare the result with some other drives:

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S performance is above average on the Audio-CD.

* Some drives including the NU HDW-164 will simply execute the seek command without actually moving the pickup.

As a last test we used Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to extract the audio to our hard drive. According to EAC, the Lite-On SHM-165H6S drive supports caching, which is considered a negative while ripping digital audio, it also shows support for C2 error reporting.

Below is the result produced by EAC:

Burst mode

Secure mode

The drives performance in burst mode is very good but results show it is extremely slow when in secure mode.

Advanced audio - DAE quality test:

Before we move on to testing DVD read speeds, we will make a last digital audio test. This time we used the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test' feature in CD-DVD Speed. For this test we used a CD-R DA media from Memorex.

The digital audio extracting quality is excellent and the drive is reported to support all advanced features.

DVD reading performance:

For DVD reading performance we will again use Nero CD-DVD Speed to measure the reading performance for various types of DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at 16X.

DVD - DVD-Video:

For our DVD reading performance tests we are going to start with a single layer and double layer DVD video discs. While only 1X speed is required to watch DVD movies it is useful to be able to read the discs at higher speeds if you're going to extract (rip) the content of the disc to your hard drive.

DVD-Video Single Layer

DVD-Video Double Layer

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S reads DVD-Video Single Layer at a full 16x but is locked at 8x when reading Double/Dual Layer pressed discs.

Now let's test a pressed DVD-ROM disc. For this test we used SONY's ATV Off Road Fury 2 Playstation 2 game disc.

The Lite-On SHM-165H6S will reach 16x when reading a pressed DVD-ROM.