detail information

Positive:

• Excellent write quality with CD-R/RW media
• Excellent write quality with most DVD+R media
• Supports LightScribe labeling system
• Supports DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x
• Supports DVD+R DL/-R DL at 8x/4x writing speed
• Can write DVD+R DL certified media at higher speed
• Excellent CD-R reading performance
• Excellent DAE performance
• Very good CD-R over-burning capabilities
• Supports auto bitsetting for DVD+R/RW/+R DL (booktype to DVD-ROM)
• Can read Pressed DVD-ROM/DVD-Video SL/DL at 16x/12x
• 'Two Sheep" writer plus Safedisc 2.90
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Supports Mini DVD-R/RW discs
• Good software package
• Extra 'black" bezel included in the package

Negative:

• Does not support Mt. Rainier
• Read speed is locked at 12x for DVD-R media
• Some CD-R discs burn slower than their rated speed
• Single colored LED for read/write
• Write quality on some DVD-R media's could be improved
• Only supports 24x write speed on CD-RW
• Does not over-speed DVD±R media
• Some DVD+R DL media are not fully supported by the drive
• Write quality on some DVD+R DL media needs to be improved
• Small buffer size

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: DVD+R writing quality and media support is excellent with the Lite-On SHW-16H5S. As far as DVD+R writing quality goes, this drive can hold its own with any other drive on the block.

CD-R writing quality is also excellent, and some very impressive write times were measured during this review. The write quality with CD-RW is also excellent, although limited to 24x maximum write speed.

DVD±RW write quality was very good with our tested media.

Digital Audio extraction and quality was extremely impressive with the Lite-On SHW-16H5S, perhaps the best performing drive of them all in this department.

The Lite-On SHW-16H5S was also a very capable reader; CD-R read performance was excellent.

The LightScribe feature is also very well implemented and very capable of very good results.

The Nero OEM and Power DVD software package is excellent, with a nice balance of ease of use and useful features, for both the beginner and more experienced user.

The main negative points: There are not many negative things to say about the Lite-On SHW 16H5S. DVD-R write quality needs some improvement; many of our tested DVD-R media had high error levels near the end of the disc.

Reading performance with DVD-R media is also a little slow with the SHW-16H5S locked at 12x read speed, while DVD+R media can be read at 16x

CD-RW write speed is also limited to 24x. This is not such a great problem as the time taken to write a CD-RW media at 24x or not much greater than a CD-RW disc written at 32x.

The Lite-On SHW-16H5S does not allow any DVD±R media to be burned faster than its rated speed (over-speed)

A minor negative is the single coloured LED for read and write (we prefer different colours for read/write) and a small buffer size.

To sum it all up, this is what we would say: 'Lite-On are back, the SHW-16H5S is a very good all around package with very few weaknesses" With better DVD-R write quality, this drive would be near unbeatable.

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we were unable to locate a listed price for the SHW-16H5S (December 2005). 

You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread

Thanks to:

Bell Technology spol s.r.o. - Czech Republic for providing the media used in this review.

SVP Communications - The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Conrexx Technology B.V./RITEK Europe - The Netherlands for providing the media used in this review.

Medea International - United Kingdom for providing the Infiniti and HP media used in this review

Ricoh Europe - For providing the media used in this review.

Verbatim - Germany and United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

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.

Daxon (Taiwan) for providing the Daxon media used in this review.