48x CD-RW Combo Roundup Vol.1 - Page 17

Conclusion

Both drives performed quite well in the reading part of CD and DVD media. The 48x CAV reading speed for CD-R/ROM media was easily achieved and the reported seek times were low and compliant to the specifications of each drive. The supported DAE speed was the maximum 48x for both drives. Furthermore, the Optorite DC4801 was faster than the LiteOn drive in the reading tests of 24x CD-RW media, supporting the maximum 48x CAV speed.

The single layer DVD-ROM media were read at 16x CAV, while the supported speed for dual layer DVD-ROM's was 8x CAV. However, the Optorite drive was slightly slower in the particular reading tests, giving a 7x CAV speed. Reading of DVD±R/RW discs was fully supported at 8x CAV. As a comment to Optorite's performance, we could say that the seek times with DVD media could be lower. In addition, the LiteOn drive ripped the DVD contents to the hard disk at 6.7x , on average, while Optorite DC4801 was slower here achieving only a speed of only 1.7x.

Both drives did not face any problems with the defected / scratched DVD-ROM discs. The LiteOn drive performed very well and read the disc contents accurately. The Optorite drive was also accurate, with an exception when reading a scratched dual-layer DVD-Video disc. According to the CDSpeed, the drive lowered the reading speed at the second layer, finished the test slowly and it seems that some read errors did occur.

The DAE results with scratched / defected CD-ROM media were also very interesting. Both drives read the disc contents fast, but the produced .wav files were not accurate, containing many errors. In this area, the Optorite drive seems to have a better error concealing behavior than the LiteOn LTC48161H. The situation was different with respect to the ABEX TCD-726 disc (black dots, fingerprints), since this one was accurately read by both drives. Note that none of the drives retrieve C2 error information with a 100% accuracy.

In the writing part, the supported 48x CAV speed offered low CD-R writing times. The drives recorded most of the discs we used at the maximum respective speeds, but the writing quality was not always high. The 3T jitter measurements showed that the Optorite drive introduces high jitter values in the maximum speeds, while the LiteOn LTC48161H gave better results.

Last, we should mention that the Optorite DC4801 is not able to create working SafeDisc v2.80 backups (SD v2.60 works fine), and the LiteOn drive is certainly one of the alternative options for this task.

Optorite DC4801 is available to the market at a price of $55-60, and LiteOn LTC48161H can be found at a similar price range of about $55-65.