LiteON SOHW-832S Dual DVD±RW Recorder - Page 13

In the following screenshots you can see the PI/PIF scans for the DVD-R/RW media we burned with the LiteOn SOHW-832S. The software we used for all measurements is the KProbe v2.1.0, and the reader is a LiteOn LDW-811S with "HS0Q patched" firmware, being able to read DVD±R/RW media up to 8X CAV. All scans have been performed at 8X with PI/PIF Sum8. Note that LiteOn drives cannot report PO but PIF errors, despite what KProbe reports. In addition all discs have been scanned with PX-712A v1.01 using PlexTools v2.13 for comparison levels.

Comparing the KProbe/PlexTools scans we can see major differences at the reported PI/PIF error rates. The main explanation is that we have two different readers, with different pickup/chipset combination, scanning at different reading speeds (8X CAV for KProbe, 2X CLV for PlexTools). Its interesting to see the disc scanned at low & high speed, since when error rate increases at a specific disc area, it should appear at both scans...else it would be, perhaps, a reading glitch of the tested reader.

Note: PI/PIF errors only give us a quick look at the error rate of the burned media. Those scans should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality but as an indication level.

• DVD-R Media

BenQ 4X DVD-R @ 4X

Plextor PX-W712A cannot mount disc!

Maxell 8X DVD-R @ 8X

MMore 4X DVD-R @ 4X

That's 4X DVD-R @ 4X

TraxData 4X DVD-R @ 4X

TraxData 8X DVD-R @ 8X

Plextor drive stops reading around 2.5GB since the PI error rate is too high...

Verbatim 4X DVD-R @ 4X

Verbatim 8X DVD-R @ 8X

MKM 4X DVD-RW @ 4X

TraxData 4X DVD-RW @ 4X

- Summary

The SOHW-832S is quite unstable with DVD-R, since it "managed" to produce 2 beer coasters at 8X while not reaching very good quality with the rest of the burned media. Certainly, this issue should be looked at by LiteON engineers and fixed in the near future with upcoming firmware upgrades.

- Appendix