Lite-On SOHW-832s
Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:47 pm
Lite-On SOHW-832S
The days of single-layer DVD burners are numbered. The Lite-On 8X DVD Dual ReWriter SOHW-832S supports not only the Big Four media formats--DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW--it's also one of the first drives to write to double-layer discs. These high-capacity 8.5GB discs can hold twice as much data or video as standard, single-layer DVDs. Still, the double-layer experience wasn't all we had hoped it would be; double-layer media burns at only 2.4X, a relatively slow proposition at 3.32MB per second, especially when compared to today's 8X (11.08MB per second) single-layer burn speed. Furthermore, the double-layer discs we burned failed to play in many of the other PC-attached burners we tested, and they also bombed in a few of the set-top DVD players we tried. In other words, the double-layer movies you burn with this drive probably won't play in every machine. But the SOHW-832S did let us experience the joy of copying discs without having to strip or split content, and we look forward to the maturation of double-layer technology. The SOHW-832S costs about $50 less than Sony's similar DRU-700A drive (as of July 2004) and about as much as many other 8X single-layer-only DVD burners. So, if the incomplete documentation isn't enough to turn you off and you don't mind investing extra cash for a technology that isn't quite there yet, this drive is one of the better double-layer deals around.
The days of single-layer DVD burners are numbered. The Lite-On 8X DVD Dual ReWriter SOHW-832S supports not only the Big Four media formats--DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RW--it's also one of the first drives to write to double-layer discs. These high-capacity 8.5GB discs can hold twice as much data or video as standard, single-layer DVDs. Still, the double-layer experience wasn't all we had hoped it would be; double-layer media burns at only 2.4X, a relatively slow proposition at 3.32MB per second, especially when compared to today's 8X (11.08MB per second) single-layer burn speed. Furthermore, the double-layer discs we burned failed to play in many of the other PC-attached burners we tested, and they also bombed in a few of the set-top DVD players we tried. In other words, the double-layer movies you burn with this drive probably won't play in every machine. But the SOHW-832S did let us experience the joy of copying discs without having to strip or split content, and we look forward to the maturation of double-layer technology. The SOHW-832S costs about $50 less than Sony's similar DRU-700A drive (as of July 2004) and about as much as many other 8X single-layer-only DVD burners. So, if the incomplete documentation isn't enough to turn you off and you don't mind investing extra cash for a technology that isn't quite there yet, this drive is one of the better double-layer deals around.