Advantages: Cheap, can be made multi-region. Works well. PC Pro Best Buy Disadvantages: Doesn't alter the fact that dual layer media is not cheap! Possible dual-layer compatibility issues with home DVD players
AOpen spring to mind alongside LiteON. On closer inspection of the small print on the case, LiteOn does indeed turn out to be a Taiwanese division of JVC.
LiteON does have one advantage over the 'rest' and that's the existence of a little utility programme called "LtnRPC.exe" which is a free download from the web, and therefore, no doubt very little to do with LiteOn themselves.
This file only important if you watch movies on your PC, and if your DVDs come from more than one DVD 'region'. Regions were intended to carve the Earth up, geographically, with the intention of gearing DVD movie availability to real movie circulation, usually resulting in the DVD being issued some time after the box-office returns have been milked for all they're worth.
Intended or not, the effect is to prevent us buying US-import DVDs (at lower prices, what ...
BNibbles 04.10.2005 (15.10.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of LiteOn SOHW-1693S
Advantages: Easy to use Disadvantages: Dreadfully unreliable
I have always been a strong supporter of LiteOn DVD products, as well as a DVD writer in one of my PC's I have two LiteON DVD players and two different LiteON DVD recorders all of which I have reviewed and been fiercely proud of; however a recent budget purchase has put LiteOn on a much different plateau in my mind.
In our new home the size of one of my DVD recorders meant that a new purchase was needed; room in our bedroom in a little scarce as we traded down to increase our financial situation. With new bedroom furniture in it meant an existing recorder was millimetres to big for the location. So I headed off into town where I purchased the LiteOn LVW-1105 from Currys. Digital, priced at just £79. Proudly rushing home with my new toy under my arm I was confident that the LiteOn brand was the one for me.
Install is straight ...
Advantages: Good value, space saving, can be made multi-region Disadvantages: Not a DVD-burner, but very little else at this price
from outside of your own Region.
In theory, and having used up your 5 ?lives?, it is possible to get the vendor to reset this by returning the kit to base, and it?s likely to be a particular nuisance to those with DVD collections sporting a mixture of imports and home grown disks. Even the vendor is limited to 4 resets of the 5 choices, leaving the machine practically unusable after 20 regions have been swapped??..or SO they?d like you to think.
I downloaded a natty little utility purposely written for LiteOn machines called LTNRPC which comes in a zip file from www.rpc1.org. This not only allows you to reset the number of regional changes back to 5 every time it gets close to zero, (which in turn uses up one your precious ?vendor resets?) but also allows you to regain the full number of vendor resets too! It does has a facility ...
CD Text, CD Extra, CD-DA (audio), CD-I, CD-ROM XA, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-ROM, CD+G (Karaoke CD)
Supported Media Types
CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
Media Load Type
Tray
Access Time
80 ms
Buffer Size
128 KB
Features
Automatic Ball Balancing System (A.B.S), emergency disc eject hole, SMART-X
Compliant Standards
Video CD
Hard drive
Type
None
Expansion / connectivity
Interfaces
1 x IDE/ATAPI - 40 PIN IDC
Compatible Bays
1 x front accessible - 5.25" x 1/2H
Miscellaneous
MTBF
70,000 hour(s)
Works with Windows Vista
Software and devices that carry the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PC's running.
Package Type
Retail, Bulk
Software / system requirements
System Requirements Details
Pentium - 166 MHz - RAM 64 MB - HD 100 MB
OS Required
Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition, Microsoft Windows XP
Environmental parameters
Min Operating Temperature
5 °C
Max Operating Temperature
45 °C
Humidity Range Operating
15 - 80%
Sound Emission
60 dB
Manufacturer's product description
LiteOn's mission is to consistently meet or exceed its customers' expectations by providing solutions with outstanding performance, competitiveness, and punctuality. PRODUCT FEATURES: The shortest drive length design in the world, much lighter and easier to fit various system; ATAPI / E-IDE Half-Height 52x CD-ROM, with UDMA-33 support; SMART-X function adjusts CD-DA / VCD data extraction to a fastest allowable speed according to both data request rate from host and disk quality; ABS mechanism to reduce vibration & noise while high speed rotating; CD read compliant: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM / XA, Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Text, CD-R, and CD-RW; Belt Tray Loading Mechanism; Easy-Tray design for both Horizontal & Vertical operation, supports both 8 cm & 12 cm discs; 3 tray-eject methods: Stop / Eject button, software, and pin hole eject; Supports Ultra DMA mode 2, DMA mode 2, and PIO mode 4.
