LiteOn SOHW-1693S

...just taken delivery of a LiteOn SOHW-1693 DVD writer that not only writes to everything that the NEC will, AND with its 16-speed write-velocity it's 4 times faster, but it will handle dual-layer writable DVD media too, and all for £29!

Dual Layer? Yes, one of the limitations of early DVD writers is that they would only write around 4.8 gigabytes of information before becoming full. This might not sound like much of a limitation to ...
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The LiteOn is delivered as a bare unit with a cream front panel (ooo, you don't see many of those, do you?). To be fair, there's a black-fronted version too for those with cosmetic issues. You get a bare minimum of software just in case you're starting from scratch in the wonderful world of 'burning'. - there's some DVD-playing software (Power DVD 5.0) and a stripped-down version of Nero Burning ROM* designed to work only with this ... more

It's about three years since I first bought a DVD-writing machine for my main desktop PC. This was an NEC model 1300a and was one of the first to handle both DVD-R and DVD+R formats, without paying the somewhat inflated prices being bandied around by Sony at the time. Overall, I think it cost me around £130.

Oh! How the mighty, (or prices, in this case) have fallen.

I've just taken delivery of a LiteOn SOHW-1693 DVD writer that not only writes to everything that the NEC will, AND with its 16-speed write-velocity it's 4 times faster, but it will handle dual-layer writable DVD media too, and all for £29!

Dual Layer? Yes, one of the limitations of early DVD writers is that they would only write around 4.8 gigabytes of information before becoming full. This might not sound like much of a limitation to those used to a CD-ROM's 700 megabytes, but to anyone intent on creating lengthy video presentations, like those to be found on a manufactured DVD movie, they need more elbow room, up to the 'almost 9' gigabytes present on a shop-bought DVD. This is achieved by making the DVD 'dual-layer'. in the movie field, this is generically known as DVD9

Now DVD writers have 'gone dual-layer' in both "+" and "-" guises. Dual layer capacity also needs a medium on which to write, albeit at a somewhat inflated price compared to a humble DVD-R, now at 35p if you know where to look. (By contrast, a dual layer DVD+R DL, as they are known, costs around £2.99, or £2.29 if you want to risk buying 10 of the same make).

"Dual layer" does not mean you flip it over; it has a semi-transparent layer with almost as much data capacity as the more familiar silver layer side. This floats above the latter like a very thin layer of low cloud. You may have noticed the small print on some DVD movies warning of a slight hesitation at 'layer-change'. If the video engineer has done his job, this will coincide with a scene change and therefore be unnoticeable.

Once a DVD (+ or -) R DL is written and closed to further recording, it becomes compatible with the DVD9 standard and SHOULD play back in ordinary domestic DVD players.

Of course, merely doubling the DVD's capacity wasn't going to satisfy the industry, now gearing up to market hi-definition TV and the recorders to go with it. We now have blue-laser technology coming down the pipe promising shed-loads more data-capacity. One thing's for certain - these 'Blu-Ray' machines won't be costing £29 for quite a while, and in the mean time I'm about as up-to-date as I can be without breaking the bank.

INSTALLING IT

The LiteOn is delivered as a bare unit with a cream front panel (ooo, you don't see many of those, do you?). To be fair, there's a black-fronted version too for those with cosmetic issues. You get a bare minimum of software just in case you're starting from scratch in the wonderful world of 'burning'. - there's some DVD-playing software (Power DVD 5.0) and a stripped-down version of Nero Burning ROM* designed to work only with this machine. You also get some 'where to stick it' pictorial instructions.

*I've heard of him - didn't he fiddle while ROMe burned?

There is a proper 20-page manual, but it's a .pdf file on one of the software CDs. Helpfully, the machine bundles a recent version of Adobe Acrobat reader, in case you haven't updated lately.

Whilst LiteOn supply the audio cable for playing CDs, there's no IDE ribbon but you do get the screws to fit it. If you are removing an existing CD or DVD writer, this is not a problem - you merely swap out the connections one at a time and slide it in place, screwing it down at the last moment. This all assumes that you're not scared to take the lid off your PC and can identify either the bit you're whipping out, or a spare 5.25 inch bay. It's very easy to forget to connect the audio lead to a new drive, and then wonder why you can't play CDs anymore - I find the ease with which you can forget this is inversely proportional to how difficult it is to get the lid off the PC again!

WHY LITEON? WHY NOT ANY OTHER CHEAPO BRAND?

There are several of what I'd term second-tier far-eastern brands all probably sourced from the same factories in Taiwan or South Korea if we did but know it. Names like 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 a surprise)…..unless of course, you get a multi-region DVD player.

Back in the realm of PCs, such is the collusion between Hollywood, the movie distributors, Microsoft and the major makers of DVD-writers (e.g. Sony, Philips, Pioneer) that you only get 5 chances to change region in your PC's DVD player before it gets 'stuck like that' in whatever you set it to last.

This is known as the RPC2 standard - Regional Protection Code v2.

The official party line is that you need to send the kit to the vendor for a reset, which in turn uses up one of the vendor's 4 resets too. Niftily, the LTNRPC.exe utility also allows for a restoration of vendor resets so you need never run out.

I've added a picture of the LTNRPC screen below.

Over-riding the RPC2 is NOT illegal - no more so than possessing a multi-region DVD player. Personally, I'd argue that it's the above cartel that's illegal for stifling free trade. To circumvent this, running "LtnRPC.exe" allows you to access the firmware of the LiteOn DVD writer and reset your 'five lives' every time they run out!

It's a small point but important to those with a varied international DVD collection, and would sway me towards LiteOn every time, if only because you feel like you've got one over on Microsoft.

SO WHY DO I WANT TWO DVD WRITERS?

Well they're not in the same machine. Word gets round that I can turn out a pretty mean DVD of a camcorder tape, and whilst I don't object to doing this for friends, it takes hours (mostly unsupervised, thank God) and renders your PC practically unusable, as it's a very memory-hungry process. I can now turn my attention to getting the job going on one PC, and then flip-flop back to the other for more normal use, like writing this opinion!

CAVEATS

With dual-layer blanks priced at around £2.99, it pays to make sure your DVD writing process isn't in the least bit flaky. I haven't wasted a 35 pence DVD-R blank for ages, but sure as eggs are eggs it'll start happening on the very first dual-layer disk I use.

(Prophetically, that's exactly what's happened, although the disk isn't exactly spoiled. I seem to have created a dual layer recording of a DVD successfully, but it only seems playable in the machine it was burned on, i.e. the LiteOn. Neither of my domestic DVD players want to know it, so for the moment, and probably until the next time I buy a domestic DVD player, I'll not be bothering with the dual layer facility, since I don't watch DVDs on my PC)

Make sure your writing software can recognise the new 'nearly nine' gigabytes capacity, otherwise you're still stuck with normal DVD + or -Rs.

For example, DVD Shrink 3.2, a utility for making existing dual layer recordings 'fit' onto a single layer can be altered to set a new headroom of 8.8 gigabytes, although being called DVD Shrink then becomes a misnomer, since shrinking the DVD's contents will be the last thing on its mind!

My older copy of Roxio Easy-CD/DVD Creator will no doubt deny all knowledge of the machine when it's first used, as it won't be on its known list of 'burners', but their web-site is an easy source of updates for such occasions.

It's difficult to see why recordable DVD9 was invented if it wasn't to pirate DVD movies without quality loss. After all, merely doubling the capacity doesn't seem in line with all the other laws of upgrading. However, making the equipment isn't illegal, in the same way that we all know why most CD-R blanks are bought don't we? Ah yes, those 'compilation' albums that we're allowed to make, I forgot, silly me.

I do personally have a legitimate use though - that's to take lengthy recordings that I want to archive from my new Freeview recorder, and make DVDs from them without having to compromise picture quality by squeezing them into a single layer disk. All I'm waiting for is a TV programme WORTH keeping!

Heaven forbid that the day'll come when someone wants me to make a holiday video that needs the second layer! I sat through 6 hours (on three disks) of someone's Californian wedding video last year, and nearly gave up the will to live.

ARGGHHHHH!!!

Incidentally, from my previous experience gleaned with the NEC machine, NEVER buy a bulk load of (especially the cheap) media without buying a sample first. Whilst most DVD-writers are now quite tolerant of the cheapo disks, there's no guarantee that they'll work. Fortunately, they seem to be better than they were, but it's worth paying through the nose for that sample, just in case.

I don't anticipate that the dual-layer media will be getting much cheaper any day soon!

SUMMARY OF SPECIFICATION

Model Number: LiteOn SOHW-1693 - an internal DVD writer capable of using DVD-R, DVD+R (including the rewritable versions of both, as well as DVD+R DL (dual layer). It's also capable of recognising and writing to all forms of the CD family.

Speeds - CDs @ 48 speed, DVD- and +R @ 16 speed, and DVD-R9 @ 4 speed. RW formats are commensurately slower, as in most machines.

Smart-Burn - a buffer-underrun feature which prevents the wastage of disks through insufficient incoming data speed. This used to be an issue with early machines, and led to the making of a myriad 'beer mats', now largely a thing of the past.

Price: £29 plus carriage from www.dabs.com and others.

In conclusion I'd just add...

...at these prices, pussy-footing around with halfway solutions like a new CD-RW machines or one of those 'combo' units' that are DVD players and CD writers combined seems a false economy, even if you can get them for £12 these days.

Oh, yes - it's also PC Pro magazine's Best Buy for November 2005, a fact which I only found after buying it. Lucky or what?

 

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