Advantages: Fast speeds, value for money
Disadvantages: none

...Lite-on are a well respected company that have been around for a while. LITE-ON oringinated from a team of scientist and engineers from ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Insitute) in 1995. LITE-ON Information Technology corportation are constantly devoloping anit-vibration mechanical design, advanced circuit design and increased performance. LITE-ON Information Technology Corporation (LITE-ON I.T.) this was a big part of the LITE-ON group which concentrated on the optical storage devices which then led to the creation on these fine CDROM drives we have today. This LITE-ON CD-RW is a very good drive and after purchasing one for personnal use I have purchased many more for computers I have built for friends and family. Very easy installation, driver support is excelent. With dvd-rw's coming down alot in price recently I would... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: See review, cheap I paid £79 for 1 and £40 for a second for my father.
Disadvantages: Remote fiddly, start-up speed.

...I've owned a Lite-on DVD-RW and a HDD Freeview Box with twin tuner (great but went faulty after 12 months), so this review is based on comparision with those products. Positives - The 3380 is slimmer and most importantly quiet, both of the other products suffered with intrusive fan noise. Record quality is good in EP (4hrs) and excellent in SP(2hrs) and HQ(1hr). DivX compatibility and ability to record from DV Cam to DVD is useful as is ability to use both + and - format discs. RWs can be read by my Sony Laptop regardless of number of recordings on the disc, the discs from my Liteon could not be read until they were made compatible. This is useful, if you record a programme on an RW disc then decide you'd like to keep the recording but free up the RW disc you can make a copy from the RW to a + or - R disc on your laptop, then erase... Read review

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Advantages: Large 160GB hard drive, good-quality recording, copy DVDs to hard drive
Disadvantages: Basic looks

...The Liteon LVW-5045 is a combi DVD/HD recorder with integrated 160GB hard drive. After reading several reviews abou the Liteon LVW-5045 it was touch and go as to whether to part with my hard earned cash and ditch my old VCR. I had read that some purchasers had had problems with the device crashing and being unable to turn the machine off. I eventually decided to take the plunge and boy am I glad that I did. I had read that the firmware in the machine was upgradeable, so before turning it on, I went to the website and downloaded the latest firmware to CD. All very easy. From first use, I was impressed with how easy it was to operate the machine. All of the functions are accessible from an easer guider on screen menu. All functions are so easy to access. I immediately started to transfer my favourite videos to the hard disk... Read review

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Advantages: High compatibility, fast, easy to install.
Disadvantages: Slower than today's models. Doesn't do dual-layer, no software included.

...I have owned many CD-RW drives, but this was my first DVD+- RW. I am very very pleased with it. This driver reads DVDs at 12x, and Cds at 52x. The Lite On writes DVD+R at 8x, and DVD-R at 4x. This is slower than today's maximum of 16x, but it is certainly not slow! It can write a whole 4.7GB DVD at 8x in 14 minutes. CD-RW speeds go up to 42x. A 700MB cd is done in 3.5 minutes. I have NEVER had a coaster (failed disc) with this DVD-RW in over 90 attempts. This is with the DATAWRITE 4x DVD-R discs (yellow), and with Benq 52x CD-R. This is a testament to the superb Lite-On buffer underrun protection, and the 851S 2MB cache. On purchasing, it is recommended that you update the drive's firmware to support all RW discs. This can be done following instructions on the Lite On website. Installation was easy, simply plug in and play... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: everything about it
Disadvantages: nothing

...LiteOn HD-A740GX DVD Recorder. An excellent piece of equipment, brought mine on line a few months back, I had previously owned a LiteOn DVD recorder, but decided it was time to up grade to this newer version, because of it HDD (Hard Disc Drive) storage capacity, which is a very large 160GB. Cuts down on buying all those recordable disc, and pays for itself in no time. Very easy to install, easy to follow instructions, only takes a few minutes, simple connection via scart and follow the on screen instructions and away you go. Using the remote control, access the Guider button for on screen Menu, which are simple to follow, for all your recording needs, including DVD title browsing with thumbnails pictures, so you will know exactly, where you want to start the DVD playback. One touch recording. Simply select Guider, and follow... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to use, reliable & its just Plug & Play
Disadvantages: May need a firmware upgrade, depending on what media you use.

...Where can I start, everyone should have something like this. I mainly use this for backing up information when I’m out & about doing odd jobs for people or research into my next project. The speed, style & reliability of this was a main issue for me, it hit all the right buttons & works like a dream. It does everything a normal internal DVD-RW should do, except you can plug it into any pc/laptop with a USB 2.0 port and your away. The downsides I found about this product was.. You need to upgrade the firmware to allow it to recognise some cheaper versions of DVD’s. Such as a version of DataWrite DVD-R’s that was manufactured as 8x DVD’s, but a technical issue prevented the Initial creation from being 8x but only 4x. Now, most DVD-R are mostly 8x now, but some 4x about still, and some of the higher tech DVD Writers will have issues... Read review

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Advantages: Wide range of features, clean lines
Disadvantages: Not quite so easy to set up

...-R/RW, CD-ROM Supported Media (write): DVD+R & DVD+RW ( DVD+VR Mode ) Supported content formats: DVD-Video, DVD+VR, Video CD, Super VCD, Audio CD, MP3, JPEG It also offered: 2 SCART sockets Progressive Scan Output IEEE 1394 Input port VideoPLUS+ Recording Dolby Digital The machine costs between £70 and £100 depending on where you purchase (and the offers available) so it is reasonably priced but as you would imagine in that price range you don't get the latest technology such a Freeview decoders and electronic programme guides which is what I might look for if I were purchasing again today. My Liteon 5002 came securely boxed complete with the remote control but without a scart lead so you will need to purchase one if you don't have one already. The instruction book was clearly set out and easy to follow with lots of diagrams showing all... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap & Very Reliable
Disadvantages: Only 2x Speed

...These are one of the cheapest DVD-RW brands available. I bought my first pack about a year and a half ago and haven't looked back. The Company Datawrite is now becoming one of the most widely recognised and purchased brands in the field of optical media storage. Since its inception in 1992, Datawrite has managed to produce premium quality, affordable media. They are manufactured by Datasafe Media. The Disc are DVD-RW suitable for anyone who wants to temporay store data on. RW means ReWritable allowing you to erase the contents of the disc and fill again with new. Firstly I use a lot of DVD-RW discs. So I needed a disc I could rely on to store my data safely, to have good read/write ability with multiple burners and players and be light on my pocket. I think I have definitely found this with Datawrite DVD-RW discs. They are 4.7 GB... Read review

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Advantages: Video editing on the hard drive
Disadvantages: No scart lead

...camcorders or other machines so you don't have to fiddle around the back. Although the Liteon won't copy protected dvds (basically all pre-recorded stuff) it did copy a dvd+rw that my brother recorded on his LG machine. Two other excellent features are Timeshift and Watching what you're recording. Timeshift is pausing live TV. Sky+ owners will know what this is, but simply you press a button and the TV stops (say the phone rings). After 10 seconds you can then start watching, fast forward, rewind (up to where you pressed pause - great if you didn't quite hear something) or pause again. Once you press the timeshift button again you are returned to normal TV and no hard drive space is used. Watching while recording was used a lot during the World Cup. Games started at 5 PM but I didn't get home from work till 5:15. Rather than miss anything... Read review

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Advantages: Low cost, good company reputation, Fast, Supports both +/- formats, Free updates, burn DVDs
Disadvantages: Only supports certain branded discs to begin with

...Note: Model should be SOHW 812s. NOT "SHOW" as Ciao put it. I bought myself a DVD±RW burner drive from CCL Computers for the very low price of £69.67, excluding postage, but it’s a great price for what you’re getting. DVD Re-Writers prices have fallen from about £200-£300 so I thought I’d get me one to back up files. I’ve wanted one since they introduced them but they were expensive back then. I wanted one mainly to back up my files. I have had a CDRW drive up till now but I could only fit up to 650MB or 700MB on them on a CD. CDRs start to pile up if you have a lot of files to burn. I bought the LiteOn SOHW 812S 8x 8x +/- DVD Re-Writer. It’s like a CD Re-Writer, but it can also write to blank DVD’s. It can write to DVD +R and -R at 8x (8 speed) or 10,800KB/sec, and DVD +RW and -RW at 4x (4 speed) or 5400KB/sec and read them at 12x... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful