The news
The race for ever-faster DVD write speeds has reached yet another new and quite unnecessary high point with Lite-On IT's announcement that it will be launching a 20x burn-everything model (LH-20A1P) in Europe at the end of December, priced around £30.
This will be followed in early 2007 by a similar-spec'd version (LH-20A1H) that adds the ability to write disc labels to LightScribe media. Both models connect using ATAPI/IDE and there's no clues as yet when versions with new-generation SATA connectors will be arriving.
Jelmer Veldman, Lite-On IT's European marketing manager, is quoted in a press release as saying,
Lite-On is
the first brand to release a 20x DVD writer. With this drive we can see
recording times of a full DVD coming close to five minutes.
What the normally ultra-level-headed Jelmer doesn't mention, though, is that anyone who wants to get the best quality recordings - and reliable reading of discs - is going to be far better off burning at a much slower speed!
And this, we're quite sure, is going to be true even though the Lite-On burners will include SmartWrite - a technology designed to optimise the writing strategy for each burning session by detecting and selecting the best method of writing data for each type of media used.
LH-20A1H (click for larger image)
The company quotes the DVD burning speeds as:
Write
DVD+R 20x maximum by CAV
DVD-R 20x maximum by CAV
DVD+R DL 8x maximum by CLV
DVD-R DL 8x maximum by CLV
ReWrite
DVD+RW 8x maximum by Z-CLV
DVD-RW 6x maximum by CLV
DVD-RAM 12x maximum by P-CAV
DVD+R 20x maximum by CAV
DVD-R 20x maximum by CAV
DVD+R DL 8x maximum by CLV
DVD-R DL 8x maximum by CLV
ReWrite
DVD+RW 8x maximum by Z-CLV
DVD-RW 6x maximum by CLV
DVD-RAM 12x maximum by P-CAV
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, read speed for DVD-ROM is said to be 16x max.
For CD, the quoted maximum write speeds are 48x (by CAV) for write-once CD-R and 32x (Z-LV) for rewritable CD-RW. Maximum CD read speed is said to be 48x.
The LightScribe-compatible LH-20A1H is reckoned to burn labels at 1.6x but, we suspect, will be able to do this faster if and when new media allows that.
Check out Lite-On's press release on page two and share your thoughts about ultra-high-speed DVD burning in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle :: Lite-On promises UK Blu-ray burner in August
HEXUS.lifestyle :: Lite-On to stop selling own-brand DVD set-top recorders
HEXUS.lifestyle :: Lite-On SHM-165H6S burn-everything LightScribe E-IDE writer
HEXUS.lifestyle :: CTS - 2006 :: Interview with Lite-On's Jelmer Veldman
External.links
Lite-On IT Europe - LH-20A1P home pageLite-On IT Europe - home page
