Lite-On SLW-831SX DVD-Writer Mini-Review

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Review:
Lite-On SLW-831SX
Reviewed by: Jan70
Provided by: LITE-ON BV
(NL)
Firmware: WS01
Manufactured: February
2006

We at CDFreaks would
like to present a mini-review of one of the portable DVD-Writers from Lite-On:
the Lite-On SLW-831SX.

The Lite-On
SLW-831SX supports 8x DVD±R, 4x
DVD±RW and 2.4x DVD+R DL writing technology, allowing Double Layer discs of
8.5GB to be written.

Company
Information:

Let us take a look at some of the
company information found at the Lite-On Website:

Lite-On Technology Corporation's
vision is to become a world-class excellent company. The company will accomplish
this not only through leading global R&D and manufacturing technologies, but
also through the quality and distinctiveness of its products.

To reach these levels of
excellence and become the leading navigator in 3C convergence, Lite-On plans to
generate between five and six billion US dollars in annual revenue while
establishing itself as a global market-leader by mastering all of its
product-line industries. The company's ability to generate profits will guide
the industrial circles in which it competes. While accomplishing these goals,
corporate management will continue its policies of absolute financial
transparency, independence, and impartiality.

The company's pursuit of
excellence does not end there. To create better lives for people, Lite-On will
also continue to develop advanced and integrated digital products while
furnishing customers with innovative values that lead to true, beneficial
relationships. Lite-On wants to be the best strategic partner for each of its
customers.

Led by a professional team with
promise and lofty ethics, Lite-On will also strive to be an excellent
corporation with peak efficiency. The company will provide shareholders and
investors with an appealing return-on-investment. Additionally, Lite-On will
supply employees with an optimum work environment that helps them learn new
skills and grow professionally for the future. Lite-On seeks to become one of
the best corporations that people in greater China can choose for a
career.

Facts &
Figures:

• Lite-On
  Technology reported its global consolidated June revenue of NT$13.7B,
  increasing 4% on a YoY basis.
  
• Accumulated revenue in 2005
  totalled NT$75.6B, growing 2% on a YoY basis.

If you are interested in reading
more company information, please visit: Lite-On

 

Drive specifications:

These are the
specifications of this drive, found at the Lite-On webpage:

Features:

• 24.37mm
  height and high efficient power saving modes for notebook computer
  use
  
• SMART-BURN(*1) avoiding Buffer
  Under Run error, Automatically adjusting writing strategy & running OPC to
  provide the best burning quality
  
• SMART-X(*2)
  function adjusts CD-DA / VCD / DVD data extraction to a fastest allowable
  speed according to both data request rate from host and disk
  quality
  
• Support
  Fixed Packet, Variable Packet, TAO, SAO, DAO, Raw Mode Burning &
  Over-Burn
  
• DVD read
  compliant: DVD single/dual layer (PTP, OTP), DVD-R(3.9G/4.7G), DVD-R
  multi-borders, DVD+R, DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD+R Double Layer, DVD-RW, and
  DVD+RW discs with diameter of 8 or 12 cm
  
• CD read
  compliant: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA , Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD,
  Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus, CD-R , and CD-RW discs of 8 or 12
  cm
  
• Conforms to
  Orange Book: Part 2 CD-R Volume 1, Part 2 CD-R Volume 2 Multi Speed, Part 3
  CD-RW Volume 1 (1x, 2x, and 4x), Part 3 CD-RW Volume2: High Speed, Part 3
  CD-RW Volume 3: Ultra Speed.
  
• Portable
  design, using High Speed USB2.0 connection to ensure the best
  performance.

 

Specifications:

Write
CD:
24x (3600KB/sec) maximum by
P-CAV

ReWrite
CD:
24x (3600KB/sec) maximum by
P-CAV

Write
DVD+R:
8x (10800KB/sec) maximum by
ZCLV

ReWrite
DVD+RW:   
4x (5400KB/sec) maximum by
ZCLV

Write
DVD-R:
                       
8x (10800KB/sec)
maximum by ZCLV

ReWrite
DVD-RW:    
4x (5400KB/sec) maximum by
ZCLV

DL Write
DVD+R:     
2.4x (3240KB/sec) maximum by CLV
(Optional)

Read:
                        
CD Family 24x
(3600KB/sec) maximum by CAV
DVD Family 8x (10800KB/sec)
maximum by CAV

Access
time:
CD Family 110ms
DVD Family
130ms

Buffer
Size:
2MB

PC
Required:
Pentium III 450MHz or faster CPU
and 128MB or higher RAM are required, 650MB HDD available capacity; and
9GB free space for creating a DVD image file

Compatibility:
Windows
98/2000/ME/XP

MTBF(Life):
60000 Hours

Environment:
Operating 5C to 35C;
Relative Humidity: 10% to 80% (non-condensing)
Non-Operating -40C to 65C;
Relative Humidity: 10% to 90% (non-condensing)

Dimension
:
138(W) x24.37(H) x 155(D)
mm

Weight:
362.8g

*1
SMART-BURN : Smart Monitoring &
Adapting Recording Technology for
BURNing.
*2 SMART-X : Smart Monitoring
& Adjusting Read-speed Technology for
eXtraction.

 

What's inside the box?

In this
section we will take a look at what the drive came shipped with and take a look
at the drive and its technology.

Front

Back

Top

Bottom

Right Side

Left Side

Below you will
see the contents of the retail pack:

• The
  external drive
  
• Power
  supply
  
• USB2.0
  Cable
  
• CyberLink
  PowerDVD 6
  
• Nero OEM
  Suite CD:
  
  
  
  • DOS
    Driver
    
  • Nero
    Express 6.6
    
    
    
    • InCD
      4
      
    • NeroVision Express
      3
      
    • Nero
      BackItup
      
    • MPEG-2
      SVCD/DVD Plug-In
    
    
  • DVD-Writer Manual
    
  • Acrobat
    Reader
  
  
• Safety
  Notice

Now it's time to take a look at
the drive itself:

The front features a loading slot,
an eject button, and an LED (amber - for read and write - we prefer a different
LED colour though for writing). The logos located on the front include, a DVD Alliance DVD+ReWritable
logo, a DVD-R/RW Forum logo, and a CD-RW Ultra Speed
logo.

Top

On top of the
drive we found the Lite-On logo and the power LED (Blue).

Bottom

On the bottom of the drive we
found two stickers, and we can read it was manufactured in China, February
2006.

On the back of the drive we can
find the Mini-USB2.0 connector and the power connector. We miss a power-switch
to physically turn the drive off when it is not in use.

Now, let us install the drive and
check out the features on the next page…

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Test machine:

For this
review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Asus A8V
  Deluxe
  
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+
  (Venice) 1000 MHz HyperTransport
  
• RAM: 1 GB Corsair Kit PC3200
  DDR
  
• GFX: MSI GeForce 6600
  GT
  
• Sound: Onboard Realtek
  AC'97
  
• Hard
  disk: Seagate Barracuda ST3250823A
  250 GB

System
set-up:

The Lite-On
SLW-831SX was connected to the USB2.0 interface and identified itself as
Slimtype DVDRW SLW-831S. Autorun was enabled for all devices.

Software:

Windows XP
Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows
XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Ahead Nero CD-DVD
  Speed
  
• Ahead Nero
  InfoTool
  
• KProbe
  

 

Installation:

We quickly
installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero
InfoTool:

Our drive came
shipped with firmware WS01. The only drawbacks we could see are: The missing Mt.
Rainier support along with no CD+G reading support.

 

Features
and
techniques:

To see if the
Lite-On SLW-831SX supports Bitsetting we tried with Lite-On's official
tool:

 

As we could see, it
supports Bitsetting. The write now button is for directly changing the BookType
on a DVD+RW disc. You could also use the Bitsetting feature in KProbe under the
tools menu:

Even in Nero Burning
ROM 6, you can change the Book-Type:

Let us see if
BookType changing actually works:

DVD+R with BookType
DVD-ROM

DVD+RW with BookType
DVD-ROM

DVD+R DL with
Booktype DVD-ROM

 

Error/Quality
scanning:

The Lite-On
SLW-831SX supports error reporting just like earlier drives from Lite-On. Here
are two examples of programs you may use for checking your written discs for
errors.

KProbe scan done at 2x
(CLV)

KProbe is developed
by a Lite-On
employee, but it's not an
official Lite-On program. This is what we use in our reviews. But you may also
use Nero CD-DVD-speed:

Quality scan done at 8x
(CAV)

Nero CD-Speed
is just as good and also gives you an indication of the quality by giving a
score. Higher score is better; a good result should at least be over 80 in
quality score. Nero CD-DVD speed is included with newer Nero 6.x and 7.x
versions or available as a separate download from www.cdspeed2000.com.

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Reading performance:

For these
tests we will use Nero CD-DVD Speed to read various CD and DVD's, including
audio discs and DVD-media.

Pressed
discs:

For this test
we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing Creative Blaster Audigy install CD that
is close to 74 minutes long. Below you will see the produced result:

CD-Recordable
Discs:

For this test,
we made a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD. The disc we
used was a Verbatim 48X certified CD-R disc manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation. 

CD-Rewritable
discs:

Again, we made
a copy of the original Creative Blaster Audigy install CD; this time we used a
Verbatim Ultra Speed (24X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation.

Audio
CD:

We used Nero
CD-DVD Speed to measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is slightly
larger than the disc used for the other tests, to be exact it's about 78 minutes
long (77:43:45).

100 minutes
CD:

We used Nero
CD-DVD Speed to measure the transfer rate. The 100 min disc we used is slightly
larger than the disc used for the other tests, to be exact it's about 99 minutes
and 57 seconds long.

 

DVD reading performance:

Again, we will use
Nero CD-DVD Speed to measure the reading performance, this time for various
types of DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at
16X.

DVD '“
DVD-Video:

For our DVD
reading performance tests we are going to start with a single and dual layered
DVD video discs. While only 1X speed is required to watch DVD movies, it's
useful to be able to read the discs at higher speeds if you're going to extract
(rip) the content of the disc to your hard drive.

DVD-Video Single Layer

DVD-Video Double Layer (OPT '“
Opposite Track Patch)

DVD-Video Double Layer (PTP '“
Parallel Track Path)

As we can see,
it reads DVD-Video Single layer at 8x and DVD-Video Double layer at
4x.

 

DVD '“ DVD+R/RW:

For this test,
we used one DVD+R and one DVD+RW with about 4.4GB of data. Below are the
results:

DVD+R

DVD+RW

 

DVD '“ DVD-R/RW:

For this test,
we used one DVD-R disc and one DVD-RW disc filled with about 4.4GB of data. Our
test results are shown below:

DVD-R

DVD-RW

 

DVD '“ DVD+R DL:

For this test,
we used one DVD+R DL disc and the result can be shown below:

 

DVD '“ DVD-R DL:

For this test,
we used one DVD-R DL disc and the result can be shown below:

On the next
page: Writing performance…

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Writing Data CD-R/RW discs:

The
specifications state that the drive should be able to write CD-R/RWs at
24x:

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write CD-R's at 24x. This gives an average writing speed of 17.05x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 46 seconds.

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write CD-RWs at 24x. The
average speed is 16.83x and total writing time is 5 minutes and 56
seconds.

In this
mini-review, we did not include any quality scans of the CD-R/RW discs.

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DVD-Writing performance:

The
specifications of this drive tell us that it should write DVD±R at 8x, DVD±RW
at 4x and DVD+R DL at 2.4x

DVD+R:

The Lite-On
SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write DVD+R at 8x. This gives an average writing speed of 5.70x and a writing time of 13 minutes and 20 seconds.

The KProbe scan shows a PI Average
of 14.59 and PIF Average of 0.01.

 

Ricoh DVD+R 8x media, average
writing speed of 5.65x and a writing time of 12 minutes
and 53 seconds.

The KProbe scan shows a PI Average
of 17.86 and PIF Average of 0.02.

 

The Lite-On
SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write DVD+R at 4x. This gives an average writing speed of 3.95x and a writing time of 16 minutes and 15 seconds.

The KProbe scan shows a PI Average
of 3.29 and PIF Average of 0.18.

 

Tevion DVD+R 4x media, average
writing speed of 3.95x and a writing time of 16
minutes.

The KProbe scan shows a PI Average
of 0.50 and PIF Average of 0.01.

Verbatim DVD+R 8x media, average
writing speed of 5.65x and a writing time of 13:14
minutes.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI Average of 4.93 and PIF Average of 0.01.

DVD+RW at
4x:

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write DVD+RWs at 4x. The
average speed is 3.98x and total writing time is 14 minutes and 58
seconds.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI Average of 5.57 and PIF Average of
0.32.

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DVD-R:

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write DVD-R at 8x. This gives an
average writing speed of 5.54x, and a writing time of 14
minutes and 1 second.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 26.04 and PIF average of 0.07.

 

Datasafe 16x
DVD-R media, average writing speed of 5.54x, and a writing
time of 13 minutes and 30 seconds.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 17.42 and PIF average of 0.03.

 

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear
Velocity) to write DVD-R at 4x. This gives an
average writing speed of 3.88x, and a writing time of 16
minutes and 19 seconds.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 2.03 and PIF average of 0.02.

 

Taiyo Yuden 8x
DVD-R media, average writing speed of 5.22x and a writing time
of 13 minutes and 46 seconds. This 8x certified media was only written at
6x.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 24.87 and PIF average of 0.02.

 

Verbatim 8x
DVD-R media, average writing speed of 5.52x, and a writing
time of 13 minutes and 17 seconds.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 41.30 and PIF average of 0.03.

DVD-RW at
4x:

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses Z-CLV
(Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 4x. The average speed is 3.88x
and total writing time is 16 minutes and 7 seconds.

The KProbe
scan shows a PI average of 4.65 and PIF average of
0.18.

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DVD+R DL
:

Near the
layer-break, Nero CD-DVD Speed reported a Power Calibration Area
Error.

 

The Lite-On SLW-831SX uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 2.4x. This gives an average writing speed of 2.44x, and a writing time of 44 minutes and 14
seconds.

Despite that
the KProbe scan shows high PIF errors on the 1^st layer, the disk was
still readable.

 

Verbatim 2.4x
DVD+R DL, gives an average writing speed of 2.44x, and a
writing time of 44 minutes and 26 seconds.

From the
KProbe scan we can see that there are some high PIF errors at the layerbreak,
but that did not affect the readback curve.

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Power
consumption:

We were
wondering how much the power consumption is for this external drive so we did
some tests/measurements with a Digital energy meter:

On mode

Operation mode

Head over
to the next page for the conclusion….

Positive:

• Supports
  DVD±R/CD-R/RW writing at 8x/24x/24x
  
• Supports
  Bitsetting on DVD+R/+RW/+R DL (BookType to DVD-ROM)
  
  
• Can read 100 min
  CD-Rs
  
• Error
  testing capabilities
  
• Community
  support and 3^rd party programs that works with the
  drive
  
• Very good
  retail package
  
• Very low
  power consumption
  
• Slot-In
  loading mechanism
  
• Nice design,
  compact and lightweight

 

Negative:

• Does not
  support Mt. Rainier
  
• Does not
  support DVD-R DL writing
  
• Competition
  offer faster writing speed on DVD±RW and
  DVD+R DL media
  
• No OFF
  button/switch to physical turn the drive off
  
• Amber LED
  for both reading and writing

 

Conclusion:

Let us
summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main
positive points: As the current maximum writing
speed on DVD±R/CD-R/RW for
slim-line drives are 8x/24x/24x, the Lite-On SLW-831SX are up-to-date
on
these specifications.

Bitsetting on
DVD+R/+RW/+R DL media is also a welcome inclusion and ensures good playback
compatibility with set top DVD players. Another welcome inclusion is the error
testing capabilities, where the user can get an impression in what condition the
burned media's are in.

As a last
point we would like to mention, the nice and compact design that the drive
carries, together with its lightweight specification - the drive can be easily
moved around or carried around wherever it is needed.

The main
negative points: There are few negative points
about this drive, we would like to mention that the competition offer faster
writing speed on DVD±RW and DVD+R DL media -
together with writing support for the DVD-R DL format.

Even though
this drive has a very low power consumption, we still miss a OFF button/switch
to physical turn the drive off when it is not in use.

To sum it all
up, this is what we would say: "The Lite-On
SLW-831SX is overall an OK drive and very suitable for those who prefer a
compact and lightweight external drive".

 

By using our
price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber or getprice we did
not find any offers. However we found the drive listed at a German online
shop for 116 EUR (April
2006).

 

You may
discuss/comment this article below or in this
forum thread.

 

Thanks to: 

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