LiteOn LH-18A1H - is it good? (I'm noob :P)

You have the bulk or retail version, jwilks?

i have an OEM version LH-18A1P GLOB firmware

How does it compare to the Pioneer DVR-111? I have one of the 111 drives and I quit using it because when it spins up it is very noisy.

OK, I'll see how loud mine are.
BTW, was it a good decision to buy the LH-18A1H or do you think it would've been better to buy the LG GSA-H22L (I want to use them for reading AND writing)?

as of right now in my opinion some software needs to catch up with this drive. I say that because the software i use to back up my dvd collection (1click dvd) doesn't even recognize this drive. 1click uses the VSO burn engine and thats the problem but VSO is working on an updated burn engine as we speak but it will take time cause of the testing involved. Also i think this drive was shoved on the US market and it wasn't ready (i am talking about firmware) i sat on the liteon online support chat alittle yesterday and a firmware update will be out soon they said

A lot quieter. The 111 keeps spinning when watching DVDs and playing and this was the main reason I get rid of it though it has good quality writings.

And maybe it can be flashed to an LH-20A1H. Would be a nice advantage. But what about the firmware? I heard a Firmware 03 or something was out but it seems not official.

<-----Can't read.... This is about the LiteOn LH-18A1H not the P

I got this drive about two weeks ago. I am not that impressed. It seems very touchy with the DVDs it will read. If there are a couple scratches or anything on it, it just errors out when backing up. I can put the same disc right into my NEC 3550 and it has no problem reading it. Anyone else having a problem reading discs or at leas the burner being real touchy? Anyone have any ideas on how to correct it if there is a way. Did i get a bad one. It is OEM. But very very touchy, pretty much has to be perfect.

Hrm. The 165 I have works fantastic, so I guess I'm glad I got it instead. Reads EVERYTHING.

You could always try a speed-limiting program running in the background if you have a 'hyperactive' drive that spins up and is noisy for DVD playback at slow speeds. I use a program called CD Throttle (free and works best for me), although there are other programs that can do it such as AnyDVD and Nero DriveSpeed.

Man, the LH-18A1H is damn loud. It sounds like a harddrive that is about to crash. o.O
Any tipps?

So, basically liteon went from really bad quality to good, and then to worse again? lol, this is too funny.

Emm imo lh-18a1h is not louder than my previous 1635S or 165h5s...

Those who get a loud unit may ask for a replacement...

I have just bought this drive and reading about it here, I am begining to think I have made a big mistake.
You buy a 18X DVDWR drive to write to quality 16X DVDW disks at 16X, you expect it to work, not to have to enter into a full on test phase of the product.
If I bought a Car that does 150 mph, and it only reached 70mph on a good day, and was then told it was down to the fuel mapping FW I would demand my money back. NOT be forced into testing their product for the next few years by which time it's outdated.

I have the 18A1H Drive too it is an BULK Drive. It comes with Firmware HL01 and I update it to HL05.
It read fast, a little bit noisy at max speed but all in all its ok. I have test some disks with many Scratchs but the drive have no problems. Read speed always at 12x by ripping.

I got a boring issue with my LH-18A1H. After lightscribing a dvd or cd the drive locks at 6x when trying to burn another dvd.
Read my thread about this

Actually I after reading some of the comments on this drive i was also very hesitant to get one. However, i ended up getting a lh-18a1p and crossflahed it to the lh-20a1p right away. The drive is kind of loud but it's really not louder then some of the other high speed burners out there like lg h22n or pio 111D. I haven't had a single problem with it, no coaster or such and the burn quality is much better on all media i have regardless if it's cheap or top of the line stuff. It actually does better burns then both of my 165p6s drives, also because it's a new drive there definetely will be more firmware upgrades to improve the writing quality. I liked it so much that i sold one of my 165p6s drives and got another one and also crossflashed it to the lh-20a1p drive. This one also performs good. I would definetly recommend this drive. I have posted some scans in this thread, look at them and judge for yourselves. I think this drive is a winner.

I have this drive woth HL01 firmware, where can I get the HLo5 firmware and what do I need to upgrade the firmware?

Any help appreciated as I have a DVD burner that can't burn DVDs atm.

Mark

I have the LH-18A1H for 4 weeks and I think it's very loud compared to my old 16x NEC 3500. Reading is faster but also much less reliable. It's very picky with DVD-ROMs and takes hours to recognize the ROM. Unfortunately yesterday it stops reading DVDs at all. This drive will go back and I doubt I will touch a device from this series again. I doupt the LH-20A1x will be any better.