Finished!
Check it out here: http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/174
Use this thread to post comments/critics about this review.
You may also request additional tests - and if there are many users posting the same requests and I have the possibility to do the tests - Well then I’ll try to do what I can 
And here is my “scores” for this drive - like I’ve added to my benq review and the PX-716A review discussion thread.
Check my signature to see what each point means.
1: 7/10 - 16x DVD-writing needs improving. CD-RW and DVDRW writing needs improvements. But 8x DVD-Writing is mostly pretty good - even with low quality unknown brands.
2: 6/10 - Pretty good DVD-Media compatibility, with a few exceptions at 16x. But the CD-R media compatibility plain sucks.
3: 7/10 - Only 12x DVD-R not the fastest writer, but about average speed at 16x.
4: 6/10 - Come on! only 8x reading for DVDR/RW discs? Only 32X CD-RW reading and add high seek times to this and it’s not that good.
5: 9/10 - Pretty good, supports bitsetting and disc quality checking.
6: 8/10 - Good at protected data discs, but did unfortunately fail with one audio disc.
7: 7/10 - No printed manual, no IDE cable and no empty media.
8: 7/10 - Tray is flimsy and drive is a bit noisy, but the drive is very short and fits nicely in crowded computers.
Overall score: 6/10, there is a bit way to go to reach LG/Benq level.
Thanks OC-Freak. Another excellent review. 
It’s a pity that Liteon’s 3rd generation of 3S drive, still cannot compete with the opposition…
DVD Family :
Write
DVD+R
1x ( 21600 KB/sec ) maximum by CAV
wow, that’s some new kind of 1x 
SBCAV? (Super Boosted CAV?) g
DVD-RW
4x ( 54060 KB/sec ) by CLV
that’s some new technology aswell
Lots of 16x DVD writer reviews in this winter.
Hm. Perhaps editing mistake. There are two rows for PX-712A here.
i hope the 1673 fairs better.i think that the community support for liteon is excellent.i am afraid that getting a good bang for the buck writer from them is not going to happen anytime soon,so i think i’ll spend some bucks next time 
and get a plextor drive. sorry Jvc/liteon unless things change soon the only
thing you will be selling is audio equipment :o
Lite-On IT’s making profits from standalone DVD recorders rather than audio-only devices. Maybe cooperation with Sony willl let Lite-On IT to concentrate on Blu-ray products before the market grows sooner than they get ready, but that’s for Sony to decide. Lite-On IT had problems to receive enough components for DVD writers. I doubt it will be any easier for Lite-On IT and BenQ with Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Just look at the past industrial history of PC motherboard and notebook computers.
For TYG02 and SONY08D1, SOHW-1653S CS09 seems to work well. Maybe that was why I thought the new firmware updates for 1213/1613/1633/1653 seemed to work well for DVD-R media since I mainly used TYG01/TYG02 and SONY08D1 media to test CS02.
Smart-Burn makes it drop speed on a lot of CD media.
Not sure I’d call 40x instead of 48x much of a problem, especially if it improves the quality (and we know it should), but falling to 32x on some, and 16x on one, is more of a worry.
Notably though, on the CD-R test, unless I missed one, there were NO unacceptable burns at all.
Getting some sort of Smart-Burn into the DVD side would be a great idea - I’d rather have a 14x P-CAV than a 16x that hunts badly at the end on reading.
Is the 1653 physically different from the 1633 (sony dru710a), or is it just a firmware difference?
I don’t see any mention of this in the review or this thread…
I really hope the 1673 will be a lot better. 
So if the drive could burn that one audio protection you would add 2 points?? 
To bad you didn’t tried making copies of more game protections, SecuROM, Lybcrypt, etc.
Also the reading spead of such protections is nice to know (yes I stole this from CDRInfo 
).
Nope - then it would get 9/10.
10/10 = supports all audio protections and is a 3 sheep writer = I don’t think any drives will get 10/10…
Reading all those “#¤&”#¤/ protections take too damn long time - and I do not have the newest protections either and is not going to waste money on buying new games just to have the newest game protections.
I do still pay most media in the reviews myself so reviewing drives cost enough money for me already.
Only firmware difference.
I must say that in the 3 weeks I’ve had mine, all my CD-Rs wrote at 48x! DVD-R write quality has been a bit of a problem, but dropping the write speed gave perfect results. Needs a firmware upgrade desperately!
What program did you verify the writing speed with? I can select 48x in all programs (should take 2 min 40 secs to write a full disc), but it writes at 40x only (writing time over 3 minutes for full disc).
Nero 6, and now you mention that I will check tonight! Thats poor if thats the case…
Alright, that’s good to know.
I still hope someone can/will test the Toshiba that some people say is a 3-sheep writer.
I just requested it (as you posted in your first post) wasn’t attacking.
And I know you pay most of the media yourself, also this time I wasn’t attacking you.
I just hoped you could add some protections … SafeDisc isn’t the only one used.
hey LiteOnites!!! why not jump on the Benq bandwagon, Benq dw1620(B7P9fw) rules, plus it’s very affordable and high quality. Give it a try, you won’t be sorry. It seems like LiteOn has lost its edge and don’t care anymore. They can’t even provide 16X dvd-r…now that is rediculous. Think about it!!!
Hm. Though a very obvious thing, media manufacturers should send some samples to CDFreaks, at least those rarely found in open market. (For 16x, I myself still have only MCC004, and it’s already almost out of stock, just one or two left.)