Hi
I ordered an Lite-on 811s, when installing it i noticed it was in fact an 851s. My reciepts says 811, so i checked device manager to be sure and that says 851s. I went to the Lite-on site and checked the firmware for both, mine is definatley an 851s.
My question is what is the differance as the Lite-on site has the same spec for both of them. I thought the 811 had a black facia the 851 has a beige one.
Any help is much appreciated. 
Hi!
I have exactly the same ‘problem’. I bought an ‘811s’ from ebuyer and it turns out to be an 851s
Did you ever get an answer back regaridng the differences.The spec seems identical, so I wonder why it has a different mopdel number???
Do you know where to go to get firmware upgrades for it?
If so, perhaps you’ll let me know
Steve
They are identical except for the pickup head. The newer 851S will recognize a disc a few milliseconds faster than the 811S, but you’d never notice any difference in real life.
Because of that minor hardware difference, they have different model numbers and use different firmware. You can get the latest firmware at this site or directly from www.liteonit.com
New firmware for both is due out very soon.
They both do a great job of burning DVDs, so there’s no significant reason to pick one over the other.
Maybe a little confusing, but not a problem.
Thanks for the info! 
I looked on the liteonit web site but couldn’t find any hardware stuff
S
The site is slow and not the easiest to navigate. Go to this page and click on the download/firmware link at the top:
Cheers wittangamo
I’ve visited the site and it looks like I have the latest firmware. Page has now been bookmarked though!
S
Hi
Thanks for the help, mine has the latest fimware but ill keep checking the Lite-on sit for any updates.