Lite-On LH-(18/20) or Pioneer 112D?

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers
#1

My old NEC 2500A DVD burner is getting old and I’m looking to replace it with a new burner that fits my needs:

  1. I burn PC and PS2 backups so it NEEDS to read and write those well
  2. Needs bitsetting capabilities for increased compatibility with DVD+R
  3. I usually burn at 4x so high speeds are not necessary.
  4. Lightscribe is not necessary
  5. Being able to scan the quality of my burns would be nice
  6. I will probably be playing my game disc on this drive

After looking around these forums for a while, it seems that the BenQ (gone), Liteon, and Pioneer models are the best in general. The latest model from Pioneer is the 112D:

From Lite-On, theres the LH-20A1P: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106050

And the LH-18A1P: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106042

There has been only previews for these drives so far, and I’m not sure whether there will be a review because they seem similar to previous models. Currently, I’m leaning towards Lite-On because of this post: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=210519

Should I get the Pioneer, Lite-On, or maybe something else? Thanks for the help.

#2

Both burners are good and you can achieve points 1 to 3 with them, also 5 and 6.
4 is not possble with the Pioneer, maybe with the Liteon (dont know yet).

Burning hi-speed rated dvd media at 4x could give problems. You should check some reviews to find out more about speed and burning quality. :slight_smile:

#3

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?ArticleId=19655&PageId=36

This review of the LH-20A1P seems to show some burning problems with several types of media. I was actually planning to use 8x DVD+R Taiyo Yuden discs but according to the review, they measured too many errors using anything but Maxell and 16x Taiyo Yuden on DVD+R.

#4

TY should work with almost any actual drive with good results.
Check an 111 review, the 112D is just tiny better.

#5

i have some problem with my new LH-18a1H
it just can’t read some "DVD/D9"
and no problem with Pioneer 112.

#6

I have owned a Liteon 20A1P for about 25 days days, and a Pioneer 111D (very similiar to the 112) for 10 days…

One very important fact:
The LiteON is a far superior Scanner, so if your big on scanning get a LiteON and read no further. Its also a great burner, you’ll love the drive.

However, if the scanning isn’t so important to you, heres my observations so far:
The Pioneer burns more consistently than the LiteON. I’ve had some magnificent burns with my Liteon, see here and especially here - Those burns are gorgeous - I am yet to get a burn on my Pioneer with only 9 total PIF errors and probably never will. My first 1 Pioneer burn scans are available here and here - These are also great scans. I’ve done about a dozen burns since then and they look about like this, consistently very very good.

The thing is that the Pioneer burns have been very good burns, although never as perfect as those 2 LiteON burns above. However, the majority of my LiteON burns haven’t been as good as the two linked above. They have been good, but not as good as my average Pioneer burn.

One new observation is that with junk media (namely the new Verbatim DVD+R MCC004 discs with PAP6 serial numbers detailed here) my LiteON Drive usually fails before the end of the burn reporting bad media. My Pioneer completes, the scans usually aren’t good (250,000 total PIE’s and maybe 4,000 PIFS with spikes up to 10) but the drive is able to burn the entire disc. Not sure if this matters or not - If the media is trash, I personally dont care if the burn completes because I’m just going to reburn - but it might be a sign that the Pioneer has more more robust burning capabilities than the LiteON

So I guess what I am trying to say is that if you want consistent high quality burning (lets say ranked at a 9/10) I’d say get a Pioneer. If you want consistent good quality burning (lets say ranked at 8/10) with an occasional perfect rock star 10/10 burn, get a LiteON.

Either one will be a good choice if you stick with high quality media. Or you could always get one of each like me, I am going to do the majority of my burning with the Pioneer and always use the LiteON for scanning.

#7

Doesn’t mean it has something to do with the specific drive, especially if it is BLANK DL media.

#8

Some PS2 DVD-ROM/D9 and some DVD-VIDEO/D9 can’t read…not BLANK DL media…
LH-18A1H(Dec 06 Retail)