Liteon with LightScribe

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers LiteOn / PLDS / Sony Writer
#1

Hi
have i missed something :wink: retail store, as some may see this drive is available (in little qty, but it’s there :eek:

anybody noticed it earlier ?

#2

a 1633s with lightscribe? :rolleyes:

is there someone who has this drive to dump the firmware?

#3

Thanks, that’s very interesting :slight_smile:

#4

I talked for a while with polish litey distributor, and it seems that it’s some sort of rebadging. Drives phisically came from liteon taiwan, not hp :smiley:

Drives that are selled under above link, are made by LiteON for HP.
hp logo is printed on front bezel, also it’s name is “hp dvd640i”
Don’t know any other details, i should have it tommorow, so i’ll update info asap. Only FW version is known and it’s E154 so it sounds nice :wink:

wonder why under hp brand it’s available first than under liteon brand


#5

So does that mean light scribe will not be on future Lite on drives?

#6

It depends more on license, than on hardware itself. See, drives with lightscribe are more expensive due to LightScribe/hp license fees.

Besides, as far as i know, firmware from dvd640i cannot be applied to any of existing liteon drive series, nor read by ltnflash.

#7

That sounds more like the LG version. In fact, AFAIK only LG and BenQ versions of the dvd640 have been confirmed to exist so far so I’m not sure any of these drives are Lite-On drives.

In Taiwan a dvd635i is sold though: http://shopping.pchome.com.tw/rec/detail.php?pid=AAS00195
In the picture there is obviously a BenQ drive but the specs look more like a Lite-On. Anyone know for sure what it is?

#8

DVD640 (without “i”) is BENQ obviously
DVD640i is LiteON, and so far it’s available here in poland.
http://shop.cd-writer.com/acatalog/640i_z1.jpg

:wink:

#9

That picture most likely comes from HP’s website but HP has used wrong pictures in the past (for example the picture of the dvd630 drive also shows a Lite-On drive while all sold drives AFAIK are BenQ drives) so that does not convince me that there is a Lite-On version too.
HP dvd640 with E152 firmware has been confirmed to be a LG drive so if the drives you’re referring to have firmware E154 they’re obviously LG drives too.

All internal HP drives are named i officially but actual drive id is usually something else and indicate the OEM. 640c = BenQ and 640b = LG. Following this a Lite-On version should have drive id 640r if it exists. Googling on that gives no results though


#10

LiteOn is definitely making Lightscribe drives for HP.
That’s all I can say


#11

.

#12

the HP dvd640i is now at Walmart for $100

i have been thinking abotu getting one, they dont carry the media however, i dont mind paying a premium price for the media because it is premium media
however, store availability would be nice instead of having to order them online

there also appears to be a mystery Light Scribe drive there

it wasn’t in the store, although the 640i was, but this one is labeled as the HP 640ve

and the price is so much different even though neither seems to be different, my only thought was the 640ve is external, firewired, where the 640i is internal

after a visit to HP’s website it appears to confuse me more

http://search.hp.com/query.html?col=alldocs&charset=iso-8859-1&hpvc=US+-+English&la=en&qs=&lk=1&rf=0&uf=1&nh=10&st=1&qt=HP+dvd640i+DVD+Writer+640ve&ocoldqt=640ve&oc=456330

here a search for 640ve shows us a “HP dvd640i DVD Writer (640VE)”, as if they are one in the same, but i saw this drive at the local wallyworld for $99, the 640i that is

#13

The 640i at Walmart is a benq drive. I know, because I have one. It is a Benq 1625.

#14

This is a while back, but the 640i’s that were on the shelves in Fankfurt at the beginning of March were probably LiteOn’s. I didn’t buy one, but the serial no. (424 50 600 xxxx) reeks of LiteOn. Also c’t said at the time that the internal units were made by LiteOn.

G

#15

I don’t think so
the drive that looks like a Liteon is an LG. There is an article on CDRInfo about Lightscribe drives and three were tested, Benq 1625, HP640c (Benq), and a Philips. I havent seen any mention of Liteon making Lightscribe on any of the Liteon web pages either.

#16

i own one :wink: made by liteon, still don’t understand your rumors about existence of liteon’ made hp640i


#17

What shows up in device manager? Mine shows up as 640c.

#18

if the HP lightscribe drives are made by liteon AND benq, hp has to release two different firmware updates (if they release any
) as benq and liteon uses different hardware


#19

Correct, and so far they have released one firmware update ES04 which is for the Benq model.

#20

What drive id does it show up with (for example in your burning software etc.) and what is the firmware version? Can you post a Nero Infotool screenshot or similar?