LTR-52327S burning tests

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

Well, a few surprises here. It seems that the new chipset needs some work in the media compatability area. Hopefully, this OEM drive will improve with the retail firmware updates.
the bad news is that TY seems to be one of the worst media for this drive. My first reaction was to RMA the drive, but with further testing, it seems this is a media issue.

Here’s an audio disc burned at 24x on TY-48x media. The error curves are very similar at higher speeds, only with higher peaks.

Here’s the same TY, data burned at 52x. The good news is that the drive will burn full speed all the way through.

Now here’s the same disc as above, reading it in my 52246S drive:

Not looking too good is it?
Now lets try some RiTEK TG (TDK), rated at 48x, burned at 52x:

Here’s the same media burned at 40x:

Next is some Maxell 40x, also RiTEK TG, burned at 52x:

Now some Sony48x, however the drive will not allow more than 40x burning on this media. It’s identified as “Sony” in SmartBurn and MInfo. burned at 40x:

Last of the CDR’s is Memorex Black 40x, also RiTEC TG, SmartBurn will allow 52x onthis media, but I know from past experience that 40x is better, so it’s burned at 40x:

OK, time for some RW media. First is my trusty Verbatim US 24x, 650MB. the good news is that it will burn 650MB in about 3:41, which is a big improvement over the 52246S. Here’s the bad news:

Reading the above disc in the 52246S drive:

Lastly, a TDK 10x (HS) RW disc, 650MB:

Hmmm, that’s pretty damn good for HS RW media.

Clearly this drive is a disappointment in several ways, but it’s hard to say it’s a “bad drive” given the performance on the RiTEK media. RMA’ing this drive is tempting, but I think I’ll play with it some more first. It has potential, especially in the RW area with the higher speed and P-CAV burning. It also burns faster at 52x than my 52246S does, and runs full speed all the way through the burn.
Tomorrow I’ll flash with Qs04 and try some more tests.

#2

Definitely test the drive again w/ official Lite-On QS04 f/w, 'cause these KProbe charts are kill me and crushing my hopes of getting a new Lite-On. Hmm… I wonder if TDKs I bought from Costco will work better than the Fuji/TY from BB.

#3

Well, let’s see what the QS04’s gonna bring you.

#4

Many of these poor looking discs scan with relatively few errors in my 52246S, so I need to do some more head-scratching on this drive. In some cases they scan with fewer C1 than the 52246S itself is capable of writing. I also note a consistant pattern in the scans on the 7S, the “step” pattern that you see is a frequent appearance that does not occur when the disc is scanned in the 6S.

#5

Here’s TY burned at 52x. The drive continues to burn media at full speed, this is the first drive I’ve had that’ll burn TY at 48x or above.

Now the above disc, reading in the 6S:

Now here’s TY burned at 40x:

and again, the same disc reading in the 6S drive:

This looks prety much the same as what I see with QS03. Clearly this drive does not like TY, and does not like burning it at lower speeds. I’m interpreting what I see as the drive struggling to adjust laser calibration on the media, but I have no explanation for the very different error scans on the 2 drives.

#6

Burned at 52x:

Reading the same disc in the 6S drive:

Burned at 40x:

And reading the same disc in the 6S drive:

The RiTEK is MUCH worse in QS04 than in QS03.
I think this drive is FUBAR, got smacked in shipping or something. It goes back to NewEgg today.

#7

What’s up w/ the them graphs. Man, I think the FedEx guy did too much bump and grind to it during transit. Hmmm… I wonder if CDRLabs did their revision w/ the QS04 yet…

#8

Originally posted by Stoner
What’s up w/ the them graphs. Man, I think the FedEx guy did too much bump and grind to it during transit. Hmmm… I wonder if CDRLabs did their revision w/ the QS04 yet…

All testing was originally done on QV3H (what shipped on it) but I know that Ian has since flashed to QS04. I doubt that he’ll go back and re-do all of the tests but he’ll surely check whether any problems have been fixed/improved with the firmware update.

#9

Any chance of this thing being a 3 sheep burner?

#10

My feeling is that the performance was too erratic to be “normal”. I’m hoping that the replacement will be different. I noticed that when I turned the drive upside down there was a faint clunk coming from inside, maybe something was jarred loose? The OEM’s ship in bubble wrap, no factory packing. It’ll be a week or two before I know. NewEgg is SO eay to deal with on these things.

#11

Posted by rdgrimes:

too erratic to be “normal”.

Welcome to my world with the 48246K and verbatim 24x CDRW media.

Same thing, problems with erratic write performance making it appear that the drive uses a different write strategy each time.

Perhaps LiteOn have a quality control issue with recent drives and laser calibration? Is this new drive a smaller design like the recent k models?

#12

What exactly is “SHEEP” referring to? Can anyone explain?:confused:

#13

Sheep >>> http://www.elby.ch/en/products/clone_cd/writers/l.html#liteon

#14

Perhaps LiteOn have a quality control issue with recent drives and laser calibration? Is this new drive a smaller design like the recent k models?

The 52327S has the exact same case and face plate as the LTD-166S. Short case and convex drawer.
I don’t think it’s necessarity a quality control issue. In my case I believe that the drive was damaged. There’s any number of things that can cause erratic behaviour, some are mechanical and some are electronic. Media can cause it too. The drive has to track the “groove” on the disc, calibrate the laser for changing conditions and several other things, all at the same time.
As to your issue with US 24x media, have you tried a different batch of media?

#15

Originally posted by rdgrimes
have you tried a different batch of media?

Yes, I’ve tried another batch that my friend gave to me and the same issue occurs, a constant pendulum of good and bad performance independent of the disk used. When it writes bad, I’m not getting enough c2’s to dramatically slow down average reading (1-2x slower overall) so I’m just going to live with it.

Love the cdr performance however. :slight_smile:

Out of interest, (if you can be bothered as it appears your v busy at the mo) have you tried writing to a verbatim 24x CDRW after it’s been used at least once and left for a long period (say 1 month) of time before writing to again?

This post is totally off topic so feel free to ignore, I won’t post anything else regarding my problem promise. :wink:

#16

check the RW media tests, the US is thoroughly tested. I have one on the shelf that was burned about 7 months ago that has shown no increase in errors. Quick-erase will result in slightly higher error rates on subsequant burns. Burning at 12x will hugely lower the error rates.

#17

Thanks, keep up the good work. I’ll look forward to reading your next batch of tests when you get the replacement drive.

#18

Originally posted by Chriso
Any chance of this thing being a 3 sheep burner?

YES, Please someone try it, I too would like to know if it can do 3 sheep.

#19

OK…so what makes a burner a 3 sheep burner?:confused:

#20

From what I understand it should be able to write every weak sector pattern correctly. Safedisc is the game protection that takes advantage of this scheme.