Lite-On LDW-811S DVD?RW Writer (Lite-On-LDW811S)

Reviewed by: jimbox

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: * smaller form factor (less deep)* quick start up

Weaknesses: * unfeatured dvd authoring software. simple and low learning curve to pump something out... but nothing impressive.

Overall Evaluation: GREAT BANG FOR THE BUCK IF YOU JUST NEED BASICS. HARDWARE IS GREAT BUT AUTHORING SOFTWARE IS MINIMALLY FEATURED.great deal for the money. i got this daul format writer for under $70 while all the competition seemed to be well over $80 (mostly over $100).as with any atapi optical drive, it was just a matter of mounting, connecting an ide ribbon cable, and connecting a power connector. at next boot, my athlonXP +2500/Gigabyte GA-7400Pro2 MoBo running win2k simply recognized it and it was usable for reading without any further installations (i cant say i tried burning at this point tho).as mentioned in the strengths, this drive is about 2 in. less deep than most optical atapi drives. if you're looking for a dvd+/-rw for a small form factor atx or ice case this it the way to go.i installed the cd distributed software simply and easily. i got updates from the support web site and registered the product while i was there.i got this drive more for backups than dvd authoring so i cant say much about the authoring software excpet it seems minimally featured. the only thing i made so far is a photo album disk of a vacation. it was quick and easy to do- but the original average resolution digital photos appear somewhat grainy in the dvd slide show. also noted- my first burn to -R didnt work on my gf's dvd player. i reburned it to +R and it worked fine... but note that this is _all_ about dvd player manufacturer compatibility and not the burner itself... but worth noting.i'm sure if i splurged for better authoring software it would give me more returns- but thats not what i bought it for. its possible that the slightly higher priced competition distributes better software in the box. again- i bought this drive for backups and Nero works fine with the drive for this purpose. if you're looking to do lots of dvd authoring i would additionaly research the software that comes witht the drive.