Lite-On 24X Internal DVD/CD Writer with LabelTag
The Lite-On 24X DVD/CD Writer with LabelTag is a great low cost optical drive for the variety of DVD's and CD's as well as the unusual function of writing on the data side of the disc using the record function.
Ease of Use, Performance: 20/25
Look & Feel: 20/25
Features 20/25
How much I enjoy 20/25
Total: 80/100
The Lite-On Internal DVD/CD Writer with LabelTag is a SATA 24X internal DVD and CD drive that uses the record function to burn characters and images onto the data surface. The LabelTag Writer has a unique feature, the characters are burned into the discs data surface using the normal burning feature all discs use.
The LabelTag uses the disc write feature to burn letters and numbers as well as small images on the surface of the disc just like when you burn data in circles. The letters and characters are visible on both CD's and DVD's but is more clear on the DVD's but even this is not easily readable.
It makes for a decent feature for a quick way to permanently label discs but not a great feature for music or movie collections as it is not as easily viewable. On a CD it is very hard to view but a DVD makes it a bit easier to read but still a bit difficult, the LabelTag feature is more for a way to label discs without having to write on the other side.
The LabelTag drives main features of an inexpensive 24X drive that writes to the many varieties of DVD and CD discs is the reason to look at the Lite-On drive. The Lite-On 24X Internal Writer model number iHAS524-T98 A is a new drive from Lite-On that records up to 24X on DVD discs and up to 48X on CD discs with its 2 megabyte buffer.
The Lite-On drive comes with the 5.25 inch drive itself, a SATA cable, user manual, mounting screws and a CD with Nero 9 Essentials software package. The 5.25 inch optical drive is the common SATA interface drive that installs easily and is Windows 7 compatible along with the previous Windows Vista and XP versions.
The drive has the Nero 9 Essentials software package with a lot of basic disc and burning features which is a basic version of the full Nero 9 suite. The free version comes with disc burning, copy software and even disc label printing features for a pretty good suite to go along with the Lite-On drive.
The Nero 9 Essentials is a great suite of programs that goes very well with the 24X drive that does get up to just under those 24X speeds. I tried some DVD and CD drive speed tests and ran both against another DVD drive, the Sony Optiarc DVD RW AD-7190S that is a 20x drive.
I was getting 22.75x write speed for DVD and 42.47x speeds for CD creation on the Lite-On Internal 24X Writer and a little less for the Sony Optiarc drive with 18.43x for the DVD and 42.31x for CD creation. The Lite-On drive performed well and about at what I had expected for optical disc creation and other numbers for burst rate and access times were also very good.
Lite-On is well known for its quality drives and the newest 24X Writer is no exception to their track record of great performing optical drives. The LabelTag feature works well using the Nero Essentials Express to burn your data and then burn the label on the data side of your disc.
The burn feature uses the discs change in color when burning data onto a disc as the means to write letters onto a discs surface. If you ever looked at a partially burned disc you can see that there is not a big difference between the burned and unburned areas, it is not a high contrast feature.
You can turn the disc slightly to clearly see the label but it is not as clear as printing or other ways I have seen to label discs. The contrast works best on DVD's that I have tried and as you can see form my picture it does turn out, just not as clear as you could hope for.
The burn feature they have dubbed LabelTag works well enough but is not a real feature that stands out for the drive, the real reason to look at this drive is the low cost for a good overall 24x DVD/CD drive. I highly recommend the Lite-On 24X Internal DVD/CD Writer with LabelTag for a good performing optical drive that includes the bonus feature of being able to label the data side of any disc.
Lite-On Website