DVDDecrypter reporting read speeds for Liteon 16p9sv vs. Benq dw1640 slower

[bgc99]

I got a Liteon 16p9sv DVD-Rom to save wear and tear on my burner (benq dw1640), but DVD Decrypter reports the read speed for the Liteon is quite a bit slower than the Benq burner.

All drives report DMA on. I thought the Liteon would read as fast as the burner at least, but it isn't happening.

Do I have a problem or is this drive just slower?

Thanks,
BGC

[budz]

It's because the BENQ 1640 can read faster than the LITEON DVDROM. Most newer dvdrw's except LG can rip at much faster speeds.

You could do a benchmark test with the LITEON DVDROM by using CD/DVD NERO SPEED. I just bought the same LITEON DVDROM from Newegg.com for a pc I'm building for a friend. I ususally apply a firmware hack for the LITEON dvdroms so it can read at faster speeds.

[bgc99]

I've seen the firmware hacks mentioned but I can't recall the site, I'm sure a forum search would turn it up. I just wonder how safe it is to use a hacked firmware. I looked on the liteon site for a firmware update but there wasn't one. One thing I saw was a banner saying once you update the firmware you can't go back to an earlier version.

If the drive is capable of reading faster with a hacked firmware, I wonder why the manufacturer doesn't enable it from the factory.

BGC

[budz]

I've seen the firmware hacks mentioned but I can't recall the site, I'm sure a forum search would turn it up. I just wonder how safe it is to use a hacked firmware. I looked on the liteon site for a firmware update but there wasn't one. One thing I saw was a banner saying once you update the firmware you can't go back to an earlier version.

If the drive is capable of reading faster with a hacked firmware, I wonder why the manufacturer doesn't enable it from the factory.

BGC

It's codeguys website that has the hacked firmware but the site is down right now. I did have the hacked firmware downloaded and I flashed the drive. This LITEON drive is a piece of crap because I did a transfer test with new movie I just purchased. And it peaked at 8x spd then quickly dropped back to 6x. I'll post the transfer rate tomorrow.

[bgc99]

Luckily I bought mine at the local WalMart, so returning it is no problem. Well, besides the pain in the ass taking it out of the case that is.

I don't get it, the LiteONs seemed to be recommended from what I've seen. I'm not sure if the recommendations were based on drives with hacked firmware or not. The stock performance isn't so good. The box says it's a 16x reader, don't know how they came up with that.

The BenQ got up above 10x speed according to DVDDecrypter when ripping the large .vob files while the LiteOn barely got above 5x.

I don't know if my burner is considered fast or not, but I may just put another one in so at least the 2 drives have the same specs.

BGC

[budz]

It seems LITEON's newer DVDROM's are crappy. Luckily my friend isn't into burning DVD's yet so the read speed isn't a problem. Unfortunately I purchased this at Newegg.com so returning it would be too costly. The older models of LITEON dvdroms are good fast readers when using hacked firmware.

If you're going to get another BENQ 1640 drive they have them at COMPUSA under the brand "COMPUSA NORWOOD MICRO 16x DVDRW". It's a rebadged BENQ 1640, by opening up the box from the bottom flaps you can look at the drive to make sure it says "1640".