Post your DISC quality scans here 2

Rob,
I apologize for needling you, but I had Russell call LiteOn and ask them what chip is in the iHAS324-98, explaining that he "did not want" an NEC chipped one and he was told Mediatec. They are outright lying to people. You are the only one that I know of that has stated his had the Mediatech chipped model. You can't blame people for wanting to see for themselves.

Look at what happened to me the last time I bought drives. I posted what I was going to buy, asked for recommendations, and got no answers. I didn't know that the iHAS124 was the same freeking drive as the Optiarc 7240, or I wouldn't have bought them in the first place had someone just spoken up! Everybody and their mother here knew I had AD-7240s and that I was very unhappy with them, yet not a word from anyone!

We are supposed to be here to help other people, based on our knowledge, experience and past mistakes, yet there is always this cloak of secrecy. Not just on this thread either. Any number of people here knew and could have warned me that the iHAS124 was the same drive I already had and disliked, yet no one said a word! I no longer trust LiteOn at all, and I won't knowingly support them. I think bringing out the iHAS324 with it's Mediatec chipset, to rave reviews, and then switching them to the NEC chipset is dishonest and reprehensible. They are trading on the rave reviews they initially got, just to make more money by substituting a cheaper product and pawning it off as an iHAS324. I know the 9A, 98 model bit, makes it a different model, but it's a very crooked way of doing business. LiteOn told me that the iHAS124 was not the same drive as the Optiarc AD-7240. They are liars! I completely stripped down both the 7240 and the iHAS124, and they are identical, save the front bezel and tray cover. You can even swap the bezel and the tray cover, and aside from the label, you couldn't tell which was which!

Yes I did try and needle you into removing the cover. I was informed that you were afraid to take the cover off, and frankly I thought that odd, knowing that there was no label, and how easy it was to remove. After the little 8 year old girl next door successfully removed and replaced it for me, I became even more suspicious. I thank you for taking the time to pull the cover and show the chip, as we all know with 100% certainty, that yours is a Mediatec, and a true LiteOn. I've had NEC based drives that would scan at 2x and 4x before, so the fact that the 7240 wouldn't, meant nothing to me. my two AD-7220s drives were NEC chipped, and they both did it. They were excellent drives, but just weren't very durable. Both went south in less then 14 months. As I recall, the AD7200s was NEC chipped, and it would do 2x and 4x as well.

As far as being a Hater, I never have been, nor will I ever be one. In this case, for what purpose? I'll be dead before the summer is over according to my Doctors, so why should I even consider changing into someone I've never been, at this point in my life. I just want to finish this build, that's dragged on for over a year now, that's all. At this point I have no idea of what drives to buy, and I'm don't seem to be getting a lot of help here! Earlier today, I spoke to LiteOn, and told them what the could do with their "Fake" LiteOn's! I also told them where they could go, how to get there, and what to do upon arrival! It did involve a Physical impossibility and a Metric Axe!

Thank you again,
Russ

 

I wish I could have helped you with that mishap russ. I would have. But I haven't bought a newer lite-on in quite some time. The last one I bought, was a very lucky buy. I picked up an LH-20A1S. Very scarce! Apparently a very favored drive. Not by me though LOL! I actually favor its IDE counter part. Slight differences. But I do like it. I'm afraid I don't listen too much about the newer lite-ons. Or any other drive for that matter. I figure I'll look closer when I know the time is coming to get a new drive... or 3 LOL!

 

Oman7,
Fortunately, I just ordered one of these!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135157R
I got the last one they had! It's a real LiteOn 20x. I bought one for a customer last year, and it was a great drive. I had forgotten all about that model. It's a LH-20A1s! LOL!! A true liteOn!

Russ

 

Russ, are you saying that asus drive is a lite-on? Interesting!

Apparently somebody at MYCE.com(Cdfreaks) likes the drive.

 

Oman7,
Lots of drives are made for other manufacturers by LiteOn. Asus, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, MSI, LG, and many others have LiteOn based drives.

I also looked at a Pioneer IDE 22x.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129047R
I know the 20x Asus is a true LiteOn. The 22x Pioneer has Label Flash, which was introduced by NEC, licensed from Yamaha. LiteScribe is HP, but HP and LiteOn have been in bed together for so long, what with all the LiteOn drives found in most HP's over the years, I would suspect HP licenses it to LiteOn.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

And its the mediatek chip that people like US are after It's a shame information like that isn't necessary in the product description. Much like knowing whether aspartame or MSG is in our food. In my opinion, we have a right to know!

 

Oman7,
It's a bit like bringing home your new Ford and finding a Chevy engine under the hood. You can get 300,000 miles out of the Ford engine on a regular basis (I've done it twice), but you ain't getting that out of very many Chevy engines! LOL!!

Seriously though, you are absolutely right. We, the consumer, should have the right to know that information, since we are the ones doing the buying! I may wind up buying one indirectly, but I'll never buy another LiteOn as long as I live! LOL!! I guess we will see a lot more shaky deals like that, as long as the economy is in the tank! Anything to make a buck, the consumer be damned! What I don't understand is why 24x in the first place. By the time you can reliably burn at 24x, all these drives will be obsolete. It's a useless selling point! Even with the 16x Yudens, my 24x drive would only let you burn them at 18x. Even I'm not that crazy! LOL!!

Russ

 

I wouldn't mind a dvd burnt in 60 seconds reliably. I imagine we're a ways off from that though LOL! As BD recording speeds increase, so shall dvds. There will be a market for dvds for a while yet. People are cheap. I'm one of them LOL! Though I really do want to begin messing with the BD media.

Lite-on definitely has me nervous now. I'll definitely be researching before I buy ANY drive in the future. Thank god for sites like Afterdawn, Myce, Techkings, etc.

 

Oman7,
It's just like everything else in this country. A large company like LiteOn supplies most of the manufacturers, some of their drives. It's the only way they can survive. Just like the Food industry with Conagra feeding us garbage under familiar names. Try some "Original Recipe Brown and serve Sausage" some time. Swift, made the real original, and they were great. The ones they tout as "Original", you have to almost burn to taste them at all! Los Angeles is the largest city in the US, and you can't find decent food there. It's the same way with Consumer Electronics, Automobiles that all look alike, and Clothing that's made in foreign countries.

Russ

 

Are yall the only two that are down on the NEC drives? I understand the switcheroo anger, but I love my 7200S and 7240S drives. Can you really buy a truly bad drive nowadays if you stick with the big names? Just a thought.

 

Garmoon,
I'm not down on them, and the AD7200s and the AD7220 were both NEC Chipped. The 7220 was good, but not near as durable as the 7200s. One of mine lasted just past the warranty, and the second one died after 14 months. The 7240 is maddening! Sometimes it's real good and some times it's real bad. The burn quality sucks most of the time, at least by my standards. It's all over the map, and they don't scan very well. Mostly I've had tray problems with the 7240s. Same with the two iHAS124's I bought. You push the button to eject a DVD, and it goes clunk, waits a couple of seconds, and then slowly opens. Newegg took them back after a couple of months, and admitted the iHAS124's have problems. As soon as I told the guy at Newegg what model they were, he told me "That he knew where this was going" and sent me an RMA for a full credit for the two drives. LiteOn tells me that it is not the same drive as the AD-7240s. I striped down both the iHAS124 and the AD7240, and they are identical, right down to the numbers on the PCB! The only thing that's different is the front Bezel, and the Tray cover, and you can switch them, NP! LiteOn Lies!

I was fortunate to find and buy the last Asus DRW-2014L1T that Newegg had in stock. Cdfreaks likes it very much, as it's a real LiteOn LH-20A1s. I tried to buy two of them, but they only had the one left in stock. Rick tried to tell me that it's an open box, so that means that it is either a return or a ReFurb, but a returned drive is considered used, and can't be sold as new, and it has to be advertised as a ReFurb, if it is one.

Yes you "can" buy some truly bad drives today. The LiteOn's currently for sale at newegg, are all 24x NEC chipped ones, and they all suck! Same goes for the current Optiarcs. I've tried so many of them, and they are terrible! The iHAS324 that Rob has is a great drive and got rave reviews. now they've changed the -9A to a -98, and sell it $6 cheaper, and it's a bunch of junk! The 9A has the Mediatec chip, while the 98 is an NEC. While it may not be the chip's fault, the PCB that's in it is sparse, compared to the Mediatec ones. Just compare Rob's picture to the one Will posted, and you will see what I mean!

As I told Oman7, LiteOn makes 24x drives for most of the drive manufacturers, even Plextor. The Real Sony DRU's are the only only drive Sony makes that's not a Mediatec or an NEC, and they cost upwards of $80. It's reported to be one of the top 5 drives available today, if you can find one! The Asus I bought is also in the top 5. None of the other 3 can be found, except on ebay or Amazon, for outrageous prices.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I wouldn't jump to conclusions saying lite-on lies. They probably just have inexperienced people working for them. No single person makes a company

Ha ha! I haven't heard anyone else speak of a sony dru in a long time. I used to own 4 of them. an 820, 2 830's, and an 840. The 840 still resides in my brothers computer. Excellent drives. I may still have the 820 laying around. It was highly freakish about reading ugly discs LOL! I was told that it was a rebadged BenQ. It will be missed. Unless I still have it. I may rebuild it later

 

One other question youse guys. When was the last time one of your burns didn't play or pixilated. The last I remember was "Master and Commander" and it was "an the the edge of the disc problem." And the most recent was the Cave. They will almost always scan over 90 and all could be copied I believe.

 

The last one I had that pixelated was "City Of Ember". I chalked that up to a bad rip though. I believe one of the optiarcs ripped it. I generally don't trust the optiarcs for ripping. They're better at burning than they are at reading It however could have been the iHAP422 that ripped it. That particular lite-on is the worst lite-on drive I ever bought. The only one with problems too...

Garmoon, if memory serves, "The Cave" was the first disc I dealt with, that had tough encryption. Dvd shrink couldn't do it alone. I believe that was in 2005. My how time flys LOL!

 

Will that drive Scan? and do all Asus's Drives scan? or not?

 

Will,
The current two Newegg sells don't. They are 24x NEC chipped Liteon's! The one I ordered is a LiteOn LH-20A1s, so I don't see why it wouldn't. I went to a number of respected sites, looking for the top 10 best burners. I then searched for the models listed, and the Asus DRW-2014L1T was on sale on Newegg as an open box special. I was lucky to get the last one they had, as they sold out very quickly! They must have had plenty, as they were allowing a maximum quantity of 5!

Russ

 

Here is the post I think of what you speak. Maybe not but I don't really remember you asking about the drives but hey they were very new and you bought them w/o much input from us or someone else. As you ALL may know I get a lot of info from the Freaks and most of the time it's good info. OF course there are times that they or other sources may not get it right or have enough information to make an educated decision. I personally think that decision was on you... jm2¢.

 

How do you know it's a "REAL" Liteon?? I researched that drive a while back and I was told they were NOT Liteon but used a MediaTek chipset!! Just curious.

 

GM,
I'll answer both posts in this one.

I wasn't blaming anyone, and the two in red are unrelated. The first one is the LiteOns I just sent back to Newegg. I was a little annoyed that no one told me that the iHAS124's were re-badged Optiarc AD-7240s drives, but I could have asked more specifically. LiteOn says they are not 7240s, but I stripped both drives, side by side, and they are identical in every way. Except for the front Bezel and Tray cover, they are identical, right down to part numbers.

The second red line was for the AD-7220s drives I bought about 15 months ago. The funny thing is that the replacements worked very well, but the first one died just after the warranty expired, and the other, right at 14 months. The one remaining AD-7240s I still have, is in my computer at the moment. It burns OK, scanned on the LiteOn (Philips) in Oxi, they look good, but the 7240 generally doesn't scan well. I'll use it primarily for playing DVDs.

As far as the Asus I bought goes, I picked up that information at various forums and tech sites on the net. I didn't bother to save any links, as I didn't think there would be any interest in a 20x drive. Sorry! I don't save my History anymore, because it gets so much crap in it that I decided to turn it off. That and the fact that it's damn near impossible to find anything anyway, as there is no date or time, as Netscape had. In other words, it's almost worthless! The Asus drive I bought also looks exactly like a few other 20x LiteOn's that I have laying around here for parts.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

The reason that I asked about the ASUS ODD is because of what it is if actually a Liteon 20A1X drive. I know a few people that would drool for one.. oh... and I have 2 sitting here for funzies. lol.