Lite-On SHM-165P6SX 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive

A nice external dvd burner!

Strengths: Easy installation, good burning speed, smart burn

Weakness: Lack of an audio jack.

This Lite-on DVD burner is a sturdy-looking one. I owned several Lite-on cd-rw and DVD burners before (all internal). They performed well except one which had an occasional jamming issue. So I decided to give this external model a try. The burner has generally all mainstream features - I'm not going to list them all here. I have used it for 1 month and no problem so far. The only thing I can...
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This Lite-on DVD burner is a sturdy-looking one. I owned several Lite-on cd-rw and DVD burners before (all internal). They performed well except one which had an occasional jamming issue. So I decided to give this external model a try. The burner has generally all mainstream features - I'm not going to list them all here. I have used it for 1 month and no problem so far. The only thing I can thing of to make it better is an additional audio jack That will make it a spare CD player and that'll be nice when you want to listen to CD without turning on your computer.

By ikeliu - Dec 20, 2006

MOST BANG for the buck

Strengths: Speed, ease of use, flexible media types, usb2.0 compatible.

Weakness: No laserscripting.

This is the updated version of their last external burner. While the burner doesn't have the laserscript technology to do custom laser labels as its internal counterpart, it rocks. I had this burner out of the box installed, updated firmware ,and burned a dual layer DVD in under 30 minutes! The actual burn time was 7-minutes with DVD's and under 1-minute with CD's! The manufacturers require a 4.2...
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This is the updated version of their last external burner. While the burner doesn't have the laserscript technology to do custom laser labels as its internal counterpart, it rocks. I had this burner out of the box installed, updated firmware ,and burned a dual layer DVD in under 30 minutes! The actual burn time was 7-minutes with DVD's and under 1-minute with CD's! The manufacturers require a 4.2 MHz processor, with XP, and 256RAM; but my computer runs on 2.5 MHz Intel processor with XP-Professional. I have 768 Megs of Corsair RAM, with a 60G internal HD and used the USB2.0 cable line attached to my Western Digital 320G External Media Drive--my specs fell slightly below their requirements and it still did the job. Burn time would have been faster with a faster CPU. I used the 1-Click DVD burner program--the best if you're looking to burn and decrypt media. The SHM165p6SX comes bundled with software that I didn't need to install (NeroExpress6.6/PowerDVD6) since I am using 1-Click. For the price Plextor, and LG has nothing on this, especially since Plextor's latest model has had problems--they randomly fry DVD's and burn out; and this is disappointing coming from a leader in optical technology. As with all devices, keep this baby cool as a way for preventing problems with burn out and it should last quite a while. Besides, for the price, even if it did burn out, you could easily buy a new one. The verdict is still out on longevity.

By jungianjoe - Aug 4, 2006

Pretty good external burner

Strengths: Burns most media well, external, comparable read/write speeds to dvd burners currently in the market

Weakness: Loud

The SHM-165P6S external burner from Lite-on is known to be one of the better burners currently available. I did a few tests using the firmware that came with the burner, but I ended up upgrading it to the most recent firmware, MSOP. I have tested it with various media, and it seems to burn most of them well with low PIE/PIF errors (as detected using nero cd/dvd speed). It was able to burn some of...
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The SHM-165P6S external burner from Lite-on is known to be one of the better burners currently available. I did a few tests using the firmware that came with the burner, but I ended up upgrading it to the most recent firmware, MSOP. I have tested it with various media, and it seems to burn most of them well with low PIE/PIF errors (as detected using nero cd/dvd speed). It was able to burn some of the cheaper, low-quality dvd media better (less errors) than my benq1655, benq1670 and older lite-on 812s. However, the quality is still not what I was expecting after hearing the great reviews on cdfreaks.com. It was also able to read some scratched up dvds that my other burners were not able to read. The read/write speeds are comparable to most other burners available, despite it being in an external enclosure. The burner is loud when it reads and writes, but that is that an important issue to me. Overall, this is a much better burner than many burners out there, so I would recommend it to anyone looking to purchase an external burner.

By mystic818 - Dec 7, 2006

LITE-ON SHM-165P6SX

Strengths: Speed, ease of use, flexible media types, usb2.0, portable

Weakness: not small if space and mobility a requirement

Bought after reviewing recommendations on several models in this price range. Received promptly. Plugged in to power and USB and Win2K recognized it straight away. Since I already had CDBurnerXP Pro 3 (free CD / DVD burning software) and VideoLAN (free DVD software) I tried these first. Worked like a charm. Products come with ‘NERO OEM Suite’ and Cyberlink PowerDVD 6-2Ch. I installed these to...
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Bought after reviewing recommendations on several models in this price range. Received promptly. Plugged in to power and USB and Win2K recognized it straight away. Since I already had CDBurnerXP Pro 3 (free CD / DVD burning software) and VideoLAN (free DVD software) I tried these first. Worked like a charm. Products come with ‘NERO OEM Suite’ and Cyberlink PowerDVD 6-2Ch. I installed these to try them ot and seem pretty good. The only word of caution lies with DigitalHotBuy: while service was prompt packaging was dire. DVD box itself was only protection after the company simply put it in a large cardboard box with two meager pieces of brown paper shoved in around it. Lucky it arrived in one piece. But it did so now to see how long it lasts. Initial impressions good. Fast and quiet. Some people have said no laserscripting. But the model I received says it supports ‘Lightscribe’ I have no interest in this feature (I bought for price an flexibility) but seems to contradict others comments – unless it doesn’t work!

By amuson2001; - Nov 24, 2006

SHM-165P6S Dual Layer DVD Writer

Strengths: Easy installation, Small size, good burning speed, DVD-RAM

Weakness: Plastic external case, sometime noisy

I bought it from local Officedepot three months ago. Overall it is a good external burner. It is quite to setup. You can place it horizontally or vertically with the attached holder. It support DVD-RAM disc with was easy for daily backup for small file. You can just drag and drop on the DVD-RAM and it will be function as hard drive.

By yyang8 - May 29, 2007