CDFreaks reviewed the Lite-On SHM-165H6S DVD burner. This drive supports 16x DVD+R/-R, 8x/6x DVD+RW/-RW, 5x DVD-RAM, 8x/4x DVD+R DL/-R DL writing and LightScribe, for direct to disc labeling of supported medias.

Lite-Ons offering with the SHM-165H6S performs with good to excellent write quality on just about every media type tested with a few exceptions. The drives support for DVD-RAM and LightScribe Direct to Disc Labeling technology truly makes this drive a 'Super AllWrite Drive'. Bitsetting on DVD+R/W/+R DL is supported and ensures good compatibility with set top DVD players.  Lite-On has included a software bundle with this drive that will have nearly every 'DVD' need covered for a beginning user as well as some of the more sophisticated needs of the more advanced user.

There are few negatives to mention. The Lite-On SHM-165H6S produced 8x DVD+R DL burns that other drives had problems reading. There could be write quality improvements made for some tested media. There is also a reported DVD-R Leadin bug that allegedly makes DVD-R video discs unreadable in some standalone players, however we did not encounter this issue with the tested drive and firmware but there are many reports and evidence supporting the claims.