Dom

Lite-On really needs no introduction around here as they tend to dominate the conversation a good portion of the time. Not only do they produce some of the fastest CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives on the market, but their technology is also trusted by their OEM partners in the optical storage market. Long-time readers will know that CDRLabs.com just isn't about CD-RW drives for your PC, but that we also dabble in the periphery as we've recently looked at products that have a close relationship with the optical storage market.

The Lite-On LVD-2001 is a new set-top box from Lite-On that is capable of playing DVDs and VCDs though its DVD-ROM as well as still images from a memory card through its PCMCIA interface. By targeting the home theatre market, they can leverage their optical storage expertise in a rapidly growing segment.

This article will closely resemble a software review in that it will focus on the feature-set and usability aspects almost entirely. A DVD player either plays DVDs or it doesn't, and a DVD player that is 10% faster won't let you finish a movie any earlier. That fact alone renders any benchmarking useless. Don't let that deter you from the rest of the article, however. Rest assured we won't just rubberstamp a product just because it can't be benchmarked, but we will find other ways of obtaining a measure of its usefulness.

Check out the full review at CDRLabs.com