LiteOn iHBS212 review

Until very recently Blu-ray writers have been expensive, costing around £200. LiteOn’s latest internal model costs just £110 inc VAT though, making it cheapest Blu-ray writer yet.

Despite its low price, the iHBS212 is quick at burning Blu-ray (BD) discs. Although it couldn’t match its stated 12X for single layer BD discs, it did manage just under 5X on average – the quickest we’ve seen. Speeds writing rewritable BD discs have languished at 2X, but this does meet LiteOn’s stated speed.

Two layer BD discs, with a capacity of 50GB, are now widely available and the iHBS212 wrote them at 3X, which is quick, but at a time of over an hour and a half, it takes three times longer to burn a two layer disc than a single layer disc. DVD write speeds, especially for two layer DVDs, aren’t quite as quick as a dedicated DVD writer, but they’re more than quick enough for most uses. Disc playback and burning software from CyberLink is included.

The LiteOn iHBS212 is reasonably priced yet generally fast at burning discs making it great value. Although the discs themselves remain pricy, if you want a Blu-ray writer then this is the one to get.