Introduction

Lite-On are one of the clear players in the ROM market thanks to a massive array of drives that span from DVD to Blu-ray, internal to external and everything else that matters when it comes to buying a ROM drive. We don't look at heaps of ROM drives here at TweakTown, but every once in a while a new one will make its way into the labs and we'll figure out if it's going to replace what we currently have.

Currently sitting on my testbed is a Lite-On iHAS322 which has served me well. Before that drive another Lite-On drive was present and before that I had a Pioneer which seemed to be the "in" brand for a long time when it came to ROM drives.

Today we'll be checking out the iHES208. Aside from playing DVDs, it manages to also handle Blu-rays, making it an option for home theater PC users. You don't just need a HTPC to make use of this drive, though. Maybe you've got a large screen on your main PC and you enjoy some high def goodness as much as the person with a $3,000 TV in the lounge.

Before we have a look at the performance numbers when compared to our trusty iHAS322, let's have a quick look at the package before checking out the drive itself.