Lite-on today announced what it claims is the fastest DVD rewriter yet.

The SOHW-1673S internal drive provides 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW rewriting speeds, the company said. The drive also handles DVD-R and DVD+R at 16x, and dual-layer DVD+R at 4x.

The unit connects over an Atapi/E-IDE interface, and incorporates a 2MB data buffer. It also features "floating double suspension systems" to reduce drive noise and vibration. The drive uses Lite-on's SmartBurn buffer underrun error prevention code and its Smart-X speed optimisation software. Lite-on will also bundle an array of DVD authoring and disc burning software, including PowerDVD, Nero Express 6 and Nero Vision Express.

The SOHW-1673S is available now for £65. From May Lite-on will bundle in the extra bezel set. The set will include black as well as standard white frontpieces.

Lite-on also said it will follow up today's launch with an external, USB 2.0 version of the drive, the SOHW-1673SX. ®

Related stories

Chinese manufacturers sue DVD patent pool
CE giants open DRM to the community
London menaced by flaming DVD players
Studios announce HD DVD movie release lists
Game firms back Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc maker to 'abolish cartridges'
JVC preps dual DVD/Blu-ray disc