The DVD format has been available in the US for over a decade, and burners for more than half that. But it wasn't until about five years ago that dual-format drives were first developed. With speeds initially doubling from 1x to 2x, 4x, 8x and then 16x, DVDs became very fast, very quickly. But recently the burning speed hasn't changed much, it's slowly risen from 16x to 18x and 20x. While the newest 22x drives do exist, for the most part 20x is pretty much the norm. The biggest recent advancement has been the addition of the new Blu-Ray format. But as the price of these drives are significantly higher, not everyone is willing to spend hundreds of dollars on an HD burner.

Lite-On Corporation has been in the optical drive business since 1999 and makes many of the products that OEM system builders use in their computers. But they also sell products in the consumer retail market which are typically priced in the lower end of the scale compared with some of the equivalent models from other major brands. For this reason, they're a popular choice for many home builders as well.


Today I am taking a look at one of Lite-On's latest innovations, the EZ-Dub External DVD Writer. With the speed increases of DVD burners just about tapped out, Lite-On has taken a different approach to make the whole burning process easier for the end user. The EZ-Dub features a universal USB 2.0 interface on a compact and stylish enclosure, and a drive that equals the burning speed of most internal drives.

Let's take a closer look at the Lite-On EZ-Dub External DVD Writer.