LG GSA 4163B - Is it a good reader

[guggu]

Just a quick question,
Is this a good burner if I wanted to use as a reader as well and to burn with my pioneer.
Just want to know if it has a speed lock restriction like many other DVD-Roms.
I know I can just get a DVD-Rom but this is only a few dollars more so if it is a fast reader it will be good to have a backup.
Cheers

[88keyz]

I have this drive and its nearly as fast as my Lite-ON XJ-HD166S DVD-ROM drive and much better at dealing with scratched discs. The error correction is crap on my Lite-ON DVD-ROM but the LG drive just plows on through and makes working back-ups of pretty much anything. As a bonus its also a "2 sheep" writer.

[dolphinius_rex]

It appears to be QUITE good at reading scratched discs... so good actually, I'm going to give it a chance at reading some other problamatic media I've got sitting around

[RJW]

Will check back when I'm home to see how it performed in C't when it comes to scratched dual layer and mannipultated bad disc from audiodev.
Still that's with first firmware so it might have been improved.

[RJW]

Can't find the number back. So if someone else could search it up I know other people on this board should have the information.

[dolphinius_rex]

weird.... using Bad Copy Pro I get lower error percentages then when using the Plextor Premium, but when I actually recover the files, I get smaller and less accurate file sizes then what the Plextor Premium recovers. This might be a fault in the way BadCopyPro handles things though. But the Nero CD Speed Scandisc results are also quite favourable for the drive.

[MediumRare]

Can't find the number back. So if someone else could search it up I know other people on this board should have the information.

Did you mean me ?

c't does reading test similar to those done here- transfer rate, error correction for damaged discs, seek times etc. In addition, they check how a drive copes with 8 flavours of CD audio protection.

As far as error correction goes, the LG GSA-4163B did well in their test (2/2005): 80.6% for DVD-R is average and 87.6% for DVD-9 was topped only by the Sony DRU-710A. It also read 7 of 8 protected audio CDs, but that can be firmware-dependent.

Of all drives c't has tested in the last months, the Pioneer DVR-109 had the best error correction properties for reading damaged DVDs.

G

[dodecahedron]

Of all drives c't has tested in the last months, the Pioneer DVR-109 had the best error correction properties for reading damaged DVDs.

by 'damaged' do you (or c't) mean badly burned DVDRs/DVDRWs or scratched discs?
these are slightly different things.
i've always thought the Pioneers were very good readrs of badly burned DVDs, but not necessarily the best at reading scratched discs.

[RJW]

Can't find the number back. So if someone else could search it up I know other people on this board should have the information.

Did you mean me ?

Well you and some others.
SO Thanks for helping out.

ABOUT PIONEERs SCORE.
Mediumrare is probally giveing C't opinion when it comes to reading.

Pioneer probally got that best score because it's fast. very good on bad dvd recordables (MAX SCORE Like every Pioneer burner), 86,8% on DVD-9 which is good. (but there are better) and for the fact that it can read DVD-RAM.

Lite On 1673S. Is a better reader on DVD-9 (90.6% but performed a bit less good on dvd recordables(Lite On 1673S scored 98.5%) but still to good to probally judge on this drive perfomance (K-probe/transfer rate tests) if it works on other drives.)

[MediumRare]

ABOUT PIONEERs SCORE.
Mediumrare is probally giveing C't opinion when it comes to reading.

Yeah, you called it right, but I was ignoring any speed considerations and RAM capability. c't mentioned both bad burns and scratched discs for the excellent error correction. But they didn't give any further details (other than the reading %)...

G