LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc ReWriter & HD DVD-ROM

Model: LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc ReWriter & HD DVD-ROM
Manufacturer: LG Electronics
Provided By: LG Electronics USA

LG Electronics is one of Korea's oldest and most respected consumer electronics firms. Since the introduction of their first radio in 1959, the company has grown to become one of the world's top electronics manufacturers, offering everything from large home appliances to tiny mobile phones. LG is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. Working closely with companies like Hitachi, they've lead the way in this area, developing and manufacturing a wide range of products, including the industry's first "Super-Multi" drives.

While an early endorser of the Blu-ray Disc format, LG has taken a more neutral stance by developing products that support both Blu-ray and HD DVD. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the company unveiled their first dual-format Super Multi Blue drive, the GGW-H10N. This all in one solution combined a Blu-ray Disc writer and an HD DVD-ROM drive into a single unit, giving users the ability to enjoy movies in both formats and store up to 50GB of data onto a single Blu-ray disc. As impressive as this all was, the GGW-H10N's $1000 price tag prevented it from being a viable option for those hoping to avoid the format war.

Shortly after the launch of the GGW-H10N, LG announced two new Super Multi Blue drives, the GGW-H20N and GGW-H20L. With these new drives, LG has taken Blu-ray writing technology to the next level. The GGW-H20N and GGW-H20L are not only capable of 4x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds, they are the first drives with the ability to write to BD-R media at 6x. LG's engineers also eliminated many of the GGW-H10N's shortcomings by giving the drives' CD and DVD writing speeds a much needed speed boost, as well as adding support for DVD-RAM. The GGW-H20L ups the ante even further with support for HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what LG's new Super Multi Blue drive has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take an in-depth look at the GGW-H20L's features and then see how it compares to some of the Blu-ray Disc writers from the competition. Are 6x BD-R writing speeds enough to put the GGW-H20L on top? More importantly, is it the drive for you? Keep reading as we find out.

The GGW-H20L LG sent us was an early production sample. While the drive came in a retail box with the bundled software burned to a CD-R disc, it did not include a manual or any extras such as blank media or cables.

Physical Features:

The drive LG sent us for this review was manufactured in July of 2007 and had firmware version YLY0. For this review we used firmware versions YLY0 and YL01.

From the front, the GGW-H20L looks nothing like LG's previous Super Multi Blue drive, the GGW-H10N. The drive sports a more sophisticated look, thanks in part to its glossy black plastic and silver highlights. As you can see, the GGW-H20L also has its share of logos. Along with the large "Super Multi Blue" and "LG" logos, you can see a few showing support for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.

Below the tray you can see the GGW-H20L's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up a bright blue whenever the drive is reading or writing.

The rear of the GGW-H20L is pretty straightforward. By looking at the picture above you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.

Technical Specs:

The specs below have been taken from LG's website and the manual that came with the drive.

LightScribe:

Note: We took a much closer look at LightScribe technology in our review of the BenQ DW1625. In this review we'll just go over some of the basics and see how the GGW-H20L performs with the bundled software.

The GGW-H20L is one of the first Blu-ray Disc writers to feature LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe lets you burn durable, silk screen quality labels directly onto your CD's and DVD's using the same drive that burned the data. According to HP, it's as simple as burning the data, flipping the disc, and then burning the label.

Of course you can't do this with just any drive, media or software. While LightScribe capable drives use the same laser when burning both the data and label, they have to be able to accurately control the laser's focus and position as well as the spindle speed. They also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin dye coating on the label side that absorbs laser light. This triggers a chemical reaction that produces a color change, allowing the user to print text, artwork or graphics.

Even if you have a LightScribe capable drive and media, you will need software that supports it. Most major software companies have pledged support for the technology. However, at the time of this review, the list of compatible software is still relatively short. For the GGW-H20L, LG turned to CyberLink. Using the bundled LabelPrint software you can create and burn LightScribe disc labels.

Once you've created your LightScribe label, you're ready to print it. Before you can do this though, you will need to choose the contrast. Keep in mind this option not only changes the level of detail, it also affects the amount of time it takes to print the label. The higher the quality, the longer the process will take.

How long does it take to print a label? For testing purposes, we printed a disc using Verbatim's LightScribe v1.2 color CD-R media. For testing purposes, the quality has been set to "best". The results are shown below.

Verbatim CD-R v1.2 - 24 minutes

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that LG's new Super Multi Blue drive is identified as an "HL-DT-ST BD-RE GGW-H20L."

The Nero screenshot also shows that the GGW-H20L has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the GGW-H20L can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 95:10with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the GGW-H20L is a "two sheep" burner. This means that LG's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the GGW-H20L's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the GGW-H20L is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the GGW-H20L's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that LG's new drive can read and write to most BD and DVD formats and has the ability to read HD DVD-ROM discs.

LG's new drive also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Using a program like Nero, you can set the book type of both DVD+R and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". Contrary to what CD Speed may indicate, the drive does not let you set the book type of DVD+RW discs.

For the GGW-H20L's software bundle, LG has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains the CyberLink BD Solution suite which includes PowerProducer, Power2Go, PowerBackup, InstantBurn and PowerDVD.

CyberLink PowerProducer 4 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

CyberLink Power2Go 5.5 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the GGW-H20L. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt your data discs.

CyberLink PowerBackup 2 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to backup your data, PowerBackup is the answer. Depending on your needs, PowerBackup can do full, differential, and incremental backups as well as fast stream-to-disc archiving.

Backup jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. PowerBackup also offers more advanced features like file filtering, compression and password protection.

CyberLink InstantBurn 5 - InstantBurn is CyberLink's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Nero's InCD, it allows you to use your CD, DVD or BD writer as if it was another hard drive or a huge floppy disk. Once formatted, you can cut, copy, and paste or rename files and folders on a CD-RW, DVD±RW or BD-RE disc.

CyberLink LabelPrint 2 - The GGW-H20L also comes with CyberLink's disc labeling software. With LabelPrint, you can design and print labels, covers and inlays in four easy steps. Just select your template type, disc information, text layout, background image and print destination. LabelPrint also supports Labelflash and LightScribe technology, allowing you to burn images and text onto the surface of your discs.

CyberLink PowerDVD 7 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. Along with support for DVD's, it can be used to play back Blu-ray Discs, HD DVD's and other high-def formats including H.264, HD MPEG-2, and WMV-HD. With its support for BD-J and iHD, PowerDVD also gives you the ability to access interactive movie content.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the GGW-H20L only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra.

With the GGW-H20L, LG has delivered one of their most feature packed drives to date. This new Super Multi Blue offers some of the fastest Blu-ray reading and writing speeds available and can play back the rival high-def format, HD DVD. On top of that, the GGW-H20L is backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. LG's new drive also includes features like a 4MB buffer, support for LightScribe and a great software bundle from CyberLink. With all this, it's easy to see why the LG GGW-H20L gets a solid 9 out of 10 for its features.

Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install LG's Super Multi Blue drive in our test computer. After making sure that the GGW-H20L was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the GGW-H20L comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

You can view information on the different applications in the software bundle by clicking on the menu buttons. Otherwise, you can start the setup process by clicking the "Install Now" button. After picking your language of choice, you'll be presented with a number of installation options.

From here you can choose to install PowerDVD, Power2Go, PowerProducer, PowerBackup, InstantBurn, LabelPrint or LG's firmware update utility. Simply select the components you want and click next a few times. Once the files are copied over, you can start burning your own discs.

The Documentation:

While the drive we received from LG did not come with any documentation, the company was able to provide a copy of the "User's Manual" in electronic format. Similar to the ones included with LG's other drives, this manual covers a number of topics. It starts out by going over the system requirements and the functions of the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the GGW-H20L. While the diagrams are small, they are clearly labeled and easy to understand. You will also want to pay special attention to the system requirements, especially if you plan to play Blu-ray and HD DVD movies protected by AACS.

From here, the manual jumps into the physical installation of the drive. The instructions cover all the basics including how to install the GGW-H20L into an empty drive bay and hook up the cables. The manual continues on by going over the basic operation of the drive. It explains how to insert and eject a disc and how to get one out of the drive in case of an emergency. Last but not least, it finishes up with a short troubleshooting section and a page full of specifications for the GGW-H20L.

Like LG's previous Super Multi Blue drive, the GGW-H20L was very easy to install. Even though Blu-ray and HD DVD are still relatively new technologies, there were no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working correctly. If you do run into trouble, the documentation LG has provided is more than sufficient. With this in mind, the GGW-H20L scores a 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc writers, the performance tests are normally broken down into six sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write, BD read and BD write. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.5 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.5 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.5 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

BD Write Tests: To test the BD write speeds, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature is used to burn an entire BD-R/RE disc. Times are recorded.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

LG's Super Multi Blue drive gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. While the GGW-H20L's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other Blu-ray Disc writers we've looked at, its access time and transfer rates were fairly good. The drive started reading at 19.3x (2900 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 39.3x (5900 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.7.5 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	31.08x 17.77x 40.83x	25.93x 14.04x 34.40x	25.17x 14.30x 33.29x	24.75x 14.34x 32.67x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	123ms 156ms 229ms	186ms 236ms 366ms	148ms 160ms 242ms	145ms 158ms 237ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 8% 10%	1% 1% 3% 5%	0% 2% 3% 4%	0% 2% 3% 4%

Like the other drives, the GGW-H20L was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 40.83x.

While LG's new Super Multi Blue drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media, it slowed down considerably when reading it back. As you can see, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of only 10.41x.

CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	30.56x 17.74x 40.00x	18.99x 10.89x 25.08x	18.54x 10.71x 24.43x	18.61x 10.74x 24.57x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	120ms 135ms 203ms	188ms 217ms 351ms	152ms 162ms 244ms	130ms 141ms 221ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 8% 10%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 2% 3% 4%	1% 2% 3% 4%

The GGW-H20L also reads CD-RW media at 40x. As you can see, the drive had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.5 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while the LG GGW-H20L supports accurate stream and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD, it does not cache audio data.

CD Speed	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	30.72x 18.00x 40.30x 10 Yes	25.59x 14.04x 33.84x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.98x 24.75x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.96x 24.75x 10 Yes

The GGW-H20L performed very well when ripping pressed audio CD's. With a maximum DAE speed of 40.30x, it had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.5 - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

CD Speed	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	30.44x 17.99x 39.86x 10 Yes	25.40x 14.17x 33.46x 10 Yes	18.46x 10.88x 24.31x 10 Yes	18.48x 10.90x 24.31x 10 Yes

LG's new Super Multi Blue drive was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. While the drive came very close, it wasn't able to reach 40x this time around. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

The GGW-H20L completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 28.93x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the GGW-H20L was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0 andDLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep.

The GGW-H20L has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x. To reach this speed, it uses P-CAV, or Partial CAV, technology. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive starts writing at 19.95x and accelerates, reaching 40x at about the 55 minute mark. This gave LG's Super Multi Blue drive an average writing speed of about 33.29x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

LGs new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 40x CD writing speed, the GGW-H20L was able to write an entire 650MB CD in 2:52, beating the drives from Sony and I-O DATA by nearly two minutes.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The GGW-H20L's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors. More importantly, there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the GGW-H20L uses P-CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 24x. The drive starts rewriting at about 16x and then jumps to its maximum speed at the 9 minute mark..

LG's new drive did very well in our rewriting tests. Thanks to its 24x rewriting speed, the GGW-H20L took 2:27 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:32 to do the same with DLA.

The GGW-H20L also erases at 24x. At this speed, it took the drive 20 seconds to do a quick erase and 3:42 to fully erase the disc.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The DVD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.28x 6.80x 16.42x	9.09x 4.97x 12.16x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.23x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	121ms 141ms 213ms	183ms 214ms 298ms	140ms 156ms 296ms	133ms 147ms 285ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 8% 14% 23%	5% 9% 16% 30%	6% 9% 17% 32%	6% 10% 17% 32%

The GGW-H20L performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.80x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.42x.Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times and CPU usage were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.23x 5.12x 12.33x	7.62x 4.17x 10.19x	6.15x 3.40x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	102ms 125ms 183ms	193ms 238ms 366ms	152ms 166ms 305ms	137ms 154ms 290ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	3% 6% 12% 22%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 9% 17% 32%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	7.69x 4.23x 10.29x	6.26x 3.42x 8.37x	6.16x 3.41x 8.25x	6.16x 3.40x 8.24x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	110ms 136ms 206ms	213ms 258ms 402ms	153ms 219ms 355ms	138ms 201ms 340ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 13% 24%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%

The GGW-H20L performed very well when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 12x and DVD-RW media at a respectable 10x

LG's new drive had no problems reading Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The GGW-H20L started reading at 3.42x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.21x.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM

	LG GGW-H20L	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.62x 3.00x 5.00x	4.99x 4.97x 5.00x	4.98x 4.97x 5.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	139ms 156ms 206ms	354ms 529ms 1126ms	338ms 509ms 1107ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x:	17% 27% 42%	13% 26% 22%	11% 37% 22%

The GGW-H20L has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 3.00x and accelerates, reaching 5x at the 1.6GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.22x 5.10x 12.33x	7.63x 4.17x 10.20x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.40x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	100ms 130ms 196ms	190ms 240ms 382ms	156ms 169ms 313ms	141ms 155ms 294ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	3% 7% 15% 24%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%	6% 9% 17% 32%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	7.69x 4.24x 10.29x	6.25x 3.42x 8.36x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	110ms 129ms 191ms	214ms 263ms 402ms	156ms 170ms 338ms	141ms 155ms 320ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 12% 23%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%	6% 10% 17% 32%

The GGW-H20L's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 12x and DVD+RW media at 10x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for the GGW-H20L either. With a maximum transfer speed of 8.22x, it had no problems taking the top spot in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.06x 3.36x 8.10x	9.01x 4.92x 12.05x	4.61x 2.56x 6.17x	4.62x 2.56x 6.18x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	191ms 231ms 333ms	185ms 224ms 303ms	145ms 162ms 302ms	131ms 145ms 284ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 6% 18% 24%	7% 9% 27% 31%	6% 9% 17% n/a	6% 10% 17% n/a

The GGW-H20L didn't do as well as the GGW-H10N when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of only 8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well LG's new drive worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The GGW-H20L had no problems playing back either movie and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of LG's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

The GGW-H20L uses P-CAV, or Partial CAV, when writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that LG's new drive starts writing at about 6.9x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the 4.1GB minute mark.

LG's new drive also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the GGW-H20L uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

The GGW-H20L performed very well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the 18x and 20x DVD writers we've looked at recently, it turned in some impressive times with DVD±R and DVD±RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the GGW-H20L, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The GGW-H20L's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were fairly good for the most part.

To test the GGW-H20L's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media was used once again.

The GGW-H20L performed pretty well in our packet writing tests. While not the fastest drive we've tested, it turned in some respectable times when reading and writing to DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM media.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.9.6.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the GGW-H20L, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

LG's new drive had no problems writing to the Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL, Memorex 8x DVD+R DL, Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL and RiDATA 4x DVD-R DL media at 4x. However, with the 2.4x DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex, the writing speed was limited to only 2.4x.

The GSA-H20L performed as expected when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 4x. In both cases, the drive took about 27 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was pretty good with the 8x DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there were no readability problems. Unfortunately, the results weren't nearly as good with the other media. The error rates were considerably higher, especially when scanned with the DW1640.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - BD-ROM:

To test the GGW-H20L's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

While the GGW-H20L is rated at 6x when reading single layer BD-ROM discs, its speeds are limited to only 4.8x when reading AACS protected titles. In our tests, the drive started reading at 2.01x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 4.82x.

LG's Super Multi Blue drive had no problems playing back The Fifth Element using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using single layer BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

Memorex BD-R

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.55x 2.58x 6.04x	3.06x 1.75x 4.07x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	121ms 167ms 217ms	206ms 317ms 441ms	101ms 215ms 390ms	100ms 204ms 366ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 0% 2% 2%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Memorex BD-RE

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	2.30x 2.29x 2.30x	2.51x 1.43x 3.34x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x	2.00x 2.00x 2.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	150ms 263ms 766ms	223ms 330ms 441ms	101ms 219ms 391ms	100ms 203ms 360ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 2%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Sony BD-R DL

LG's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In our tests, the GGW-H20L was able to read BD-R discs at 6x and BD-R DL media at 4.8x. Surprisingly, it wasn't as fast as the GGW-H10N when reading BD-RE discs. Looking at the scores above, you can see that it reached a maximum transfer speed on only 2.3x.

Nero CD Speed v4.51 - HD DVD-ROM:

To test the GGW-H20L's HD DVD-ROM reading performance, I used the HD DVD version of King Kong. This double layer disc is about 27GB in size.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	2.27x 1.28x 1.31x	1.87x 1.05x 1.08x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	138ms 230ms 604ms	210ms 355ms 408ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 2%	1% 1% 2% 3%

The GGW-H20L performed as expected when reading back our copy of King Kong. The drive started reading at 1.28x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 3x at the midway point. Playing the movie with PowerDVD wasn't a problem either. However, as with Blu-ray Discs, there are certain hardware requirements if you plan to play AACS protected titles.

BD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero CD Speed v4.7.5:

To test the BD writing performance of LG's new drive I used BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex, RiDATA, Philips, Sony, TDK and Verbatim. To get the writing times, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature was used. I also ran the discs through CD Speed's transfer rate test to make sure that the GGW-H20L could read them back.

Verbatim 25GB BD-R

The GGW-H20L is one of the first drives that can write to BD-R media at 6x. It starts writing at 2.6x and accelerates, reaching 6x at the end of the session.

The GGW-H20L also features 4x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive writes at these speeds from start to finish.

LG's Super Multi Blue drive performed very well when writing to BD-R media. It completed our tests in record time, beating the GGW-H10N by more than six minutes. The GGW-H20L didn't disappoint when writing to BD-R DL media either. Thanks to its 4x writing speed, it took less than 45 minutes to burn an entire BD-R DL disc.

While the GGW-H20L completed our Blu-ray writing tests without any problems, I ran into some issues when reading the discs back. For whatever reason, the drive insisted on reading back BD-R and BD-R DL media at the same speed it was written to. LG's engineers suggested that the discs may not have been finalized. However, both the GGW-H20L and GGC-H20L reported that the discs were finalized. It wasn't until I put the discs in a ASUS BC1205PT that a found that the discs were not finalized or at least not finalized correctly.

Thankfully, this problem was limited to CD Speed. Discs burned with the bundled Cyberlink software were finalized correctly and could be read back at the fastest possible speed.

Performance Revisited:

While LG's new Super Multi Blue drive has a few rough spots, it performed pretty well throughout most of our tests. The GGW-H20L completed our tests in record time when writing to BD-R and BD-R DL media and read both Blu-ray Discs and HD DVD's at some pretty impressive speeds. Reading and writing to CD's and DVD's wasn't a problem for the drive either. The GGW-H20L had no problem reaching its rated read speeds and took the top spot in most of our writing tests. With all things considered, the LG GGW-H20L gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Earlier this year, I reviewed LG's first Super Multi Blue drive, the GGW-H10N. While the drive's performance and support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD were impressive, its $1000 price tag put it out of reach for everyone but hardcore high-def enthusiasts. With the GGW-H20L, LG has not only chopped the price by more than half, they've boosted the performance and added support for technologies like LightScribe.

The GGW-H20L is the first drive with the ability to write to BD-R media at 6x. While the time saved by going from 4x to 6x isn't as great as the jump from 2x to 4x, the drive took less than 22 minutes to write an entire 25GB disc, beating the GGW-H10N by a good margin. The GGW-H20L also performed very well when writing to BD-R DL media, taking half the time of other Blu-ray Disc writers. Reading Blu-ray and HD DVD discs wasn't a problem for LG's new drive either. In our tests, the GGW-H20L read BD-R discs at 6x and both Blu-ray Disc Movies and BD-R DL media at 4.8x. Unfortunately, it's speeds were limited to only 2x when reading BD-RE discs.

LG's new drive also has the ability to read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The GGW-H20L performed very well when writing to DVD±R discs, taking less than 6 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The drive also had no problems holding its own when writing to other types of media. However, the writing quality could have been better with some DVD±R DL discs. When it came to reading DVD's, the GGW-H20Lwas able to read single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x and DVD±R media at 12x but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD-Videos.

When it came to reading and writing CD's, the GGW-H20L was a big improvement over the GGW-H10N. In our tests, it read all types of CD media at 40x and had some fairly good seek times. This level of performance carried over to our DAE tests, where the drive ripped audio CD's at speeds as high as 40x. As a writer, the GGW-H20L performed as expected. The drive turned in some respectable times thanks to its 40x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds and its writing quality was quite good.

LG's new Super Multi Blue drive also has its share of features. Along with support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, the GGW-H20Lhas a 4MB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. While the drive only utilizes 2MB of the buffer when writing CD's, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. The GGW-H20L also supports HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. Last but not least, LG has included a great software bundle from CyberLink.

For most people, it usually comes down to price. According to LG, their new Super Multi Blue drive has a suggested retail price of only $399. While this is still a considerable sum of money, you'd be hard pressed to find a Blu-ray Disc writer that can match the GGW-H20L's performance and features at this price.

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Highs:

• Writes to BD-R media at 6x
• Writes to BD-R DL media at 4x
• Writes to BD-RE media at 2x
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer BD-ROM's and BD-R media at 6x
• Reads BDMV and BD-R DL media at 4.8x
• Reads HD DVD-ROM's at 3x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 12x
• Reads DVD±RW media at 10x
• Reads DVD±R DL media at 8x
• Features 40x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds
• Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
• 4MB buffer (BD and DVD only)
• Good CD-R and DVD±R writing quality
• Low seek times
• Includes software from CyberLink
• Nice looking design with bright blue LED
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media

Lows:

• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Reads BD-RE media at only 2x
• Reads DVD-Videos at only 8x
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
• Buffer limited to 2MB when writing CD's