LG GSA-4120B DL Recorder - Page 11

DVD Recording Tests

- Writing Performance

The LG GSA-4120B supports DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-RAM writing. The maximum supported speeds are 12X Z-CLV for DVD+R, 8X Z-CLV for DVD-R, 4X CLV for DVD±RW, 2.4X CLV for DVD+R9 and 5X Z-CLV for DVD-RAM media.

Nero Burning Rom reported speeds, are shown below, after inserting a DVD+R media.

Note that when the software identifies a disc as 8X, the 2X writing speed option is not available. However, if the maximum speed is 4X, 2X writing speed is available...

By using Nero CD-DVD Speed with DVD-R and DVD+R media, we are able to see the 12X/8X Z-CLV recording technology being applied by the recorder.

• DVD+R media @ 12X

• DVD±R media @ 8X

The drive's uses three zones to reach the 12X writing speed (6X->8X->12X). At 12X the average writing speed is 9.87X, while at 8X Z-CLV, 7.82X.

- Supported media list

LG officially, doesn't list the supported media list either at 8X or 12X. The user has to insert a disc to check the maximum reported recording speed for the specific media, so its a test and see procedure. Depending on the inserted disc, the drive may lower its recording speed.

From our experience with A102 firmware, the supported media list is very strict, with almost no 4X media being allowed to burn at 8X for either of the DVD±R formats.

Other manufacturers (BenQ/Plextor) allow media "overspeed", offering users the ability to burn 4X media at 8X, if the produced disc comes within the Red book specs. LiteON users can easily enable overspeed with un-official utilities.

- Burning Tests

We burned 4315MB of data on various DVD±R, DVD±RW media. We used the maximum allowed writing speed for each disc.

• DVD-R media

Notes:

(1) With A102 firmware, the drive refused to burn the disc (write error in lead-in area). After using an unofficial firmware (N0AD) the disc burned without any problems at 4X.

(2) The drive allowed 8X burning speed with CMC Magnetics 8X DVD-R media. However, it didn't manage to burn it, due to write errors in the lead-in area. Reducing the speed to 4X solves this problem. With unofficial firmware (N0AD) the disc can burn up to 8X without any problems.

• DVD+R media

Notes:

1) As we have found, there are currently two types of Verbatim 8X +R media on the market. The "old" type can burn up to 8X with the LG drive, while the "new" type up to 12X! The two media have identical ID codes and revisions but according to DVDInfoPro, there are some differences, elsewhere:

Verbatim 8X
00000000 08 02 00 00 A1 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F .............&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 4D 43 43 00 00 00 00 00 30 .......MCC.....0
00000020 30 33 00 38 23 54 37 15 02 52 6C 02 B4 63 15 15 03.8#T7..Rl..c..
00000030 0B 0A 08 08 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................

MKM 8X
00000000 08 02 00 00 A1 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F .............&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 4D 43 43 00 00 00 00 00 30 .......MCC.....0
00000020 30 33 00 38 23 54 37 12 02 42 6E 02 A8 6B 15 15 03.8#T7..Bn..k..
00000030 0B 0B 08 08 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................

There is a relative thread at our forums where you can find more information on how to recognize each media type before buying...:-)

2) With Verbatim's 4X DVD+R brand media, the drive couldn't burn the disc due to write errors. By using MKM 4X+R media, we didn't had any problem. We inspected the Verbatim media and didn't found any visual scratches/problems that could justify this problem.

3) Our first attempt to burn TY media at 12X wasn't very successful, since the drive reported focus or tracking errors at 93%. When we tried burning a second disc, we didn't have any problems.

Below are two screenshots from Nero, burning our usual project at various speeds

MKM 8X +R @ 12X

TraxData 8X +R @ 8X

- Comparison with other drives

Its clearly noticable that the Plextor PX-712A is, at present, the fastest 12X +R burner thanks to its P-CAV writing strategy. The Optorite comes second (again with 12X P-CAV), while the LG drive third with Z-CLV implementation.

Things seem to change with the DVD-R format since the LG drive had the best recording time at 466 secs!

With DVD re-writable media, the fastest burner was the LiteON, while LG gets second place, and third place with DVD+R/-RW.

- DVD Overburning Tests

Using Nero CD-DVD Speed , we tested if the drive can overburn using DVD+R and DVD-R media. Unfortunately, the drive does not support overburning, giving the following error with all inserted media.

• DVD-R media

• DVD+R media

- DVD+MRW Tests

The drive doesn't support the Mount Rainier feature.