LG GH22LP20 22x "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 andDLA 5.20:

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

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 20x, the GH22LP20 uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that LG's new drive starts writing at about 9.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The GH22LP20 also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

LG's new "Super-Multi" drive performed very well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD-RW discs, the GH22LP20 turned in some very impressive times with DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD+RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the GH22LP20, 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? 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 SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) 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 GH22LP20's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. The only real exception was Memorex's 16x DVD+R media. While written at only 16x, the error rates were very high near the end of the disc.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. Looking at the graphs above, you can see that the discs from Sony and Taiyo Yuden yielded some fairly good results. Unfortunately, the error rates were considerably higher with the media from RiDATA and Verbatim.

To test the GH22LP20's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The GH22LP20 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 7.11.10.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the GH22LP20, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Memorex, Traxdata and Verbatim. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The GH22LP20 had no problems taking the top spot in this test. Thanks to its 16x DVD+R DL writing speed, the drive took less than 11 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

While the quality was pretty good with the DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex, Traxdata's new 16x rated discs yielded some mixed results. The error rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with KProbe. However, when scanned by the DW1640, the PIF rate was a bit high throughout the second half of the disc.

The GH22LP20 also features 16x DVD-R DL writing speeds. Unfortunately, media capable of these speeds isn't available yet. Once discs rated at this speed start to ship, I'll go back and rerun these tests. Until then, here are some results with media that is currently available.

The GH22LP20 performed very well when writing to DVD-R DL media. While not as fast as the GSA-H55L, the drive took only 13:30 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The GH22LP20's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x and 8x DVD-R DL media. The error rates stayed within acceptable limits and, aside from a dip at the layer change, there weren't any readability problems.

Performance Revisited:

While LG's new "Super-Multi" drive has a few rough spots, it performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The GH22LP20 flew through our DVD writing tests, turning in some very impressive times with DVD±R and DVD±R DL media. Unfortunately, there were a few cases where the writing quality could have been better. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the GH22LP20 either. The drive was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x, but slowed to only 6x when reading DVD videos.

The GH22LP20 also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some fairly good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, the GH22LP20 gave us some mixed results. While the drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the LG GH22LP20 gets a solid 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.