LG GSA-4120B reviewed, 5x DVD-RAM, 12x DVD+R

[Kennyshin]

He tested two media with TY 02 code. TY 8x bundled with Lite-On SOHW-812S and TY That's retail 8x. Both were recorded at up to 12x but 812S-bundled TY 8x had speed fluctuations while the retail That's had no such thing.

[Kennyshin]

I'm not sure whether it's also alright to link the review here.

It's fine with me. I'd like to read more about this drive.

But the author's hesitant. Confidentiality. If it were me, I'd have posted everything on open web.

I PM'ed the web link to Ian.

Sadly, he wants to quit working for the company very soon.

[Kennyshin]

South Korean Yongsan stores have just started to sell LG GSA-4120B today. The retail price is from 185,000 Won to 198,000 Won where 1 USD is about nearly 1200 Won.

[MadBurner]

How about North America?

MB

[MadBurner]

Well at least I will have some 5X DVD-RAM media next month to test this new drive out!

MB

Maxell Launches World's First 5X DVD-RAM Media; Fastest and Most Durable Rewritable DVD Media

FAIR LAWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2004--Maxell Corporation of America, the technology and marketing leader in premium recordable media products, today introduced the world's first 5X DVD-RAM disc, the fastest rewritable, high-capacity DVD media currently available.

Maxell's latest DVD-RAM media is based on its newly-developed Bismuth Coupling Material (BCM) recording layer, which improves signal to noise ratio for higher reliability during high-speed recording. The new media has a capacity of 4.7GB, which equates to up to six hours of video in extended play mode. It is also backward compatible, supporting recording at 2X and 3X in addition to its 5X speed. The single-sided disc is compatible with all DVD-RAM drives and recorders and RAM readable DVD-ROM devices and DVD players.

Maxell's advanced hard coating provides superior durability and the anti-static properties make the Maxell 5X DVD-RAM media resistant to dust and dirt. BCM recording layer technology, together with an error correction system, and unrivaled shelf life ensures high reliability for data storage and recovery. Maxell's latest DVD-RAM product is ideally suited for multimedia storage, software title production, large file storage, data transfer and library systems, as well as high-capacity archival storage.

"More and more individuals, businesses and corporations are turning to DVD media as a way to store and archive critical digital information," said Peter Brinkman, Vice President of Marketing, Maxell Corporation of America. "By offering the industry's most advanced and fastest DVD-RAM media, we are making the commitment to our customers that, Maxell media will be there to safeguard their most sensitive business data."

DVD-RAM is an advanced recording media format that offers a range of digital data applications. Its phase-change recording material allows discs to be re-recordable and erasable, and a superior defect management system ensures accurate recording and playback. DVD-RAM allows instant, random access to any location on the disc for fast and easy data reading and writing. Because DVD-RAM supports fast formatting and no finalizing, it is an extremely easy-to-use media. And with DVD-RAM, changes can be made directly on the disc without the need to transfer data to a hard drive first, speeding up the editing tasks.

Maxell DVD-RAM discs are backed by a limited lifetime warranty, satisfaction guarantee and toll-free technical support. The 5X DVD RAM media will be available in June 2004 and will be shown by Maxell at a RAM Promotion Group event in conjunction with CeBIT America in New York City.

[dolphinius_rex]

oooo, thanks for posting that! Now I'll go back to my Maxell Rep. and demand samples

[Kennyshin]

oooo, thanks for posting that! Now I'll go back to my Maxell Rep. and demand samples

Don't you also need GSA-4120B to test the media?

[MadBurner]

oooo, thanks for posting that! Now I'll go back to my Maxell Rep. and demand samples

Ya, I was gonna PM you but I figured that you were monitoring this thread anyway

MB

[dolphinius_rex]

oooo, thanks for posting that! Now I'll go back to my Maxell Rep. and demand samples

Don't you also need GSA-4120B to test the media?

Umm....well, yeah, sorta I guess

Way to spoil my fun by pointing out the obvious flaws!

[MadBurner]

So when can we preorder one of these drives anyway

MB

[Kennyshin]

Price still falling!

[Gooberslot]

What I'm interested to find in reviews is if the problems previous models had where fixed. Issues where:
1. Bad DAE quality
2. High Jitter values for burned CD-R media
3. Quality issues with DVD-RW/+RW media
4. Does not produce good results on some CD-R media

The above 4 issues where appearing consistent on 4020, 4040, 4081 and 4082.

Where did you get your info. I know the 4081 has jitter problems with CD-R media but the rest is new to me. If you have confirmation that the 4082 has the same problem then please let me know. The quality issues with DVD/RW media is also new to me. Maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention.

When's this new 4120 coming out anyway?

[Ian]

When's this new 4120 coming out anyway?

It's shipping in some areas already. It should show up here in the US later this month.

[generaljan]

My LG will arrive tomorrow !!

[Kennyshin]

oooo, thanks for posting that! Now I'll go back to my Maxell Rep. and demand samples

Don't you also need GSA-4120B to test the media?

Umm....well, yeah, sorta I guess

Way to spoil my fun by pointing out the obvious flaws!

I would like to import Maxell 5x DVD-RAM asap, too!

Since my daughter's birthday, I've been especially interested in buying a DVD-RAM camcorder. HDD compatibility is also great but there is no product commercially available I can find here.

Update on the review:

1. The latest firmware sets the booktype as "DVD-ROM" instead of "DVD+R" while the earlier version(s) didn't.

2. Mitsubishi DVD+R DL was recorded fine and read smoothly in a DVD-Video standalone machine. Booktype was DVD-ROM by default.

[Kennyshin]

There are A100, A101, N09F, N0A6, N0AD, and TDB's A101 rpc1 firmware versions for GSA-4120B now. N0AD seems to work best from what I gather so far.

[Kennyshin]

I got confirmation from LG Electronics yesterday by email. In summary, LG does consider booktype utility for DVD+R(W) in GSA-4120B but has no plan to support 8x writing for 4x DVD+R media.

1. LG sent firmware versions to the first testers of GSA-4120B in April and May that write to DVD+R media as DVD-ROM, meaning it writes DVD-ROM booktype instead of DVD+R on the disc. Officially, LG could not do it because of licensing and specifications. As everyone should know, LG has been one of the DVD Forum members supporting DVD-RAM and DVD-R/-RW, ignoring DVD+R(W). Even during the last one year, LG was only half-seriously supporting the newer formats. However, a lot has been changed. The very best features in the latest LG optical drives are related to the standard which LG objected in the first place. What's the point of having 12x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+R DL if it can't burn the media properly to be played in standalone players and PC drives? Though even without firmware supporting booktype utility, GSA-4120B does great, setting DVD+R booktype to DVD-ROM enhances compatibility with some players and drives. I have explained to LG that it is no violation of official DVD+RW specification, license, or whatever and some retail brands are supported with exactly such features, like Lite-On and HP.

2. LG has no plan to support 8x DVD+R writing for some 4x DVD+R media. Though there have been exceptions, LG does not support over-speed writing because it is not official. Partly, it is a good policy, and surely it helps the media manufacturers to think again and to work harder in starting volume production of the newly annouced media like DVD+R DL and 12x DVD+R. Of course, it also helps many consumers to look for other companies such as Lite-On.

That's all for now. I'll send more mails about more issues.

[Kennyshin]

Panasonic LF-M721JD Super Multi (5x DVD-RAM and 8x 8xDVD+/-R)

Bless is listing Panasonic LF-M721JD for 18,953 Yen, plus 5% VAT which is applied to domestic Japanese buyers.

Product link: http://panasonic.jp/p3/multi/m721

Bless link: http://www.bless.co.jp/price/index_3700.html

5xDVD-RAM
8xDVD±R/4xDVD±RW
24xCD-R/16xCD-RW

While Hitachi-LG has GSA-4120B for as low as 8,943 Yen at the same store.

http://www.lge.com/products/supermulti/products/spec_4120.htm

5xDVD-RAM
2.4xDVD+R DL
12xDVD+R/8xDVD-R/4xDVD±RW
40xCD-R/24xCD-RW

[Kennyshin]

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=101894

Quote from the post post.

I wrote to grman LG support recently about Booktype Setting capability in their latest DVD Multiformat writer 4120B. Today, I got a response from them in german language, here is a translation of what it says:

"Regarding your inquiry I can inform you that there will be a firmware update supporting "Booktype setting". An exact release date is not known yet."

I think this is a very positive signal from LG towards their customers, and I am really happy that they have become aware of that problem.

[MadBurner]

Now, if we could just find somewhere to purchase 5X DVD-RAM media

MB

[Kennyshin]

DVD-RAM Driver Download

Download N0AD for GSA-4120B bitsetting to DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL

Or, for those who don't want to click a few times more.

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/firmware ... ad_r06.zip

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/firmware ... ad_r06.exe

Don't link the files directly on places other than this thread. I monitor the server usage and I'll move them to another location if it seems abused too much.

Executable

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP.exe

English

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_English.zip

Spanish

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_Spanish.zip

French

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_French.zip

Italian

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_Italian.zip

German

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_German.zip

SChinese

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_SChinese.zip

TChinese

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_TChinese.zip

Japanese

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_Japanese.zip

Korean

http://kenny.storageinfo.co.kr/driver/dvdram/DVDRAM_WinXP_Korean.zip

[Frequency]

I am planning to buy a dvd writer to myself i have looked this for a long, but im afraid of that media problem. One of my friends told so horrible things about this media compatibility thing that im not so sure anymore. Haw bad this problem is, and is there any update to this problem.

Many thanks.

[dodecahedron]

Kenny,
are LG firmware upagrade procedure and warranty disclaimers as draconian as they used to be, or have they improved over the last year or so?

[Kennyshin]

Kenny,
are LG firmware upagrade procedure and warranty disclaimers as draconian as they used to be, or have they improved over the last year or so?

I'm not sure what you mean.

[Kennyshin]

I am planning to buy a dvd writer to myself i have looked this for a long, but im afraid of that media problem. One of my friends told so horrible things about this media compatibility thing that im not so sure anymore. Haw bad this problem is, and is there any update to this problem.

Many thanks.

Thanks god I don't use too many types of media. Most of my DVD media are ricohjpnr01/r02 and t01/t02.