In House Review - LG GSA-2166D USB 2.0 Super-Multi DVD±RW/RA

[Ian]

To kick off the week, CDRLabs has taken a look at LG's new LightScribe enabled "Super-Multi" drive, the GSA-2166D. Sporting some pretty impressive specs, the GSA-2166D is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Along with support for LightScribe, the GSA-2166D also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds, and a software bundle from Nero and CyberLink.

In this review we'll take a look at the features found on the GSA-2166D and see how it compares to some of the DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does LG's new "Super-Multi" drive have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=274]
LG GSA-2166D USB 2.0 Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM[/url]

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the LG GSA-2166D, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

[Ian]

Small rant..

Over the past few weeks I've been going back and forth with LG, talking about some of the issues with this drive. At one point, they sent a long a PDF showing that PC World had given the GSA-2166D their "Best Buy" award.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/ ... 779,00.asp

As many of you know, I have little respect for publications like PC World. They rarely, if ever, look beyond the specs on the box and this is a great example of that.

[Scour]

Hello!

Great review again, Ian

Now LG uses for 16x DVD-writing CAV, not P-CAV, with CD-R now CAV and not Z-CLV, DVD-R/+R-reading in now 16x.

Could it be that LG switched to Mediatek-chipset or something? It´s conspicuous that the most Kprobe-scans looks so good and the Benq-scans look totally different; it´s like scanning a burned media from a Liteon-writer.

[Ian]

Could it be that LG switched to Mediatek-chipset or something?

I'll get back to you on that. I have a GSA-4166B at home that I can crack open.

I am kind of surprised by the lack of firmware updates for this drive. The GSA-4167B has gotten 2 already.. and the 2166D/4166B has gotten none. The way it sounds, there won't be any for a few months either.

[Scour]

I'll get back to you on that. I have a GSA-4166B at home that I can crack open.

I am kind of surprised by the lack of firmware updates for this drive. The GSA-4167B has gotten 2 already.. and the 2166D/4166B has gotten none. The way it sounds, there won't be any for a few months either.

Thanks for cracking

Do you know the burst-rate for the external enclosure and which chipset it uses for IDE to USB?

The 4166/2166 was later avaible than the 4167, at least in Germany. Maybe this is the reason for less FW-updates?

In the specs I raed that the 2166 uses Z-CLV for 8x DVD-writing; but I guess that Liteon uses 8x P-CAV.

[Ian]

Do you know the burst-rate for the external enclosure and which chipset it uses for IDE to USB?

No idea. I'll try to find out.

[ItalianJob]

Great ! Thanks for the test

I wonder why LG still doesn't do PI/PIF/jitter scanning ! What are they waiting for ?

[dolphinius_rex]

Great ! Thanks for the test

I wonder why LG still doesn't do PI/PIF/jitter scanning ! What are they waiting for ?

Maybe they looked at the crap coming out of LiteON, NEC, and Pioneer and opted to not screw up?

[Scour]

Maybe they looked at the crap coming out of LiteON, NEC, and Pioneer and opted to not screw up?

Maybe.

But LG used imho the same chipset in their CD-RW-drives like Liteon and never make the CD-RW usable for scanning, is LG simply to lazy?

[dolphinius_rex]

Maybe they looked at the crap coming out of LiteON, NEC, and Pioneer and opted to not screw up?

Maybe.

But LG used imho the same chipset in their CD-RW-drives like Liteon and never make the CD-RW usable for scanning, is LG simply to lazy?

They probably just don't see a need to do it. Most people who use drives to scan media have no idea what they're doing anyways, and shouldn't (in my opinion) even have access to this level of power user software/hardware. They're more likely to miscalculate because of poorly interpreted data then help themselves, and LG probably understands the fact that most people don't need this sort of thing anymore then they need files listed in bytes instead of megabytes

[ItalianJob]

They probably just don't see a need to do it. Most people who use drives to scan media have no idea what they're doing anyways, and shouldn't (in my opinion) even have access to this level of power user software/hardware. They're more likely to miscalculate because of poorly interpreted data then help themselves, and LG probably understands the fact that most people don't need this sort of thing anymore then they need files listed in bytes instead of megabytes

Come on. Should they just believe the "burn successfully completed, go to sleep now !" message under Nero

[Scour]

Come on. Should they just believe the "burn successfully completed, go to sleep now !" message under Nero

Like Dolph said, the most people who buy a DVD-writer don´t know what a quality-scan is.

But it´s not nice, that a big manufacturer like LG don´t support scans, it could be a nice alternative to Benq and Liteon

[ala42]

If you want to see the internals, look here. 4164 inside, using a Panasonic MN103SA6GSJ/Panasonic AN22113A chipset. The TEAC DV-W516E (aka Benq DQ60) uses Panasonic MN103SA6GSJ/Panasonic AN22115A. This might explain the bad writing results.

[Scour]

If you want to see the internals, look here. 4164 inside, using a Panasonic MN103SA6GSJ/Panasonic AN22113A chipset. The TEAC DV-W516E (aka Benq DQ60) uses Panasonic MN103SA6GSJ/Panasonic AN22115A. This might explain the bad writing results.

That means 2166=4164? Or I get it wrong?

Edit: The 4164 don´t support DVD-RAM, so the 2166 can´t be a 4164

[ala42]

Maybe they ran out of labels . Also check this thread.

[Scour]

Maybe they ran out of labels . Also check this thread.

Now I´m confused

But heard a rumor that a new LG is on the way, maybe the 4168?

[Ian]

Edit: The 4164 don´t support DVD-RAM, so the 2166 can´t be a 4164

The 4164 does support DVD-RAM. However, it doesn't support LightScribe. That is the difference. I'm guessing the hardware is identical though as its being flashed with the LightScribe firmware and being sold as the GSA-2166D.

As far as write quality testing goes, LG sells most of their drives to OEM's, most of which don't want to support this sort of feature.

I already took some pics of the chipsets so you're getting them anyway. Here they are..

[eric93se]

Ian, great review

Personally I'd consider the LG GSA-2166D a CD writer not a dvd burner

[Ian]

But heard a rumor that a new LG is on the way, maybe the 4168?

Me too.. but all I've seen so far is rumors and speculation.

I think that many thought that the 4166B was going to be the LightScribe version of the 4165B. Using this formula, the 4168B would naturally be the LightScribe version of the 4167B. Of course, it didn't end up this way. The 4166B actually has faster DVD+R DL writing speeds than the 4167B.

[MediumRare]

Great review, Ian.

Looks like they've got a lot of work to do on this drive. LG used to be known for conservative burning strategies, but the quality results with increasing error rates at the end of the disc suggest that they're burning too fast!

As to error scanning- I will never buy another drive that doesn't support this. I spend more time scanning than burning.

Ian- do you know how CD-Speeds ScanDisc works? The LG doesn't report C1/C2 but shows some plausible results whereas the Sony 810 (BenQ rebadge), which also doesn't report C2, doesn't- all sectors red.

Typo in the review: for the "Pressed CD" CD DAE results and CD-R both tables: there's a "Sony GSA-2166D" in column 1.

G

[Scour]

I think that many thought that the 4166B was going to be the LightScribe version of the 4165B. Using this formula, the 4168B would naturally be the LightScribe version of the 4167B. Of course, it didn't end up this way. The 4166B actually has faster DVD+R DL writing speeds than the 4167B.

But the 4165 uses 16x P-CAV, the 4166 uses CAV.

BTW, the specs I read for the 4164 at cdr.cz are maybe wrong, they wrote nothing about DVD-RAM-support

[Ian]

Ian- do you know how CD-Speeds ScanDisc works? The LG doesn't report C1/C2 but shows some plausible results whereas the Sony 810 (BenQ rebadge), which also doesn't report C2, doesn't- all sectors red.

According to Erik Deppe, there are two ways of reporting C2 errors with CD Speed:

1) the standard MMC method which can be used in conjunction with audio CD ripping. This is the method which InfoTool reports and is supported by the GSA-2166D.

2) a vendor-specific method which can only be used for disc quality testing. This is supported by the BenQ 1640, but for whatever reason is broken on the Sony 810.

[ItalianJob]

Ian- do you know how CD-Speeds ScanDisc works? The LG doesn't report C1/C2 but shows some plausible results whereas the Sony 810 (BenQ rebadge), which also doesn't report C2, doesn't- all sectors red.

Which version are you using ? CD-DVD Speed 4.09.3 (here) seems to have solved a similar problem.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p ... ostcount=5
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php ... ost1160948

[Ian]

Which version are you using ? CD-DVD Speed 4.09.3 (here) seems to have solved a similar problem.

Aside from the position and reported speed, its not really fixing anything. It's just displaying all "good" instead of all "bad". CD Speed 3.xx did the same thing with the DW1640.

[hoxlund]

sorry i didn't read this entire thread for this comment

but we carry this drive at best buy, just to let people know where to pick it up locally

so sorry if someone already said this