In House Review - LG GSA-H10N Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM

[Ian]

Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at LG's latest "Super-Multi" drive, the GSA-H10N. Sporting some pretty impressive specs, the GSA-H10N is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 10x DVD+R DL and 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, its one of the first drives with the ability to read and write to DVD-RAM media at 12x.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the GSA-H10N and see how it compares to some of the 16x and 18x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does LG's new "Super-Multi" drive have what it takes? Is it the fastest DVD writer around? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=287]
LG GSA-H10N Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM[/url]

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the LG GSA-H10N, please post them in the forum by clicking the link below.

[Gen-An]

I noticed a mistake in the DVD-R error scan section. It shows TYG02@16x when it should be TYG03.

[Scour]

Nice review, again

I heard that the Benqs hate H10N-burns and the Liteon-drives like it. Is it possible to take a Plextor for scanning when Benq and Liteon shows very different results?

[Ian]

I was going to do that for a few of the discs and post the results in the forum. I just haven't had time. I've got a bunch of stuff to do before I go out of town.

[MediumRare]

Thorough review as usual.

I found one relict: "The GSA-4167B starts writing at 16x and quickly jumps to 24x at the 6 minute". Why do they use ZCLV for CDR's?

It looks like a pretty good writer! Interestingly, the structure (when present) in the PI-values and jitter from the BenQ scans mostly lines up with the recalibration points as indicated on the writing curves. So the drive is doing something that the BenQ reacts to. This is particularly evident in the OPTODISCR16 scans.

The fast writing speed seem to come from a higher rotation speed than other drives use. Have you noticed increased mechanical vibrations at this speed? Even if the drive slows down after hitting 16x, the mechanical stress on the disc (and bearings) will be higher until it gets there.

G

[Ian]

I'm not sure why they still use Z-CLV for CD-R/CD-RW writing. I have a feeling that LG is focusing mostly on DVD writing and they're recycling the same firmware code for CD support. As it is, the H10N's CD reading and writing performance was very similar to the 4167.

LG still has a bit of tweaking to do, especially with Ritek media. However, its pretty good for the second firmware release. It took 3 or 4 firmware releases before the 4167 was really good.

I really didn't notice any excess vibrations... at least any more than the other DVD writers I'm testing right now.

[ala42]

The DVD-Video riplock can be removed with MCSE now .

[karangguni]

An excellent review as usual, Ian!

I'm not sure if you are aware of a new scanning program which allows Lite-On drives to do jitter/beta scans on discs. It's called DVDScan. Well, I've seen quite a few scans done using this program of H10N burns. If I'm reading the graphs produced by it correctly, then I've never seen jitter levels exceed 12-13% for H10N burns. Examples of what I mean are here :

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p ... ostcount=5
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p ... stcount=76

It's another reason why the jitter levels reported by BenQ drives might not be correct. Of course, the counter argument is that the BenQ is reporting jitter levels correctly and the Lite-On isn't. When you do manage to do those jitter scans with your Plextor, it can confirm which one of those two is right. It's going to be very interesting

[Ian]

I've taken a look at DVDScan but I'm going to give it time to mature before I think about including it in our tests. As it is, the jitter levels probably aren't going to match up between BenQ and Lite-On drives (what are acceptable jitter rates with DVDScan anyway?).

Looking at those screenshots, the discs were burned using the JJ11 firmware. This is an OEM firmware for the Japanese market. It's possible there are differences between it and the JL11 firmware I used in the review.

[seedomo]

Thanks for the review, but am I mistaken or is this unit not available yet? Is there any 12x RAM Burner available yet without getting a flight to Tokyo? If the drive is available, is the media as well? Just really confussed.


One more thing... you listed a link to Pricegrabber but if after following the links I find that they list the RAM DVD at only 5x at any of the stores that sell it. There is a small difference in the model you reviewed and the one listed at Pricegrabber.... GSA-H10NK and LG GSA-H10N

Any Idea, maybe just mistakes since this would be the first drive in the US that offers 12x RAM, right?

[dodecahedron]

1/ GSA-H10A/N/L are available in the US.
2/ there really isn't such a thing as GSA-H10NK. the drive is really GSA-H10N, the last letter might be some kind of code used by various sellers to distinguish retail/OEM packaging, color etc.
for instance:
LG's US website, GSA-4167B.
http://us.lge.com/products/category/lis ... ucts.jhtml

GSA-4167BI (RETAIL): 048231293860
GSA-4167BK (BULK BLACK): 048231293808
GSA-4167BB (BULK IVORY): 048231293792

3/ the fastest DVD-RAM media to be bought in the US is 5x.