In House Review - LG GH22LP20 22x Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM

[Ian]

CDRLabs kicks off the week with a review of LG's new 22x "Super-Multi" drive, the LG GH22LP20. This highly anticipated drive features some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available. The GH22LP20 is capable of 22x DVD±R, 16x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. LG's new drive also offers a number of features, including support for technologies like LightScribe and SecurDisc.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the GH22LP20 and see how it compares to some of the 20x 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.


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

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the LG GH22LP20, please post them in the forum.

[Scour]

Wow, some impressive times with 22x-writing

I´m a little bit confused on the scan from MCC03RG20, was this burn at 12x or 22x?

I think the overall write-quality for single is good, but not perfect

In the specs I read tht it also can use 12x with DVD-R. But this wasn´t the case in the past with Renesas-chipset

But I´m disappointed about the Riplock, I like fast drives more for ripping

[Ian]

I´m a little bit confused on the scan from MCC03RG20, was this burn at 12x or 22x?

Sorry.. that was a typo. It was written at 22x. The poor quality with the Ritek media isn't surprising but the results with MCC03RG20 are disappointing since they work so well with other drives.

I wish LG would get rid of the riplock. Pioneer gave up on that long ago.

[Scour]

What u think, it´s not a challenger for the good GH20?

[Scour]

BTW, it lokks like this LG have a Panasonic-chipset, maybe that is the reason for the not so good quality and 12x DVD-R-burning

[Ian]

New firmware for the GH22LP20 and GH22NP20.

Improvement Point
-. Improve Writing Strategy

[Ian]

The GH22LP20 is on sale at Best Buy for $44.99 this week.

[BeyondInvisible]

I'm sorry if this question has been asked/answered before.

I bought this LG GH22LP20 16X and upgraded the firmware to 1.02, using 80pin IDE cables, and set this drive to Secondary Master. BIOS settings are set to DMA (auto,4), Windows show DMA when available.

But for all the things I've tried, I can NEVER get it to burn a DVD-R more than 2X (burning an .ISO file). The average is always around 1.2X, with maximum at 1.4X (~2MBps). I used Verbatium 16X DVD-R.

Can someone please tell me what's wrong, and how to fix it? It's really a pain to burn a DVD for 45 mins. It burns CD-R just fine (~3 mins for a full audio CD).

Nero, or ImgBurns, or Active Burn always show the same burning speed.

Please help me. I'm desparate for speed.

Thanks so much for your time and help. I appreciate it.

DN

[Ian]

What media are you using? Also, do you have it plugged into your motherboards main IDE connectors or something like a RAID controller?

[BeyondInvisible]

I'm using Verbatium DVD-R 16X. The movie was ripped in .ISO format. I was using Nero express to burn the ISO. I plug the 80pin IDE cable straight from Motherboard to LG Drive (master) and one of 3 hard drives (Slave). The other two hard drive are Boot in Primary master, and the other on Primary slave.

I've just changed the IDE cable from the 40 pin IDE cable.

Thanks!

[Ian]

If it burns CD's at full speed, it doesn't appear to be a bandwidth or DMA issue. Have you tried running a running a transfer rate test with CD Speed? How about reading? Are your read speeds limited too?

[AxBattler]

Hello,

Can anyone comment on the LG GH20NS15? I believe it's this drive's predecessor. I am in a process of building a new PC using a fair amount of 2nd hand component. I am in a position of getting this drive rather cheap (less than 1/3rd) a new drive. I was wondering if it's worth settling for that, or if I should just get a new drive.

Thanks.

[Morpheus]

I have the Plextor 708 dvd writer for a few years now and it started to go on me recently. I quickly did research on a replacement drive and chose the LG GH22LP20 drive. This is my first DL writer and with speeds greater than 8x (708). Also my first Lightscribe and SecurDisc. I'm being meaning into trying SecurDisc for a while now. I just installed the drive (manufactured in August 2009) and it comes with firmware V1.04. I checked LG Canada and this drive is not listed under Support. I had to go to LG US to download the manual and the new firmware 2.0.

I don't know whether I should try 1.04 first before upgrading to 2.0 or just to upgrade straight to 2.0. I already have Nero 7 Ultra installed from way back, and PowerDVD 7 OEM - so I'm not going to install those versions on the disk. The only thing left of software on the disk is Power producer. I don't have Nero's InCD installed - I was thinking about going to Nero's website and download the latest version. The big question is the disk has Nero Express Lightscribe support - I don't know how I can add this to my current Nero 7 Ultra (I'm using Nero Express V7.11.6.0). I ran Nero 7 Express and the SecurDisc options come up - yeah!

[Ian]

To add LightScribe support, you just need to install the system software.

http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadSect ... spx?id=810

It looks like firmware 2.0 was released in the last week or two. There's no change log so I have no idea what's new between it and the 1.04. If it was me, I'd try 1.04 and see how it goes before upgrading to 2.0.

[Ian]

Okay, I'm blind. It says on the download page that the 2.0 firmware adds support for Windows 7 and improves readability.

[Morpheus]

I went to upgrade the firmware on the LG drive to 2.0. I read the readme file and was surprised. LG states that the drive is to be on the secondary IDE channel (it is) and that's the only thing on that channel with the DVD drive set to master. Say what????? I have 2 hard drives - my boot drive and data drive, my old DVD drive (Plextor), and now the new LG drive. My set up is: Primary IDE channel - boot drive (master), plextor drive (slave), Secondary IDE channel - data drive (master), LG DVD (slave). I have upgrade the firmware on the Plextor DVD drive a few times and never had a problem with it. I don't know why LG wants that weird setup - it would require me changing jumpers and rerouting cables (twice) which would be a PATA.

[Dartman]

Well I spose you could just try flashing it as is and see how it goes. If the program recognizes the drive I'd think it should flash without issues but I could be wrong. I've never looked at that type of stuff with any of my drives, if the flashers sees it they seem to flash fine here so far.

[Ian]

If that's really the case, that's some lazy ass programming. I'd give it a try and see what happens.

btw.. happy birthday Dartman

[Dartman]

Thanks Ian, wondered if anybody would notice I had a good day,cake, a new weather station, time with the family, only problem is another year older

[Morpheus]

I got it to update without switching the cables or the jumper settings. I disconnected from the internet, disabled my anti-virus and spyware software, ran the firmware program and rebooting my pc. Checked the drive to make sure it was running firmware 2.0 (it was), started my anti-virus and spyware software, rebooted my pc and reconnected to the internet. Done. Whew. I haven't done any burning yet. I bought a spindle of verbatim DVD+R DL 8x - NO ONE has the 16x, it's either 2.4x or 8x for DL!! Everyone has the single layer 16x - this makes no sense to me, it bought the writer so I can do 16x not still be stuck at 8x.

[Ian]

I think they've given up on DL media. Ritek has had 16x DL media available for nearly two years and the stuff isn't sold anywhere in the US. Verbatim has been testing 12x DVD-R DL and 16x DVD+R DL media for ages and I really doubt it will ever hit retail.

[SkaarjMaster]

Sounds like this is the one to get for DVD and CD writing as long as you can find the right media. This may be my new one if any I own fail and I may recommend this to friends (obviously, the Sony if they're only burning DVDs).
Um, ok then, it looks like the Lite-On iHAS422 22X has the best review and maybe this one is the one to recommend.

[SkaarjMaster]

Got this for my Mom and installed it this weekend and it seems to be recognized by WinXP, but I didn't catch the firmware version. If she has any problems, I'll upgrade to the latest firmware. I'll test it out next time I'm at her house and also DL the firmware versions just in case to be ready. At least now she can listen to and burn DVDs from her computer. And now I have her old CD burner.

[Scour]

Did anyone know which software is bundles with actual LG writers, like GH22NS50?

[Ian]

Probably the Nero Express suite.