LG BH08LS20 Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc ReWriter

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc writers, the performance tests are normally broken down into six sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write, BD read and BD write. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

BD Write Tests: To test the BD write speeds, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature is used to burn an entire BD-R/RE disc. Times are recorded.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

LG's new Super Multi Blue drive performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. While the BH08LS20's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other Blu-ray Disc writers we've looked at, its access time and transfer rates were fairly good. The drive started reading at 18.7x (2810 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 46.4x (6960 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

 

	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.43x 21.08x 48.18x	35.19x 20.35x 46.52x	30.94x 17.80x 40.63x	31.11x 17.72x 41.13x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	127ms 146ms 214ms	145ms 152ms 280ms	114ms 129ms 186ms	133ms 150ms 201ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 5% 2%	1% 1% 8% 9%	0% 1% 2% 4%

LG's new Blu-ray Disc writer performed very well when reading pressed CD's. The BH08LS20 flew through CD Speed's transfer rate tests, reaching a maximum read speed of 48.18x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that its seek times were also pretty good.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

 

	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.95x 21.17x 48.93x	35.96x 20.51x 47.65x	31.08x 17.77x 40.83x	31.79x 17.97x 42.18x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	122ms 145ms 225ms	161ms 169ms 304ms	123ms 156ms 229ms	136ms 154ms 204ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 6% 2%	1% 1% 8% 10%	0% 1% 2% 4%

Like the other drives, the BH08LS20 was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 48.93.

LG's new Blu-ray drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The BH08LS20 read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 49.75x.

 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests. 

 

	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	30.00x 17.48x 39.69x	24.85x 14.37x 32.82x	30.56x 17.74x 40.00x	31.22x 17.92x 41.21x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	119ms 142ms 215ms	153ms 163ms 303ms	120ms 135ms 203ms	134ms 150ms 202ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 2% 2%	1% 1% 8% 10%	0% 1% 2% 4%

While the BH08LS20 is rated at 48x when reading pressed and CD-R media, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the LG BH08LS20 supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.     

 

CD Speed	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	30.25x 17.91x 39.96x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.96x 24.65x 10 Yes	30.72x 18.00x 40.30x 10 Yes	31.41x 18.00x 41.55x 10 Yes

The BH08LS20 did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not as fast as the GGW-H20L and DH-4B1S, it was able to rip pressed audio CD's at at respectable 39.96x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

 

CD Speed	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	29.90x 17.99x 39.43x 10 Yes	18.42x 10.88x 24.37x 10 Yes	30.44x 17.99x 39.86x 10 Yes	31.12x 17.95x 41.03x 10 Yes

LG's new Blu-ray drive was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. Nevertheless, this didn't keep it from reaching a maximum DAE speed of 39.43x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

The BH08LS20 completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 28.42x. The drive did not create any errors, but for whatever reason, it was not able to pass all of the on-the-fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the BH08LS20 was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.