What's in the box?:
- LG BH14NS40 14x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter
- Super Multi Blue Install Disc
- Owner's Manual
- Verbatim 6x BD-R Disc
- SATA Cable
- SATA Power Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive LG sent us for this review was manufactured in February of 2012 and had firmware version 1.00. At the time of this review, this is the only official firmware available for the BH14NS40.
From the front, the BH14NS40 looks nothing like LG's previous Super Multi Blue drives. The glossy black plastic and silver highlights are gone and have been replaced by a flat bezel with faux brushed metal finish. The BH14NS40 still has its share of logos. Along with the large "LG" logo on the tray, you can see a few showing support for the Blu-ray Disc and M-DISC formats.
Like the eject button, the BH14NS40's single LED is flush with the bezel and is very hard to see when it is not lit. Off by default, the LED lights up a bright blue whenever the drive is reading or writing.
The rear of the BH14NS40 is pretty straightforward. By looking at the picture above you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.
Technical Specs:
The specs below have been taken from LG's website and the manual that came with the drive.
| LG BH14NS40 14x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter | |
| BD-R Write Speeds | 14x, 12x (CAV) 10x, 8x, 6x (P-CAV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R DL Write Speeds | 12x (CAV) 8x, 6x (P-CAV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R XL Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R LTH Write Speeds | 6x (P-CAV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| BD-RE Write Speeds | 2x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x (P-CAV) 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x (P-CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x, 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 8x (P-CAV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 8x (P-CAV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| M-DISC Write Speeds | 4x (CLV) |
| CD-R Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x (CLV) |
| CD-RW Write Speeds | 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| BD Read Speeds | 12x Max (BD-ROM Single Layer) 8x Max (BD-ROM Dual Layer) 12x Max (BD-R) 8x Max (BD-R DL) 8x Max (BD-RE) 6x Max (BD-RE DL) 6x Max (BD-R LTH) 12x (BDMV) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 12x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-Video) 5x Max (DVD-RAM) 12x Max (M-DISC) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R) 40x Max (CD-RW) |
| DAE Speeds | 40x Max |
| Buffer Size | 4 MB |
| Access Times |
180 ms (BD-ROM) 160 ms (DVD-ROM) 180 ms (DVD-RAM) 150 ms (CD-ROM) |
| BD Formats | BD-ROM (SL/DL) BD-R (SL/DL/XL) BD-RE (SL/DL/XL) BD-R LTH BD-Video BD-MV |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM (SL/DL) DVD-R (SL/DL) DVD+R (SL/DL) DVD-RW DVD+RW DVD-RAM |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM XA CD-I Video CD Photo CD CD-Extra CD-Text CD-R CD-RW |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that LG's new Super Multi Blue drive is identified as an "HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH14NS40."
The Nero screenshot also shows that the BH14NS40 has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 4096KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the BH14NS40 can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the BH14NS40 is a "two sheep" burner. This means that LG's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.
Here is a screen shot from Erik Deppe's Opti Drive Control. Among other things, this program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. Opti Drive Control had no problems detecting the BH14NS40's reading and writing speeds and supported disc types.
Opti Drive Control also shows that the BH14NS40 is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While Opti Drive Control gives us a quick glance at the BH14NS40's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that LG's new drive can read and write to most BD and DVD formats.
Oddly enough, the BH14NS40 does not support bitsetting. I tried a number of programs, including Nero and CD Speed, and none of them let me change the book type of DVD+R, DVD+RW or DVD+R DL media. After running a few tests, I found that the BH14NS40 does not automatically set the book type either. This really is too bad as setting the book type to "DVD-ROM" can greatly reduce compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
