LG BP40NS20 Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter

Model: LG BP40NS20 Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter
Manufacturer: LG Electronics
Provided By: Millenniata

LG Electronics is one of Korea's oldest and most respected consumer electronics firms. Since the introduction of their first radio in 1959, the company has grown to become one of the world's top electronics manufacturers, offering everything from large home appliances to tiny mobile phones. LG is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. Working closely with companies like Hitachi, they've lead the way in this area, developing and manufacturing a wide range of products, including the industry's first "Super-Multi" drives.

With the growing popularity of ultra-slim notebooks, LG has set its sights on the portable optical drive market. This winter, the company introduced its latest portable Blu-ray Disc writer, the BP40NS20. The stylish and compact Super Multi Blue drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. It also offers support for BDXL media, which can hold up to 128GB of data on a single disc. Last, but not least, the BP40NS20 offers support for Millenniata's M-DISC technology which uses an inorganic rock-like material to provide up to 1000 years of permanent data storage.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the BP40NS20 has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect from LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer, we'll take a look at some of  the drive's features and then put it through its paces to see how it performs. Is the BP40NS20 the best choice for the person on the go? Keep reading as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• LG BP40NS20 Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter
• Super Multi Blue Install Disc
• Quick Setup Guide
• USB Cable
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Milleniata sent us for this review was manufactured in December of 2011 and had firmware ML01. This is the newest firmware currently available for the BP40NS20.

The BP40NS20 is one of the smallest Blu-ray Disc writers to come through the 'Labs.. Measuring 160 x 22 x 153 mm, it's not much larger than a couple of jewel cases stacked on top of one another. The BP40NS20 is also constructed out of silver plastic. It's hard to tell by looking at the pictures below, but the top of the drive has a glossy UV coating that is supposed to resist scratching.

On the bottom, the BP40NS20 has four small rubber feet to keep it from sliding around when placed on a flat surface. The plastic also has a rubberized coating which makes it a little easier to hang onto the drive.

 The LED and eject button are located along the front of the BP40NS20. This LED lights up green when both reading and writing.

Along the rear, you can see the BP40NS20's USB 2.0 interface. This connector not only transfers data but provides power for the drive.

Technical Specs:

Most of the specs below have been taken from LG's website and the manual that came with the drive.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that LG's new Blu-ray Disc writer is identified as an "HL-DT-ST BD-RE BP40NS20."

Nero also shows that the BP40NS20 has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 4096KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the BP40NS20 can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 95:10 with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media. 

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the BP40NS20 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 BP40NS20's reading and writing speeds and supported disc types.

Opti Drive Control also shows that the BP40NS20 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 BP40NS20'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.

The BP40NS20 doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.

Current DVD technology uses organic dyes and low laser power to make marks on the data layer of a standard recordable DVD. Over time, these marks become unreadable because organic dyes degrade when exposed to minimal levels of light, heat, and humidity. This means all the data you thought was safely stored could be lost because the discs you used have an average lifespan of only about 3 to 5 years.

The materials and the write process used for the M-DISC were chosen with stability and longevity as the primary goals. Millenniata utilizes chemically stable and heat-resistant materials that are not used in any other DVD or optical disc. These materials cannot be overwritten, erased or corrupted by natural processes. The normal laser energy employed to write DVDs or CDs cannot successfully write to the inorganic and synthetic materials used in the M-DISC.

Data is stored on the M-DISC by physically altering the recording layer and creating permanent voids or holes. DVDs and other optical discs use organic dyes that break down over time, resulting in corrupt and unreadable data. These organic dyes are highly susceptible to temperature, humidity and even sunlight, starting to fade and decay the moment you record data.

Millenniata’s recording process utilizes higher temperatures than any ordinary optical disc. The inorganic data layer materials undergo a physical change during the write process. When the data layer is irradiated by a focused laser, the intense heat generated causes the innermost layers to melt and to move away from the laser spot, creating a hole or pit in the data layer.

These physical pits have two main advantages over dye and phase-change-based optical media; the permanent physical movement of the material, and the permanent optical contrast between light and dark spots. Movement of the material actually enhances the edge of the mark. The nanometer scale location of the edges is critical to the retention of data, with the enhanced edges further building-in longevity. The other advantage is the excellent, permanent optical contrast that comes from making a physical mark. The difference in optical quality between the pit, where there is no material, and the areas adjacent to the pit, where the material remains, provides a definite advantage in retention of data and in ease of reading the disc long into the future. Essentially, pits are better and allows for readable data even after hundreds of years.

While the same size and thickness as a standard DVD, Millenniata's M-DISC looks nothing like the other optical formats on the market today. For one, the top of the disc is brown and the bottom is silver. Also, with there being no reflective or dye layers, you can see right through the disc when placed in front of a bright light.

Here's a photo showing the Millenniata M-DISC next to other optical formats. From the upper left and moving clockwise you have a CD-R, BD-R, M-DISC and DVD-R.

Once written, the M-DISC can be read or played on any DVD drive that supports the DVD+R/RW format. Most DVD drives that were manufactured after 2005 and almost all Blu-ray or BD drives support this format.

For the BP40NS20's software bundle, LG has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains the CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Suite which includes PowerProducer, Power2Go, PowerBackup, LabelPrint, MediaShow, MediaEspresso and PowerDVD.

CyberLink PowerProducer 5 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

CyberLink Power2Go 6 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the BP40NS20. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt the names of files on your discs.

CyberLink PowerBackup 2.5 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to backup your data, PowerBackup is the answer. Depending on your needs, PowerBackup can do full, differential, and incremental backups as well as fast stream-to-disc archiving.

Backup jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. PowerBackup also offers more advanced features like file filtering, compression and password protection.

CyberLink LabelPrint 2.5 - The BP40NS20 also comes with CyberLink's disc labeling software. With LabelPrint, you can design and print labels, covers and inlays in four easy steps. Just select your template type, disc information, text layout, background image and print destination. LabelPrint also supports LightScribe technology, allowing you to burn images and text onto the top of your discs.

CyberLink MediaShow 4 - With MediaShow, you can manage, enhance and share your photos and videos. The software features drag-and-drop functionality as well as automatic sorting, built-in search, easy-to-add tags, and detailed thumbnails. MediaShow can also be used to fix and enhance your photos and videos and create a slideshow which can be burned to DVD, turned into a screensaver or uploaded to Flickr and YouTube.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 - MediaEspresso is a handy little tool that lets you quickly convert all of your media files into other formats so you can watch/view them on a mobile phone, portable media player, or game console. You can also convert files into many other popular formats, or into high quality files that you can then upload to YouTube or Facebook.

CyberLink PowerDVD 10 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. Along with support for DVD's, it can be used to play back Blu-ray Discs and other high-def formats including H.264, HD MPEG-2, and WMV-HD. PowerDVD 10 also supports Blu-ray 3D playback and with its support for BD-Live, you can access additional content via the Internet.

While small in size, LG's new Blu-ray Disc writer isn't short on features. Along with a great looking design, the BP40NS20 offers some of the fastest BD reading and writing speeds available on a portable unit. The drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 4x BD-R TL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD read speed of 6x. The BP40NS20 is also capable of writing to Millenniata's M-DISC media and includes features like a 4MB buffer and a USB 2.0 interface that provides power for the drive. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media. Even then, the LG BP40NS20 scores a solid 9 out of 10 for its features.

LG's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer was very easy to install.  Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, the entire installation process took only a matter of minutes.  With no jumpers to worry about, it was as simple as connecting the USB cable. Once connected to our test computer, it took only a matter of seconds for plug and play to install the necessary drivers. After making sure that the drive was recognized correctly in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the BP40NS20 comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To start the setup process, simply click on the "Install Now" button. After selecting your preferred language and entering your customer information, you'll be presented with a list of components to choose from.

From here you can choose to install the BD Advisor, LabelPrint, MediaShow, MediaEspresso, LG Burning Tool (Power2Go), PowerBackup, PowerDVD, PowerProducer, YouCam, LG's firmware update utility or the USB Fast driver. To complete the installation, select the components you want and click next a few more times. Once the files are copied over, you can start burning your own discs.

The Documentation:

The bulk of the BP40NS20's documentation is located on the software CD in electronic format. Similar to the ones included with LG's other drives, the "Owner's Manual" covers a number of topics. It starts out by going over the functions of the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the BP40NS20. While the diagrams are small, they are clearly labeled and easy to understand.

From here, the manual jumps into the physical installation of the drive.  The instructions are pretty brief since there really isn't much to do other than plug in the USB cable and turn the computer on. Nevertheless, LG has provided a few diagrams showing how the drive should be hooked up. The manual continues on by going over the basic operation of the drive. It explains how to insert and eject a disc and how to get one out of the drive in case of an emergency. Last but not least, there is a short troubleshooting section containing a list of common problems as well as their solutions.

The BP40NS20 also comes with a "Quick Set-up Guide." This small, fold out guide contains information about the drive's features, system requirements and specifications. Like the manual, it also takes the user step by step through the installation process and includes a few diagrams showing the buttons and connectors on the front and back of the drive. For most people, this guide will be all they'll need to get the BP40NS20 up and running.

Like LG's previous Super Multi Blue drives, the BP40NS20 was very easy to install. Thanks to its bus-powered, USB 2.0 interface, it's as simple as plugging in a single cable. If you need help for some reason, the documentation provided by LG should be more than sufficient. With this in mind, the BP40NS20  scores a solid 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

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.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is  used to test read speeds, access 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 CyberLink's InstantBurn 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, access 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 CyberLink's InstantBurn 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, access 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 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.

 

The BP40NS20 didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 24x, LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer came up a little short of this number in our tests. Looking at the other scores, its access times were also a little higher than we'd like to see.

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.

The BP40NS20 was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 24.32x.

LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The BP40NS20 read our test disc from start to finish, reaching transfer speeds near 25x before dropping down to 20.36x.

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.

 

The BP40NS20 also reads CD-RW media at 24x. As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (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 BP40NS20 supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.

 

For a portable drive, the BP40NS20 did fairly well in our DAE tests. The drive started out at 10.72x and reached a maximum speed of 24.03x.

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.

The BP40NS20 was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, it reached a maximum DAE speed of 23.77x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 16.50x. While the drive was able to go through the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the BP40NS20 was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0 and InstantBurn 5:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The BP40NS20 has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x. To reach this speed, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive uses a total of five "zones." The BP40NS20 starts writing at 10x and quickly jumps to 12x at the 4 minute mark. When it reaches the 18 minute mark, the drive changes to 16x and then to 20x at the 36 minute mark. The drive writes at this speed until about the 56 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 24x and stays there until the end of the session.

To test the drive's writing times,  I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.

The BP40NS20 took a little more than six minutes to write an entire 701MB CD. While most of the internal writers we've looked at lately can do this in half the time, this is fairly good for a portable drive.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Nero CD Speed. This utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors as well as the jitter level on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52327S and read the discs at 32x. 

HP 52x (CMC)

MBI 52x

Taiyo Yuden 52x

The BP40NS20's writing quality was very good. By looking at the screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors. More importantly, there were no C2 errors at all. 

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using InstantBurn from CyberLink.. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The BP40NS20 also uses Z-CLV when rewriting at 24x. The drive starts writing at 10x and jumps to 16x at about the 18 minute mark. The BP40NS20 writes at this speed until about the 56 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 24x and stays there until the end of the session.

LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer did fairly well in our rewriting tests. The drive took 4:10 to write 400MB with Nero and 3:52 to do the same with InstantBurn.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.

 

The BP40NS20 performed pretty well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 3.39x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.17x. Unfortunately, like in our CD read tests, the drive's access times were a bit high.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 8x DVD-R and 6x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R
 

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.12x	3.40x	8.17x	183ms	237ms	410ms	8%	12%	47%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.13x	3.39x	8.20x	181ms	236ms	414ms	8%	12%	49%

Verbatim DVD-R DL
 

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.14x	3.42x	8.18x	186ms	226ms	406ms	8%	n/a	n/a

The BP40NS20 had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In all three cases, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM
 

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	4.70x	3.03x	5.08x	198ms	224ms	398ms	20%	29%	49%

LG's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 3x and then accelerates, reaching 5x at about the 1.6GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 8x DVD+R and 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R
 

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.12x	3.40x	8.18x	184ms	240ms	415ms	8%	12%	47%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.14x	3.42x	8.20x	182ms	230ms	403ms	7%	12%	49%

Verbatim DVD+R DL

The BP40NS20's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media.  Once again, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

 

	Transfer Speed			Access Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x
LG BP40NS20	6.05x	3.35x	8.09x	192ms	239ms	440ms	8%	12%	50%

The BP40NS20 didn't slow down very much when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of 8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well the BP40NS20 worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The drive had no problems playing back these movies and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0:

To test the DVD writing performance of LG's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 8x, the BP40NS20 uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that LG's new drive starts writing at about 3.42x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The BP40NS20 also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases, the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

When writing to M-DISCs at 4x, the BP40NS20 uses P-CAV. The drive starts writing at 3.38x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the 0.3GB mark.

For the most part, the BP40NS20 performed as expected in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the internal DVD writers we've looked at recently, it turned in some respectable times with DVD±R and DVD±RW media. Unfortunately, burning an M-DISC did not go as smoothly. We ran numerous tests and, in most cases, the BP40NS20 returned a "Tracking Servo Failure" error when it reached the 3.5GB mark.

To check the media compatibility of the BP40NS20, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Using CD Speed we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner), PIF (Parity Inner Fail) and Jitter rates. For these tests I used a Lite-On iHAS424 and read the discs at 8x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? When testing with the iHAS424, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter. 

The BP40NS20's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were fairly good for the most part.

Here, too, I ran into some issues with Milleniata's M-DISC media. While the writing quality was fairly good for the most part, there was a sizable PIF spike at the 3.5GB mark which prevented the disc from being read back.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the BP40NS20, I used DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The BP40NS20 performed as expected when writing to DVD+R DL media. In our tests, the drive took 27:08 to write 8001MB of data to Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL discs. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The BP40NS20's writing quality was pretty good with the DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there weren't any readability problems.

To test the BP40NS20's packet writing performance I used InstantBurn 5. Verbatim 6x DVD-RW, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Maxell 5x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the BP40NS20's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

 

The BP40NS20 performed relatively well when reading single layer BD-ROM discs. In our tests, it started reading at 2.54x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 6.04x.

LG's portable Blu-ray writer had no problems playing back The Fifth Element and The Simpsons Movie using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using single layer BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and TDK and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

TDK BD-R DL

LG's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In all three cases, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 6x.

BD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16:

To test the BD writing performance of LG's new drive I used BD-R, BD-R DL and BD-RE media from MBI, TDK and Verbatim. To get the writing times, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature was used. I also ran the discs through CD Speed's transfer rate test to make sure that the BP40NS20 could read them back.

The BP40NS20 is capable of writing to BD-R and BD-R DL media at 6x. In both cases, the drive uses CAV to reach this speed.

With a maximum BD-R writing speed of 6x, the BP40NS20 wasn't nearly as fast as some of the desktop Blu-ray Disc writers we've looked at recently. Nevertheless, the drive performed very well, taking a little more than 22 minutes to burn an entire 25GB disc. LG's new drive didn't disappoint when writing to BD-R DL media either. Thanks to its 6x writing speed, the BP40NS20 took less than 45 minutes to burn 50GB worth of data.

The BP40NS20 completed our Blu-ray writing tests without any problems. The drive wrote to all of our test media at its rated speeds and, looking at the transfer rates, you can see that it had no problems reading the discs back. 

Sadly, I was not able to test the BP40NS20 with any BDXL media. The discs are not available in the United States or Canada and importing them from Japan really isn't feasible as they cost anywhere from $30 to $90 each, depending on the type and capacity.

Performance Revisited:

Aside from some issues with Millenniata's M-DISC media, LG's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The BP40NS20 turned in some relatively good times when writing to BD-R and BD-R DL media and was able to read Blu-ray Discs at speeds as high as 6x. The drive also did reasonably well in our CD and DVD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, it read CD's at speeds as high at 24x and single layer DVD's at 8x. Writing CD's and DVD's wasn't a problem for the BP40NS20 either. For a portable drive, it turned in some respectable times and the writing quality was fairly good for the most part. With all of these things considered, the LG BP40NS20 gets a solid 8 out of 10 for its performance.

The BP40NS20 is a good example of what we've come to expect from LG's portable Super Multi Blue drives. Along with a good looking, compact design, this new Blu-ray Disc writer offers some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available on a portable drive as well as features like support for Millenniata's M-DISC technology.

The BP40NS20 performed relatively well when writing to BD-R and BD-R DL media at 6x. At this speed, the drive burned a full 25GB disc in a little more than 22 minutes and a full 50GB disc in less than 44 minutes. The BP40NS20 wasn't nearly as fast when writing to BD-RE media. However, its performance was on par with the other Blu-ray Disc writers I've tested. Without compatible media, I was not able to see how well the BP40NS20 supports the new BDXL format. These discs are still quite expensive and very hard to get a hold of in markets outside of Japan.  

LG's new drive also has the ability to read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The BP40NS20 performed relatively well when writing to DVD±R discs, taking less than 11 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD.  The drive also turned in some respectable times when writing to other types of media and its writing quality was pretty good, even with DVD±R DL discs. When it came to reading DVD's, the BP40NS20 was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's as well as most recordable media at 8x. However, its access times were a little higher than I would have liked.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the BP40NS20 either. While its seek times were again a little high, the drive read data CD's and ripped audio CD's at speeds as high as 24x. As a writer, the BP40NS20  performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R and CD-RW media and its writing quality was quite good.

LG's portable Blu-ray Disc writer also has its share of features. A truly portable solution, the BP40NS20 is powered completely off a computer's USB bus. Without the need for an AC power source, you can watch a Blu-ray movie or burn a disc wherever you go. To prevent buffer underruns, the BP40NS20 is equipped with a 4MB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. The BDX-S600U also has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R DL media and comes with a great software bundle from CyberLink.

Of course, the BP40NS20's biggest feature is its support for Millenniata's M-DISC technology. Offering greater longevity and durability than standard DVD's, the M-DISC's rock-like material provides up to 1000 years of permanent data storage. This really doesn't mean much, though, if the burn process fails or the discs are not completely readable as was the case with the BP40NS20. Hopefully this is an issue with our drive or something that can be fixed with a firmware update and not an indicator of what we can expect from LG's M-READY drives. 

The LG BP40NS20 is available now and can be purchased from Amazon or the retailers listed on Pricegrabber for as little as $120.

Highs:

• Writes to BD-R, BD-R DL and BD-R LTH media at 6x
• Writes to BD-R TL media at 4x
• Writes to BD-RE, BD-RE DL and BD-R TL media at 2x
• Writes to DVD±R media at 8x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD±R DL media at 6x
• Writes to M-DISC media at 4x
• Reads single layer BD-ROM's at 6x
• Reads BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media at 6x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
• Reads and writes to DVD-RAM media at 5x
• Features 24x CD-R and CD-RW writing speeds
• Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
• 4MB buffer
• Good CD and DVD writing quality
• Compact and lightweight design
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
• Includes CyberLink Blu-ray Disc Suite
• Powered off the USB bus
• Reasonably priced

Lows:

• Problems burning M-DISCs
• High access times
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• Overburns to only 95:10