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.
| LG BP40NS20 Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter |
|
| Features: Installation: Performance: |
9 9 8 |
| Overall: | 9 |
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
