LG GSA-H22N 18x "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM

One of the latest additions to LG's already impressive line of "Super-Multi" drives is the GSA-H22N. Featuring some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available, the drive is capable of 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD±R DL writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Staying true to the "Super-Multi" specifications, the GSA-H22N can also read and write to DVD-RAM media at 12x. LG's new drive also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds, Super Link buffer underrun protection and an impressive software bundle from Nero and CyberLink.

With features and specs like this, it's hard not to be impressed by LG's new "Super-Multi" drive. To give you an idea of what to expect from the GSA-H22N, we'll take a look at its features and then see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does LG's new drive have what it takes? Is it the fastest DVD writer around? Read on to see what we had to say.

What's in the box?:

• LG GSA-H22N 18x "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM Drive
• DVD Writer Solution CD
• Quick Set-Up Guide
• Audio Cable
• Mounting Screws
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive that LG sent us for this review was manufactured in June of 2006 and had firmware version 1.00. For this review we used firmware versions 1.00 and 1.01.

From the front, the GSA-H22N looks very similar to LG's previous "Super Multi" drives. It shares the same basic design and has many of the same logos. Along with the large "LG" logo, you can see a few showing support for Ultra Speed CD-RW media and theDVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications.

Below the tray you can see the GSA-H22N's single LED. Itlights up green when the drive is reading or writing.

The rear of the GSA-H22N is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.

Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. By default the drive's jumper position is set to master. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.

Technical Specs:

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

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that LG's new DVD writer is identified as an "HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H22N".

The Nero screenshot also shows that the GSA-H22N has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. In this case, the technology used is "Super Link." According to Nero, LG's new DVD writer can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 93:58with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the GSA-H22N 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 Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the GSA-H22N's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the GSA-H22N is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. A patched RPC-1 firmware can be downloaded here. Just keep in mind that it is not supported by LG nor by CDRLabs. Use it at your own risk.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the GSA-H22N'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 while LG's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The GSA-H22N also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Using programs like Nero or CD Speed, you can set the book type of both DVD+R and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". For whatever reason though, the drive does not let you set the book type of DVD+RW discs.

The GSA-H22N's software bundle is very similar to what LG has included with their previous DVD writers. The CD that comes with the drive contains a number of different applications including Nero Express 6 and InCD 4 as well as PowerProducer 2 Gold and PowerDVD 5 from CyberLink.

Nero Express 6 - With Nero Express, Nero has taken the features and performance people have come to expect from Nero Burning Rom and combined them with a user friendly interface. While the interface has been simplified, Nero Express still supports more advanced features like VCD and DVD creation, CD/DVD duplication, overburning, CD-Text and realtime audio filters.

The version of Nero Express that LG included with their new DVD±RW drive is 6.6.1.4. You can download the latest version of the software from Nero's website.

Nero BackItUp - If you're looking for a way to quickly and easily backup your data, Nero BackItUp is the answer. This new program from Ahead Software lets you backup your data to CD/DVD, hard disc, image recorderor another computer on your LAN.

InCD 4 - InCD is Nero's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Sonic's DLA, it allows a person to use their CD-RW or DVD±RW drive as a big floppy disk. The person can then drag and drop files onto a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc. Many people consider InCD to be one of the best packet writing tools because of its simplicity and performance.

CyberLink PowerProducer 3 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to capture and edit your video, look no further than PowerProducer 3 from CyberLink. Right from the start, this wizard-based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to create a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a DVD, VCD, or SVCD. If your drive supports DVD-VR or DVD+VR, you can also create an editable DVD.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer will also let you add any MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI or DivX video clip to your project. Once you have them imported, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips or add special effects. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

CyberLink PowerDVD 6 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. PowerDVD offers a complete set of navigation commands, including advanced features like multi-angle viewing, dual subtitle display, digital zoom and parental controls.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the GSA-H22N only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of DVD's encoded with DTS or use Dolby Pro Logic II, you'll need to buy one of CyberLink's enhancement packs.

The GSA-H55L is, without a doubt, LG's most feature packed drive to date. Their new "Super Multi" drive not only supports all major DVD formats, it sports some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available. The GSA-H55L is capable of 20x DVD±R, 10x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. On top of that, it can read and write DVD-RAM media at 12x. LG's new drive also includes features like a 2MB buffer, Super Link buffer underrun protection and a software bundle from Nero and Cyberlink. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for DVD+RW media. Even then, the LG GSA-H22N scores a 9 out of 10 for its features.

Like the other LG drives we've reviewed, the GSA-H22N was very easy to install. From start to finish, the entire process took only a few minutes. I took the drive out of the box, left the jumper set to master and installed it on the secondary IDE chain by connecting the IDE cable and power connector. When I turned on the computer the BIOS detected it as a drive supporting UDMA 66. After making sure that DMA was enabled in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the GSA-H22N comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink and Nero. If you have autorun enabled, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

You can view information on the different applications in the software bundle by clicking on the menu buttons. Otherwise, you can start the setup process by clicking the "Install" button. After picking your language of choice, you'll be presented with a number of installation options.

From here you can choose to install PowerProducer, PowerDVD, Nero Express, InCD, Acrobat Reader or LG's firmware update utility. After clicking next a few times and waiting for the files to be copied over, you'll be able to start burning your own CD's and DVD's.

The Documentation:

Most of the GSA-H22N's documentation is located on the software CD in electronic format. While LG has gone out of their way to provide a nice interface, the documentation is in PDF format and will require you to install Adobe Acrobat before it can be read.

Electronic format aside, the manual is a good example of what we've come to expect from LG. It starts out by going over the system requirements and the functions of the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the GSA-H22N. 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 cover all the basics including how to set the jumpers, install the drive into an empty drive bay and hook up the cables. LG also provides a number of small diagrams showing what exactly a master or slave configuration should look like. The manual continues on by going over the basic operation of the drive. It explains how to insert and eject DVD's and how to get a disc out of the drive in case of an emergency. Last but not least, it finishes up with a short troubleshooting section and a page full of specifications for the GSA-H22N.

The GSA-H22N also comes with a "Quick Set-Up Guide." Like the manual, this fold out guide contains a good amount of information, including the drive's features, specs and system requirements. The guide also contains a set of instructions that take you step by step through the installation process. While a little short on words, there are plenty of diagrams showing what to do. For most people, the "Quick Set-Up Guide" will be all they'll need to get the drive up and running.

In the end, installing the GSA-H22N was very easy. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you need help for some reason, the documentation LG has provided is pretty good, even though most of it is in electronic format. Overall, I give the installation a 9 out of a possible 10.

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 DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. 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 v4.70 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 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 Sonic's DLA 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 v4.70 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 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

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" drive gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. While the GSA-H22N's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other drives, its transfer rates were fairly good.It started reading at 20.5x (3070 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 42.8x (6420 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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 GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A	LG GSA-H10N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.78x 20.57x 47.32x	36.54x 20.89x 48.30x	36.76x 21.27x 48.63x	35.57x 20.42x 46.78x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	107ms 110ms 178ms	105ms 114ms 178ms	96ms 113ms 172ms	114ms 130ms 175ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 1% 3% 7%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 4%	1% 1% 3% 21%

The GSA-H22N didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, LG's new drive came up a little short of this number in our tests.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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 GSA-H22N was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x.

LG's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The GSA-H22N read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.38x.

CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

Like the other drives, the GSA-H22N's CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. As you can see, the drive had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - 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 while the LG GSA-H22N supports accurate stream, it does not cache audio data nor does it have the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD.

CD Speed	LG GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A	LG GSA-H10N
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	31.61x 18.25x 41.75x 10 Yes	31.09x 17.78x 41.08x 10 Yes	31.35x 17.97x 41.48x 10 Yes	30.73x 17.95x 40.68x 10 Yes

The GSA-H22N did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast as some of the other DVD writers we've tested, it hadno problems ripping pressed audio CD's at 41x.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

While the GSA-H22N started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

While the GSA-H22N was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media, this didn't keep it from reaching amaximum DAE speed of 40x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

LG's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 29.78x. While the drive wasn't able to pass all of the on the fly copying tests, it did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the GSA-H22N was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

To see how well LG's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The GSA-H22N handled scratched discs relatively well. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 53.2% of the CD to be "damaged". More importantly, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The GSA-H22N didn't do as well this time around. The scratches on the disc not only slowed it down considerably, the number of errors was higher than what we'd like to see.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

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 GSA-H22N has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.53x and reached a maximum speed of 48.54x at the end of the session. This gave LG's new "Super-Multi" drive an average writing speed of about 36.75x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

The GSA-H22N did fairly well in our CD writing tests. While not as fast as the drives from Samsung and Plextor, it was able to write an entire 700MB CD in 2:49.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The GSA-H22N's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and 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 DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The GSA-H22N uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 7 minute mark.The GSA-H22N writes at this speed until about the 27 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

LG's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the GSA-H22N took 2:55 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:31 to do the same with DLA.

The GSA-H22N also erases at 32x. While the drive took 4:57 to do a full erase, it had the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

The GSA-H22N was fairly quick when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.53x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 16.05x. Unfortunately, its seek times were a little higher than we'd like to see.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - 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 4x DVD-R and 2x 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 DL

The GSA-H22N had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 12x.

Maxell 12x DVD-RAM

LG's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 5.95x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.7GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - 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 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

The GSA-H22N's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 12x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't a problem for the GSA-H22N either. While not as fast as the GSA-H10N, it reached an impressive 12.16x in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - 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.

The GSA-H22N didn't do as well as some of the other drives when reading DVD videos. While not nearly as slow as the GSA-H10N, it reached a maximum read speed of only 8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well the GSA-H22N worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of LG's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x 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 18x, the GSA-H22N uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that LG's new drive starts writing at about 7.6x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The GSA-H22N 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.

LG's new drive performed pretty well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as the PX-760A and GSA-H10N when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW media, the GSA-H22N turned in some of the fastest DVD+R and DVD-R writing times we've seen.

To check the media compatibility of the GSA-H22N, 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? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640 (firmware BSLB). When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. 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 with the DW1640. 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 GSA-H22N'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.

While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good with most of our DVD-R test media. The only exception was Optodisc's 16x media. About halfway through the disc, the PIF rate jumped up considerably, causing some major readability issues.

To test the GSA-H22N's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The GSA-H22N turned in some impressive times when reading and writing to DVD-RAM media. Unfortunately, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast assome of the other drives when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the GSA-H22N, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

Finding DVD+R DL media that would work at 8x was not an easy task. The only media we found that would work at this speed were Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL discs. With Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media, the writing speed was limited to 6x and the other discs would not work at anything faster than 4x.

The GSA-H22N wasn't as fast as I had expected when writing to DVD+R DL media at 8x. With Nero, it took the drive 19:17 to write 8001MB of data. If you do the math, this is a good five minutes slower than the GSA-H10N. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality wasn't as good as I had expected with Verbatim's 8x and 2.4x DVD+R DL media. In both cases, the error rate started out fairly low but jumped up considerably on the second layer. Unfortunately, Memorex's 2.4x DVD+R DL media didn't fair any better. While written at a slower speed, the PI/PIF rates were very high at the layer change. The worst results were with RiDATA's 8x DVD+R DL media. The error rates were very high on the second layer and there were a small number of PO Failures.

The GSA-H22N also features 8x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA was used.

The GSA-H22N wasn't as fast as the other drives when writing to DVD-R DL media either. In our tests, it took more than 19 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The GSA-H22N's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL and Ridata's 4x DVD-R DL media. In both cases, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there were no readability problems. The results weren't as good with Verbatim's 8x DVD-R DL media. As you can see, the error rates were considerably higher, especially when scanned with the DW1640.

Performance Revisited:

Like LG's previous "Super-Multi" drives, the GSA-H22N performed pretty well in our tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL discs, it turned in some very impressive times with DVD±R and DVD-RAM media. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the GSA-H22N either. The drive was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x, but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD videos.

The GSA-H22N also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some fairly good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, the GSA-H22N gave us some mixed results. While the drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the LG GSA-H22N gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Over the last year or so, we've had a number of LG's "Super-Multi" drives in the 'Labs. Offering a good mix of value, performance and features, these drives have become the choice of enthusiasts as well as some of our favorites. With the GSA-H55L, LG has gone all out. Their new drive offers some of the fastest DVD writing speeds available as well as technologies like SecurDisc and LightScribe. While all of this is impressive, the GSA-H55L still has a few rough spots that need to be worked out.

The GSA-H55L is the first drive from LG with the ability to write to both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x. While the drive performed very well with both formats, it was considerably faster when writing to DVD-R discs, taking less than 5 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. This level of performance carried over to our rewriting tests where the GSA-H55L turned in some very goodtimes with DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media. Writing to DVD±R DL media wasn't a problem for LG's new drive either. Thanks to its 10x writing speed, the GSA-H55L took about 14 minutes to burn 8GB of data.

When it came to media compatibility, the GSA-H55L gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote tomost of our test media at its rated speed or better, only four types worked at 20x. On the other hand, the GSA-H55L's writing quality was fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially when writing to DVD-R media at 20x. Hopefully, LG can address this in a future firmware update.

LG's new "Super-Multi" drive also performed relatively well in our DVD read tests. While the GSA-H55L's seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, it was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R media at 16x. The drive also read DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at an impressive 12x, but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD-Videos.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the GSA-H55L. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x. LG's new drive wasn't as fast in our DAE tests. However, it still ripped audio CD's at a respectable 40x. When it came to writing CD's, the GSA-H55L performed as expected. The drive had no problems holding its own when writing to CD-R media. However, itsZ-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests.

When it comes to features, LG's new drive definitely delivers. To prevent buffer underruns, the GSA-H55L has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by Super Link buffer underrun protection. The drive also supports HP's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. Most notable though, is the GSA-H55L's SecurDisc technology. This hardware and software-based solution not only protects your data against unauthorized access and copying, it ensures maximum reliability through a redundancy-based defect management system.

While LG's "Super-Multi" drives are usually very affordable, they seem to be charging a premium for their SecurDisc technology. With the GSA-H55L going for nearly $90 at stores like Best Buy, it's one of the more expensive DVD writers currently available.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 10x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Features Super Link buffer underrun protection
• Supports LightScribe and SecurDisc technologies
• Good CD writing quality
• Includes software from Nero and CyberLink
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media
• Includes extra bezel

Lows:

• High PI/PIF rates when writing to DVD-R media at 20x
• Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed discs
• Reads DVD-Videos at only 8x
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
• Cannot do write quality testing
• Has a 2048KB buffer
• Overburns to only 93:55