LG GSA-4167B Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 andDLA 4.95:

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.

The GSA-4167B is one of the few drives to use P-CAV, or Partial CAV, when writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that LG's new drive starts writing at about 7.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the 3.7GB minute mark.

The GSA-4167B also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

LG's new "Super-Multi" drive performed very well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as the drive from NEC when writing to DVD+RW media, the GSA-4167B turned in some of the fastest DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD-RW writing times we've seen.

To check the media compatibility of the GSA-4167B, 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 SOHW-1673S (firmware JS07) 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. 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-4167B's writing quality varied a lot from one manufacturer to another. Looking at the graphs above, you can see that the media from Taiyo Yuden and Memorex yielded some pretty good results. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with the discs from Fuji and Optodisc. The PI/PIF rates were not only very high, there were a number of PO Failures that caused some slow downs in the transfer rate tests.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. As you can see, the writing quality was pretty good with most of the discs we tested. Aside from a few small PI/PIF spikes, the results stayed within acceptable limits.

To test the GSA-4167B's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

LG's new "Super-Multi" drive performed pretty well in our packet writing tests. The GSA-4167B turned in some very good writing times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media, but was not as fast as some of the other drives when reading back our test data.

If you want to use DVD-RAM media with LG's new "Super-Multi" drive, you will need to use a packet writing program like Sonic's DLA or Nero's InCD. As you can see, InCD gives you a number of formats to choose from. For our tests I chose to use UDF 2.0.

To test the drive's DVD-RAM speeds I copied and pasted the same 4GB of files used in our other DVD packet writing tests.

While it doesn't look like it, the GSA-4167B is really writing at 5x. When you write data to a DVD-RAM disc, each sector is automatically verified. This verification adds extra time to the recording process. Nevertheless, the GSA-4167B performed very well in our tests. With its 5x reading and writing speeds, it's the drive to get if you need DVD-RAM support.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the GSA-4167B, I used Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL, Memorex 2.4x DVD+R DL, Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL and RiDATA 4x DVD-R DL media. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

While the DL12 firmware boosts the GSA-4167B's DVD+R DL writing speed to 8x, we were not able to test the drive at this speed. For whatever reason, Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL media was limited to only 2.4x, even though it is one of the two types supported by this firmware.

Nevertheless, the GSA-4167B had no problems writing to Verbatim's DVD+R DL media at 6x. Unfortunately, Memorex's Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 2.4x.

While no match for the drive from Sony, the GSA-4167B took 18:57 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The GSA-4167B's writing quality was very good with Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media. Even at 6x, the discs yielded some fairly good results with both KProbe and CD Speed. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with Memorex's DVD+R DL media. While written at a slower speed, the PI/PIF rates were higher this time around, especially when tested with the BenQ DW1640. This didn't have any effect on the GSA-4167B. However, the DW1640 did have to slow down when reading the disc back.

LG's new "Super-Multi" drive also features 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and Ridata was used.

The GSA-4167B had no problems writing to Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media at its rated speed. Unfortunately, RiDATA's new discs would not work at anything faster than 2x.

With its 4x writing speed, the GSA-4167B wasn't nearly as fast as the drives from NEC and Plextor. In our tests, it took LG's new drive 27:00 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The GSA-4167B's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with both KProbe and CD Speed and there were no readability problems. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with RiDATA's new DVD-R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were not only high, there were a number of PO Failures. As you can see, this caused readability problems with both drives.

Performance Revisited:

While not the fastest at everything, LG's new "Super-Multi" drive performed fairly well throughout most of our tests. The GSA-4167B turned in some very good times when writing to DVD±R and DVD±RW media. However, it's 6x DVD+R DL and 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds put it at a slight disadvantage. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the drive either. In our tests, the GSA-4167B read single layer, data DVD-ROM's at 16x and DVD±R media at 10x, but slowed to only 5x when reading DVD videos.

The GSA-4167B also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds near 48x and had some fairly good seek times. When writing CD's, the GSA-4167B performed as expected. While not as fast as some of the other drives we've looked at, its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the LG GSA-4167B gets an 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.