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.
| LG GSA-H55L 20x Super-Multi DVD±RW/RAM |
|
| Features: Installation: Performance: |
10 8 7 |
| Overall: | 8 |
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
