Test machine

For this review we are testing the LG GGW-H20L mounted inside of our Intel based system with the following components:

• Motherboard: ASUSTek, P5K Deluxe
• Processor:  Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2.4GHz
• Memory:  4GB G-SKILL  DDR2-800
• Video: GeForce 8600 GTS
• Sound:  SoundMAX integrated Digital HD Audio, onboard
• Hard Disks: 250GB Seagate SATA-II, X2
• Optical Drives: LG GGW-H20L, Lite-On DH20A3P  BenQ DW1650, Lite-On CD-RW SOHR-5239V, and the ASUS DRW-2014L1T, Sony BWU-200S

Software:

Windows Vista Business 32bit installed on our test system; we will also be using the following software for this review:

• Nero Burning Rom 8 Ultra Enhanced
• Nero CD-DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• Slysoft CloneCD
• K-Probe 2.5.2
• DVD Identifier
• DVDDecrypter
• AnyDVDHD
• ImgBurn

Book type (bitsetting):

The LG GGW-H20L supports bitsetting, but at default will write DVD+R, and DVD+R DL media with DVD+R, and DVD+R DL book type, the drive does not remember your Book Type setting so you will need to change it every time.

With Nero CD-DVD Speed, we can see that the “Book Type" column in the Drive Settings area that all disc types are currently bitset to DVD+R, and DVD+R DL. When a disc is inserted in the drive, the Disc Settings area will show the Book Type.

We can also check if our discs are really written with DVD-ROM Book Type is by clicking on the Disc Info tab. This should look something similar to the following screen shot:

LightScribe

The LG GGW-H20L as a LightScribe drive enables images to be burned onto LightScribe Discs, both CD and DVD.  Make a label whenever and wherever you want with your PC and burner.  It is Simple, Compatible and Flexible. 

On January 4, 2004, HP announced an innovative new technology to address the problem of labeling CD’s and DVD’s. LightScribe technology allows consumers to create silk-screen quality labels on their CDs or DVDs by burning text and graphics directly onto a disc, eliminating the need for adhesive labels.

But, before we continue - Let us first take a look at some information found at the LightScribe site:

 About LightScribe:

CREATE SILKSCREEN-QUALITY LABELS FOR ALL YOUR CDS AND DVDS, RIGHT FROM YOUR COMPUTER:

Until now there hasn't been much choice when it comes to creating labels for your CDs and DVDs. Messy markers or sticky adhesive labels were pretty much the only affordable option. But imagine creating professional-looking labels using the same laser that burns your data-right inside your CD/DVD drive! Well, now it's easy with LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology.

LABEL-MAKING REDEFINED:

LightScribe technology is an integrated system that combines the CD or DVD drive of your LightScribe-enabled computer with specially coated discs and enhanced disc-burning software to produce precise, laser-etched labels. You can design and produce labels to express your creativity and personality-the sky's the limit!

With LightScribe, the disc is the label. This amazing technology is the no-hassle way to create elegant labels for all your CDs and DVDs. Simply burn your music mix, digital-video/photo archives, or business application. Then flip the disc and burn your own unique label.

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling technology is now available in PCs, external USB optical DVD writers, labeling software, and a variety of brand name discs. Remember, the LightScribe logo indicates a LightScribe-enabled product, so be sure to look for it at your favorite retail locations. Also check out the Looking for LightScribe page for a list of companies that make LightScribe-enabled products.

How it Works:

A RADICAL REVOLUTION IN DISC LABELING:

Once you've burned your first LightScribe label and experienced the amazing result, you'll never want to use a permanent marker or sticky label again. LightScribe makes it easy. It truly is a revolution in disc labeling.

JUST HOW DOES IT WORK?

How can you burn a label onto your disc right from your computer? Suppose you have just created a music CD of your favorite songs. Now you want to make a label that contains the song titles, artists' names, and some personal information and design elements to make it special.

Burn your tracks onto the data side of the disc. Flip the disc over to the label side and put it back in the drive. Burn your label by opening your favorite LightScribe-enabled label-making software and going to the CD template work area. Now you do all of your creative design work-imported pictures, copy, and artwork. When you are satisfied with what you have done, click "print." It really is that simple! No ink, no messy markers, no clumpy adhesive labels, just an amazingly beautiful label right before your eyes.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

Your LightScribe-enabled CD/DVD disc drive contains a special laser that pumps light energy into a thin dye coating on the label side of the disc. The light from the laser causes a chemical change in the dye coating that shows up as a visible point on the disc. With laser precision, LightScribe delivers closely controlled light energy to multiple points on the disc as it spins in the drive. The result is a high-resolution reproduction of the artwork, text, or photos you composed in the software application.

In this review we decided to use SureThing Deluxe labeler instead of the supplied label making module in Nero.

The LightScribe Media:

Verbatim has come out with a set of different colored CD/DVD media which allows a wider choice of backgrounds to burn your designs to; below is an image of the colors available:

Designing and burning with SureThing Labeler:

The SureThing program is very easy to work with and we made a graphical label to test our LightScribe feature. After we were satisfied with the layout we pressed Print Label (LightScribe).

In the print option we selected “Best quality” and OK to print the label in the Print Dialog windows where we are presented with a warning to ensure that we have placed the disc in the drive with the LightScribe label side down.

After clicking on OK we find the label is being printed with our LG GGW-H20L drive.

Below is the result of our LightScribe label printing; as you can see the LG GGW-H20L does a nice job with our test media.

A Little More About Blu-Ray:

Until recently, optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM relied on a red laser to read and write data. The new technology Blu-Ray format uses a blue-violet laser, which explains the name Blu-ray.

Blu-ray drives can also be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit.

A blue-violet laser (405nm) has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm); this makes it possible to focus the laser with even greater accuracy. This will allow data to be packed more tightly, so it's possible to squeeze more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 enables Blu-ray discs to hold 25GB/50GB.

Blu-ray media is structurally different from DVD media. The Blu-ray disc consists of a single 1.1 mm thick polycarbonate substrate with a 0.1 mm thick cover layer on the bottom side of the disc, while the DVD disc is made of two 0.6 mm thick substrates. In both cases, two substrates are bonded together by a UV-cured resin adhesive:

DVD vs. Blu-ray disc structure

The larger 25 GB and 50 GB storage capacity of the Blu-ray disc is due to the higher density of pits and tracks on the disc. Unlike previous optical discs, Blu-ray uses a shorter-wavelength, tighter-focused violet laser to read and write pits that are about three times smaller than pits used in DVDs:

CD, DVD and Blu-ray laser beam color and size

CD, DVD and Blu-ray pits and tracks as seen by a scanning electron microscope

Blu-ray disc surface mapped by an atomic force microscope

An Introduction to HD DVD:

The HD DVD disc builds on the experience gained from the conventional DVD format and is derived from the same fundamental technology.

In the following illustrations, multiple laser beams are shown for convenience, both above and below the disc. In actual HD DVD drives there is a single laser beam, which illuminates the disc from below.

Although the data density is much greater in HD DVD discs, the structure is very similar to existing DVDs. Discs may be single or double-sided, giving a total storage potential of 60GB on a single disc.

Alternative architectures include the ‘Combination’ disc, in which one side may be a conventional DVD-9 and the other a dual layer HD DVD. This offers a single inventory product for retailers and a future-proof acquisition for consumers. There is also a technology proposal, approved by the DVD Forum as a format option in HD DVD-ROM version 1.2, for a ‘Twin format’ disc, in which the layer closest to the pick-up head is reflective to red and transparent to blue-violet light. With this structure, a conventional DVD video player ‘sees’ the disc as a normal DVD-5, while the blue laser penetrates the first layer to read the HD DVD data behind.

Family of HD DVD discs:

• HD DVD-ROM is a 12cm disc, 1.2mm thick, replicated as either single or dual layer, with a storage capacity of 15GB for a single layer and 30GB for a dual layer disc. Double sided versions increase capacity to 30GB and 60GB respectively.
• 3X DVD-ROM Brings the higher data rate of HD DVD to the conventional format, enabling 135 minutes of HD content to be placed on a DVD-ROM, using AVC or VC-1 codecs.
• 8 cm mini HD DVD offers 4.7GB in single layer form and 9.4GB as dual layer. A double-sided disc is part of the standard.
• HD DVD-R write once discs can hold 15 GB per side, 30GB total.
• HD DVD-RW re-writable discs store 20GB on each side, 40GB total.

Comparison of Blu-ray Disc, HD DVD and DVD formats:

We include a table of both high-definition formats and including DVD format for comparison.

Installation and Supported Features:

The installation was flawless; we hooked the drive up using a standard SATA cable

Here is the Nero InfoTool output for the drive and its supported features:

CD-DVD Speed reports the burst rate of 53 MB/s:

Disc Writing Technology

Writing Technique

Now let's take a closer look at the writing technology of the LG GGW-H20L.

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD-Recordable:

According to the specifications of the LG GGW-H20L, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 40X on supported media.

The LG GGW-H20L uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 40X, this gives an average speed of 33.39X.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our chart the LG GGW-H20L was the fastest at writing our test CD-R media.

CD-Rewritable: 

The LG GGW-H20L uses Z-CAV 2-Zone (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of 24X, this gives an average speed of 22.96X.

For comparison we have made the following table:

As you can see from the graph, our LG GGW-H20L is the second fastest at CD-RW writing, with a time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

16X DVD+R

The LG GGW-H20L should be able to write DVD+R media at a maximum speed of 16X.

The LG GGW-H20L uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16X. This gives an average write speed of 12.10X and a writing time of 5 minutes 44 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

As you can see from the graph, our LG GGW-H20L is one of the fastest at DVD+R writing, with a time of 5 minutes and 44 seconds.

16X DVD-R

The LG GGW-H20L should be able to write DVD-R media at a maximum speed of 16X.

The LG GGW-H20L uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16X. This gives an average write speed of 12.10X and a writing time of 5 minutes 39 seconds.

Here we have prepared a table to show how the LG GGW-H20L compares with other Blu-ray drives:

As you can see from the graph, our LG GGW-H20L is the fastest at DVD-R writing, with a time of 5 minutes and 38 seconds.

8X DVD+RW

The LG GGW-H20L uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8X. The average speed is 7.84X and total writing time is 8:01 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As you can see from our graph the LG GGW-H20L was among the fasted when writing to our test DVD+RW, with a time of 8 minutes and 01 seconds.

6X DVD-RW

The LG GGW-H20L uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6X. The average speed is 6.01X and total writing time is 10:02 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As you can see from our graph the LG GGW-H20L was at the top of the competition writing DVD-RW, with a time of 10 minutes and 02 seconds.

4X DVD+R DL

The LG GGW-H20L supports 4x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The LG GGW-H20L uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL media at 4X which gives an average write speed of 3.95X and a total write time of 27 minutes and 35 seconds.

4X DVD-R DL

The LG GGW-H20L supports 4X writing speed on DVD-R DL media.

The LG GGW-H20L uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL media at 4X. The average speed is 3.94X and the total writing time is 28 minutes and 12 seconds

For comparison we have made the following table:

As you can see from our chart above the LG GGW-H20L posts very competitive times when we compare it at 4X writing on both DVD+DL media.

DVD-RAM

The specifications for the LG GGW-H20L state that the drive is capable of writing DVD-RAM at 5X.  Let’s take a look at the write strategy for this media.

5X DVD-RAM Writing

The LG GGW-H20L uses P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at is maximum speed of 5X.  This gives an average speed of 4.57X and a total writing time of 12 minutes and 20 seconds.

Summary

The LG GGW-H20L performed well with our writing tests, able to meet or exceed the published specifications in regards to writing speeds.  Let’s move on ahead and check out the reading performance on the next page….. 

Introduction

Reading Performance