detail information

Positive:

• Supports DVD+R9 DL writing at 4x
• Supports DVD+R/-R writing at 16x
• 16x P-CAV burns leads to faster burns when compared with 16x Z-CLV and 16x CAV
• Extracts CD-DA at full speed with EAC
• 8x writing speed on DVD+RW
• 6x writing speed on DVD-RW
• Excellent writing quality on CD-R's
• Excellent writing quality on DVD+R/R9 DL
• Write some certified media at higher speed
• Supports DVD-ROM bitsetting on DVD+R/R9 DL media
• Can Rip Protected audio discs
• 'Two sheep" writer
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Can overwrite CD-R's up to 96 minutes
• Can read overburned CD-R's up to 100 minutes
• Supports DVD-RAM up to 5x
• Excellent documentation/Owner's Manual on CD
• Very good Software package

Negative:

• Does not support Mt. Rainier
• Other drives offer 48x/32x writing on CD-R/W media
• 10x/8x reading speed DVD±R/DVD±RW media
• Does not support DVD-ROM bitsetting on DVD+RW media
• Media compatibility could be improved
• Can't overburn to 99/100 minutes

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: The first point we would like to mention is the DVD+R9 DL support at 4x. The next point is the 16x DVD±R P-CAV writing technique that leads to faster burns compared with burns done by 16x Z-CLV and 16x CAV. The LG GSA-4163B also extracts CD-DA disc at full speed - included copy protected audio CD's, which is an advantage when ripping/extracting music. Another important point is the 8x writing speed on DVD+RW and 6x writing speed on DVD-RW combined with good quality results.  Speaking about quality - the LG GSA-4163B offers an excellent writing quality on CD-R's, and not to forget on DVD+R/R9 DL media too. Further, the drive also supports DVD-ROM bitsetting on DVD+R/R9 media, which leads to high compatibility on i.e. DVD standalone devices. Due to 'two sheep" burner and the DAO-RAW writing mode - the drive can be used to backup copy protected CD's. It also supports writing CD-R's up to 96 minutes, and can read back overburned CD-R's up to 100 minutes. Since the LG GSA-4163B is a super-multi drive it also read and write DVD-RAM disc up to 5x. And as a last point we would like to point out the excellent documentation/owner's manual and the very good software package that comes with the retail drive.

The main negative points: There is hardly anything negative about this drive, but we would like to mention that other drives offer 48x/32x writing on CD-R/W media. Also other drives offer faster read speed on DVD±R/DVD±RW media. Finally, as a last point - the drive did not offer DVD-ROM bitsetting on DVD+RW media.

To sum it all up, this is what we would say: 'An excellent DVD±R/RW/+R9 DL and CD-R recorder, which also support the DVD-RAM format. So we guess it deserve LG's own slogan drive name - 'Super multi drive".

Based on our tests and experiences during this review - we give the LG GSA-4163B our 'Editors Choice award".

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber.com we found the drive listed at $ 81 (30. December 2004). And at www.getprice.de we found the drive listed at 73 EUR (30. December 2004).

You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to:

Conrexx Technology B.V./RITEK Europe - The Netherlands for providing the Traxdata CD-R 52x and CD-RW 24x used in this review.

EMTEC (MPOTEC GmbH) - Germany for providing the CD-R 52x media used in this review.

MMORE International B.V. - The Netherlands for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD+RW 4x and DVD-R 8x, CD-R 52x media used in this review.

Sky Media Manufacturing sa - Switzerland for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD-R 8x and CD-R 52x media used in this review.

Verbatim GmbH - Germany for providing the DVD+R 8x, DVD+RW 4x, DVD-R 8x, DVD-RW 4x, CD-R 52x and CD-RW 24x media used in this review.