The LG recorders are the first PC recorders to ever support 5X DVD-RAM media. Maxell announced on the 26th of May, 2004, the release of 5X DVD-RAM media. DVD-RAM media is the most appropriate media for large file storage and recovery, since it combines an error correction system and BCM (Bismuth Coupling Material) recording layer technology, which improves signal to noise ratio for higher reliability during high-speed recording.

As Maxell stated: "DVD-RAM is an advanced recording media format that offers a range of digital data applications. Its phase-change recording material allows discs to be re-recordable and erasable, and a superior defect management system ensures accurate recording and playback. DVD-RAM allows instant, random access to any location on the disc for fast and easy data reading and writing. Because DVD-RAM supports fast formatting and no finalizing, it is an extremely easy-to-use media. And with DVD-RAM, changes can be made directly on the disc without transfering data to a hard drive first, speeding up the editing tasks..."

For our test, we used DVD-RAM media, the Maxell 5X DVD-RAM. Below, you can see the media information according to DVDInfoPro:

For our tests, we used the latest InCD version 4.3.11.1

After installing InCD, a new TAB was added to the drive's properties providing information about the media file system:

• Maxell DVD-RAM media

We formatted the Maxell media with InCD software.

- Burning Tests

Using NeroCDSpeed, we got the following graph:

The drive started writing at 1.36X and using the P-CAV writing strategy, reached 2.42X, giving an average writing speed of 2.18X. As all LG drives regarding to writing DVD-RAM, the 5160D uses the "write and verify"strategy, thus the low reported speed from the above graph. This means that while writing, the LG drive also verifys the writen data, which leads to the low speed thus unable to report the true writing speed which in this case is 5X. LG does not support disabling the "write and verify" strategy.

Using the latest Nero version, we burned our usual Single Layer DVD complilation.

• Maxell 5X DVD-RAM media

The b urn process was completed successfully. The DVD-RAM media offered an excellent performance.The only drawback is the "write-verify" strategy of the drive, which we hope it will be "fixed" in the near future.