LG GSA-4160B DL Recorder - Page 23

Conclusion

The GSA-4160B model is LG's latest DVD recorder offering 16X +R recording speed. When we received the retail package, which included everything end users will need to get them started, we were curious to see how this drive would perform at this high speed.

LG models are known to be excellent readers, and this new model was no exception. The drive did not only manage to read all tested media with no problems, but it even managed to read defective media that could not be read by any other drive we tested. Only CD error correction capabilities need to be further improved by LG with future firmware releases.

CD/DVD ripping speed was acceptable. Especially with copy protected games, the drive performed well in terms of speed, but unfortunately it cannot backup the latest SD 2.9+ versions. CD writing quality could also be improved, since most created media was readable, but reported high C1/C2 error rates.

The big advantage of this drive is its writing quality. Outstanding writing quality was reported with Verbatim 4X +R media, and excellent writing quality with Verbatim 16X +R media. The drive also supports Double Layer recording at 2.4X. Although the competitions offers higher writing speeds, quality scans indicated very good performance. As already stated in this review, LG prefers to improve quality, even if the supported writing speed is reduced.

LG does not officially support booktype setting for this drive with current firmware, but we hope to see future firmware releases solving this problem, since LG has already released new firmware to support the booktype setting for the GSA-4120B model.

Another advantage of this drive that cannot be found easily in other recorders is the ability to read and write DVD-RAM media at 5X max. The drive automatically verifies all written data, (a function that will reduce the effective writing speed), offering the highest reliability among DVD re-writable media with 100,000 re-write times and superior defect management.

The price of this drive is considerably low, making it a very attractive purchase for users aiming at DVD reading performance and writing quality. It received our "Editor's Choice" award, since it sets new standards for 16X +R DVD writing quality.

- The Good

• Excellent DVD error correction
• Supports all DVD recordable/re-writable formats
• Write/verify function for DVD-RAM media to improve reliability
• Excellent DVD writing quality with most media, even at 16X speed
• Good CSS DVD-Video ripping speed
• Very quiet operation either when reading or writing
• Can overburn up to 95mins
• Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
• Can backup accurately up to v2.8x SD2 protected titles
• Can backup Audio protected discs
• Good price compared with competition

- The Bad

• Doesn't support DVD-ROM booktype for DVD+R/+RW/+R DL formats
• Reduced writing speed for DVD-RAM media (because of its write/verify function)
• Doesn't support overburning for DVD±R formats
• Medium CD error correction
• Doesn't support Mount Rainier
• Cannot be used to measure CD/DVD media

- Like To be fixed

• High C1/C2 errors with specific media
• Booktype setting support
• Option to enable/disable "write and verify" function for DVD-RAM media
• Wider media support list for 16X +R media

Retail Package
Reading
Error Correction
Protected Discs
Writing
Features

To discuss this drive further or to discuss it with other users, go to our forum.

Konstantinos Kioulafas