LG GSA-5163D Triple format DVD Burner

Positive:

• Supports 4x DVD+R9 Double Layer writing
• Supports 16x P-CAV DVD+/-R writing speed
• Very good writing quality with most disc types
• Currently the worlds fastest DVD-Recorder.
• Good writing quality with double layer media.
• Supports DAO-RAW writing.
• Fast and perfect audio extraction.
• Supports bitsetting.
• Multiformat drive, also supports DVD-RAM.
• Solid and good drive design, quiet operation compared to other drives.
• ‘Two sheep” writer ‘“ positive when backing up copy protected games.
• Supports backing up all protected audio discs.
• Good retail bundle and good documentation

Negative:

• Only 10x DVD+/-R and 8x DVD+/-RW reading speed.
• Poor DVD-media support and few discs supported at higher speed than what they are certified for.
• LG shows little interest in adding support for unsupported media.
• Only 40x CD-Writing and 24x CD-ReWriting.
• Does not support Mt. Rainier.
• Supports overburning only up to 95 minutes.
• Does not bitset DVD+R DL media to DVD-ROM automatically.
• Does not support bitsetting on the DVD+RW format.
• Does not support disc quality checking/scanning features like Lite-On, BenQ and Plextor drives supports.

Conclusion:

It seems like LG did a good job with this drive, but let us summarize the most important points and features.

 The main positive points: The drive is one of the few multiformat drives in the world, also supporting DVD-RAM. And you can’t forget the fact that it’s currently the worlds fastest DVD-Writer with recording times below 5 minutes and 20 seconds for a full single layer disc. Another strong point is that it has good writing quality with almost all disc types and formats. Beside this, it supports reading protected audio discs and is an ok drive for backing up protected computer games.

The main negative points: There is only one noticeable negative point, and that is the media support, out of the discs we tested a total of 7 discs were not written at certified speed (or higher). This is a bit much compared to other drives we have reviewed in the past. LG do for sure need to improve media compatibility ‘“ especially since discs from known manufacturers like Mitsubishi and Daxon do not work at certified speed. We informed LG about the unsupported discs earlier ‘“ but they showed little interest in adding support for most of the currently unsupported discs. Beside this there are only minor issues like a bit low CD-Writing speed and a bit low reading speed of many disc types.

To sum it all up, this is the best we could say: ‘The worlds fastest DVD-Writer, which also offers good quality. But stay away from unknown disc types with this drive.“ The drive has earned our ‘Editors choice” award, even though the drive is not perfect, it still has some noticeable strengths; worlds fastest writer, good writing quality and supports all formats including DVD-RAM. This makes it quite unique and it really deserves the editor’s choice award.

You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread. This forum thread may also be used to ask questions around this drive or request additional tests.

Thanks to:

Conrexx for providing the  media used in this review. Conrexx technology is the supplier of Traxdata media as well as other Ritek media brands for whole Europe.

 For providing the That’s Write media used in this review. That’s Write focus on providing quality media at reduced prices in Europe.

 For providing some of the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.

 For providing us with Mirror and Miflop Extreme media. Miflop media aims at providing both cheap (INFOSMART) and expensive (Taiyo Yuden) quality media.

For providing the RiData media used in this review. RiData is a Ritek brand and thus you are sure to get Ritek manufactured discs when buying RiData media.

 For providing the Daxon and BenQ media used in this review. Daxon manufacture high quality media for many large OEM customers lke BenQ and Sony.

 For providing the Verbatim DVD+R9 Double Layer media used in this review. Verbatim provides high quality media almost over the whole world.

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