LG GSA-5163D Triple format DVD Burner

Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

⋅         Motherboard: Abit IC-7 MAX3 i875P
⋅         Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3,2GHz 800MHz FSB Prescott with Hyper Threading support.
⋅         RAM: 1Gb PC4300 DDR
⋅         GFX: Asus GeForce 6800
⋅         Sound: SB Audigy 2
⋅         Hard disks: 400Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 S-ATA connected to the Intel i875P S-ATA controller.

System set-up:

The LG GSA-5163D was connected to the IEE1394A Firewire interface and identified itself as HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-5163D. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices where it was possible.

Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

⋅         Ahead Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.0.6
⋅         Ahead Nero CD/DVD Speed v3.61
⋅         Ahead Nero InfoTool v2.27
⋅         DVD-Identifier 3.5.1
⋅         K-Probe v2.4.2

Installation and supported features:

We quickly installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

Our drive came shipped with firmware A101, we updated the firmware to version A102 for this review. The only drawbacks we could see are the inability to read CD+G as well as missing Mt Rainier support along with a bit too small of a buffer. A larger buffer would at least smooth up the data transfer to the drive a bit on stressed systems.

We verified the reported features with Nero:

No differences noticed here either, and we could see that Nero supports bitsetting with this drive.

Book type changing:

The LG GSA-5163B supports bitsetting and could write DVD+R and DVD+R9 DL media with DVD-ROM book type.

In our tests we used the bitsetting option in Nero CD-DVD Speed to change the book type:

Or you can use Nero Burning ROM (V.6.6.0.6) under the option ‘Choose Recorder” to change the book type:

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R with book type DVD-ROM

DVD+R9 DL with book type DVD-ROM

Included software:

Now it’s time to look at the included software and to comment if needed. Notice that we may not use the included software in our performance testing part of the review.

LG DVD Writer Solution:

Cyberlink PowerDVD:

Cyberlink PowerProducer Gold:

Nero Express 6:

In CD:

All in all a very complete and good software package.

Now that we have finished examining the drive and bundled programs ‘“ let us head on to the next page, which is reading performance test…