LG Super Multi DVD Writer review @ HardwareZoom.com

October 10, 2003

Emilex used our news submit to tell us that Hardwarezoom.com have reviewed LG's Super Multi DVD writer. This drive is capable of writing to DVD+/-R at 4x, DVD+RW at 2.4x, DVD-RW at 2x, DVD-RAM at 3x, CD-R at 24x and CD-RW at 16x. That covers pretty much every popular CD and DVD recordable format on the market 🙂

Emilex wrote "In an inevitable response to such demands, LG, the Korean consumer electronics manufacturer, has released a Super Multi DVD Writer, the GSA-4040B: it writes DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM and CD-R/RW. That's seven recordable formats in a single drive! Pretty impressive, isn't it? Let's see how this format-overloading DVD writer performs."

Comments and Conclusions:

Combining writing abilities across seven recordable disc formats and above-average disc reading performance, the LG GSA-4040B proves itself to be a versatile DVD writer, especially handy for people who need to carry huge amount of data around. Johnny Mnemonic would probably have a better life if he had such a drive 🙂

Upon first glance, the inclusion of DVD-RAM support may seem redundant; consider how unpopular the format is on various computer platforms. However, for those early adapters of earlier DVD video recorder models (which mainly work with DVD-RAM) will appreciate the DVD-RAM support - they can now easily convert and transfer data from DVD-RAM to other, more portable, formats. In addition, they can also use DVD-RAM as a FAT32 or UDF partition, acting seamlessly like a hard drive within the operating system. It is definitely a worthwhile investment if these "super multi" writers cost just slightly more than "dual" DVD writers.

Price
This drive is available in Sim Lim Square at S9 (as of 9 Oct03). Although this is slightly more expensive than other Dual Format DVD Writers in the market, you are paying the premium for DVD-RAM support. If DVD-RAM support is what you really need, LG GSA-4040B is a good choice too. It is about 10% cheaper than another brand which is also based on the same drive.

Summing up the strengths and weaknesses of the GSA-4040B:

What we like:

Supports 5 DVD recordable formats and CD-R/RW
Supports Ultra Hi-Speed CDRW media
Good read speeds for all CD/DVD media
Quiet

What we dislike:

High temperature on chassis during operation
Belt-based tray mechanism impacts durability
Lack of 8X DVD+R and 4X DVD+RW writing
Sub-par CD and CDRW performance

Read the full review here.

While most DVD recorders limit DVD-recordable reading to
5x or 6x, this drive is capable of reading back DVD recordable's at up to
10x! Even many 16x DVD-ROM drives refuse to read DVD recordable's
faster than 6x. As mentioned in the review, CD burning and read
performance is not as good as CD recorders, but they do say that CD recording
should ideally be done in a dedicated CD burner rather than putting wear &
tear on a recorder designed to write DVDs.

When I originally got an LG GDR8161 DVD-ROM drive, I was not impressed with
its read performance and it failing to read most of my recordable DVDs, so
I later exchanged it for a Samsung. It looks like they have finally
resolved those issues when it comes to this DVD recorder. While they
don't support 4x DVD+RW or 8x DVD+R speeds, they do support DVD-RAM and even
ultra speed CD-RW's. DVD-RAM is a very nice feature as these can be used
like mass storage disks without any special software and can also be formatted
in FAT32 or NTFS just like a zip disk.

Source: HardwareZoom