LG GGW-H20L : Any Good? [Archive]

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BassPig

5th February 2008, 00:51

I'm thinking of getting the LG GGW-H20L instead of Sony's BWU-200S.

Am I making the right choice? Users of the LG GGW-H20L please share your experiences with the LG burner.
:thanks:

jacked

5th February 2008, 01:28

I'm thinking of getting the LG GGW-H20L instead of Sony's BWU-200S.

Am I making the right choice? Users of the LG GGW-H20L please share your experiences with the LG burner.
:thanks:

I`ve had my LG since just before Xmas, was going to spend a lot more on a Pioneer for my first Bluray drive but I`m glad I didn`t. The LG is superb value for money.

Zow

5th February 2008, 01:53

The LG works happily with both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. It's fast.

The only issues I've had, were:

1. It crashed when updating firmware in Vista. It was updated after the crash, no further problems.

2. It did not recognize the Blu-Ray version of Stranger Than Fiction.

BassPig

5th February 2008, 04:06

Thanks for the replies.
I should have been more specific that we won't be using these for playback, but for authoriing discs.
As a writer/burner for BD-R, how does this drive perform for you? Any issues with speed of writing, compatibility of the disc in set top players, etc?

glen8

5th February 2008, 08:45

I think mines great

Works fine on PS3 using Nero 8

BassPig

5th February 2008, 10:16

That's great. I was concerned that a hybrid BD-HD DVD unit might have compromises somewhere. The reviews seem very positive, but I wanted to hear from actual owners before I invest in one. I think it's time though.. my XDCam EX is due to arrive later today, so I have one more reason to start pushing to author in Blu-ray. :)

glen8

5th February 2008, 11:47

get the retail one if u can

Think its only an extra 10 but you get a BD-RE and Cyberlink HD suite which has powerdvd, burner software and some authoring stuff

hollydoc

5th February 2008, 13:25

I´ve ordered a LG GGW-H20L and i think i get it the next days.
I have any questions:

1. what is the nativ space on a BR-R 25GB?
2. what is the best way for authorin a Blu-Ray ( movie only)?
3. How i havt to burn a BD-R ? is Nre o good option?

The BD-R must work not only on PS3 , also on a Standalone in the future.

Hollydoc

glen8

5th February 2008, 15:03

I play safe and stick to 23.6gb

Nero is great for burning

Once you have the two folders just drag them across and burn:

BD/UDF
Manual UDF setting to 2.5

I usually close multisession and close disc

jbeale

5th February 2008, 21:09

The BD-R must work not only on PS3 , also on a Standalone in the future.

Yes, that's the real trick these days, isn't it? Both players and burners have tended to get more compatible over time, but I don't think there are any guarantees about future hardware. By designing in things like revocable keys and mandatory updates, Blu-Ray has planned for existing hardware to become "less compatible" in some ways, hoping to combat piracy. So it is hard to predict with confidence if your BD-R might become collateral damage of the pirate wars.

BassPig

12th February 2008, 08:43

I just bought the LG burner on eBay, new in what appears to be a retail box, so hopefully one disc and software included. Waiting since Friday for tracking number. Hopefully will do the job.

jbeale, you raise a VERY important issue that affects us event video people--as we develop a library of BD-Rs out there in the 'wild' (clients' homes and businesses), and if a 'mandatory' update renders our installed base of client's discs unreadable, it will spell disaster for our business. We'll get blamed for giving them discs that 'went bad' after a few months. I sincerely hope that Sony doesn't burn us that way. It would be my worst nightmare. I can see one or more of our clients suing us because their wedding that they paid us ten grand to record in HD & produce on BD doesn't read in their freshly-updated BD player. Boy, is that going to be a mess if it ever happens!

nekrosoft13

19th February 2008, 15:46

i have mine since early December, great drive. works with every disc i tried so far. plus has superb DVD burning quality.

BassPig

20th February 2008, 23:57

Mine just arrived today. Sharp-looking drive.

Anyway, I installed it, but didn't install any software YET. I'm planning to install Nero 8.

I have a question though, perhaps you may have observed this anomaly after installing the GGW-H20L:

The HDD LED on the computer blinks at a once-per-second pulsing rate after the BD-R drive is connected to the SATA controller and power. This wasn't occuring prior to hooking up the new drive.

What is causing this, and how can I stop it from happening?

LIGHTNING UK!

21st February 2008, 00:08

Turn off autoinsert/run/play.

It's gonna flash any time the drive is sent an I/O command - even if it's just to see if there is a disc in the drive. (Test Unit Ready)

Personally I'd just say to get used to it!

nekrosoft13

21st February 2008, 00:10

yes, its normal, it happens on most board with sata drives.

BassPig

21st February 2008, 01:20

I disabled autorun with Tweak UI, but the flashing continues. Oh well, at least it's not a malfunction.

=========UPDATE==========
I found a registry key that could be modified to disable autoplay. That did the trick!
========end update=========

I burned an 18-minute compilationt that I shot in HDV last October onto the included BD-RE and am now playing it on my Sony BDP-S301. It looks and sounds great!

My next task is to author a BD with full menus. This one was a BDMV that just plays upon insertion. I'm authoring in Encore CS3.

Based on my recollection of my DVD authoring experiences in 2001, this BD authoring test was relatively easier and more successful on the first attempt.

The drive took about 16 minutes to burn 4.2GB of program material to the included 2X BD-RE disc. A little slow, but hey, the disc plays, and that's a BIG step toward our goal of offering wedding videos on Blu-ray.

Side note: The HD DVD features will likely go untested, having heard that Toshiba tossed their hat into the rink and conceded the battle to Blu-ray.

Kador

20th March 2008, 11:58

blutach

20th March 2008, 12:17

HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/CDRom and changing the AutoRun key from 1 to 0. Reboot.

For more details see http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=2811&view=findpost&p=33107

Regards

Kador

24th March 2008, 18:04

Kador

28th March 2008, 07:37

That did not the trick. Still Blinking and clicking and blocking IOs

Actually this is not the very same problem I have, it's not only a led blinking, it's like the drive wants to open / close the drawer every second when empty. The drive is not faulty it works well on another machine.

Iy's vista, or the ich9r ... ??? weird