LG GGW-H20L Super Multi Blue Blu-ray Disc ReWriter & HD DVD-ROM

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The DVD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.28x 6.80x 16.42x	9.09x 4.97x 12.16x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.23x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	121ms 141ms 213ms	183ms 214ms 298ms	140ms 156ms 296ms	133ms 147ms 285ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 8% 14% 23%	5% 9% 16% 30%	6% 9% 17% 32%	6% 10% 17% 32%

The GGW-H20L performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.80x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.42x.Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times and CPU usage were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.23x 5.12x 12.33x	7.62x 4.17x 10.19x	6.15x 3.40x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	102ms 125ms 183ms	193ms 238ms 366ms	152ms 166ms 305ms	137ms 154ms 290ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	3% 6% 12% 22%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 9% 17% 32%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	7.69x 4.23x 10.29x	6.26x 3.42x 8.37x	6.16x 3.41x 8.25x	6.16x 3.40x 8.24x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	110ms 136ms 206ms	213ms 258ms 402ms	153ms 219ms 355ms	138ms 201ms 340ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 13% 24%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%

The GGW-H20L performed very well when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 12x and DVD-RW media at a respectable 10x

LG's new drive had no problems reading Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The GGW-H20L started reading at 3.42x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.21x.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM

	LG GGW-H20L	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.62x 3.00x 5.00x	4.99x 4.97x 5.00x	4.98x 4.97x 5.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	139ms 156ms 206ms	354ms 529ms 1126ms	338ms 509ms 1107ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x:	17% 27% 42%	13% 26% 22%	11% 37% 22%

The GGW-H20L has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 3.00x and accelerates, reaching 5x at the 1.6GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.22x 5.10x 12.33x	7.63x 4.17x 10.20x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.40x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	100ms 130ms 196ms	190ms 240ms 382ms	156ms 169ms 313ms	141ms 155ms 294ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	3% 7% 15% 24%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%	6% 9% 17% 32%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	7.69x 4.24x 10.29x	6.25x 3.42x 8.36x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	110ms 129ms 191ms	214ms 263ms 402ms	156ms 170ms 338ms	141ms 155ms 320ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 7% 12% 23%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%	6% 10% 17% 32%

The GGW-H20L's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 12x and DVD+RW media at 10x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for the GGW-H20L either. With a maximum transfer speed of 8.22x, it had no problems taking the top spot in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.5 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A	I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.06x 3.36x 8.10x	9.01x 4.92x 12.05x	4.61x 2.56x 6.17x	4.62x 2.56x 6.18x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	191ms 231ms 333ms	185ms 224ms 303ms	145ms 162ms 302ms	131ms 145ms 284ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	4% 6% 18% 24%	7% 9% 27% 31%	6% 9% 17% n/a	6% 10% 17% n/a

The GGW-H20L didn't do as well as the GGW-H10N when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of only 8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well LG's new drive worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The GGW-H20L had no problems playing back either movie and was fairly quiet.