LG Super Multi Blue GGW-H20L
The format war may be over but you don’t need to be a victim with this new drive from LG.
The format war is over. The winner – and loser – has been declared. Now that the whole issue is done and dusted, we can all settle down to burn a nice big Blu-ray. In fact, this format war sorted itself out a lot better than the last one, what with all those choices between DVD writeable formats like DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD-RAM, and the dual layer formats which always bugged me with their exhausting prices.
Now that you know that the LG GGW-H20L can burn these media types, you should also know what it comes with. The drive, which requires a spare SATA port on both your power supply and motherboard, comes packaged with a bunch of Cyberlink software, featuring a version of the PowerDVD software package not produced anymore that has the ability to play HD DVD’s. This is beneficial to those of us who invested early or are now taking advantage of the cheaper prices as HD DVD titles begin to diminish. You also get Power2Go and PowerProducer 4 which give you the “power” – to coin the term – to burn your files quickly and easily.
The drive was very simple to install and the faceplate sports a slick glossy black with faint lines finish. It’s very attractive but if you’re looking to remove the faceplate, all I have to say is good luck. I couldn’t get it off to see if it could and I would suggest leaving it on. If you’re planning to watch high definition movies from HD DVD and Blu-ray, you might need a new video card. In the case of ATI, this means grabbing an ATI x1950 or at least something from the 2000 series of cards. Anything beyond it is fine including the current 4870 which was just released. Likewise on the Nvidia front, you’ll need a minimum of a 7800 card and anything up to the recent 9800 and 280 cards will serve HD DVD and Blu-ray just fine. In the end, I found the LG Super Multi Blue GGW-H20L to be an excellent piece of hardware. In reviewing the drive, I liked it so much that I actually went and bought one. Yes, it’s that good. Product: LG GGW-H20LVendor: LG
RRP: $699
Website: LG Electronics Australia Reviewed by Leigh D. Stark
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