Still have HD-DVDs?
Written: Feb 22 '08 (Updated Feb 25 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reads all disc formats, writes DVD and CD discs, fast reading and writing, relatively inexpensive
Cons: Bundled PowerDVD 7 practically useless
The Bottom Line: The LG Super Multi Blue drive is a great drive to build an HTPC around!
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| nad_masters's Full Review: |
It's hard to write that title as if HD-DVD is dead. I mean they are still being sold, even though Toshiba (the major backer of HD-DVD) backed down from the format. Also, there were many people who purchased HD-DVD players during the holiday season because they were being sold for around $100. So this should also mean that owners of these players probably already have a sizable HD-DVD collection already started. It almost seemed like the shear numbers of HD-DVD adopters were rising.
However, the more expensive PS3 is being sold at a slower rate. The PS3 had more time to penetrate into the market as a Blu-Ray player as well as being a gaming console. With a compelling library of games, and having the XBOX 360 getting a head start (along with their HD-DVD), I was surprised to hear that there are many more PS3s out there than I expected.
My brother bought a PS3 after the initial surge of fans bought out the first batch upon release. It's been collecting dust ever since. We only bought one game (Motocross) and one Blu-Ray movie (Casino Royal), and it was indeed a visual feast.
Fast forward to today (about a year later), and HD-DVD is pronounced dead. LG seemed like the man that plays on both team, so when they released a couple of models of set-top box Blu-Ray/HD-DVD players, people rejoiced! Hybrid players are still important after the announcement because there are still people who have a sizable HD-DVD collection.
The LG Super Multi Blue GGC-H20L Combo Drive
Recently, LG finally released a combo Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive for computers. The LG Super Multi Blue GGC-H20L (lots of letters there!) is not only a drive that can play/read Blu-Ray (BD-ROM) and HD-DVD discs, it also plays/reads CDs and DVDs as well! But that's not all! It also serves as a CD and DVD recorder! Now how much do you pay for all this versatility? $500? $1000? What say you if I told you that you can do all this for only $230?
Infomercial parody aside, the GGC-H20L is not most versatile drive out there. LG already have another model out that also adds the ability to record to Blu-Ray blank media (GGW-H20L). However, the cost of this model is more than $100 more than the this one. I decided that the ability to burn BD-ROMs is not very compelling yet since blank BD-R media is still around $20 a pop. BD-RW (rewritable Blu-Ray) media is around $25 a pop.
Still, the idea of a home theater PC (HTPC) that serves as a DVR as well as a versatile high-def disc player is a very interesting prospect. I already have a Windows Media Center that records TV shows as well as watch DVDs ripped to my server. The ability to do this with HD materials would be great! Even though I only own 1 Blu-Ray title (actually 4 now - I bought the Spiderman trilogy pack when I bought the drive), I can rest assure that I can still be able to play a HD-DVD if I ever encounter one.
In the Box
Inside the box, you not only get the drive itself, but also a SATA cable, a SATA to standard Molex converter, mounting screws, and PowerDVD CD (OEM). LG also included a well endowed manual that has several languages. It isn't just a quick install pamphlet! Instead, there is a small pamphlet that shows how HDCP works by using a pictorial flow chart.
The entire package seems a little more upscale than your typical retail-box DVD burner.
Installation
Installation of the GGC-H20L is just like any 5.25" optical drive. Actual installation process depends on your computer's chassis, but basically you remove power from your PC and ground yourself, then remove the covers off a free drive bay an mount the drive there. You then plug the SATA cable from the drive to your motherboard and find an available SATA power connector from your power supply and plug it into the drive. If you don't have a SATA power plug, you can use the included Molex to SATA power adapter.
There is an alternative way of installing, and that is to install it in an enclosure. This way, you can bring it over to a friend's house who also have a HTPC. Make sure it's plenty powerful though - you'll need the power to play HD content. If you're just using it to transfer files off a data BD or HD-DVD disc, then it doesn't really matter how fast your machine is. But that's not the reason why someone would buy this drive, right?
I can confirm that Blu-Ray movies play just fine over the USB 2.0 bus. It's smooth and pretty, and works just as if you installed it internally.
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 OEM
The included PowerDVD 7 is an OEM version, which means that it is a bit striped down. While it can play Casino Royal perfectly fine, it required an update from Cyberlink's web site when I tried to play any of the Spiderman movies. And here's the kicker - the update gave an error saying that either PowerDVD is not installed or I am using a non-retail version of the software. So what does this mean? Cyberlink doesn't seem to support their OEM version. This mean the included software player is useless for discs that have more advanced copy protection!
There is also another limitation - the OEM version only plays the audio in 2.0 stereo sound. There was no way to get it to play in any other format. The included OEM version of PowerDVD is good enough to prove that the drive and your PC is capable of playing HD content as long as you have an older Blu-Ray or HD-DVD title. Other than that, it's worthless as it will not play future titles that need a more updated player.
The copy protection of these next generation media seem to evolve and require players to have their firmware updated. For software players such as PowerDVD, it will require an update from the manufacturer's site. Since Cyberlink doesn't seem to support their OEM version software with updates, it's pretty much worthless.
Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 Ultra
I decided to plunk down the $100 and get their full-version player. It's much better than their OEM, and I was able to play all three of the Spiderman movies after the update. Surround sound also work! It seems to be able to handle all of the audio tracks with ease.
I will not get too in-depth about PowerDVD 7 Ultra as it deserve it's own ePinions review. Also, this review is about the drive. (Update - review of Power DVD 7 Ultra is now available).
Suffice to say, the software makes the difference between an enjoyable experience and slamming things on the floor in frustration.
It works with the Windows MCE remote just fine, though I noticed a bit of lag. This is the same with the OEM version as well. The biggest complaint I have with the player is that it does not integrate with Windows Media Center at all. It's a separate application, so you'll need to exit out of the nice MCE interface and break out your keyboard and mouse to launch and maximize PowerDVD. You will also have to use the keyboard/mouse to exit PowerDVD to return to the MCE interface.
There is a user-made plug-in that puts an icon for PowerDVD inside the MCE interface. It launches PowerDVD in full screen mode and minimizes MCE. However, there is no way to exit out of PowerDVD with the remote. You'll need the mouse to close it, which will then automatically bring MCE back up.
If you hit the Green Button on the remote to return to MCE with PowerDVD running, you'll find that the next time you insert a standard DVD, both MCE and PowerDVD (since PowerDVD is still running in the background) will fight each other and try to play the DVD. If you insert a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movie, PowerDVD will automatically start playing it, but since it is in the background, all you hear is the audio. MCE will still be in the foreground.
Not a very elegant solution for HTPCs based on Windows Media Center.
Performance
As stated before, I was surprised that using a SATA to USB 2.0 enclosure did not hamper performance. All of my tests were done on both the enclosure and using the internal SATA interface on my HTPC computer.
Playing Blu-Ray discs using the full version of PowerDVD 7 Ultra went smoothly on my Media Center PC. It is not a super fast machine. In fact, it uses the budget-oriented Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 which runs at 2.0 GHz. Running Windows Vista Premium Edition and the included Media Center, memory usage with PowerDVD 7 Ultra running and MCE in the background ate up 1.08 GB out of my available 2GB of RAM. To help with HD decoding and playback, I've been using a GeForce 8500GT PCI-E video card. It's got enough juice to play Battlefield 2142 at HD resolutions, and it comes with the circuitry to accelerate HD video via nVidia's Purevideo HD. Playing the Blu-Ray titles showed that both CPU cores were pegged at around 70-80% utilized. PowerDVD (OEM and full version) was set to use Purevideo HD (hardware acceleration), so I wonder if the high CPU utilization is normal or if I need to update my video drivers (though the version I used claimed to support hardware accelerated Purevideo HD, which is why I used it in the first place).
While playing a Blu-Ray movie, I was able to fast forward the 1080p movie up to 2x and maintain a smooth playback. After faster than that, and the movie skips forward. However, I feel that it may be the way PowerDVD handles fast forwarding movies and not really the drive itself.
To check the speed of ripping Blu-Ray movies (for backup purposes of course), I was able to determine that it takes about 2 hours to rip Casino Royal and Spiderman 3. That's practically like watching the movie in real-time at 1x since both movie run times clock in at around the 2 hour mark as well. Then again, the 2 hours includes the special features as well as other data that the Blu-Ray disc has, which means that the data rate is actually a bit faster than 1x.
As for burning DVDs, I was able to write full DVDs at 16x, which takes about 5 and a half minutes. This is a bit faster than other DVD recorders that claim to burn at 16x. I find that the data rate seem to rise as it gets further into the recording. It starts out at around 7x and ramps up from there to 16x the further the laser goes towards the edge of the disc. I've noticed that other DVD recorders in the 16x class starts at 6x, which is probably why the LG drive was quicker (almost 30 seconds quicker in fact). In essence, the LG drive is just as competent as your standard DVD recorder. Reading and playing DVD discs also does not pose any problems. The LG was able to read DVDs back just as a standard 16x DVD drive would.
Recording CD-Rs at was also very quick. Recording at 40x, writing a full 700 MB ISO file barely took just under 3 minutes. This is because while other 40x recorders start at 16x and work their way up, I noticed that the LG started writing at 20x. Reading CDs back was just as fast as writing. In fact, the speed the LG reads the CDs mirrors the writing speeds.
In the course of writing this review, I found out that this LG drive can also read and write DVD-RAM at 5x. Unfortunately, I do not have any DVD-RAM media to test the LG's DVD-RAM read and write performance. This really IS a versatile drive!
Noise and Heat
I'm happy to say that watching movies in any format (DVD, HD-DVD, and even Blu-Ray), you can't hear the drive at all! LG did a good job with noticing the slow data transfer and throttles the RPM down. When ripping Blu-Ray discs, it was also very quite. The drive doesn't get hot at all when watching movies, which isn't surprising.
When reading data CDs and DVDs, the drive does get a bit noisy. However, it's a little muffled compared to Pioneer DVR-212D DVD-RW drive. I cannot fault the LG drive for making some racket when spinning these discs at such a high rate. You can't have fast transfer speeds without the noise of a disc spinning at high RPMs (unless you have multiple lasers... *COUGH*KENWOOD*COUGH*). The drive gets a bit warm to the touch when the LG kicks into overdrive.
Conclusion
The LG Super Multi Blue GGC-H20L is a superb combo drive. It is one of the most versatile drive you'll ever own. The only drive that would top this one is LG's own GGW-H20L drive, which adds the ability to burn Blu-Ray media, but at $100 more than this unit, it may not be worth it just yet, since blank Blu-Ray media is still pretty expensive (just like when blank DVD media when it first came out).
At $230 (at Newegg as of 2/22/2008), it cost a bit more than the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive when it first came out. The price is right when you consider that stand-alone set-top dual-format players cost nearly $1000 (the cheapest can be found for around $750). And the fact that it is also a very quick reader for other disc formats and great DVD recorder, the LG gets more attractive. You can build a HTPC for around the same price as a combo set-top player and have more features as well.
All in all, the LG Super Multi Blue drive is a great drive to build an HTPC around!
Recommended:
Yes
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