Pros: Quick, no coasters (yet), inexepsnive (for a BD recorder)
Cons: Does no play HD-DVD (not a big deal)
The Bottom Line: A quick reader and writer for all media, this is basically a universal optical drive, it does all format (except for the now defunct HD-DVD).
nad_masters's Full Review: LG BH08LS20 (8808992606741) Blu-ray Burner
With BluRay recorders coming down in price, I decided to pick one up when NewEgg was offering one for $180 with free shipping. They also threw in a free Verbatim 25GB BD-R disc along with the purchase! I thought that was a nice touch.
At this price, I thought it was one of the older models with slower write speeds, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was a pretty recent model. This particular drive is rated to record BD-Rs at 8x! Writing to DVDs, it's no slouch either. LG rated writing to DVD +R and -R discs at 16x.
Here's a breakdown of all of the read/write speeds for different kinds of discs:
I find it interesting that it records BD media faster than it reads. Then again, BD-ROM could also include dual-layer BDs. With only 2MB of cache, I was wondering if burning coasters would be a frequent occurrence.
In the Box
I bought the full retail box product, which includes the shiney box with art on it, along with full packaging, cables, screws, and software.
LG includes almost everything you need to set up this drive. A short SATA cable, 4 mounting screws, a molex to SATA power adapter, an installation pamphlet, and a software CD.
The software CD is basically like a Cyberlink sampler of sorts. It comes with CyberLink Power2Go, Instant Burn, Power Backup, PowerProducer and PowerDVD. The PowerDVD does allow you to play BluRay movies, but just like their other OEM versions, this one only plays the audio in stereo. There is no multi-channel love here.
Installation
With the included mounting screws, it's nice to know you don't have to hunt for screws on your own. For those who kept the screws that came with their computer's case, it won't be a problem. I also keep many extra computer screws around, since I work with them all the time. However, I can see why LG needs to include them in a retail package: many don't.
Depending on your case, installation can be a breeze or a nightmare. Funny thing is, with my Cooler Master HAF 922 case, I don't need ANY screws at all! I just remove the front cover, slide the drive in, and (with a bit of alighment) push in the locking mechanism.
You can then run the included SATA cable from the drive to your motherboard's on-board SATA port. If you power supply already have SATA power connectors, you can just connect it directly to your drive. If not, you'll have to use the molex to SATA power adapter that LG included.
And that's basically it!
In Use
I was able to play BluRay movies minutes after the physical install! The included PowerDVD just works, but I've already purchased a full version of PowerDVD previously, and used that instead. The full version does support multi-channel audio, but I only use 2 speakers anyways in my bedroom.
Burning DVDs went without a hitch as well. I was able to burn both DVD +R and -R at the maximum 16x speed, both finishing around 6 minutes or so. This data set fills the entire disc to it's maximum capacity of 4.7GB.
Surprisingly, DVD -RW and +RW discs seem to finish at around 7 minutes, which isn't that much slower than the read-only discs, beating the advertised 8x write by almost two times!
Yet another surprise is when I decided to burn some CD-Rs. While it was advertised as a 40x CD recorder, I found that I was actually writing at 48x! CD burning finishes at just under 3 minutes!
Ripping audio CDs were just as fast, and there were no audible corruptions on the resulting WAV files.
All in all, I am very impressed with this drive that seem to read and write all optical formats!
When I say all, I really do mean it - it even reads and writes DVD-RAM discs, but I don't have any to play around with. Of course, there is done disc format that LG doesn't support, which is a slight bummer since their previous models do: the untimely HD-DVD.
For most people, HD-DVD is a non-issue. If you were looking for drive that does read HD-DVD, you may want to look at the previous LG models such as the infamous LG-GGW-H20L.
The Upshot
If you are looking for an inexpensive way to burn your own HD masterpiece, or just have a lot of data you'd like to back up on disc, the LG BH08LS20 (what a mouthful) is a very quick and universal wonder.
So what if it can't read HD-DVDs? It would have been nice, but for most, it doesn't matter any more. Also, LG includes many of the things you'll need to install and set up the drive, including software.
I have yet to burn a coaster with any of the disc formats, so I can't give it anything but praise. Forget about calling it a BluRay recorder. The LG BH08LS20 is one excellent universal optical drive!
The LG BH08LS20 Blu-Ray Disc Rewriter reads and burns High Definition Blu-ray Discs as well as DVD and CD formats. It supports recording both 50GB an...More at Newegg.com
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