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While new computer systems, whether of the desktop or notebook variety, generally arrive with a CD/DVD burner as standard, the drive will probably not support all the various formats available. With a choice of DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD-RAM, it is more than likely that the drive in residence will only be able to read / write two of the three formats. However there are drives available, normally referred to as a multi-drive, which can handle all three formats. The LG GSA-4166B model is such a product.

Not only will this drive give you to ability to read / write all the formats but it is also double/dual layer compatible so giving 8.5GB capacity with appropriate media. On top of this, LG has added LightScribe technology to this particular drive. The LightScribe feature allows silk-screen quality labels to be burned on supported media to give home created disks a professional looking appearance.

See also: DVD players/recorders

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This LG internal multi burner requires Windows 2000 or Windows XP in order to perform. The kit consists of the drive unit with a fairly standard front fascia; four retaining screws; a double-headed E-IDE drive cable; audio lead; and a selection of authoring and recording software. No doubt you will have noticed that the content list does not include any recordable media to help you get started - this you will have to provide yourself.

Installing the drive is straightforward although you will need to change a jumper if you are intending to use the drive as a slave in conjunction with your original master drive. The drive should be automatically detected if the power and E-IDE cables are correctly attached. The next stage is to install the various items of software that LG has bundled with the drive.

The supplied software consists of PowerProducer Gold for DVD authoring work; InCD which provides packet writing capabilities that allow a CD to be used like a big floppy disk; PowerDVD for playing movies and the like; plus Nero Cover Designer, Nero BackItUp and Nero Express. The latter title, with its user-friendly interface, includes the LightScribe feature whereby the drive's laser burns a label onto the reverse side of the disk.

Unfortunately, while LightScribe can produce professional-looking labels, it is hardly a speed merchant. It took 26 minutes 45 seconds to burn a label consisting of two images and two short text strings. You are also limited to monochrome as colour has yet to make an appearance with this technology.

The LG drive can write DVD +&-R media at 16x speed, DVD+RW at 8x, DVD-RW at 6x, DVD-ROM at 16x, DVD-RAM at 5x. When using Dual Layer media the speed drops to 4x for DVD-R DL and 8x for DVD+R DL. CD write speeds are 48x for CD-R and 32x for CD-RW. The drive has a 2MB buffer to help support its multi format and various read/write speeds. A selection of tests, using good quality Verbatim media, produced results comparable with these figures.

With an expected price of £69.99 and excellent build quality, this LG drive brings a good all-round performance to the various DVD formats and has LightScribe capability as a bonus. Along with the previously mentioned operating system considerations, you will need a Pentium III 800MHz, 256MB RAM, 128MB video memory and 20GB hard drive or better.

http://uk.lge.com/prodmodeldetail.do?actType=search&page=1&modelCategoryId=050204&categoryId=050204&parentId=05&modelCodeDisplay=GSA4166B&unit=NOTHING&model=Select+a+model