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Ebougile · Tue May 11, 2004 7:46 pm

I'm in need of a new DVD-ROM drive and was wondering what people think of LG? I just need a straight plain DVD-ROM without any writing capabilities. I'd be interested in hearing any opinions about LG's DVD-ROM drives, but especially the GDR-8162B. Any problems with accessing or reading discs in general? Thanks!

the_silver_bullet24 · Tue May 11, 2004 8:08 pm

Can't say I have seen any problems.

etilena · Tue May 11, 2004 8:09 pm

My friend's LG drive had problem reading DVD-Rs burnt from Liteon drives. They have no problem with Pioneer written discs though. Although his model is probably 3 or 4 years old.

Alex · Tue May 11, 2004 8:32 pm

Moved to the Storage forum.

Ebougile · Tue May 11, 2004 10:38 pm

morpheus777 wrote:
Moved to the Storage forum.

Sorry morpheus777, I would have originally posted my message in the Storage forum except that I'm just looking for a DVD-ROM drive without writing capabilities and so I thought I was posting in the correct forum.

Anyway, thanks for the responses so far, further feedback is welcome.

Tue May 11, 2004 10:51 pm

I've had no experience with their DVD-ROM drives. My LG CD-RW drive (an older 12x model) was reliable though.

TheDVDMan · Tue May 11, 2004 10:54 pm

etilena wrote:
My friend's LG drive had problem reading DVD-Rs burnt from Liteon drives.

My Optorite DD0401 (err, now a 405) and Lite-On 166S can't read most of the DVD+RW discs that my friends Lite-On DVD+R burner spits out (it's the 4x +R/RW only one, whatever it's called). The early Liteys apparently had some write quality issues on DVDs. If you don't have a Lite-On, I'd say go for it.

But then, my 166S is fast and cheap - both good qualities. It's one of only two Lite-On's I actually like.

One place to do a seach would be the forums over at http://www.cdrlabs.com - it's the best place around for any CD/DVD/R/RW/ROM releated stuff!!

HotToddy · Tue May 11, 2004 11:07 pm

This is no help but i own an Lg cell phone and its great

Wed May 12, 2004 7:40 am

A friend of mine at work has had some problems with his reading -R and +/-RW. Now it sounds like his drive is just flaky, but it is a problem.

I would suggest you spend the extra few dollars and get the Toshiba. I've had no problems with mine at all. It reads everything without a hitch.

Taddeusz · Wed May 12, 2004 7:52 am

My experience with LG drives in general is that they are pretty cheap quality wise. The best DVD-ROM drives out there are probably Toshiba's. I have a Toshiba SD-M1712 that has been working really good since the day I got it. It's awesome at reading DVD's. It is also supposed to have some of the best error correction of any DVD-ROM drive on the market.

Tech · Wed May 12, 2004 8:06 am

My GDR 8161B wouldnt let me load my Far Cry DVD to install until i flashed the firmware! All sorted now though, apparently it was a known issue with the drive.

ALIAS · Wed May 12, 2004 9:09 am

go with a Lite-on over an LG. At least you know it will read everything. And it costs the same.

Wed May 12, 2004 9:19 am

Storage forum except that I'm just looking for a DVD-ROM drive without writing capabilities and so I thought I was posting in the correct forum.

The Storage forum is for all things, storage. Including little wicker baskets.

Wed May 12, 2004 10:10 am

I suggest Pioneer DVD-ROM drives. Had a slot-loading one before I bought a Samsung combo (still have it, it's just stored away). It was a bit noisy, but I read that more recent models were a lot quieter. Its most interesting feature was that it managed to read everything I threw at it, only failing one time on a dubiously-recorded DVD-R.

Oh, and it looked spiffy as well

etilena · Wed May 12, 2004 11:10 am

morphine wrote:
I suggest Pioneer DVD-ROM drives. Had a slot-loading one before I bought a Samsung combo (still have it, it's just stored away). It was a bit noisy, but I read that more recent models were a lot quieter. Its most interesting feature was that it managed to read everything I threw at it, only failing one time on a dubiously-recorded DVD-R.

Oh, and it looked spiffy as well

Yes, personally prefer Pioneer drives as well.

Wed May 12, 2004 3:38 pm

Pioneer drives are good, but the seek times aren't as fast, nor is it as quiet as the Toshiba. The Toshiba also reads sub-channel better than the Pioneer.

Taddeusz · Wed May 12, 2004 7:26 pm

hoser wrote:
Pioneer drives are good, but the seek times aren't as fast, nor is it as quiet as the Toshiba. The Toshiba also reads sub-channel better than the Pioneer.

If I recall I don't think the Pioneers are capable of reading sub-channel data. That's the reason I went with the Toshiba.

Wed May 12, 2004 8:39 pm

They sure can, I can testify for that.

Wed May 12, 2004 9:05 pm

morphine wrote:
They sure can, I can testify for that.

Maybe the Pioneer DVD RW's but not the regular DVD drives.

Ebougile · Thu May 13, 2004 10:24 am

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, Toshiba and Pioneer drives are becoming increasingly non-existant at some of the local computer shops. My past experience with Pioneer tray load drives was not that great. The slot load is pretty good, but a tad on the noisy side. I've seen Lite-On DVD-ROM drives, but they seem to have had access problems when dealing with lots of small files and had trouble recovering speed afterwards. I hope that issue has been resolved since their CD burners are excellent. I ended up buying the LG drive and so far it's excellent. If I discover some nastiness later on with it, I'll be sure to post again.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

azbk51 · Fri May 14, 2004 7:27 pm

i own lg rw's and rams.. its pretty sweet..
also, i heard that LG's the global #1 optical drive manufacturer..
that should answer ur question :wink:

Fri May 14, 2004 8:03 pm

azbk51 wrote:
i own lg rw's and rams.. its pretty sweet..
also, i heard that LG's the global #1 optical drive manufacturer..
that should answer ur question

Well... McDonalds is also the world's #1 restaurant... and Budweiser the #1 beer. :lol:

I've never put much stock in the "they're the biggest, so they must be the best" line of reasoning.

adisor19 · Mon May 31, 2004 1:07 am

Whatever your decision may be, go for one that reads DVD-RAM. You never know when you'll encounter such a disk and you'll be quite happy that your DVD-ROM reads it

(My pioneer doesn't

)

Mon May 31, 2004 1:37 am

hoser wrote:
morphine wrote:
They sure can, I can testify for that.

Maybe the Pioneer DVD RW's but not the regular DVD drives.

I have a regular DVD drive and it does read subchannel data with no problem. I do have the older 116 model, and it is possible that the newer models do not.

Ma10n3 · Mon May 31, 2004 1:57 am

Not really in the same class, but I had a friend with a Dell Inspiron that used an LG combo DVD/CDR-RW and it died within 6 months of the purchase. He had to get it replaced.

Oh yeah, and it's biggest drawback when it did work was trying to read the copyright protection schemes of the newer games... sometimes it would take up to 5 minutes to get over it and finally load up! Even then, a lot of times it would fail, and he had to try again and again. He became a real pain to have over at LAN parties... :wink:

Taddeusz · Mon May 31, 2004 9:37 am

Starfalcon wrote:
hoser wrote:
morphine wrote:
They sure can, I can testify for that.

Maybe the Pioneer DVD RW's but not the regular DVD drives.

I have a regular DVD drive and it does read subchannel data with no problem. I do have the older 116 model, and it is possible that the newer models do not.

I wish I still had my Pioneer DVD-ROM drive so I could prove that I'm right. The reason I replaced the drive is that it couldn't read sub-channel data properly. No good for making backup copies of my own games. Maybe they fixed that in a newer firmware. Somehow I doubt that though. That was the whole reason I switched to the Toshiba line of DVD-ROM drives. Not only are they exremely fast but their built-in error correction is awesome. I currently hava Toshiba SD-M1712.

atidriverssuck · Mon May 31, 2004 4:42 pm

long story short, my list of recommendations right now for a DVD drive:

*Liteon SOHW-812s
weakness: doesn't like cheap media too much
strength(s): great for copy-protected stuff. Lots of third party tools to test burn quality (PI and PO errors, etc) with apps such as KProbe and CD-DVDSpeed. Active user community. Great community support.

*NEC ND-2500a
weakness: not many. Very popular drive..
strength(s): writes to most cheap media well. Does a good job with decent media too. Probably the writer to get to have the most compatibility with all types of DVD media.

*Pioneer DVR-107D (oem model)
DVR-AO7XLA (beige retail model)
DVR-AO7XLB (black retail model)
Weakness: crap for copy-protected stuff.
Strength: good writing on quality media. Solid burner.

The LG range of burners have DVD-RAM writing and reading ability. If DVD-RAM is important to you, by all means go for it. Not many drives have DVD-RAM writing ability.

Personally I would only consider the LGs right now if DVD-RAM is important to you. Otherwise it will be those top 3 (for my uses)

cdfreaks.com reviews and forums for more info...have phun.

DrDillyBar · Mon May 31, 2004 5:04 pm

I'm using a GCC-4480B, and I love it.
I guess the real difference is mine has CD-R, which the one you mentioned didn't have.

GCC-4480B:
http://www.lgeus.com/Product/CD/GCC_4480B.asp
GDR-8162B:
http://www.lgeus.com/Product/CD/GDR_8162B.asp

atidriverssuck · Mon May 31, 2004 5:15 pm

/me just notices the original post asks for DVD ROM, not writer. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

:hides in corner:
My choices would be the Liteon 166S or a Liteon combo drive.
I kinda default to Liteon most of the time because they tend to make good all-round drives with heaps of community support.

joe42 · Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:17 am

Just thought i would put in a good word for Lg, i've got a 5yr old Lg cd drive, which still works great, and its been well used. It musta been cheap too, because it came in a Time pc!

P.S You don't need to tell me Time are crap! I always build my pcs now.

Edit:

I had a friend with a Dell Inspiron that used an LG combo DVD/CDR-RW and it died within 6 months

Lg drives seem quite popular with Oems.

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