LG GSA-5163D review

Back in our March issue we reviewed LG's superb internal DVD writer, the LG GSA-4163B, which easily won itself a deserved Buyer Top 50 award.

But if you haven't any spare drive bays in your home PC, or you'd like a DVD writer to connect up to a laptop, don't be disheartened. LG has released an external USB 2 version that promises big things.

The first thing that struck us was how similar the DVD writer looks to its predecessor, the LG GSA-5120D. This isn't a bad thing, though! Its sleek off-white casing and ribbed silvery-grey side panels give it a modern appearance. But looks aren't everything, and the LG has even more tricks up its sleeve.

So what does this DVD writer have to offer in the way of features? Well, the LG is capable of burning to write-once DVD+R and DVD-R discs at a whopping 16x speed. But its talents don't end there. It's also capable of writing to rewritable DVD-RW and DVD+RW discs at an impressive 6x and 8x, respectively. The other bonus typical to LG drives is the GSA-5163D's ability to write to DVD-RAM discs. This is slightly more reliable than the other DVD disc formats, making it a great choice for backing up and archiving crucial data.

We tested the LG's performance with a range of DVD disc types, but we did find a few stumbling blocks. You can't actually buy rewritable DVD discs rated at anything higher than 4x speed. Thus, writing to a DVD-RW disc took 14 minutes and 58 seconds, with a DVD+RW slightly behind, at 15 minutes and 4 seconds. Once the discs become available, you can expect these times to drop drastically. Filling an 8.5GB dual-layer DVD disc took a decent 26 minutes and 56 seconds. But thanks to its 16x writing speed, burning 4.35GB of data to a DVD+R was completed in a speedy five minutes and 28 seconds, a whole 50 seconds quicker than our current Top 50 drive, the Freecom Classic.

Copying data to a DVD-R disc again took a little longer than expected, as no 16x discs are available. Burning a DVD-R disc at 8x was pleasingly quick, at 7 minutes and 54 seconds. Overall a solid performance.

The LG's combination of decent performance, good looks and a keen price would normally be enough to snag it the Top 50 award, but the Freecom Classic, priced at £86 inc VAT, manages to keep its crown. The LG will have to shed some pounds before it can topple its opponent.