A Solid Double-Layer Burner With Nero Basic Included

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fast performance with single- and double-layer discs, Nero software included.

Cons: Power DVD and Power Producer software are basic and not very powerful.

The Bottom Line: 
This is a solid buy for anyone needing to archive large amounts of digital media files quickly and easily.

Author's Review
It's been several years since I bought an external DVD burner.  My last unit, bought in 2005, was a Memorex device that was supposed to be able to hit 8X speeds on double layer discs.  Unfortunately, at the time the unit was available, most of what was available was 2.4X-rated discs. 

Once again, disc media manufacturers are lagging behind burner makers.  This is really too bad, because the LG External Super Multi DVD Rewriter Model GE20LU10 (hereafter, the "LG double layer burner", "LU10" or similar) is a burner in the true sense - its smokin' performance makes it a worthwhile companion for anyone with a lot of digital media files needing to be archived.

Let me say at the outset that even though the cost of storage media - particularly SD cards and USB external hard drives - is plummeting, you may be tempted to think that disc media serves no purpose.  On the contrary!  The very issue with mechanical drives such as hard drives is that mechanical things can and do break down, often when least expected.  With solid state media such as SD cards, as long-term storage solutions they are viable, but burnable optical discs are a far better value in terms of cost per gigabyte (and they're harder to lose than those tiny little cards!).  So do continue to backup your digital media, because with this LG double layer burner, it's quick and economical.


FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The LU10 comes in a nice little box with a handle to carry out of the store and the box mercifully easy to open (thanks, LG, for no plastic to tear off). 

Inside the box is the LU10 unit, power cords, USB 2.0 cord, and software disc.

The LU10 has a black, plastic cabinet with a shiny surface and gray/silver plastic accents around the edge.  (It's a good thing this isn't a handheld device because that shiny surface would be a fingerprint magnet.)  The sides of the cabinet has black, ribbed walls which appear to have no functional purpose other than adornment.


INSTALLATION

Installation on Windows systems, as expected, is simple.  Plug in the USB cable (USB 2.0 required for top performance) and the power cord and then install the burner software and you're ready to go.  I did not have any problems during the installation phase.


SOFTWARE BUNDLE

Anyone that likes Nero, this is your system - it comes with Nero Essentials Version 7 which provides lots of solutions for burning data, music, and more.  I happen to like Nero 7, and that tipped the scales toward me buying this LG burner.

Also included are Power DVD and Power Producer - two software packages that allow you to play and master DVD's of your own.  Power DVD is a basic DVD player - you can play DVD's but not much more.  There is no A/B repeat or any other fancy features you find in better DVD players so don't expect too much. 

Power Producer lets you create a DVD with menus but not much more.  When I tried to import HD video from an SD card with a number of clips, Power Producer couldn't see the clips.  Don't get your hopes up for being able to manipulate anything but MPEG files with this.  It's free with the hardware, but it's very basic.


PERFORMANCE/BURN TIMES

The LU10 does very well.  Here are several tests I ran, burning nothing but HD video files:

Verbatim 8.5 GB Dual Layer DVD+DL disc, 7.2 GB in files, 2.4X rated: 25 minutes, 12 seconds.  Burned at 4X.

Memorex 8.5 GB Dual Layer DVD+DL disc, 7.2 GB in files, 8X rated: 14 minutes, 45 seconds.  Burned at 8X.

Philips 4.7 GB Single Layer DVD-R disc, 3.87 GB in files, 16X rated: 4 minutes, 56 seconds.  Burned at 18X.

The LU10 has a maximum rating of 20X for single-layer DVDs, 12X for DVD-DL dual layer discs, and 16X for DVD+DL dual layer discs.  But until the faster discs become available at retailers, you're not likely to get those maximum speeds for a while.  And even if you can, those fast discs will be costly.

(One other thing to note - the LU10 comes with a feature called "Secur Disc", a way to (presumably) make data discs with some kind of additional security protection.  Since I have no need for this, I won't be using it; someone else's review will have to describe what this is.)


FINAL VERDICT

The street price of $90 I paid for the LG GE20LU10 is about the going rate for a burner in its performance class.  I looked at similar burners from Pioneer (an old favorite of mine) and Sony but decided on LG based on my previous experience with them (I owned an LG CD burner when CD burning was the hot thing and I've owned an LG cell phone).  Also, the Nero burning software bundled with it is something that makes me comfortable; I will not be burning coasters. 

LG makes quality electronics and their profile in the U.S. has only grown in recent years.  This is another great product in that line.