LG Electronics GGC-H20L LightScribe Blu-Ray/HD DVD Combo Drive (Black)

by LG

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 7.8 x 4.5 inches ; 2.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TOD5BM
• Item model number: GGC-H20L
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #28 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Internal Optical Drives > Internal Blu-ray Drives
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 17, 2009

Product Description

LG Electronics GGC-H20L LightScribe Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo Drive (Black)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Blu-Ray and HD DVD, together at last!, July 20, 2009

By 

Dave Angus (Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LG Electronics GGC-H20L LightScribe Blu-Ray/HD DVD Combo Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

Good Things:
1) It reads Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. Great for a home theater or do-everything PC. HD DVD capability will be attractive to cheapskates who can buy HD movies for a fraction of the cost of Blu-Ray.
2) It does the usual stuff you'd expect, reading and writing DVD (single and dual layer) and CDROM. It rips audio CDs just fine too.
3) It claims to support Lightscribe discs, but I've never tested that. Sharpie markers are cheaper and faster.

Bad Things:
1) The bundled player software is not a full version, so you may need to upgrade or buy a different program. (New versions may not support HD DVD.)
2) The first drive I got was defective... it wouldn't read Blu-Ray or HD DVDs consistently, although it read and wrote DVD just fine. The replacement works great. This is why it lost one star.
3) There can be problems if your TV and computer video card aren't HDCP compliant. Something called AnyDVD may fix that if it's legal where you are. (Cyberlink's "BD Advisor" program can check if your computer is up to the task of playing Blu-Ray content.)
4) It doesn't write Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, but who cares, since you can't afford Blu-Ray blank media yet anyway.
5) The activity LED is too bright if it's in your line of sight when watching movies. I covered it with tape.

[update, August 2011]
It now fails to burn dual-layer DVDs. At first I thought it was just the cheap Memorex ones, but I risked a genuine Singapore Verbatim and that failed in exactly the same way. Single-layer burns are still OK.

A recently discovered Bad Thing: EAC (Exact Audio Copy) rips CDs very slowly when using this drive (and reportedly most other Blu-ray drives). Dbpoweramp runs at full speed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great combo drive, April 23, 2009

By 

Michael D. Neal "Computer wizzard" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LG Electronics GGC-H20L LightScribe Blu-Ray/HD DVD Combo Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

This is the second drive I have gotten and have been very happy with it. The included software allows playback of both HDDVD and Blu-ray disks. The firmware update is simple with the application disk on-line. I don't think this drive will be available for long.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LG Blu-ray ROM, May 5, 2009

By 

Wesley J. Reynolds "Wesley Reynolds" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LG Electronics GGC-H20L LightScribe Blu-Ray/HD DVD Combo Drive (Black) (Personal Computers)

The LG Bluray ROM is a very good one for the price. I wanted to experiment with Blurays and this was a very affordable option. I haven't noticed anything wrong with the unit so far. I would recommend this unit.