Customer Reviews

LG Super Multi Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD-ROM Drive (GGC-H20L)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Upgraded my Vista 64 machine today. The installation was as easy as plugging the cables in and screwing the drive in the bay. No drivers no nothing it works right out of the box and comes with all cables required.

I already had Power DVD Deluxe, so all I needed to do was reboot the system and I was good to go.
For those of you who do not have HD or Blu-ray software, it comes in the box as well (Power DVD, Power Producer, Power2Go, Instant Burn, Power Backup and BD Advisor)

One of the easiest installations I've done.

If Microsoft would only integrate Blu-ray and HD in MCE.

This works as advertised - you can play HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies. Cyberlink software for playing both types of movie is included. The downside is that you need a computer to put it in to get a complete player, but this unit plus a computer is still cheaper than the other dual format players out there.

This player works great. But be warned that the software it comes with is a reduced capability version. It only supports 2 channels.
You can go back to "CyberLink" and get a real version of PowerDVD for like $[...] and then you get everything supported. The next issue is that they stopped supporting HD so you need to make sure not to get the latest version but the version 7 stuff. That is a little tricky to find on their web site. Cyberlink Power DVD 7 Software Full Version (Not the latest version 7 but you get the idea)
I got it from: https://secure.element5.com/esales/cart.html?PRODUCT[300134517]=1&languageid=1&cookies=1¤cies=USD,all

But once I did that it works great on both HD and Blu-Ray disks.
I only gave it 4 stars because I had to buy the software extra.
I do have it running under Windows Vista Media Center, Onkyo 5.1 Stereo system (SW supports 7.1) and my Pioneer 50" Plasma.
I do notice Blu Ray takes about 10% more CPU then the HD playing.

I ordered the LG Super Multi Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD-ROM Drive (GGC-H20L) on a Monday and Received it that Tuesday afternoon using standard shipping. WOW!! That was fast!! Anyway, installed the player in my Alienware PC, loaded the Power Ultra DVD software(included in the purchase)and was watching Blazing Saddles in HD Blu-Ray in about 10 minutes, start to finish. It was so easy!!

I have yet to try playing a HD DVD in the player. This weekend I will purchase some and find out. I saw on Best Buy's web site they are half price!! Blu-Ray has a great picture and sound, I have my PC hooked up to my 60" Panasonic HDTV and my living room is like a HIDEF movie theather with 5.1 sound.

The only thing that I can say is bad about the LG Super Multi Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD-ROM Drive (GGC-H20L)is that it takes about 20 to 30 seconds for the player to read the disc and start the program to play it. Not a real big deal, just something to bitch about.

All in all if you want the best of both worlds in a HD player this is it.
You will not be disapointed.

2 words BUY THIS. It'll save you tons of money compared to other combo drives featuring blu-ray and hd-dvd support. Both formats play great as well as standard DVD. With a compatible video card you can hook this up to your HD TV without any hitches. I have mine hooked up to a 26 & 42 inch HD Screens. And now that HD-DVD's are novelty items the purchase of this unit would be a great addition to your HD hardware.

While I wasn't able to play HD and Blu-Ray prerecorded DVDs using the Power DVD software that can with the drive, it worked just fine once I installed the optional HD and Blu-Ray software for NERO. Since I already use NERO for everything else, I am happy with my purchase. As usual, it was delivered on time and packed for air-drop into a combat zone!

Works well had issues with Graphic driver and no player in Windows Vista Ultimate but lg's cd had all teh software!

I got this drive because it was at an irresistable price ($129 at the time). I had finally taken the HDTV plunge and got a 42" tv a couple of months earlier. I'd been looking at getting a standalone Blu-Ray drive, but at $250-$400 wasn't looking forward to spending that much. I'd missed out on the inexpensive combo players that did HD and Blu-Ray, but there are lots of HD DVD's for sale that I've run across and I was getting more tempted. I almost took the plunge for this drive at $199 but something made me wait. So finally the price was right.

I bought up a couple of HD DVD's and a Blu-ray movie so I could install it and start enjoying it right away. I installed the drive, and fired up the computer and found out right away I'd need to upgrade my video card. Not wanting to wait much longer I went to the local computer store and came home with a $90 1GB video card and once that was in, I was ready to go. The CyberDVD software that came with it was ok. I noticed it didn't offer very good mouse support for HD movies. It ran ok except for freezing up at odd times between movies, but I just wasn't satisfied with it. I looked into the full version but found that the latest one dropped the HD capabilities for some reason. I could upgrade to the full version 7, but I'd be buying software I knew would never be upgradable beyond a certain point and if it was freezing up I didn't know that I could trust it to get better. Some research lead me to Corel WinDVD 9 plus Blu-ray which does support both HD and Blu-Ray, and I'm pleased to say it works like a charm. Corel's playback capabilities are a big plus, with the All2HD and other great features. You can get it pretty inexpensively here on amazon. You can also go to Corel's website and download a trial, non-blu-ray version to try out the All2HD and other features. It worked better and I decided to get the full version. I found mine for around $60 shipped, instead of the $99 list price.

I ended up spending about as much as I would for the standalone player, but in the end, I've got a home theater pc that plays both formats and that's also on the home network for video and music, which gives me a lot more HD options and functionality than a standalone Blu-Ray only player. Now I can buy whichever hidef format I want, even the HD dvd's that are on sale.

Note that there is a software program that checks your computer and lets you know if it's HD capable, or if it needs an upgrade. You can get this from the folks that make CyberDVD and also from Corel's website for free. It can save you a little headache by helping you figure out what you need in advance, instead of stumbling towards enlightenment the way I did, but then where's the adventure in that!

I thought the product was defective at first because it did not recognize my dvd that I burned from another burner while an older dvd drive I had did recognize it. To install an OS (XP), I had to plug in the older dvd drive.

Once I had the OS (XP) installed and all drivers loaded this drive still does not recognize dvds burned by another burner; however, this drive burned dvds fine and recognized its own.

I have had no issues playing HD and Blue Ray movies, except that I could not plug straight into my receiver (Samsung TIB); I kept getting an HDCP error. It would play for about 5 seconds and then pop up that error. So I play straight to the LCD TV instead and listen to stereo from the TV to the receiver.

This dvd caused a lot of stress but I got what I paid for; it is good for the price.

This drive installed with no problem and worked on DVDs on Vista with no tweaking necessary. However the BluRay player software gave me some problems. Initially I installed everything and did the suggested online updates but I couldn't get a BluRay disk to play on it right away until I uninstalled the software completely and downloaded a specific version of the software.

I can't recall all of the steps I took to fix it but it didn't take too long to fix and these small problems may be expected with new technology like BluRay. In the end I got it working and I'm happy with it.

Just be prepared to wrestle with the software for the BluRay/HDDVD portion. You should have no problem getting it working with DVDs though.