recommendations for a DVD burner

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: cbbrowne-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org

| There is something of a known problem with some LG drives...
|   http://lwn.net/Articles/55537/
| 
| LG has apparently implemented something that doesn't comply with ATAPI
| standards, so there is a risk of destroying the drive if you send the
| wrong commands to it...

That problem is just with LG CD-ROM drives (not *-writers) and even then
there is a firmware update.

LG implemented a firmware write command, but chose the ATAPI
buffer-flush command to encode it -- after all, who would flush a
write buffer on a read-only device?  Smart thinking.  I believe this
actually violates the ATAPI spec.

If you kill your CD-ROM, it is too late to apply the firmware update.
If you have an LG CD-ROM, go to their website to get an update
before you get bitten.  Should be somewhere in http://ca.lgservice.com/
(a .jsp hell).

================

I have an LG DVD writer (4x, +/-) but I don't have enough experience
to judge it or compare it.  If you look, you can find the 8x version
for ~$130 -- cheap enough that I will probably never again buy a
CD-writer.

If I remember correctly, the firmware update is distributed in a form
that requires MS Windows to unpack it, then DOS to install it.  The
DOS part I accept, but the MS Windows requirement is gratuitous.

The retail version comes bundled with MS Windows software; I don't
know about the OEM package.  The software is not very mainstream.  I'm
not sure if it is any good.

Hugh Redelmeier
hugh-pmF8o41NoarQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org  voice: +1 416 482-8253

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