[Untechy] Review of LG’s GGC-H20L BD/HD Drive

[priyaradha]

Just before you read my review, it’s not going to be in depth materials like comparing the same BD/HD/DVD screenies and see which one is better, or anything like that. It’s just a plain, simple, end-user review.

The Spec’s I am going to be installing this Drive is on a:
[b]Case[/b]-Antec NSK2400
[b]CPU[/b]-  AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz
[b]Memory[/b]- 1 Gig
[b]Video Card[/b]-  MSI NX8500GT-MTD256EH HDMI
[b]Drive[/b]- LG GGC-H20L
[b]Software[/b]- PowerDVD 7.3 Provided by LG
[b]Playback will be on[/b]: Sony 50in 720p/1080i Rear Projection TV

[b]Introduction:[/b]
Tho box:
[img width=650 height=487]http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/8607/dsc02998og6.jpg[/img]

Upon opening the box, you will not find too much padding like you would expect for 300 bucks :), but it came with the usual. A sata cable, sata power cable converter, and PowerDVD. This is my first time that I will be actually using PowerDvd has a playback software ,mostly I use WMP or Nero. Though the PowerDvd interface does look nice.For those wondering what is included in the disc:
Power2Go-Burning Software
Power Backup-Back up ”
Power Producer- Authoring Software
PowerDVD- The playback software
[img width=650 height=487]http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/8631/dsc02999gm3.jpg[/img]

[b]First Impressions:[/b]
As I saw the drive I felt in love with it, it had a gorgeious piano black finish around the bezel, just a heads up, the drive as a sticker around the bezel to protect the piano black. You can tell the difference between this next picture and the one after
[url=http://imageshack.us][img width=650 height=487]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5493/dsc03000pv6.jpg[/img][/url]

As you can see the drive is a bit larger than the Lite-On DVD drive that was there before. The exact size spec’s as per product box:
146×41.3×185 MM (WxHxD) W/O Bezel
[url=http://imageshack.us][img width=650 height=487]http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/7845/dsc03001kc4.jpg[/img][/url]

Here is the Drive Finally snuggled in my case:
[url=http://imageshack.us][img width=650 height=487]http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/7471/dsc03002za7.jpg[/img][/url]

[b]Playback:[/b]
So I went to game stop and picked up King Kong for $10 (USED) I heard its one of the best movies in HD.
So as soon as I popped it in PowerDVD came up and played the DVD < 1 minute. This was a big relief for me since the gfc I ordered actually plays HDCP material. I also closed PowerDVD and went through MCE to see what happens it just minimizes it and run’s PowerDVD. The Scene I used to test the DVD was scene 30,  dinosaur stampedes. It performed well at 1080i, but at 720p I just got an error that PowerDvd had to close. Again this is a used DVD so I can’t really know for sure. I would have to  try with a BD disk to see if it’s an internal problem. Also the MCE remote worked for the most part, though some functions did not work with remote like u-control (extra feature while playing the movie) [b]Pressure:[/b] Well to me delight the system handled it well the cpu power was less than 50%, mostly at 34%. Though, I think ideal would be 2gb of ram, my gig was getting smacked to the highest. [img width=423 height=434]http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5363/capturerl2.jpg[/img] [b]Back to the player:[/b] So LG has this Auto update feature on it which is pretty cool, updates the firmware. I didn’t have any so I can’t comment on the procedure though it sounds self-explanatory. One thing that annoyed me was the neon light. It’s such a bright neon light, and constantly flashes. But I got to used to it. [img width=650 height=487]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1791/dsc03006gz1.jpg[/img] [b]Conclusion:[/b] Overall after a couple of hour’s playing with it I really enjoyed the player, though it was a big investment for something that’s  going to be cheaper in couple of moth’s I am glad that I did it now.  I would recommend it to anyone, but do your research. I was happy with nVidia 8500GT($85 at the egg) card, which I would also recommend if anyone needs a new GFC for BD-HD playback in a budget, the pro was it had HDMI, con was a huge heat sink took up a pci slot.  I still would of liked to get a ATI x2600 HD, it would of done a better job and more stable, and more easy to scale on a HD tv, though the best one's where all 9-10in's long. The interesting thing i found about the software is does not give the user full HD sound. While playing with the OEM copy of PowerDVD I was only able to get 2.1 sound, though after buying a retail copy of PowerDVD I was able to attain full 5.1. So I would suggest not to bother with the OEM, and just get retail. Advice: For all looking seriously to get a HD/BD player in their pc and confused on what gfc to get i would recommend the 8500GT for ppl in a low budget and 8600GT for ppl who dont mind spending more for a better card. If you are an ATI person stick with the 2600 Pro XT cards. Again make sure the card you are getting is HDCP ready. Thank you for reading my review (my first one ever),I hopped  people got the [i]jist[/i] of the drive, if you any specific questions I would gladly cover it. Just reply back. Written by -Devan Sri-Tharan  

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