Conflicting Claims: Can LG GGC-H20L write DL (50 GB) Blu-Ray discs or not?

[ambushed19]

I bought an LG GGC-H20L (full identifier from XP Device Manager = "HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20L") several months ago, primarily because it could read the small number of HD DVD formatted movies I owned as well as Blu-Ray movies. Now, I'd like to use it to burn 50 GB dual-layer Blu-Ray writable discs, but their are conflicting claims as to whether that model supports writing dual-layer Blu-Ray blank discs or not.

For example, LG claims here that it supports "BD-R/RE SL/25GB & DL/50GB", while this review says it does not. Also, this post here in a VideoHelp forum claims that it does support dual-layer Blu-Ray writing, this drive spec sheet here at VideoHelp seems to indicate it can't write anything at all.

I can't try it myself because I do not currently have any dual-layer Blu-Ray blank discs. But a more recent LG model that does support that capability is only on sale for a couple more days, so I'd like to know now whether the GGC-H20L model I already have definitely will or definitely won't support that capability.

Can anyone tell me for sure?

[minidv2dvd]

you don't have a clue what you buy? it's a bd-rom. it doesn't burn any blu-ray media.

dl blu-ray holds 10x the data of a 20 cent dvdr for 100x the cost. a bargain....

[drjtech]

The link you gave to the LG site says that it writes DVD; it does not say that it writes to Blu-Ray. It can read Blu-Ray, it cannot write to Blu-Ray.

The VideoHelp spec sheet (https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters/lg-ggc-h20l/2140) likewise says that it will write to a variety of CD and DVD media, but not to any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD media.

All of the links you provided are in agreement that your drive will not write to Blu-Ray. I do not see any conflicting claims, except for some incorrect info which was corrected in one of your links.

FYI - I own a LG GGW-H20L, which does indeed burn DL Blu-Ray. Notice that the LG GGW-H20L costs almost twice as much as the LG GGC-H20L.

-drjtech

[ambushed19]

you don't have a clue what you buy? it's a bd-rom. it doesn't burn any blu-ray media.

dl blu-ray holds 10x the data of a 20 cent dvdr for 100x the cost. a bargain....

I never wrote that I "don't have a clue what you buy", even if by the word "you" you meant "to". I asked for a final verdict on whether the LG GGC-H20L in particular can or cannot write dual-layer Blu-Ray discs because it was quite evident that there was -- and remains -- conflicting assertions on that point (no matter what drjtech claims).

As for the economics of the various media formats, with approximately 9 TB of data on my home computers, it would be silly to use writable Blu-Ray or DVDs for backups; I dedicate several 1 TB internal hard disk drives to that purpose. I leave my main computer case's cover off so that I can plug in up to 8 internal SATA-II hard drives at the same time, making it much easier and cheaper than using Blu-Ray or DVD or even external hard drives for that purpose. I seriously doubt that the cost per capacity and speed can be improved upon with any other media.

More to the point, I would likely find it rather inconvenient to write or backup all my 50 GB Blu-Ray videos onto DVDs, whatever the economic benefits of doing so.

[ambushed19]

The link you gave to the LG site says that it writes DVD; it does not say that it writes to Blu-Ray.

The official LG link I provided (and provide again here) is to a Javascript rather than pointing directly to the specifications page. If you visit that link, then press the "SPECIFICATIONS" button, you will see the following:





Note the model number: "GGC-H20L" on the upper left, and the specification: "• BD-R/RE SL/25GB & DL/50GB" ("BD-R", of course, stands for Blu-ray Disc Recordable, "BD-RE" is the spec for re-writable Blu-Ray Disc technology, "SL" stands for "single-layer" and "DL" stands for "dual-layer". I'm sure you already knew that, but I explain these acronyms for the general reader. When I read that page, it very much seemed to me to be claiming that it could write, as well as read, those formats. Note, for example, that the spec page explicitly asserts: "Super Multi-Format Recording to All Existing Formats" (my emphasis). There is no other way to interpret that sentence, which unambiguously asserts that the model can indeed write dual-layer Blu-Ray discs.

All of the links you provided are in agreement that your drive will not write to Blu-Ray. I do not see any conflicting claims, except for some incorrect info which was corrected in one of your links.

The VideoHelp forum post I cited did indeed report that the model in question could write those formats (a later post that stated otherwise was posted only after my OP).

I acknowledge that I misread the VideoHelp Spec chart, and I now accept that the drive does not support writing Blu-Ray discs of any kind, but your insistence that there never were any conflicting claims was erroneous.

Thank you for your time.

[drjtech]

You have a combination of wishful thinking and misunderstanding of the specifications.

Go and buy a blank Blu-Ray single layer recordable disc. Try to burn to it. Report back your results.

-drjtech

[davebarnes2009]

i have had a lg ggw-h20l for nearly 12months and have burnt many 50g bd-rw's and reformatted and burnt again but it is time consuming while burning at 1x speed

[jman98]

For what it's worth ambushed19, that LG Specifications description is as misleading as any product description I've ever seen. However, the Overview page makes no claim at all to support ANY burning other than DVD and CD, so that alone would have made me suspect that the drive could only read BD media.

I'm not being critical, but you can learn from this. Learn to read product descriptions better based on this. If a description doesn't come out and say "Yes, it can do X" then you should always assume that it cannot do X.
Your belief from reading the Overview section (the link referred to as "here" in your first post) that the drive supported BD burning is wrong, but you have a point in coming to that conclusion from the Specifications or Features section, both of which are misleading. Learn to look for what is missing in product descriptions. As far the post that claims that this model can burn to BD media. it would appear that waheed either has confused the model numbers with one that can or his post is just inaccurate.

[drjtech]

Model number "LG GGC-H20L" and "LG GGW-H20L" are similar, but one can burn BD-R and the other cannot.

-drjtech

[ambushed19]

For what it's worth ambushed19, that LG Specifications description is as misleading as any product description I've ever seen.

Thank you for acknowledging that undeniable truth, especially in a reasonable and polite manner (very unlike some other's posts).

However, the Overview page makes no claim at all to support ANY burning other than DVD and CD, so that alone would have made me suspect that the drive could only read BD media.

Yet the drive actually does much more than that, and nowhere on the Overview Page does it claim that it can even write to CD-R/RWs!.

I cut and pasted the link I posted in my OP directly from the Specifications Page, not realizing that when others would click the link it would take them to the Overview Page instead and would require pressing the SPECIFICATIONS button to see the page I thought I was linking to. Also, my reading of the overview page was that, as an "overview page", the author(s) never intended it to even attempt to describe the range of the unit's write capability. For example, the phrase "Internal Super-Multi Blu-ray Drive" grossly understates the drive's capability, as well as the phrase "blazing fast 16x DVD±R burning". Why? For several reasons, including the fact that the drive can also read "HD DVD" discs (a major selling point) as well as Blu-Ray discs, and the only indication on that page of it's writing capability just said "blazing fast 16x DVD±R burning", which, if taken as the full specification, would mean that the unit could not even write CD-R/RWs!

In other words, if one were to think that the Overview Page described all the media formats it could write to, that reader would be flat-out wrong. Thus, if one wanted to actually know all the formats the drive could write to, one absolutely had to turn to the Specifications Page. And when one arrived there, there LG's official answer was, in an absolutely unambiguous assertion: "Super Multi-Format Recording to All Existing Formats". Again, there's one and only one interpretation of that statement, and that is that the drive in question does have the capability to write dual-layer Blu-Ray blank discs. Note again that a post here at VideoHelp specifically claimed it could to that also! A later post correcting that claim did not exist when I cited it in my OP.

Finally, the most important thing of this entire discussion is the fact that I had explicitly reported the fact that there were conflicting and/or ambiguous assertions regarding the drive's actual capabilities, and all I asked in my OP was for others to help disambiguate the claims. At no time did I ever claim as fact that the unit could write dual-layer (or any) Blu-Ray discs, nor did I argue against any posters' claim in this thread that it could not. So I simply do not see why some replies (other than yours) were so hostile. When posters such as yourself came forward with the correct answer, I was grateful and I certainly expected that would be the end of it. I've read and re-read my OP several times, and for the life of me, I can't find anything there objectionable or otherwise worthy of condescension, insults, or mockery (I do not refer to you in any of my critical observations).

Thank you, jman98, for your time, assistance, and advice, and I wish you well.

[hech54]

1) I love LG drives....I use them exclusively.
2) That official description for this particular drive SUCKS.

[waheed]

ambushed19.

Sorry if my other post you referred to caused confusion but that was simply just a typo. I meant to state GGW instead of GGC.

[CoffeeAddict]

The OP is 100% correct.

I too bought this drive in 2007. It's a crock. I was up all last night trying to use it for the first time trying to burn to both a Sony 6x BD-R and a Belkin Devices BD-R and it does NOT burn to BD-Rs. It says everywhere that it DOES burn to BD-R and I'm NOT misreading those specs.

It's complete false advertising by LG and they could easily get sued for this. Now I have to go out and spend another $200 for a drive that does what it says...burns BD-Rs.

http://www.sysfob.com/hitachi-lg-ggw-h20l-6x-blu-ray-burner-bd-re-hd-dvd-rom-16x-dvd-r..._store=default

"This GGW-H20L allows you to record up to 50 GB of files, photos, or business documents onto a single dual layer BD-R disc. Play HD content from BD Video discs or record up to nine hours of high definition video! Write to BD-R discs at 6x and BD-RE single and double layer media at 2x speeds! "

I would advise anyone reading this thread not to buy that model ever. I'm so pissed off at this point with LG, and I can't wait to call them Monday to bitch about this and get my money back for false advertising.

[drjtech]

The OP says he bought a LG GGC-H20L. Your reference says "This GGW-H20L allows you to record up to 50 GB...". Which drive do you have?

My GGW-H20L burns BD-R 25 and 50GB beautifully. The GGC-H20L does not burn BD-R at all.

-drjtech

[CoffeeAddict]

My mistake. You are correct.