The burn session was completed without a hitch. When reading the written disc, the GSA-4160 slowed down somewhat at the outermost tracks, while the new model didn’t.

The problem we saw with the previous model persists with the new one: the PI error rate is growing up exponentially to the 200 mark at the middle of the disc and to over 1200 at the outermost tracks. The PO error rate is about 60-70 – that’s no good at all. The total number of PI errors and failures is smaller on the disc written by the GSA-4163 but not enough small – the new model burns DVD+RW discs badly at the minimal speed. It finds it easy to read the resulting disc, but I wouldn’t guarantee that the disc is readable in other drives.

Beta/Jitter and TA Test (Inner, Middle, Outer)
for the disc burned by the LG GSA-4163B
 
 

The Beta/Jitter graphs are good overall: rather flat, with minor deviations. The average jitter rate is low. Both beta and jitter are going up towards the outer tracks, but this growth isn’t as high as the growth of the error rate. The results of TA Test, however, suggest that the new drive cannot maintain the required pit/land lengths: adjacent lengths overlap rather badly on the entire surface of the disc. So, the new drive fails this test, and an immediate reaction from the manufacturer is necessary for this single burn mode not to spoil the overall pleasant impression from the device.